Street to Home Receives $50,000 from the City of Melbourne

In a historic vote, the City of Melbourne awards $50,000 to the Street to Home Movement 

On September 29th with the final passage of the 2016-2017 budget, Melbourne City Council awarded Steadytown, the coordinating agency for the Street to Home Movement, $50,000 to hire an additional outreach worker and to help the organization accelerate their efforts in ending chronic homelessness in the City of Melbourne.

Through coordinate efforts with Peace Gap Ministries, the Daily Bread, Melbourne Main Street, and the Brevard Housing Authority, 52 chronically homeless individuals have been placed in scattered site apartments and assigned a case manager. The case manager stays with the client for anywhere from 6-18 months depending on the clients needs and helps them reintegrate into society and gain access to care.

Individuals served by the Street to Home Movement have typically been homeless more than two years and suffer from complex issues regarding their physical and mental health. The population being served are typically overlooked by other services geared toward homelessness.

"This is a huge step for the City of Melbourne and I am especially proud of our Mayor Kathy Meehan who called the workshop back in May and everyone on Council who took their time to understand our process, goals, and the role they can play in changing the lives of some of the City's most disadvantaged citizens." said Executive Director of Melbourne Main Street, Jarin Eisenberg. "We hope this will serve as a catalyst for gaining more support, especially from the health care industry as the benefit of providing preventive care to these individuals is a relief to their emergency care systems."

Keith Donald, founder of Steadytown, is leading the way in social entrepreneurism. "We started this Movement in 2015 as it was becoming clear that more and more of our most disadvantaged citizens were not being served by permanent solutions. At the same time, the cost of doing nothing was becoming visibly higher - to our businesses, hospitals, and public. I love living in Melbourne and we are an innovative, compassionate community. What we are doing here is both compassionate and good for business. I am so grateful for the City's support on this important public health issue."

The group started housing individuals in December of 2015 and since then has worked closely with the Melbourne Police Department and other groups to coordinate care for homeless individuals, many of whom reside in Downtown Melbourne.