Data shows homelessness is improving Downtown

Homelessness and crime are on the decline in Downtown Jacksonville, a trend that local officials hope will keep large employers from leaving the urban core.

The City Council’s Duval DOGE committee heard data Tuesday about progress in helping the unhoused to stay off the streets and obtain access to services.

The report came from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department’s PATH team — short for Providing Assistance to the Homeless.

The hearing at City Hall came as two of Downtown Jacksonville’s largest employers — Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and EverBank — are moving on plans to leave from their high-rise offices at 301 W. Bay St. to the city’s Southside.

When Citizens’ board of governors voted in favor of the move last March, Florida’s nonprofit insurer of last resort for homeowners cited safety concerns for its 1,000 Downtown employees near the building as a key reason.

Then in February, the Downtown Investment Authority Board declined to endorse EverBank’s request for $9.8 million in taxpayer incentives from the city to offset the difference in its costs between moving and keeping its 800 employees Downtown.

An attorney for EverBank told the DIA that the homeless population was not part of the company’s decision to move, but the city dollars would partly assist with security costs.

Latest homelessness data

Crimes against persons and property are down 11.89% Downtown this year compared with a 4.78% drop citywide, according to Morris Halyard, District 1 lieutenant with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office

The city’s Homeward Bound program has helped 260 people experiencing homelessness since October travel from Jacksonville to their home communities to seek resources, Halyard told the committee. Since January, the program has relocated 87 individuals.

More than 1,000 people have used the program since its inception, the Sheriff’s Office says.

Fire Rescue Capt. Jennifer Parramore, who serves on the PATH team, says the program has had contact with 2,292 individuals since it launched in November 2024.

The program conducts outreach with the city’s homeless population — providing transportation to and finding access to shelter beds, assisting after a hospital discharge and storing personal belongings for up to 35 days if a person is arrested, among other services.

PATH and Homeward Bound have been part of the city’s response to homeless encampments and state law that prevents the homeless from sleeping in public.

Since Nov. 1, 2024, the Sheriff’s Office has issued 1,729 camping warnings, made 650 arrests and issued 182 notices to appear in court for the infraction, Halyard said. So far this year, there have been 115 warnings, 82 arrests and 21 notices to appear, he told the committee.

“I think there’s a misconception of the homeless situation,” council member Ron Salem, the Duval DOGE committee chair, said Tuesday. “I think it’s much better than it’s given credit for.”

The officials did not have the latest numbers on how many people are experiencing homelessness in Jacksonville. The nonprofit Changing Homelessness is expected to release its annual Point-in-Time census in the coming weeks.

‘It’s a crisis’

The DOGE committee says a key focus should be creating a day center for shelter and services for people who have to leave the Trinity Rescue Mission during the day on the westside of Downtown.

“During the day they empty out the building and those homeless people are just hanging out there with nothing to do,” Salem said. “And some days it’s very hot and some days it’s very cold. I think we need a facility similar to what Sulzbacher has on the east side of Downtown

In November 2024, council approved $1.3 million to create 96 new shelter beds at three shelters — Trinity, Salvation Army and the City Rescue Mission.

DOGE committee members said Tuesday that they would like to see the city’s Homelessness Initiatives Commission fund the day center out of its budget. Council appropriated $1.8 million for the board last year. It’s spent $300,000 to create a five-year plan to combat homelessness.

Brittany Norris, director of intergovernmental affairs, said Tuesday that Mayor Donna Deegan’s administration is developing options for the commission’s budget.

Salem calls the day center “a need” Downtown.

“I think it would go a long way to improving our Downtown area if we could get those people off the street, provide them services, job training, whatever it would be to hopefully turn around their lives,” Salem said after the meeting.

Parramore highlighted two existing challenges — finding shelter beds for women and children and storage for peoples personal belongings.

Currently, the PATH program has 18 emergency beds for women and children. Priority is given to mothers with their children, she said. According to Parramore, the program also has access to 18 additional overnight spots for women and children after 6 p.m. at Sulzbacher, but she said those fill up fast.

“That’s a crisis,” Parramore said. “Since we’ve started, we’ve seen an uptick in female homelessness. And weekly, we have to shuttle these families over (to Sulzbacher) for overnight floor space. The other day we had to take a family of seven over to Sulzbacher just to get shelter for the night.”

Parramore said it’s also difficult for homeless people going out on job interviews or keeping appointments when they have to take all of their personal belongings with them.

“They’re trying to get a job, but they have to bring all of their stuff with them during the day,” Parramore said. “So it’s cumbersome and it’s embarrassing to them to have to bring their garbage bags if they’re going for a job interview.”

Whether the data presented Tuesday will help ease businesses concerns about safety Downtown and keep the core’s office vacancy rate — which Downtown Vision Inc. said was at 28% in 2024 — from falling further remains to be seen.

City Council is expected to consider EverBank’s $9.8 million request in the next few months. Legislation to approve the deal had not been filed as of Tuesday. But Salem and others align with the DIA board that it would set a “bad precedent” for business retention in the core moving forward.