By Keith Morelli | Tribune Staff

Published April 1, 2016 | Tampa Bay Times

TAMPA — For the past 64 years, the Edmund Gaines Graham Home in the heart of east Tampa has sheltered the elderly and infirmed. Now, the remnants of the building lie in piles of rubble on the east end of the property, shoved aside to make way for the future: a 90-unit apartment complex that will continue the tradition of housing the poor and disadvantaged, and now, the homeless.

The project, spearheaded by Gracepoint, which is headquartered just to the west of the construction site on Henry Avenue just east of 22nd Street, will offer half of the permanent housing units to the homeless. The other half will be inhabited by Gracepoint clients made up of elderly or people with mental and behavioral issues.

The project, funded with federal money funneled through the state, will cost about $18 million to build and take a little more than a year to finish. There will be 90 units of affordable housing with at least 45 units of permanent housing set aside for homeless individuals.