JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The stakes to tackle public homeless encampments in the “River City” have never been higher, with a new state law now making Florida cities like Jacksonville liable to be sued for those encampments in public spaces.
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However, Jacksonville Fire and Rescue told Jacksonville City Council members and Action News Jax Wednesday morning major strides have been taken lately in addressing the problem.
JFRD attributes much of the progress in addressing homelessness to the boots on the ground “P.A.T.H” team, which approaches homeless people directly on the streets offering services for housing and rehabilitation.
“We’ve had numbers that are that are starting to show a difference in the downtown area and in some of the other areas of town that we’re working,” JFRD Chief Keith Powers told Action News Jax Wednesday. “There’s been 75 women that have chosen to take services inside of the Trinity Rescue Mission, [and] 146 men.”
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and JFRD provided a status update for Jacksonville City Council’s finance committee Wednesday morning.
One key issue Councilman Rory Diamond brought up was the high number of homeless coming from outside Jacksonville, a population the PATH program is looking to address – directing those in need to the city’s “Homeward Bound” program.
“About 90% of the interactions that we’ve had, and we’ve had almost 1200 interactions with homeless folks since this started, are from people that are from outside of the Jacksonville area,” Chief Powers highlighted Wednesday. “A portion of those are choosing to use the Homeward Bound program to go back to their, you know, to their hometown.”
Now, Chief Powers says the next step is to address many other parts of the city still in need of homeless services.
Another update is planned for the next finance committee meeting on March 4th, with possible plans to expand the “P.A.T.H” program to Jacksonville’s beaches.
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