Comments on: Homeless Shelter Takes Toll on Small Businesses, Local Tax Revenue

By: Janis Sheridan

Janis Sheridan — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 23:33:01 +0000

This will be happening all over because the homeless problem has been inflicted upon us all in every state has been imposed upon us by the government’s mishandling of the illegals at the border.

By: The Spider

The Spider — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 15:16:15 +0000

The real question is NOT being addressed. WHY are there so many homeless people in Tallahassee these days?

By: Kaley

Kaley — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 11:16:27 +0000

Yessss..the situation on Pensacola Street is an absolute disgrace!
The universities and community College bring in revenue for the city and county, so whyyyyy would you put the homeless shelter in between them? People urinating all over the sidewalk, sleeping in tarps on the sidewalks..trash littering the ground..What was once an area for students walking, jogging, biking is now an absolute disaster..Not to mention the crime rate..Way to go county and city officials ..great decision!! Not to mention the negative impact on surrounding businesses and property values.
Most democratic ran cities are dumps..Tallahassee is no exception.

By: David T. Hawkins

David T. Hawkins — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 18:03:16 +0000

The county and city spent $6.2 million on homelessness efforts just Last Year alone, plus MANY $Millions over the past several Years. SO, I will pass on my Plan with up dated figures. It’s a bit long though.
*

You can pass all the Homeless Ordinances you want but, until you actually do something FOR the Homeless, the Ordinances will not work. Both the City and County Commissions have thrown big Money at this problem over the years and yet none of it went to actually trying to solve the actual problem to help the Homeless.

You must first acknowledge that, to help the Homeless, you have to actually HELP the Homeless. We start by building a Gated Quonset Hut Community. Starting with Ten Quonset Huts and having room to expand to 20 with each measuring about 40×100 Foot. One is used as the Shower facilities that will also house the Laundry Facility, one will be used as the Kitchen and Dinning Hall, one used for the Offices and Classrooms with Internet while seven are used for housing, more can be added as needed. Yes, like an Army Bootcamp.

The Quonset Huts are set up, side by side lengthwise. You start with 10 to 20 acres of land, build a square -U- shaped Road to divide the property into three equal strips. The Activity Quonset Huts will be in the middle while the Living Quarters Quonset Huts will run down the outer parcels. We know the Community needs to be on a Bus Route therefor, there are few places to choose from to buy 10 to 20 Acres, that is why we should act fast before Developers snap it all up I am thinking Tram Road between S. Monroe and Capital Circle.

To maintain the Property and Buildings, Cooking, Cleaning, Grounds Keeping, Maintenance, you assign Jobs to those staying there that are able to do them. Doing this will give them time to get cleaned up, get the help they need and hopefully find a Job. It will also give them an Address so they can receive their Benefits, especially since many of them are Veterans. The hardest part of this project will be to keep the Commissions from over designing and over spending on it, there is no need to even do a Study on it. Simple and basic is all that is needed for this. 10 Acres could hold up to 30 Quonset Huts with plenty of green space between them and around them as well as the Interior Road and Parking. You are not building all 30 Quonset Huts at once, just the first 10 to start then expand as needed.

My estimates come in at $750,000 for 10 Acres of Land, $300,000 for Fencing & Gates, $250,000 for each of the Seven Living Quarters Quonset Huts to be Built out and Furnished, $300,000 for each of the other Three Quonset Huts, $1,000,000 for the Road, Drainage and Sidewalks, $750,000 for Sewer, Water and Electric, $50,000 for Landscaping and $100,000 for Miscellaneous things for a Total of $5,600,000. These are just estimates from the research I have done. 40 People can be housed in each Quonset Hut for a total of 280 Total People in the first Seven Huts. The Plan is that, the majority of the Residents staying there are only going to be there about 12 to 24 Months until they get back on their feet and find Jobs and move out on their own.

That’s it. I think this beats all the other Plans tried already.

By: DavidB

DavidB — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 13:09:57 +0000

@Constant Cynic, I guess I stand corrected!

Don’t look to San Francisco then. 😉

By: DavidB

DavidB — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 13:08:02 +0000

Please don’t look to California or New York for best practices and models for Tallahassee to replicate.

By: Ms. Data Geek

Ms. Data Geek — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 12:56:45 +0000

Each year in January, there is a national count of the homeless in cities/counties. Data is published. Called the Point in Time homeless count, the January 23, 2023 count showed 801 homeless in Tallahassee/Leon County. These data show how many of children, in shelters, or not in shelters (living on the street). About 34% are not in shelters and 14% are children. The largest group is between the ages of 25 to 34 years of age.

By: A Skeptic

A Skeptic — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 12:24:21 +0000

The last two paragraphs are telling. In only 13 years, a privately owned property dropped nearly 66% in value when the expectation should have been for the value to double. I, for one, would be looking for someone to turn the lawyers loose on for turning my $28M investment into a $40M loss!

But this is what happens when politicians meddle in things they don’t understand. You simply cannot play Robin Hood with the taxpayer’s money.

I worked on the China mainland in the 80s. China had a very simple solution to 100% employment. If a task could be done with manual labor, it was. Even the dumbest guy out there can be taught to understand “this is a shovel, that is a pile of dirt, and the dirt needs to be moved onto that cart. When the cart is full, you can eat.” The cart cannot be effectively moved by manpower alone, so it’s pulled by horse. The horse quickly grasps the concept of “work now, eat later”. When the cart gets to the new location it’s emptied and a diesel powered mover/grader levels and compacts the area where a new building foundation will be laid.

There are many locations/businesses in town where a guy could be handed a shovel and had the rules explained to him. If he wants a meal, shower, and cot, he’ll figure it out.

By: Proud Rural Redneck

Proud Rural Redneck — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 12:18:46 +0000

This is what “Affordable Housing” will look like. What once was the slums, the ghetto and the projects has a new moniker affordable housing. The big difference is affordable housing will be in your neighborhood. Nothing more than putting lipstick on a pig.

By: Constant Cynic

Constant Cynic — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 10:12:26 +0000

There are best practices only they cannot be found in blue stained cities so obviously they will never be tried here. The City of Coronado, CA and Colorado Springs, CO have both enacted tough love stances. You give the hobos 3 choices. 1. Accept help from the existing services (short term housing, mental health, substance abuse, etc.) that are in place or 2. Get out of the city/county or 3. Get arrested.

I fully understand that we have a completely broken legal system where you cannot forcibly commit mentally ill/substance abusing individuals to facilities for treatment. The Baker Act is a joke and useless and until someone self harms or commits an overt criminal act these individuals cannot be touched. If the hobos commit criminal acts then they are pushed into the criminal system for incarceration and maybe treatment. That route is generally cheaper for the state.

Community based care is also a joke. There are zero enforcement tools to keep the mentally ill/substance abusers from just walking away from treatment and back on the streets.

Tough love is the only approach left for sane people living under an insane system.