FORT MYERS, Fla. — The owners of the Salvation Army Center of Hope building off Edison in Fort Myers want to use it to house as many Lee County people experiencing homelessness as possible.
The building's location is close to the new midtown revitalization, which Fort Myers leaders are uneasy about.
"We don't want something that's gonna discourage that investment," says Kevin Anderson, the mayor of Fort Myers. "This investment is very important to the city. As is addressing the homeless."
During Monday's city council workshop, Mayor Kevin Anderson discussed the proximity of Lee County's homeless population to the city's revitalization projects.
He told me Tuesday that the city looks forward to millions of dollars of investments in Midtown.
"If that becomes a drop-off point for all the homeless and Lee County, they're going to be congregated in and around Midtown and downtown, which we have put a lot of effort into restoring downtown and getting it to be the vibrant," says Mayor Anderson.
Terryn Baah-Acheamfour is the director of program services at the current shelter.
She says the goal is to break ground on phase one of the expansion, including the homeless shelter redevelopment, by January.
"We were anticipating moving in line with the beautification of Midtown because when someone drives down the street, we want our structure, as you've seen some of the renderings, it's very modern," says Baah-Acheamfour, the director of program services of the current shelter. "It doesn't give you any type of feeling like, oh my gosh, it's something negative over there."
Baah-Acheamfour says they currently house 24 single people experiencing homelessness and around 30 families.
Once the rebuild is complete, they plan to have about the same number of people, but they'll add more services.
"When we begin looking at individuals as neighbors because they are our neighbors, and we kind of remove that stigma of us versus them," says Baah-Acheamfour.
Mayor Anderson says he understands the need and supports the mission but will suggest a different location.
The Salvation Army says this project is happening but will maintain open communication with leaders and the public.
"We just wanna make sure the people are aware that we're watching this, we're monitoring this very close," says Mayor Anderson.
The phrase "not in my backyard" came up at Monday's meeting and both -Baah-Acheamfour and Mayor Anderson responded to the phrase in relation to the Homeless Shelter.
Mayor Anderson said,"That refers to his NIMB, not in my backyard. That’s a problem that has plagued the communities for years. Yes, we want this, but we don’t want it here. We have to find the most suitable location, understanding that we will not find the location that is totally acceptable to everybody. Somebody’s gonna be disappointed. It’s an unfortunate fact of life."
Baah-Acheamfour responded, "One of the things that we believe here at the Salvation Army that we are in a community and everyone is our neighbor so when we begin looking at individuals as neighbors because they are our neighbors, then we kind of remove that stigma of us versus them and realizing that these are people, these are families these are you know our coworkers actually that we are talking about when we say those are experiencing homelessness so it’s just us having a different perspective and you know taking a few look at it because there are neighbors, this is our community and we’re all here together."
City officials want to know more about making the Center of Hope the hub for Lee County's homeless population. The mayor says they will talk with the county.
