throughout, in the Melbourne are, living in hotels when the mutual aid group could help her; she
has gone to Daily Bread, Salvation Army, and all throughout the County trying to find help; she
works at night now; and she is thankful to the mutual aid group that has helped her to stay
clean and fed. She added she did panhandle, but in the safest manner by standing on the side
of the street and letting them decide if they wanted to help her; if the light is green, you do not
go near them, obviously; she has been hassled by cops, told out of sight, out of mind, and
pretty much told to go to a tent in the woods; and then later be kicked out and trespassed. She
claimed the cops have actually directed her in which way to go, but she went the other way,
though; other than that, the cops have left her alone on the side of the road because she does
not attempt to go up to vehicles and ask for money; she noted she holds her sign which lets
them know what is going on in her life; she has made some bad decisions but it is not like
people would think; he car broke down in Kentucky and she ended up here; and she is stuck.
She stated she now has two jobs; she works Door Dash because of a co-worker she made
friends with; with her wife having a job, and him having a job, they are still struggling, as there
is no low-income housing; she is on disability as well and still cannot find help; to her,
panhandling was the only way she could find the clothes she needed for her job, the food she
needed to keep her going, a motel room here and there to get washed up every couple of
weeks; and everybody yelling at her making her feel horrible. She mentioned not being able to
use a public restroom because she is homeless, or told to get off the property; it is a horrible
situation, especially being pregnant; even just being a human and treated this way because she
couldn’t make it right off the bat; she started from nothing and is living at a hotel paying $606
per week, when she makes $634 every other week; unless she can get some low-income
housing or some more funds for people who are actually trying to help themselves, the County
will still see panhandling; and that is just to keep them alive and is barely working. She
commented she understands the safety portion, but if she is doing it safely, she does not feel
she should be given a hard time, as she is just trying to survive on what she is given.
Commissioner Lober stated he met with some folks yesterday at a church in Merritt Island who
were bringing up the low-income housing topic; he spoke to Ian Golden, Housing and Human
Services Director, yesterday about a couple of items that were discussed at that meeting; one
was in respect to impact fees and what could be done as far as encouraging developers to
build more low-income housing; he believes the County already has a waiver for the
transportation impact fees, or a portion thereof; but he does not know to what degree other
impact fees may be lessened or waived to facilitate that. He mentioned he has Mr. Golden
looking into that now; his other thought was that the County owns a ton of vacant land and he
knows a lot of it could be auctioned to make some money and get it back on the tax rolls; if
there is land that is not tremendously valuable, especially if it is consistent and compatible with
low-income housing, he thinks it is something to keep in mind; he thinks there may be a stigma
that low-income housing ruins a community and he does not think that is the case; and he
thinks people should keep their minds open as far as what can be done to facilitate building
low-income housing projects.
Commissioner Smith stated he agrees with Commissioner Lober; he has seen developers that
have come to his office and he thinks some of these housing projects look good; when he
hears stories like the speaker’s, it is heart-wrenching; he would like to see the Board do
something, if possible, to help these people; this was in no way intended to punish anyone, as it
is strictly a safety issue; it is a shame that there is collateral damage pursuing this; but he
thinks, in the light of trying to keep people safe, he thinks this is necessary.
Commissioner Pritchett expressed her thanks to the speaker for having the courage to come
up and speak, as she knows that is not easy; she stated as the advertising is being done for
this, she thinks it might need to figure out specific areas to be looked at because there are
some dangerous areas; the intent is not to take away someone’s ability to receive charity; and
she knows that the speaker already knows about Section-8 and first housing and they are hard