TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) — Leon County commissioners and local advocates gathered at the Leon County Commission Meeting to discuss how they can lower the number of people on the streets.
Commissioners taking action today to get the ball rolling. County commissioners voted to take a deeper look at potential solutions this year, including considering alternative sleeping locations for people currently living on the street and even removing eviction records for some people.
Something local advocate Stanley Sims said will help people get back on their feet a little bit easier.
"This has been going on prior to COVID, so it's been happening a long time," Sims said.
Sims said he is happy to see the county commission make a plan to address homelessness in Leon County.
"We understand that this is not a fix, but it is a first step toward a very big problem," Sims said.
According to the Big Bend Continuum of Care, 800 people are homeless in the Big Bend. That is a 22% increase from 2022.
In response, the commissioners voted today to move forward with plans to increase funding for agencies focused on ending homelessness.
Changes approved at the meeting include putting five hundred thousand dollars of federal money aside to fund emergency shelters, requiring affordable housing to dedicate units to people leaving homelessness and creating a law to make standing in medians with signs illegal.
The commission also voted to take a look at other possible solutions.
Those include creating a task force with faith leaders and advocacy groups, alternate sleeping locations for people on the streets and removing some evictions from records.
While these are all ideas that are in the works John Hendrick with the First Presbyterian Church says they are excited to help, but thinks there needs to be more guidelines and goals.
"Have the businesses, communities of faith, school system, universities, hospitals, law enforcement put all of these heads together of general people in the community, the different experiences together with the unsheltered and dealing with the unsheltered, " Hendrick said.
Sims said he hopes business owners get a say in this as well.
"The $500k ratification goes toward homelessness, but not for those small businesses who have been impacted by this environmental barrier for such a long time," Sims said.
Along with homelessness, the commission also discussed increased funding for the Orange Avenue affordable housing project.
