City Council group proposes 2 solutions to tackle homelessness issue in Jacksonville

Jessica Barreto
·2 min read

On Thursday, Jacksonville’s City Council Special Committee on Critical Quality of Life Issues proposed two solutions to help those experiencing homelessness in our community find permanent housing.

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The Homelessness Working Group has met at City Hall before, and the two proposed solutions discussed during Thursday’s meeting are:

  • Find ways to build more affordable housing

  • Try and secure funding from either the state or the federal government to house those most vulnerable.

Action News Jax first told you when this special committee formed back in August.

It’s made up of three different working groups addressing the following: access to healthcare, affordable housing, and homelessness.

The social services organization Changing Homelessness says there are 3,400 people that it knows by name who are experiencing homelessness.

One-hundred and ninety-one of those are aged 50 and up and have been diagnosed with a disability, so they’re considered the most vulnerable.

We spoke to a veteran, Leonard Brannon, who has been experiencing homelessness for the past three years, and is on this list. He expressed frustration over the hurdles he says it takes to access resources.

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“They don’t treat veterans worth anything. They treat you like you’re nothing. They got money for this, money for that,” Brannon said. “But they don’t have money for you.”

However, Dawn Gillman, the CEO of Changing Homelessness said voters play a key role in securing funds needed to help.

“The only way to really move the needle on an issue -- if homeless is an issue that you feel passionate about, you need to make sure that the elected officials know about that,” she emphasized. “They control the funding.”

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Below is the hand-out we received from Changing Homelessness, which shows a five-year plan to make sure those vulnerable individuals secure permanent housing, costing about $2 million a year and around $12 million total. Additionally, it would cost taxpayers $25 million to do nothing over the same course of time. This cost factors in crisis stability resources and emergency care.

Changing Homelessness 2 by ActionNewsJax on Scribd

The conversation around homelessness will continue at the next group meeting on October 27 at 9 a.m. at City Hall.

You can watch previous meetings, and learn about the other working groups involved, here.

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