It was a 2 1/2-day bus ride away, but Christmas dinner was waiting for Howard Wimbs in Yuba City, Calif.
Wimbs, a resident of Fort Lauderdale's Tent City, was going to have to heat up that dinner in the microwave. He was going to have to put up with some colder weather. But it didn't matter to Wimbs. He was planning to join fiancee Velma Pettway, pregnant w ith his baby, and leave his Broward homeless life behind thanks to a present from the county -- a bus ticket home.
``It won't be long until I have my own place,'' Wimbs said before leaving. ``Wherever you go, you do your best and things will work out for you.''
Since October, 98 residents of Tent City received bus tickets from the county to go home, about $8,000 worth of bus tickets for trips to other parts of Florida and beyond.
The temporary shelter on Northwest First Avenue in downtown Fort Lauderdale where they have lived on and off for nine months will close after the Feb. 1 opening of the new Homeless Assistance Center at 600 W. Sunrise Blvd.
The bus-ticket program is geared toward those who haven't severed their family ties, people who haven't been homeless for a long time, said Mel Goldberg, homeless outreach project director for the county's Bureau of Children and Family Services. Those who don't take a trip out of town will have to go to boarding homes, residential programs or, if they qualify, to the new Homeless Assistance Center.
``It's inevitable that there'll be some people who, because of the situation and choices, may end up on the street. Time will tell. We'll have to see what happens,'' he said.
More coming in
Goldberg said it would be difficult to place people if Fort Lauderdale doesn't close Tent City. He said there are currently about 280 people in Tent City and 98 have been reunified.
``In October there were over 200 people, so even when you reunify people there's more people coming in. In the next months, we may place 100 and we may get 150,'' he said. ``It would simplify things if the gates were closed and no one was admitted to t he tent. But there are legal reasons. And the doors to the HAC (Homeless Assistance Center) haven't opened yet, and until that happens they're reluctant to close.''
After the Homeless Assistance Center opens, groups of 60 will start being sent to the HAC, and parts of Tent City will start coming down. The target date for completely dismantling Tent City, which opened in 1993, is sometime in the first two weeks of
March.
A happy reunion
Out in Yuba City last week, Wimbs' fiancee was busy making plans for the future and cooking up a storm -- ham, potato salad, greens, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, pies, cakes and eggnog because she knows ``that man can eat.''
``Oh, I'm so happy,'' Pettway said. ``I appreciate it, I really do. With the holidays and everything, I didn't have the money to pay for his bus ticket.
``It's nice everywhere, but if you love someone you come to where they are at,'' she added. ``That's love.''
Lazaro Hernandez, 25, a native of Cuba who has lived in Tent City about a week, also received a bus ticket. His father is in jail in New Jersey, and he left for Trenton, N.J. last week where he will stay with a church pastor he knows. He hopes to find work. He also has some experience as a cook and working on a chicken farm.
``I'm not going to depend on anyone,'' he said before leaving. ``I'm going to depend on Christ, the all-powerful. He's in all of us. I need to get out of this situation I'm in because it's pretty shameful.''
Change for the better
As part of the homeward bound program, residents have to provide the name of a contact, usually a relative, in the city where they want to go, and that person has to agree to take them in.
County employees say that sometimes a change in geography can make all the difference for a person who is homeless.
``People feel more comfortable where they feel more connected and if they are, they'll be more successful than they are here,'' Goldberg said.
Tent City resident John Williams said he loves the idea of the reunification program but won't take advantage of it himself because ``me and my family don't get along.''
He started living in Tent City about a year ago after coming to Florida with a carnival company from Washington, D.C. and getting into drugs.
``If I went back home it wouldn't do me no good,'' he said.
Williams said that while there are some people who can benefit from the program, there are others he says are ``institutionalized'' homeless who have drug and alcohol problems who ``don't want to go home.''
County officials say they have expanded by more than 500 beds programs to serve the special needs of the homeless, including those with substance abuse and mental health problems.
Those who have been homeless for a long time and may have severed ties with their families need to be taken ``on a case-by-case basis'' said Angelo Castillo, director of the county's Human Services Department.
``Some may need work, some may have work and need housing. Sometimes health is an issue or they need their GED,'' he said. ``I knew someone who was homeless because he needed glasses and couldn't work. I knew someone who took drugs for a dental problem
.''
Uncertainty lingers
Even when a Tent City resident accepts a ticket, it's no guarantee things will work out.
A 58-year-old man named David from Puerto Rico, who declined to give his surname, said he had already gotten a bus ticket to Orlando but two weeks later he came down with pneumonia and had to come back.
As he spoke, he covered a cardboard jewelry box with matches.
``If I can sell a few of these, I'll go to Louisiana to see if I get work there. I have friends there,'' he said. ``Or, I may stay.''
Copyright © 1998 The Miami Herald
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