Academic

But where will they go?

By Jacqueline Dowd

Marilyn St. Laurent and Jerry Black are among about 80 homeless residents of a wooded area near Cocoa.

Photo by Florida Today.

Offering limited resources or options for where they can stay, Brevard County officials told residents of a homeless camp they have to leave by Monday.

Rosa Reich and other members of the Continuum of Care Coalition conducted individual interviews to see if anyone could be matched up with resources in place. She sighed when asked where these people would go.* "We might be able to place a couple," she said. "The rest will have to move on and find another location."

The move-along order came a little more than a week after retired Brevard County Judge Joe Cowart agreed to allow law enforcement to enforce a no trespassing policy. Cowart, who owns the property, was facing county fines and health department violations if he did not comply. The judge had refused to trespass people from his property in the past, and homeless people have been living there for more than a decade.

Read the Florida Today article here.
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* Brevard has a homeless population of about 1,300 and only 104 emergency shelter beds.

Full post as published by the 13th juror on February 23, 2008 (boomark / email).