Daytona Beach, FL – Homeless advocates protested in Daytona Beach Wednesday night over the city’s treatment of the homeless, saying that there needs to be a safe and legal place for those without shelter to rest their heads for the night.
Some of the dozens of advocates made their voices heard during the Daytona Beach City Commission meeting and also held signs saying “Shelter Can’t Wait” for drivers along US 1/Ridgewood Avenue and Orange Avenue to see as they rode by City Hall before the meeting.
Among those was Michael Pastore, better known as “Pastor Mike”. He’s the same person whose car was taken by a homeless man while giving out water bottles to the homeless in Daytona Beach earlier this week. (Click here for the full story.)
Pastore asked the DBCC to give him an answer as to where homeless can stay in the city for the night without worrying about police officers and urged them to create some kind of large temporary homeless shelter until the much-discussed Safe Harbor project comes off the ground.
“We refuse to accept that the only relief for the homeless must cost millions and take years,” Pastore said to the DBCC during public comments. “This is a simple concept to grasp, yet we’re still not able to communicate that shelter can’t wait.”
The Safe Harbor project – an idea brought forth by former Texas councilman Dr. Robert Marbut and one that’s been pushed by the DBCC for some time as a potential solution to fix homelessness in Volusia – has stalled as Volusia County and other cities in the county debate whether or not they want to help fund it.
Marbut – who has championed a similar concept in the Tampa area – is scheduled to meet with high-ranking city leaders next month to help make Safe Harbor a reality.
The current Safe Harbor plans call for a new building next to Volusia County Jail which would be open 24/7 to whoever needs shelter for the night. That building would also offer the homeless a place to stay permanently as they get career training and other things necessary to transition them from a life off of the streets.
Volusia County has offered to build the facility, but wants no part of actually running it. Instead, the county has asked all of its municipal governments to chip in money for that purpose.
Copyright 2015 Southern Stone Communications.