We're on a mission to END homelessness in Gainesville

2020 was a year of struggle, challenge, and - above all - innovation at GRACE. Our campus has been on a voluntary quarantine since March. We canceled fundraising events and suspended all volunteer programs, including meal groups. Financially, this represented a loss of more than $50,000 in community support each month. At the same time, we launched new campaigns, built on existing partnerships, and through it all, delivered and expanded key services to thousands of people in crisis. 

Our Executive Director, Jon DeCarmine, responded to an article released by The Gainesville Sun last week.

"An article published last Sunday on downtown homelessness failed to include critical information on the complexity, and solutions, to the issue. 

The closure of Dignity Village did not increase downtown homelessness. Of the 222 people who lived there, 100 are now in permanent housing and 64 left town. Another 58 are waiting to be housed, and 41 of them sleep on the GRACE campus. Overall, only 17 people moved elsewhere, most to small camps scattered around town. 

So why are we seeing more people without housing downtown? There are a couple of options, the first of which is the most obvious. Very likely, there are more homeless people downtown. There’s a pandemic, and a much more insidious economic pandemic coming, and folks who were on the margins are being forced out of whatever tenuous housing arrangements they held onto up until this point.

Jeff was recently featured in the New York Times, discussing how Florida laws have affected his ability to vote after facing a felony conviction over 10 years ago. In our blog post, Jeff tells us us about his experience.

The following article was published in the August Newsletter for Housing Not Handcuffs.

Successful Transition of Homeless Encampment to Permanent Housing in Gainesville

In Gainesville, Florida, a homeless encampment known as Dignity Village, in which experiencing homelessness resided, was approximately 350 people closed through provision of housing. Dignity Village was located near GRACE, the largest homeless services center and shelter in the city. When the city made it clear they wanted the camp closed, advocates from GRACE proposed a phased plan to the City of Gainesville so residents could obtain permanent housing.