What are the homeless to do when winter comes? County seeks to help

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What are the homeless to do when winter comes? County seeks to help
BEACON PHOTO/AL EVERSON; GIMME SHELTER — First Step Homeless Shelter, more than twice as big as DeLand’s The Bridge, is shown. It’s in the middle of the county, near the Volusia County Jail.

The blast of arctic weather prompted many to think about the homeless and the need to care for those without a permanent address and a warm place to call their own.

With several questions and a split vote, the Volusia County Council Jan. 21 renewed funding for a homeless shelter west of Daytona Beach, but the funding will be reduced over the next five years. The decision came as homelessness and what local government can or should do for the less fortunate on deadly cold nights — such as the ones then at hand — weighed heavily on elected leaders. 

“Right now there are thousands of individuals in our county who are one paycheck away from homelessness,” Ponce Inlet Town Council Member Skip White told the county body. “No one should be on the street. No one should go to bed hungry.”

The request was to continue funding for First Step Shelter, which was established by the City of Daytona Beach to deal with a growing number of transients and homeless people in the Downtown area. The county also put up $2 million for the capital cost of the facility.

The City of Daytona Beach was instrumental in building and starting First Step Shelter at 3889 W. International Speedway Blvd. — well away from the Beach Street business district — and First Step has a capacity of 100 adults. Besides having a warm bed at night and hot food, those accepted to stay at First Step must agree to find work. The First Step residents gain access to services such as career counseling, training, educational opportunities, future housing and government benefits for which they may qualify, thus enabling them to live independently. First Step has admission standards for those accepted to live there. For example, the shelter will not accept anyone with an outstanding felony warrant, and those accepted must abide by the shelter’s rules of conduct.

Since 2017, hundreds of people have come through First Step and become success stories, supporters of the program and funding for it say.

The county’s aid for First Step has been $400,000 per year for the past five years. First Step and Daytona Beach asked for that level of aid to continue for another five years, but the County Council approved a five-year glide path that calls for $400,000 for this year, $300,000 next year, and $200,000 for each of the three subsequent years. The idea, floated by Council Member David Santiago, became known as the “4-3-2-2-2” plan.

Support for First Step was strong.

“You really cannot not support First Step Shelter,” John Nicholson said to the council. “The First Step now covers about 70 percent of the county. … You will always have people who are poor. … It’s your obligation to save them.”

“We can save the county money by having more people not going to the jail,” he concluded.

First Step Executive Director Victoria Fahlberg pressed for continued financial help for the county. She noted a study had determined the average annual cost of caring for a homeless person is approximately $42,000.

“Our residents cost about $2,800 per year,” Fahlberg said. “We have been faithful stewards. … They [First Step residents] are worth your investment.”

“People are hurting in Volusia County. The rents are high. The salaries are not,” Karen DeLisle, of Ormond Beach, said.

The debate about helping First Step came, too, in the wake of allegations of financial problems at the shelter. 

Nevertheless, Council Member Danny Robins said the shelter is “actually a quality-of-life issue for all of Volusia County.”

“It helps also with public-health issues,” he added. “A lot has changed in five years. … Because of the First Step Shelter, we are much better than we were 20 years ago. … This is good money spent when you start thinking of all the effects.”

County Chair Jeff Brower said the county has done its part to relieve the plight of the homeless.

“We have done the right thing,” he added. “We have not abandoned the homeless. We will not abandon the homeless.”

Brower and his colleagues then called for more funding from other cities, such as DeBary and Deltona. Except for DeLand, West Volusia cities do not now contribute to the support of First Step Shelter.

“I think my city should play a part in it,” Santiago said, referring to Deltona, to lessen the burden on the county.

Noting many of those coming to First Step are often brought there by Volusia County deputies, including those who patrol and enforce the law in cities such as Deltona and DeBary, County Council Member Jake Johansson said he “would like to see the cities that don’t have their own police departments come up with some money.”

“The west side is benefiting from this,” Council Member Troy Kent said, referring to First Step shelter.

“I’m a no on a five-year deal,” he added.

“We’re being asked to carry the whole deal,” Brower said.

When the roll was called on the motion to approve Santiago’s gradual reduction in funding for First Step, County Vice Chair Matt Reinhart was joined by Johansson, Robins and Santiago to form the majority of four. The losing side included Brower, Kent and Council Member Don Dempsey.

As well as pressing for only one year of continued funding for First Step, Dempsey urged the council to consider establishing a separate shelter for “sex-offender transients.”

“Volusia County has 61 homeless sex offenders or predators living on the streets,” he said, because homeless shelters refuse to admit them. “No one is taking them. … We need to have a place to house these people.”

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