February 2, 1999
Broward commission OKs plan for homeless shelter in Pompano
Shelter will offer homeless a new view
Helping homeless becomes easier with new furniture, equipment,
supplies
HUD's Cuomo coming to ribbon-cutting
Fort Lauderdale cracking down on services for homeless
Huizenga
pledges $1 million more to help homeless
County
doesn't know how it will pay to run new homeless shelter
North
Broward County disagrees over location of homeless shelters
Miami
settles lawsuit over harassment of the homeless
South
Florida granted help for homeless
By LISA J. HURIASH Staff Writer
FORT LAUDERDALE -- Clutching their belongings in black plastic garbage bags, dozens of Tent City residents boarded buses and moved into the new homeless assistance center on Monday.
With a bundle of blankets under his left arm, Quentin Curry, 49, said he couldn't get on the bus out of the makeshift homeless camp fast enough.
"I'm really ready to go," he said. "I need a lot more structure. It's getting very dangerous here. And I can't sleep at night because of the noise."
Thirty-seven people were brought to the Broward County Central Homeless Assistance Center/Huizenga Family Campus on Sunrise Boulevard, a two-story cream-colored building with balconies and an open courtyard.
Inside they'll receive job training, counseling, GED classes and substance abuse and mental health screening. A security monitor watches 30 places around the facility, including the hallways and parking lot.
With a strict set of rules -- including an 8 p.m. curfew and 10 p.m. bedtime -- the county hopes to help the homeless ease into the mainstream. The cen ter holds 200 people. The bulk of them will come from Tent City at a rate of 40 per week until all the tents fold in mid-March.
Ezra Krieg, shelter spokesman, said the first day was a success. "This is an opportunity for people to change their lives," he said.
Monday was spent giving an orientation and medical care to the new residents, all of whom had been screened for tuberculosis. Lunch was hot dogs, vegetable soup, salad and baked beans.
The $9.4 million homeless assistance center has been a long time in the making. City officials first allowed the homeless to stay at Fort Lauderdale's Holiday Park in July 1993 following a federal court ruling that required cities to give the homeless a place to go without facing automatic arrest.
When drug use and crime in the park increased, the city moved the homeless people from Holiday Park to the then-new Tent City, just north of Browa rd Boulevard, across the street from City Hall.
The tarps could house as many as 400 people in the wintertime. It was supposed to be a temporary solution to help house the county's estimated 6,000 homeless people.
But it took nearly five years of negotiations before the site at 920 NW Seventh Ave. was chosen and funds were in place.
As Tent City residents left Monday, city officials took down one of the tents. New residents will not be given cots. It is hoped that will encourage them to move to the new shelter and speed the dismantling of Tent City, said Horace McHugh, administrative assistant to the city manager.
The parking lot will then likely be sold by the city to a private company for profit, said Mayor Jim Naugle.
County officials are aware that the new shelter won't have room for everyone at Tent City. Officials are hoping many take advan tage of other options such as the county's reunification program, which sends them to their families by bus, or programs such as the Salvation Army's, group homes or Henderson Mental Health Center's.
But Monday, filling the shelter seememd a long way off.
John Balderson, 43, said he arrived with butterflies in his stomach, but was excited to begin the process of getting help. He didn't even protest when county officials searched his belongings for drugs and weapons. Some of his peers were taken aback when the county handed them delousing shampoo and body lotion, he said, but everyone was cooperative.
"They gave (us) a change of clothes," he said. "I guess we can keep them."
"The majority of people that I talked to say this is great, it's time to get out of the tent," Balderson said. "I'll probably have a better feel for how things will be, whether I'll be getting somewhere or it 'll be the same situation except with a roof over my head."
