JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville Metropolis Council Finance Committee Chair Ron Salem introduced a major 40% discount within the variety of homeless people in Duval County, attributing the lower to a brand new, metropolis council-funded program applied over the previous 12 months.
The discount is attributed to collaboration between the Jacksonville Fireplace and Rescue Division and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Workplace, together with focused funding.
Based on the announcement, the numerous lower follows a 12 months of strategic funding and programmatic help accepted by the Jacksonville Metropolis Council, which targeted on addressing homelessness by way of outreach, prevention, housing help and coordinated care.
“That is the results of what occurs once we work towards actual options,” Salem mentioned. “The Metropolis Council targeted its efforts on homelessness, developed and funded a inventive answer that has translated into lots of of lives being modified. Our aim was not simply to scale back numbers, however to show that the packages we’re investing in are working.”
The variety of sheltered homeless people decreased from 779 in 2024 to 719 in 2025. The variety of unsheltered people, these sleeping in locations not meant for human habitation, dropped from 566 in 2024 to 290 in 2025, a 49% discount.
The 49% lower within the unsheltered inhabitants is described as “one of the crucial dramatic year-over-year enhancements within the area’s historical past” and emphasizes the significance of a sustained dedication to long-term options.
“The 2025 Level in Time Rely is encouraging,” Mayor Donna Deegan mentioned. “It exhibits that we’re heading in the right direction for the reason that metropolis developed a strategic plan, launched the JFRD PATH outreach workforce and expanded obtainable shelter beds.”
“It’s essential to notice that this one knowledge level can also be a snapshot in time,” the mayor mentioned. “We all know there’s extra to do. We should proceed the work with our group companions to maneuver folks into housing and develop the ahead progress.”
Final 12 months, Mayor Donna Deegan unveiled a brand new initiative geared toward tackling homelessness whereas addressing a new Florida regulation, which took impact in October 2024, that prohibits sleeping or tenting on public property.
This system builds on the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Workplace Homeward Certain program, which ensures town is specializing in people who reside domestically, making a 24/7 community of locations for homeless people to go.
The initiative goals to increase shelter capacities within the metropolis, introduce a homeless village and resort lodging, and enhance funding for outreach and consumption groups that join folks with housing and wraparound choices.
The town plan has 12 suggestions, and in accordance with Deegan’s workplace, the suggestions are supposed to particularly deal with HB 1365 and are half of a bigger five-year strategic plan on homelessness.
