Homeless Shelter Update

The City of Bonita Springs has put a great deal of effort into studying the homeless issue and drafting ordinances to allow for a shelter while protecting the city. This has been very difficult. The proposed ordinances for zoning and shelter regulation will be introduced at the city council meeting on March 20 at 9:00 a.m. The final reading is scheduled for April 3 at 5:30 p.m. Please attend one or both of these city council meetings and support these efforts.

Please note that BSafeBonita is not opposed to a small shelter--just an unregulated shelter whose size is not supported by the actual indigenous Bonita Springs homeless population. The Development Order currently on file with the city since April 17, 2012 was originally for 260 beds, far more beds than our documented homeless population. Such a large number of beds, if built here, would attract homeless populations from many other areas in Florida and the US.

BSafeBonita deems the following points most important for inclusion in the homeless shelter ordinances. These will most likely be discussed at the City Council meeting.

The City should hire an independent outside consultant to get a more accurate account of the homeless population that would actually use a shelter. Many homeless people do not want to use shelters.

In the absence of an independent count, we support 30 as the number of beds based on the latest HUD homeless information and the current population of the City. Discussion may include whether the beds are per shelter or per city.

The ordinance needs to specify “set back,” that is the distance from a shelter to a residential neighborhood, school or child care center. We are in favor of 1000 feet or more.

The ordinance needs to specify density of social services Group IV uses (juvenile training schools, homeless shelters, etc). The goal is to not have too many Group IV uses concentrated in one area or neighborhood. We are in favor of 1000 feet or more.

The ordinance needs to clarify how distance is measured between a shelter and the other land uses described in the last two points. We support measuring from property line to property line, not from a shelter facility
(building) to a property line.