The annual SleepOut comes to Jupiter: 5 things to know about people who are homeless

JUPITER — Homelessness is on the rise in Palm Beach County, and about 500 people will sleep outside Friday night to help bring awareness to it.

The Lord’s Place, the county’s largest homeless outreach service, is hosting its 16th SleepOut, this time at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter. Attendees will sleep on the outfield grass like those who go to bed without a roof over their heads on any given night.

The nonprofit expects to raise $325,000 to put toward housing, job training and food for the people it serves. The costs of housing, and the rates of mental illness and substance abuse all are rising, leaving more and more people without shelter.

“There is such a crisis in our in our country today on how people view homelessness,” said Diana Stanley, the longtime CEO of The Lord’s Place. “I’m trying to encourage people to stop the blame game. Every single person in our country deserves a place to come home to.”

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Palm Beach County has more people who are homeless than you'd think

The Lord’s Place estimates that there are about 3,000 men, women and children who are homeless in Palm Beach County, hundreds more than the latest official count from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Each year, HUD’s “point-in-time” count sends government employees and volunteers out on foot across the nation to count all the people who are homeless they see in 24 hours.

The last reported point-in-time count for Palm Beach County was in 2022 and found 1,404 people, including those with shelter. The 2023 count happened Jan. 26 and 27, but the results have not yet been released.

Stanley says this count is underestimated, calling the number “unfair” because it misses the many people who experience homelessness at different points throughout the year.

Mental illness, substance abuse and homelessness are connected

More than 1 in 3 of The Lord’s Place’s clients experiencing chronic homelessness also have mental health and substance use disorders. This is nine times higher than the general public.

The average length of time that clients have spent homeless is just over two years. However, it is over three years for a client with a co-occurring disorder.

Stanley said she has seen a common trend among people who originally arrived to Palm Beach County to attend drug treatment centers and later relapsed, ending up on the streets.

“When I talk to those living on the streets, I oftentimes ask them what their drug of choice is and the response has always been, ‘I started doing (drugs) because the voices were too loud in my head,’ ” Stanley said. “That’s a dual diagnosis … when someone starts using because of a mental illness.”

The rate of reported mental illness and substance use among their clients has increased 5% each year for the past few years. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports a 25% increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Palm Beach County's wealth gap contributes to local homelessness.

Palm Beach County’s wealth disparities put its homelessness issues in sharp focus, Stanley said.

A single-family home in Palm Beach County cost a median of $549,500 in February, far beyond the reach of most families. It’s helped to leave many people with lower incomes with no place to call home, Stanley said.

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“On one end of our county in Palm Beach, you've got billionaires and millionaires, and then you drive out to Belle Glade,” she said. “The dichotomy is so great between those two neighborhoods.”

While some developers are including some workforce housing in new communities, the county’s shortage of affordable homes has left it “so stuck,” Stanley said.”It’s a real struggle.”

Donations to help those who are homeless will be doubled.

Ann Brown, a Palm Beach County resident for the past 30 years and the former chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, will match each dollar of the money raised by the SleepOut.

This is the seventh year that Brown has matched the donations made during the event, a tradition she started with her late husband, Donald Brown.

“(I remember when) my husband turned to me and he said, ‘Why don't we do a match for all the money they raise?’” Brown said. “I thought to myself, ‘This is something that we must always do.’ This is in honor of him and of The Lord's Place.”

What does The Lord's Place do to help those who are homeless?

The Lord's Place said that over the past 10 years, it has served more than 8,000 people experiencing homelessness.

Its services include housing, employment training and job coaching, post-release services for recently incarcerated individuals and tutoring for children.

The Lord’s Place’s Cafe Joshua serves hot meals to those who are homeless or at risk from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday.

SleepOut runs from 5:30 p.m on Friday night through 7 a.m on Saturday morning, ending with a donated breakfast. Registration is free with the code “FreeEvent” on this website: sleepouttlp.com/register. The Lord’s Place asks for a minimum donation of $25 per attendee.

Maya Washburn is a reporter for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Network-Florida. Reach her at mwashburn@gannett.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: SleepOut aids those who are homeless in Palm Beach County: What to know