In Jacksonville’s Arlington area, City Council Member Ken Amaro highlights the challenges of homelessness.<\/p>\n
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A Jacksonville City Council member is drawing attention to homelessness in the Arlington area after a recent walkthrough revealed tents, trash, and environmental threats.<\/p>\n
Councilmember Ken Amaro, who represents District 1, tells First Coast News he joined the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office on a walkthrough last Friday, where he encountered homeless encampments in his district.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour heart breaks, but then you look at the damage that\u2019s been done,\u201d Amaro said.<\/p>\n
Amaro says he saw tents and debris during the walkthrough, adding that while homelessness is a complex issue, it presents challenges for both people experiencing homelessness and the surrounding community.<\/p>\n
\u201cHomelessness is, it’s a very complex issue and you want to be empathetic to meet the needs of the unhoused, but you also want to protect property and you also want to have community standards, if you will,\u201d Amaro said.<\/p>\n
Beyond quality-of-life concerns, Amaro says trash left behind at some encampments has created environmental issues. He says debris from one site reached Strawberry Creek, polluting the waterway.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo issues,” Amaro said. “You’re on someone\u2019s property. And then secondly, they leave immeasurable blight behind, and at that location that I went to, some of that filth had gotten into Strawberry Creek, so now you\u2019ve got a polluted waterway,\u201d Amaro said.<\/p>\n
When encampments are discovered, Amaro says the city relies on the PATH Team, a partnership with Jacksonville Fire and Rescue, to connect people with services rather than simply moving them along.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe immediately call the PATH team and they go out there. It’s not a callous thing. They go out and they try to find resources to assist those who may be staying in these camps,\u201d Amaro said.<\/p>\n
Advocates say enforcement alone will not solve homelessness and stress the need for both outreach and housing options.<\/p>\n
Dawn Gilman, CEO of Changing Homelessness, says her organization coordinates homeless services across Duval County and three surrounding counties by maintaining a centralized database used to connect people with available resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are the entity that keeps the database, which is a client-level repository of information on everyone that\u2019s experiencing homelessness. It allows them to be referred to both services and to housing as is available,\u201d Gilman said.<\/p>\n
Gilman says emergency shelter plays an important role, but is not meant to be a long-term solution \u2014 and capacity remains an issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, we need beds, and not just emergency shelter beds, because emergency shelter is intended to be something less than 30 days. Someone\u2019s in a crisis immediately. It\u2019s a place to get stabilized and then move onto something more stable, whether it\u2019s within that agency or at another agency,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
As the city continues working with agencies and outreach teams, Amaro says residents in his district also play a role.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn District 1, where there seems to be a number of these camps popping up here and there: if you see something, say something,\u201d Amaro said.<\/p>\n
Later this month, Changing Homelessness will conduct the annual Point-in-Time Count on January 29, a one-night count of people experiencing homelessness. The count is required for Jacksonville to receive federal funding and helps determine how resources are allocated moving forward.<\/p>\n