The number of homeless people in Leon County has risen about 36 percent in one year. That’s according to a preliminary report the Big Bend Homeless Coalition released on Friday. And community leaders are pledging to reverse the trend.
The report comes after volunteers walked the woods, streets and shelters this week. After interviewing more than 700 homeless people, they estimate more than 1,000 live in Leon County. Big Bend Homeless Coalition Executive Director Susan Pourciau says, a quarter of them are not in shelters.
She said, they are “literally living outside, under trees, on streets, alleys, cars, abandoned buildings.”
Local officals say, those numbers are unacceptable. County Commissioner John Dailey, said he’s going to craft a resolution that would make the county a partner in a nationwide homelessness-eradication campaign called 100,000 homes. Tallahassee City Commissioners Gil Ziffer and Andrew Gillum said they would do the same.