Florida Gives Grants to Combat Homelessness

• Author: William Asher
• Posted: 2024-01-18

Florida has a population of around 22 million people, and a homeless population of about 28 thousand. So, per those numbers, it would appear as if Florida is doing an okay job at combating its problem of people being homeless. Though while 28,000 homeless people in such a large population might not seem like much of an issue, it's important to keep in mind that the number of homeless people there has doubled since 2011, a 100% increase in only a decade. This is why the Lee Board of County Commissioners in Florida voted earlier in the week to compile state and federal grants to help combat homelessness in the state.

Upon reading this news, it's understandable for a person to believe that by combining state and federal money, especially with billions of federal dollars going to Florida via the Corona stimulus, that something like $10 billion may be poured into this issue. However, to date, the state is only planning on giving $3.7 million in grants to a few shelters and kitchens in trouble areas in order to deal with the homeless issue.

This is what most would call a gesture and not an answer. Even people who are excited about these grants understand that the actual value of the grants isn't doing much to help. Even if you broke this money down and somehow figured out the logistics to get it into the hands of the homeless directly, that's only about $132 for each homeless person in the state. Is that supposed to make a difference? According to the Board in Florida, the answer is yes. They have assured media and various people in the state that this is a highly targeted approach that is going to tackle the problem where it's most present in the state.

The goal here is to get meals for the homeless and to help create more shelters for people, so they don't have to sleep outside in the elements. The average person is rightfully suspicious of how much of an impact this will have, but Florida's politicians are confident that it's going to help.

More and More Grants, More and More Homelessness

If we're being entirely honest about the homeless situation, then we have to admit that it's a tricky catch-22 of a situation. Throwing money at homelessness has historically not helped to solve the issue at all. However, you cannot just simply choose not to try to do something to combat the situation, and so money must be thrown at it. It's just tricky, full stop. Why is it such a hard problem to combat? While it's hard to find a genuinely honest take on this, since media seems loath to actually speak about homelessness in any capacity, some experts on the subject claim it's entirely due to who comprise the bulk of homeless people. Colloquially, we think of homeless people as unemployed people who have fallen on tough times. While these do account for a small percentage, the bulk of homeless people are individuals with severe mental issues and drug habits.

The bottom line, according to these experts, is that throwing grant money at the problem of "homelessness" does a decent job at ensuring some people will eat and some people will find temporary shelter, while it does nothing at all to address the mental health and well-being of so many people, nor does it tackle any substance abuse issues. In California, for instance, the state is so defeated on trying to get people off of drugs that they've tacitly legalized drugs for their homeless population, and their homeless population has shot up by nearly 100,000 more homeless people in the past five years.

Money has to be given, experts conclude. It's the moral thing to do; though not the only thing to do, and not the only place to target. Instead of soup kitchens and slum-like shelters, perhaps the money would be better invested in mental health facilities and rehabilitation centers. According to some of the more cynical experts in the field, governments don't even want to solve their homeless problem, as tossing money at them during election cycles make them look noble.

We don't know how true that is, as it's just the opinion of some people in the field, but we do know that homelessness is growing across America, and a few grants aren't doing much to help it. Hopefully, with some luck and proper implementation, Florida's grants will actually make a difference.