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City of St. Augustine adds beds at St. Francis House to combat homelessness issue

By Varisa Lall Dass and Action News Jax
By Varisa Lall Dass and Action News Jax

The city of St. Augustine has a new approach to combating homelessness and panhandling in the area.

They opened eight new beds at the St. Francis House.

The city relaxed its panhandling enforcement after federal courts held the First Amendment protects the activity.

Now the city tells Action News Jax they are in the process of rewriting their ordinances and are looking for creative ways to curtail homelessness and panhandling in the area.

They hope the new beds, among other things, can help stop panhandling activity in the area.

But one homeless man we spoke to said the new beds will not help people like him.

“It doesn’t really help much because I have service animals, I can’t bring my dogs into the shelter,” Adam Mutschler said.

When we called the St. Francis House, they confirmed what Mutschler said. We were told service animals were not allowed in the house dorms and would have to stay at a separate shelter.

“Just giving someone a bed is not enough. And it’s not going to fix their drug addiction or schizophrenia,” Mutschler said.

When we asked the city what treatment services they have for the homeless, they told us the St. Francis House can put their residents in contact with appropriate services.

Cox Media Group

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