JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — People in Jacksonville came out to an event in Riverside Friday and many of them had one goal: find a place to live.
Organizations that help people who are homeless worked to connect people with resources at the Changing Homelessness 'Summer Stand down' event. Organizers said it was the first one they'd done and that it was a new step toward getting the city ready for the start of a law prohibiting people from sleeping outside.
Kenny Brown was at the event trying to find housing he can afford working part-time at Walmart.
“I was staying at the Riverwalk, but they closed that down,” Brown said.
He said now he’s staying in a garage. Brown told First Coast News he wants to be somewhere he feels safe.
“I want to get back in the house where I know my things will be safe, where I know I can be safe,” Brown said. “I’m not gonna stay out in the rain. Now it’s hurricane season.”
Brown said he came to the event because he knows people who found housing through local resources.
“We have haircuts, we have food, we have IDs, birth certificates, housing assessments,” said Charles Temple, director of coordinator entry with Changing Homelessness. “A lot of those wrap-around services that are kind of spread out, we wanted to have it here all at one event.”
Temple said their event is a step toward becoming familiar with people who are homeless and what they need. Figuring out what people need is a big part of how the city plans to address the issue, said Tracye Polson with the mayor’s office who’s in charge of overseeing the city’s plan.
In less than two months, a new Florida law takes effect making it illegal to sleep or camp on public property. First Coast News asked Polson if she thought the city would have everything in its plan ready to go by October 1.
“No,” said Polson. “I mean, we have to get the budget passed.”
Polson said there are not enough beds at Jacksonville homeless shelters. The city’s plan includes being strategic about case management to get people housing and adding beds at shelters that have minimum requirements for entry. Shelters with requirements for entry have been causing issues Imari Frazier keeps running into.
“JASMYN (shelter) is 18 to 29, I’m 32,” Frazier said about the age requirements after explaining why she didn’t believe she qualified for assistance from other organizations either.
Frazier said she’s been trying to get housing for a year. She said she’s trying to get a job right now, a process made harder with her criminal record.
“It’s like what do you do?” she asked. “For people that has messed up in the past, it’s like how do I get housing? It’s almost like they want me to die or something.”
While Frazier feels left behind, she said she's also optimistic about the city's plan of action to address homelessness.
Starting January 1, the new Florida law also gives people the right to sue the city if they feel the law is not being enforced.