What started out as an effort to provide a jail alternative for the homeless has grown to include a safe place for homeless veterans as well. With Adam’s Place now open and ready to serve, law enforcement officers in St. Lucie County have another option when called to homeless-related incidents.
For three years, Estelle and Bill Turney endeavored to create a space to dedicate to their son, Adam, a recovering alcoholic and addict. The new facility is meant to help break the homeless-to-jail cycle. Estelle Turney told St. Lucie Voice that criminalizing the homeless solves nothing. “It’s counterproductive,” she said.
Law enforcement throughout St. Lucie County, including the Port St. Lucie Police Department, will be able to assess the would-be homeless arrestee for safety concerns. If found to not be a threat, the homeless man could be taken to Adam’s Place in Fort Pierce.
Operated by the Salvation Army of the Treasure Coast, Adam’s Place is expected to provide counseling, monitoring and rehabilitation in an effort to help the homeless stand on their own.
One-third of the beds will be reserved for homeless veterans who have some form of identification showing their service.
The Salvation Army, also driven to help end the homeless-to-jail cycle, rallied around the Turneys with the belief that jailing the homeless only resolves the symptom – vagrancy, open container, loitering – but doesn’t solve the root problem.
Salvation Army Lt. Jeff Marquis said the homeless spend months in jail waiting for a court date because they can’t afford to bond out. According to the Salvation Army, it costs $85 daily to hold a homeless person in jail. By comparison, Adam’s Place estimates it will cost the facility $65 a day – and still provide services and help that could get the homeless person off the streets for good.
Adam’s Place held its dedication ceremony in mid-January and accepted its first temporary residents the last week of the month. “It’s a voluntary program,” Lt. Marquis said. Residents might stay just a couple weeks – long enough to find a more permanent housing solution – or several months. The range depends on the level of need each homeless resident has.
As for the homeless veterans, there are approximately eight beds available. Adam’s Place will help them navigate the various agencies and paperwork to receive military benefits and other forms of support.
“If we can help just one get off the street and be a worthwhile member of the community, then it’s a success,” said Salvation Army spokeswoman Kim Johnson.
Johnson said there doesn’t seem to be one overriding reason for why they are homeless.
“Everybody has their own story,” she said. Some find themselves homeless due to drug or alcohol use, others have mental health challenges, still others found themselves out of work and unable to afford the rent.
Some of those the Salvation Army expects to help are only recently homeless. Others have spent years on the street or in the woods. Some are transplants from parts elsewhere in the U.S. surprised by the cost of living in St. Lucie County.
Johnson said a housing study in St. Lucie County showed a person would have to work 2 1/2 full-time minimum-wage jobs in order to afford a basic two-bed apartment. Access to affordable housing is another barrier the homeless have, she said.
“It’s frustrating,” Johnson said.
Lt. Marquis described Adam’s Place as a safe place without much privacy or comfort. There are no doors on the residential rooms. There are no closets.
“We want them motivated” to get out on their own, he said. Sharing a bunk bed with another grown man “is not normal,” he added, noting that it just serves as yet another reminder that they can’t stay forever.
Along with needing the typical supplies a homeless shelter often needs – clothing, hygiene items, laundry supplies and money – both Lt. Marquis and Johnson said they really need willing landlords with whom Adam’s Place can partner.
A partnership with a landlord could allow Adam’s Place residents to find more permanent, affordable housing.
Those who wish to donate supplies can drop them off directly at Adam’s Place, 609 7th St., Fort Pierce, or the Salvation Army family store, 3629 S. U.S. 1, Fort Pierce. Financial donations can be sent to 821 SE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Stuart FL 34994 with Adam’s Place on the memo line.