JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Following news that EverBank is considering leaving downtown for the suburbs, due in part to security costs, the Duval DOGE committee dug into stats surrounding the homeless situation downtown on Tuesday.
The EverBank news comes on the heels of Citizens Insurance deciding to leave the same downtown building last year due to security concerns as well.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
Duval DOGE Committee Chair Ron Salem (R-Group 2 At-Large) said he believes there have been major improvements since then.
“The problem is nothing what it used to be,” said Salem.
The numbers relayed to the DOGE Committee seemed to back Salem’s impression.
Property crimes in JSO’s downtown district are down nearly 12 percent year-over-year, according to the agency.
Since last October, 260 homeless individuals have been relocated through the city’s Homeward Bound Program, and there have been 650 arrests since the city began enforcing its public sleeping and camping ban.
Downtown workers like Nino Serrano told Action News Jax they’re seeing improvements firsthand.
“It’s cleared up a lot since the last couple of years. So, I thinks it’s gotten a lot better down here,” said Serrano.
Hali Barber, who said she’s working her way out of homelessness through Sulzbacher’s Mental Health Offenders Program, shared that sentiment.
“For the most part, yes. Operation Clean Up has been doing the best that they can. JSO is also doing what they’re supposed to do,” said Barber.
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
But Barber also told us she sees a need for more shelter space.
That same concern was also relayed by JFRD to the DOGE Committee.
Members discussed potentially using roughly $1.5 million in unspent funds already allocated to address homelessness issues to boost bed capacity.
They also floated the possibility of using that money for a new day center near Trinity Rescue Mission to ensure homeless individuals have somewhere to go besides the street during working hours.
“I think it would go a long way to improving our downtown area if we can get those people off the street, provide them services, job training, whatever it would be to hopefully turn around their lives,” said Salem.
Salem indicated the DOGE Committee will try to get representatives from the city’s homeless shelters in for a follow-up meeting to discuss possible ways to address some of the concerns highlighted Tuesday.
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
