Daytona Beach, FL – As numbers of homeless continue to camp outside the Volusia County Administration building on North Beach Street in Daytona Beach, Reverend Phil Egitto is working to move the Safe Harbor shelter option forward. Egitto has worked for the past few years on trying to find solutions for the area’s homeless and still thinks the Safe Harbor concept is the best option. Egitto, pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Daytona Beach, expressed concerns about the situation downtown after reports that homeless people at the county building are being urged by an activist not to go to the Salvation Army nearby, where 46 new shelter beds became available this week. Egitto says, “It needs to be constantly communicated that this is not a win-lose. You didn’t lose by getting help at the Salvation Army. It is a win. You’re getting the help that you need to get off the street.” Egitto said the agendas of some involved are “very sad” and suggested that some of the homeless who are “suffering the most”, going without sleep and coping with other health issues, are susceptible to being misled.
Egitto believes the Safe Harbor shelter that would be built on county-donated property near the jail would be a better long-term option for the homeless in the area. Egitto expressed disappointment that Port Orange recently decided not to offer financial support for Safe Harbor. Egitto says he hopes to be able to speak to the Port Orange City Council about Safe Harbor during a February meeting.
Egitto has gotten his congregation to donate money and has also recruited other congregations to donate for a total of about $30,000 that would go for operating costs for what’s dubbed Volusia Safe Harbor. Egitto says he remains optimistic about the future of the shelter plan.
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