GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Due to the impact of recent budget cuts, GRACE Marketplace will reduce the level of services it provides to unsheltered homeless people on its 23-acre campus in Northeast Gainesville. 

Beginning October 2, the shelter will make changes to its hours, shelter capacity, and meals served to ensure consistent operations in the face of recent budget cuts. Specifically, these changes include: 

• Reducing the number of hours the campus is open to the public, including unsheltered guests, from 12 hours to eight hours. For homeless individuals who are not staying in GRACE’s emergency shelter, the campus will now be open from 11a - 7p daily. Shelter guests will continue to have 24/7 access to the campus. 

• In the face of a 10% cut to the shelter operating budget, GRACE will reduce the number of locally-funded shelter beds from 100 to 90. In addition to these 90 beds, GRACE will continue to provide 26 beds for homeless veterans and four hospital respite beds for homeless individuals discharged by UFHealth who have no place else to go to recover. 

• Unsheltered guests will continue to receive lunch and dinner at GRACE 7 days a week. The 90-100 unsheltered guests who currently eat breakfast at GRACE, however, will eat downtown at the public breakfast provided by St. Francis House Monday-Friday. GRACE will continue to serve brunch and dinner to all guests on the weekends. 

The changes come as GRACE deals with the impact of recent City of Gainesville budget cuts. Initially facing a 50% reduction in local funding for the shelter, Commissioners restored $300,000 of funding, and allowed GRACE to convert a $300,000 grant so it can fund shelter operations. Altogether, the City has funded $1,350,000 of the total $1,500,000 GRACE needs to operate the shelter. GRACE is still seeking an additional $350,000 in street outreach funding from local government. Without new funding, the street outreach team is expected to cease operations no later than November 30 of this year.  

GRACE is a one-stop homeless resource center serving Gainesville and Alachua County. We provide services for anyone experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Our services include emergency shelter, permanent housing, street outreach, showers, hot meals, storage, case management, health care, and other services. GRACE Marketplace is an independent, local 501(c)(3) organization.

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