It’s been a place for the homeless to beat the heat.
To take a shower, do some laundry and use the restroom three days a week.
The Jacksonville Day Resource Center opened just under two years ago as a pilot program. At about 4 p.m. today, the experiment is ending.
Despite pleas from one group Monday to City Council members to keep it open, the center had run its natural life, said Dawn Gilman, CEO of Changing Homelessness.
Grant funding wasn’t there. Private sector support isn’t available. The building’s owner wanted it back.
The center’s time was just up.
“We did learn from it,” said Gilman, “And for that reason alone it was a success.”
For services like showers, meals and a brief escape the center provided, Downtown’s homeless service providers say they are stepping up.
Showers for men will be available each day from 10-11 a.m. at Sulzbacher. City Rescue Mission offers the same for women.
Sulzbacher’s Hope Team, which provides health services, will make trips to Clara White Mission. And Clara White will still provide its veterans clinic.
“I think the key in this kind of program was finding out what kind of services were needed,” said Penny Kievet, City Rescue Mission executive director. “And I think we accomplished that.”
When it opened in October 2013, the center’s goal was twofold: Connect people to services and reduce misdemeanor homeless arrests.
Gilman, Kievet and Sulzbacher President and CEO Cindy Funkhouser all agreed the first goal was met. They also agreed the second goal wasn’t.
For the Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays the center was open, it did make a difference for those who weren’t always served at the other providers.
Whether the homeless felt they didn’t fit in, were paranoid or felt more comfortable at the center, Kievet said the short-term model worked. And some of those even became comfortable enough to receive help elsewhere.
“We will continue to do all that and, I think in terms of handling what the JDRC provided, we’re going to step up and rally,” said Kievet.
Funkhouser said her biggest concern will be available restrooms — something she said needs to be addressed. She’d like to see standalone public restrooms available any time of the day instead of frequent stops to public buildings like the Main Library.
Despite the service providers saying they can fill the gaps the center will leave, not everyone thinks that’s possible.
Carolyn Hillhouse-Jones, an Interfaith Coalition for Action, Reconciliation & Empowerment board member, said she doesn’t think the Downtown service providers put much effort into keeping the day center around.
She was one of the vocal supporters who told council Monday it was “unacceptable” to defund the center.
The center’s funding never was a line item in the 2015-16 budget, but Hillhouse-Jones said it should have been a priority for Mayor Lenny Curry.
She said the interfaith group was the one that pressured former Mayor Alvin Brown into action on the issue, with the results being overwhelmingly positive.
Hillhouse-Jones said the organization has reached out to Curry’s office numerous times since he’s taken office to determine what his plan is for such a service. To this point, she said, there hasn’t been a returned call.
“It’s going to take leadership,” she said.
One council member tried to provide help Monday, but came up short.
Council member Reggie Brown made a pitch at the end of the lengthy budget meeting to provide $175,000 for the center, about half of what he said was needed. He tried to pull the funding from was the Jacksonville Journey anti-crime initiative.
Shortly after it was introduced, Sam Mousa, Curry’s chief administrative officer, told council it wasn’t an appropriate source for such a move. It quickly failed.
Brown said Thursday he wasn’t giving up. He heard from those who supported the center and was “alarmed” the service providers didn’t do more to keep it.
“We can’t pick and choose what side of the homeless problem we want to deal with,” he said.
Without such a center, he said, taxpayers are impacted. He suggested those who might use the center would instead turn back to Hemming Park and the Main Library as retreats.
Brown said he thinks the Journey money still is appropriate for the center and he wanted to talk about the issue with Curry.
“Mayor Curry is very receptive to new ideas,” Brown said.
“I believe his vision of Jacksonville would align with supporting the Jacksonville (Day Resource) Center.”
Any such help won’t come today. That means at 4 p.m., the pilot program officially comes to an end.
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