A big part of solving the homeless problem is simply having more low-cost housing available. Now an old Tallahassee apartment complex has been reborn with that mission in mind.
The complex on the corner of West Pensacola and Cactus streets, had long been a broken-down eyesore. Then last year, the Seattle-based development group Jalousie Bay Holdings took it over and the company's Vice President Scott McCarron said they had definite plans for the property.
“One of the core things that we hold near and dear to our hearts is attacking the homeless problem in communities and we have a lot of people in our group that want to help find solutions for that,” he told local officials and project partners during the property's formal grand opening on August 19.
One partial solution to the problem, added McCarron, was this 49-bed complex renamed “Mockingbird Garden” with rents as low as $450 a month. Jacob Reiter, executive director of the Kearney Center down the street said it’s already serving as a transitional facility for the homeless.
“We’ve housed probably more than 20 people from the Kearney Center here so far, so it’s been a great way to get people out of emergency shelter and into independent housing.”
The Jalousie people say they’re looking for similar properties here and elsewhere to refurbish for formerly homeless tenants.
