By Dale Mullin
On Memorial Day Weekend, our small nonprofit will honor brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country. Just a short distance from our remembrance, hidden from plain view, will be homeless encampments in the woods, vacant lots and culverts of East Naples.
Despite the best efforts of many in town, from the St. Matthew’s House emergency shelter to the groundbreaking Collier County Veteran’s Treatment Court, hundreds of homeless individuals remain on the streets of our well-to-do retirement paradise. This includes seniors and veterans.
Many homeless veterans don’t qualify for local shelters because they fail to meet all the entry requirements, such as sobriety, passing a background check or even having proper identification.
Others avoid temporary shelters – and the portal to help they represent – because of additional rules that prohibit pets, limit personal property or prevent partners and loved ones from staying together.
To deal with this obstacle, a growing number of communities have embraced a service delivery system known as high-resolution housing, where veterans and others in need can get access to food, shelter and emergency services without strict entry rules. It brings people off the streets, out of the woods and out of their cars.
This approach is not without its own hurdles, from potential NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) opposition to institutional resistance to a less punitive, triage-driven entry point to what I firmly believe is a God-given right to a clean, safe place to live.
In March, Warrior Homes of Collier convened a local Coalition of Care, with representatives from local organizations like the Baker Senior Center Naples, David Lawerence Centers, Collier County Sheriff’s Office and Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Venice to explore bringing a high-resolution shelter to our community.
As with St. Matthew’s House, we envision a site with faith-based oversight, not government-run. We also want to learn how such existing facilities operate, which led me and St. Matthew’s House shelter manager Mike Nojonus to recently visit the Housing for Homeless low-barrier shelter in Titusville, 40 miles east of Orlando in Brevard County.
At this location, veterans reside in 2- or 3-bedroom furnished apartments, with their own rooms. The average length of stay is 237 days, with residents required to actively seek permanent housing to remain. The barriers to entry may be lower, but the expectations are not.
“We do not expect anyone entering the program to be perfect or not make any mistakes,” shelter guidelines state. “We do expect you to be honest, own up to your mistakes or shortcomings and work with program staff to overcome any obstacles. This program is for people that want to better themselves and move on to permanent housing. “If you are here for any other reason, your stay will probably be short.”
We also plan to visit GRACE Marketplace in Gainesville, which espouses this philosophy while noting that, since opening a decade ago, homelessness in Alachua County has decreased 40%.
“We don’t require ID, a perfect background, income, sobriety or participation in services that aren’t related to housing,” according to GRACE Marketplace. “Instead, these issues become the first things we focus on when someone enters the shelter. Local residents are prioritized for beds, but at the end of the day, anyone can get the help they need, when and how they need it.”
For decades, veterans who’ve served our country with dignity and honor have grappled with higher rates of mental illness, substance abuse and homelessness, and are at increased risk of suicide.
These brave warriors need the support of our community and deserve safe, clean and accessible housing, as well as support with mental health and wellness.
As a proud veteran and full-time Neapolitan, witnessing our community’s generosity when it comes to lending a helpful hand to those who served our country has been inspiring. That philanthropy has allowed us to open six homes for local veterans over the past five years, primarily thanks to the support of private donors and charitable foundations.
It’s now time for a broader public conversation – and a plan of action – to not just put a dent in homelessness but remove the barriers to support that are keeping too many of our brothers and sisters from accessing the help they need.
About the Author
Dale Mullin, a Naples resident, is founder and president of Warrior Homes of Collier.
