- Alachua County proposed $350,000 for homeless street outreach's third year amid debate over housing-first vs treatment-based models.
- County staff support housing-first but must include treatment-first options to comply with new federal funding rules.
- Commissioners unanimously approved directing staff to align the RFP with housing-first without delaying contract renewal by Oct. 1.
Alachua County was set to approve $350,000 for its third year of homeless street outreach along with 24 other items as part of Tuesday’s consent agenda, with one vote finalizing all the items.
But Commissioner Anna Prizzia pulled the street outreach contract from the consent agenda and opened a conversation with commissioners, staff and contractors about the county’s housing-first model to homelessness versus the shift toward a treatment-based model by the Trump administration.
Prizzia was concerned that the county’s contractor, TaskForce for Ending Homelessness, had signaled a move away from the housing-first model when it issued a request for proposals for the street outreach work.
The Taskforce’s request for proposals mentioned a treatment or recovery-based approach that connects individuals with those services and not just relying on housing intervention. It also said respondents should demonstrate adherence to the 2026 Five-Step Encampment Response Framework released by the Trump administration.
Jacob Torner, vice president of programs for the TaskForce, said the street outreach contractor would still follow the county’s housing-centered model. The county backup materials make no mention of a treatment-first approach, instead mentioning “housing-focused street outreach and permanent housing services for individuals experiencing homelessness.”
But the actual request for proposals (RFP) already made public by the TaskForce mentioned the treatment-based approaches.
Joe Jackson, board attorney for the county’s homeless shelter GRACE Marketplace, said the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) is providing the funding and should determine which approach is used.
“The RFP, as it’s drafted, contains section after section that refers to seeking a recovery-based or treatment-based approach, which in fact is favored by the Trump administration and is antithetical to the National Alliance approach to street outreach,” Jackson said.
Claudia Tuck, director of Alachua County’s Community Support Services, said the county aligns with the housing-first model but must now add the other treatment-first options.
“We have to make those other services available to align with what the federal government, who’s providing over a million dollars to this community just in homeless services, is saying,” Tuck said. “So what we’re trying to do is walk that fine line in the middle.”
She told Prizzia that the TaskForce, at the county’s request, could alter the request for proposals even though it’s already open for bids.
Jackson called the RFP a bait-and-switch, featuring the housing-first model up front but then allowing and asking for treatment-first approaches in the details. But Tuck’s response showed that the county staff is fully behind the housing-first model but wants to include language that appeases the federal government when they look at how Alachua County is implementing its full suite of homeless services, whether federally or locally funded.
“We’re applying through the continuum of care for federal funding, drawing it down,” Tuck explained. “So, anything that we do locally, when we do an application, the federal government has made it clear—not just for homeless funds or any HUD federal funding—that they will be looking at communities and how they’re handling their services. One of them is homeless services, and the federal government has changed. I’m the strongest advocate of housing first. . . .I’m the one that brought it here. So, this is tough for all of us. This is not an easy day, but they’re looking at everything.”
The county has pushed for the housing-first model and renovated two motels to provide 67 units of permanent supportive housing—regardless of drug or alcohol use.
Prizzia said she had no problem with Alachua County threading the needle and offering treatment-first operators to apply. But she said the RFP isn’t worded in that way. Instead, the TaskForce, funded by the county, seems to specifically solicit those treatment-first operators.
Prizzia put forward a motion for staff to work with the TaskForce to ensure the RFP remained housing-first and return it to the BOCC for review. But the current homeless outreach contract ends on Sept. 30. A delay in the RFP could leave the service unfunded on Oct. 1.
Prizzia withdrew her motion, and Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler made a motion to approve staff’s recommendation, which allocated the $350,000 for the RFP already in the public.
Wheeler said she trusted staff and their work on the issue.
Commissioner Chuck Chestnut seconded the motion but said he was frustrated by last-minute items coming before the commission, leaving no room for delay or change without compromising services.
“It’s just not right to do this kind of stuff here at this last minute,” Chestnut said. “To me, it’s just not right. You know, I’m getting kind of fed up with this. It’s been happening a lot in our community.”
After hearing more from staff, Prizzia offered a substitute motion that directed staff to work with the TaskForce and align the ongoing RFP with the county’s housing-first model.
Chair Ken Cornell asked Tuck if the motion would put any funding at risk or delay getting the contract in place by Oct. 1. She said no, and Torner readily agreed.
The motion passed unanimously and will not return to the BOCC before a new street outreach team is contracted.
TJ White, the county’s procurement director, said August is a typical window to renew an October contract, but that the county will try to move the window earlier by a few months when the contract requires a further RFP or subcontractor.
The County wants to spend another $350,000 on homeless street outreach, while taxpayers are forced to drive over deteriorating roads and infrastructure that put their safety at risk every day.
Nobody is saying homelessness shouldn’t be addressed. But when the County keeps finding money for programs that aren’t core government responsibilities while basic infrastructure continues to fall apart, something is seriously wrong.
Fix the darn roads. Maintain the infrastructure. Protect the people who are paying the bills.
Government’s first responsibility should be taking care of the basics not constantly finding new ways to spend taxpayers’ money.
Alachua County doesn’t need another excuse. It needs priorities. Save your taxpayers from getting hurt by unsafe roads.
If you set aside the question of whether or not we have a humanitarian duty to care for our most vulnerable, and just look at this as a financial issue, there’s so much research out there showing that a housing first approach actually saves millions of taxpayer dollars in other emergency and supportive services that a community will eventually be legally obligated to supply via hospital, ems, law enforcement, street cleanup, etc, if people are left on the streets.
So while it looks like the city is throwing money at housing, it’s actually big picture a cost saving measure that frees up more funds for things like yes, fixing roads and infrastructure.
I hear your frustration but all you folks who are so utterly fixated on the roads as their only priority need to zoom out a little and see it’s all part of the same picture.
Most homeless are homeless because of addictions and/or mental illness. Those two things have to be addressed before even thinking of putting a roof over anyone’s head. Sobriety must be a condition of taking advantage of any publicly funded housing. Those with mental illnesses should be given treatment and if necessary, hospitalization. Ongoing rehab for alcoholics and drug addicts. That’s where all these millions of dollars need to go. Otherwise all we will have is publicly funded rooms for ongoing drug and alcohol use and prostitution and fighting. No one will get training or seek jobs until they get rid of their addictions and have their mental illnesses treated. The whole idea should be to help people live better lives. Don’t give the hungry man a fish to eat, teach him to fish!
I hear you that it’s frustrating to think about paying for people to be in housing when they aren’t sober or stable. But the data overwhelmingly does not prove this out. There is extensive, detailed bodies of research showing that substance abuse recovery and mental illness outcomes are nearly impossible without stable housing. Housing first has become the model for most modern homeless services because it is dramatically more effective in long term recovery and helping people become self sufficient than dealing with the band aid symptoms first.
Addiction and mental health is a symptom, the root cause is almost always trauma and poverty, which you can’t fix if you don’t have a safe place to avoid being retraumatized and get your life together.
Taxpayers deserve safe roads. When a county is 700 millions of dollars behind on road maintenance, fixing dangerous roads should come before non-essential programs and unnecessary spending.
People shouldn’t have to dodge potholes every day while government finds money for everything else. If the backlog is truly that massive, sell non-essential assets, redirect resources, and fix the roads.
Because when someone gets hurt on a road the county knew was dangerous, taxpayers shouldn’t be left paying the price for government’s failure to act and every single Alachua County Board of Commissioners are responsible to protect us of known dangers. Start selling off assets like the 3 homeless hotels would be a great start.