homelessness

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GRACE Marketplace’s animal welfare program extends GRACE’s services to homeless individuals with pets. GRACE partners with St. Francis Pet Care to provide residents with vaccines and any treatment or operation the pet may need. GRACE also uses grants and donations to provide them with pet food.

Every Saturday and Sunday, Project Downtown Gainesville sets up camp in the same spot, where volunteers provide hot meals and other resources for individuals facing homelessness. On some weekends local barbers like Ju-Ray Kuo partner with the organization Project Downtown Gainesville to provide haircuts free of charge to homeless individuals.

It was impossible to feel settled with the threat of arrest and deadly force hanging over them. But where else could they go?

Of the thousands of motorists who drive southbound Interstate 75 every day, hundreds take the Exit 374 ramp toward Micanopy, and they all pass Sharon James and Tim Rader. James and Rader have been “off and on” homeless for over 20 years and have been in Florida since 2016. They spend their days panhandling at the exit and return to their tent in the woods at night, where they weathered Hurricane Ian and Tropical Storm Nicole.

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An accurate record of the number of families experiencing homelessness in Alachua County and surrounding areas is nonexistent. According to Patrick Dodds, the director of Continuum of Care in Gainesville, there are currently about 10 homeless families in the coordinated entry system in need of housing assistance. “I think the number’s probably 10 times that,” Dodds said. “Families are often kind of the invisible homeless.”

The camp is a microcosm of both this year’s housing crisis and the cracks in the local shelter system. Its uncertain future hints at what may be ahead for many more.

Florida Gator fans already have a reason to love Tom Petty; the lyrics of his 1989 hit “I Won’t Back Down” echo through Ben Hill Griffin Stadium during every home football game. Now fans have more reason to love the late Gainesville native and rock icon after several donations to the community have been made in his honor. A gift of $25,000 was made to the Cade Museum on Petty’s behalf by his daughter, Adria Petty, in October. Jennifer Dempsey, the marketing manager for the Cade Museum, said the donation will go toward Operation Full Steam, an outreach program serving students in Title I schools in Alachua County.