'Heads in beds': City will fund shelter sites, hotel vouchers, day center for the homeless

A previous version of this story incorrectly identified how many people could be housed at There is Hope homeless shelter. Caleb Houston's shelter could house up to 100 people when fully operational.

After months of back and forth on how best to spend $3 million in federal funding on homelessness, the Pensacola City Council made moves Wednesday to approve what they see as the most critical need: heads in beds.

The $1.5 million allocated Wednesday night allows three organizations to provide more than 100 new homeless shelter beds, launches a funding pool for emergency hotel room vouchers for those in critical need or street homeless and funds both a clinical director to oversee homeless youth and a mobile mental health unit to be used within city limits.

Prior coverage: I-110 homeless camp won't be dismantled by Thanksgiving, but here's what's next in the plan

'It feels amazing:' How two formerly homeless Pensacolians navigated back into housing

The remainder of the $3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds will be set aside to fund future homelessness programs as needs arise after the first phase of crisis housing for the 169 people who are living under the Interstate 110 overpass as of this week.

Councilwoman Jennifer Brahier — who unofficially spearheaded the approval process at the meeting — said her thinking in prioritizing these proposals over some others was to put as many people as possible in shelter space inside when the weather is colder and the clock is ticking on a moratorium for evicting the homeless under the I-110 bridge.

The Florida Department of Transportation is expected to begin working on Hollice T. Williams Park, where the massive group of homeless people are currently gathered, in early January.

“It’s heads in beds, period,” Brahier said. “That doesn’t mean we don’t have a lot of things we need to do, but right now we have an immediate crisis.”

One size doesn't fit all in approaching homelessness

Brahier spoke about her experience trying to help her homeless sister, who in some cases refused help and housing. She said one size doesn’t fit all in the homelessness approach and it’s a wiser move to allocate some funding upfront but save the remaining portion to fund whatever needs come naturally in the next step.

“Then we’ll have a good idea of where the rest of the money needs to go because it’ll settle into place. … The most foolish thing I think we could do is allot it all thinking we know,” she said, garnering a round of applause from homeless advocates in the room.

The funding requests before the council already had been vetted by a group of nonprofit leaders and homeless advocates called the Homelessness Reduction Task Force of Northwest Florida, a group independently launched in January and later tasked with helping prioritize projects on which the $3 million should be spent.

First round of requests cut down to five

In total, the requests had been whittled down to 10, but only five ultimately gained support in the first round of funding Wednesday.

Those were:

• The Pensacola Dream Center will receive $300,000 to fund a shelter called Canopy of Hope for three years, which would house seven women at a time but an estimated 48 women in a given year. The program specifically serves women navigating out of abuse, addiction, trafficking and prostitution that led to homelessness, and each woman is paired with a coach to create a roadmap to get back on track.

• Lakeview will receive $300,000 to launch a mobile unit that will meet the homeless where they’re at for assessments and care intervention, including working with law enforcement to respond to those in behavioral health crisis.

• Children’s Home Society will receive $135,254 that will fund a clinical director for two years who will oversee a team of interns who will provide case management and counseling to runaway and homeless youth.

• Bright Bridge Ministries will receive $281,400 to create a shelter with 30 rooms.

• Re-Entry Alliance of Pensacola will receive $400,000 to launch a holistic day center that includes 39 rooms at 2200 N. Palafox St.

At the meeting, the council also decided to put aside $180,000 into a fund for organizations to submit requests for emergency placement in hotels, an idea that came about from concern about women and children being designated camping space at the back of a Salvation Army homeless shelter.

Though there were some concerns about the city’s liability if the hotels rooms were damaged, for example, and it being such a temporary measure, it ultimately passed as a way to get people off the streets and to safety.

Proposed campsites for homeless raised concerns

The council was initially set to begin allocating funding at its Nov. 10 meeting, but had too many concerns at that time to begin accepting proposals. One of the most prominent areas of pushback was three proposed campsites to relocate the I-110 population into as an alternative, which many viewed as simply moving the problem elsewhere.

Prior coverage: Pensacola pumps the brakes on homeless funding proposals, delays 3 new homeless campsites

The campsite locations were not given merit during Wednesday’s meeting, but the council did fund $400,000 to one of the sites at 2200 N. Palafox St. to launch a holistic day center for homeless people to connect to services. That site would have 39 beds — including 10 respite beds — but a proposed campground on site won’t move ahead.

At that same Nov. 10 meeting, the council directed staff to analyze a proposal from There is Hope homeless shelter, to be run by formerly homeless resident Caleb Houston, who was proposing a tiny hut village as well as funding for his North Davis Highway building that could accommodate up to 100 people. While the city did look into those options, Finance Director Amy Lovoy said Houston’s organization didn’t have the correct policies, procedures and financial documents in place to be eligible for federal dollars.

Lotus Campaign proposal: You can spend $40K doing nothing, or house someone for $788, Lotus Campaign says

Another $425,000 of the ARPA funding is tentatively set aside for The Lotus Campaign, a North Carolina-based program that has expressed interest in replicating its model in Pensacola. The idea behind the program is engaging landlords, developers and the private sector in the idea of housing the homeless and low-income population. Lotus is expected to make its own separate presentation to council Dec. 16.

The organizations receiving money gave no indication of how quickly they could mobilize their shelter spaces, but City Attorney Charles Peppler said it’s likely the city or FDOT will give notice for the homeless population under I-110 to vacate around Jan. 1, after which they’ll be given a time to vacate and information about where to pick up their belongings if they don’t leave in time.

Emma Kennedy can be reached at ekennedy@pnj.com or 850-480-6979.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola homeless: City to fund shelter sites, hotel vouchers, day center