West Palm Beach mayor forms homeless task force
WEST PALM BEACH — They sleep in cars, with their children. They pass hours at tables outside the public library.
They crouch on the sidewalk under Clematis Street shop displays, drink with friends on treeshaded benches near the waterfront great lawn. They snooze on their backs in the City Hall courtyard, panhandle at outdoor eateries and interstate off-ramps. At night they camp out of sight in neighborhood parks, sometimes by the dozens.
They’re in plain sight in the headlines, with the occasional arrest, release and re-arrest.
In a city that shows the homeless both compassion and anger, officials last week convened a task force of social agencies, nonprofits, businesses and residents to recommend solutions within two months.
Mayor Jeri Muoio has been pelted with complaints about the homeless for months, particularly from downtown merchants who see them as vagrants
who scare off business. The task force represents an effort to get the many public partners who deal with aspects of homelessness to work out priorities to tackle an issue that’s bigger than their individual staffs and resources can handle.
“We are very proud of the work we do here in West Palm Beach, but having said that, it’s not enough,” Muoio said. “This has to be something where all these organizations and municipalities come together and lay out a plan that all of the communities stick to ... I’ll see you in 60 days.”
The recommendations can cover everything from funding to staffing, better coordination among agencies, needed ordinances or housing strategies, said Armando Fana, West Palm Beach’s Housing and Community Development director, who moderated the group’s meeting in city hall.
The number of homeless living on the streets of West Palm Beach went down 14 percent in 2018, to 426 from 498. But their concentration downtown has increased, as a percentage of homeless countywide, to 54 percent, up from 46 percent, Fana said.
The task force is comprised of more than 20 members. Among them, representatives of: nonprofits The Lord’s Place, St. Ann’s, the Lewis Center, the Jerome Golden Center, Habitat for Humanity; city and county staff, the West Palm Beach Housing Authority, Downtown Development Authority, State Attorney’s Office, West Palm Beach Police Department; and Clematis Street businesses Duffy’s and Subculture Coffee.
“Homelessness is everyone’s issue,” Police Chief Sarah Mooney said. The police department often feels it is bearing the brunt, “with only one tool in our toolbox,” the power to arrest people, she said.
“We can’t fix everything with a hammer. Sometimes we’re asked to do that. Our officers have to have a place to take them.”
One of the best hopes, she said, is the county’s FUSE program, which stands for Frequent User System Engagement. The program deals with a combination of problems that contribute to homelessness, from health to mental health and crime-related issues.
Police have programs for outreach to children, families, the elderly, drug addicts and mental health patients. “We’re spread so thin, but we can’t be the only ones with the remedy to the situation,” Mooney said.
Fana points out that it is contributing to several programs that deal with the problem, but that there still aren’t nearly enough beds to place those homeless who line up for them. This includes $55,000 for peer outreach, through The Lord’s Place and Jerome Golden Center; $50,000 for FUSE; $50,000 for a housing stabilization program to help people cover initial rent or security deposits; $47,635 for a youth program through Vita Nova; and $8,000 for Homeward Bound, to bus homeless people back to relatives who can care for them in their hometowns, among other programs that provide housing and outreach to people on the street.
It was clear from representatives of nonprofits, however, that demand for services far outstrips resources available. Meanwhile, businesses that rely on the perception of a safe, comfortable downtown see that perception shattered with every incident.
“I understand it is such a difficult and sad and frustrating situation, said Raphael Clemente, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority. “But when you’ve got a family out for dinner at a cafe table and there’s a person who smells asking them for food, we all know that person is desperate, but that group of people is probably not going to come back to that restaurant.”