FORT MYERS, Fla. — A home on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Cox Street in Fort Myers has become the center of a heated debate over whether it should receive taxpayer-funded rehabilitation despite a history of police activity.
The property is eligible for assistance through the State Housing Initiatives Partnership Program (SHIP), which provides Fort Myers with approximately $700,000 annually to help low-income residents rehabilitate or replace their homes.
Watch Fort Myers Community Correspondent Miyoshi Price's report:
Records from Fort Myers Police show 6 felony cases and 13 misdemeanors at the address since January 2020, with more than 130 police calls in the last five years.
"This is a nuisance house, literally a nuisance house," said one neighbor who requested anonymity due to safety concerns.
However, Raymond Johnson, who lives on the opposite corner, believes the homeowner isn't responsible for the issues.
"Whatever goes on down there with (the homeowner's) grandkids or whatever, whatever. Understand she don't have nothing to do with it," Johnson said.
The homeowner's granddaughter, Avianna Duncan, worries her grandmother is being unfairly targeted.
"I feel like she shouldn't be just made as an example," said Duncan.
Duncan revealed her grandmother is currently homeless and misses her home dearly.
"I think that my grandma has learned that, yes, you're supposed to take care of your family, but also you need to put your foot down. It's getting in the way of you and what you have to get going for themselves or herself. So, I feel like my grandma is learning to value her home more, because since she's been away, she misses her home dearly, and she always comes to check on her home," Duncan said.
While the homeowner declined an on-camera interview, her daughter and granddaughter Desarai Broomfield and Avianna Duncan provided a statement:
"My mother Alice has lived in Fort Myers her entire life and started a family home here. Despite the complications that come with the company that was once invited, my mother has no reason to be held accountable for the actions of her loved ones. She isn’t able to control what happens, but only what she allows. If this home reconstruction is happening, my mother wouldn’t just waste a new home and allow the same things to occur. Yes my mother has an understanding her grandkids can’t come every chance there’s an emergency but yet that’s all the know. Her home was home to many of her grandkids. We never would’ve thought that coming to all we knew would’ve resulted in our grandma being homeless due to the actions of others. Yes we understand the calls and what the data is showing but from a moral pov there’s a grandmother homeless in a economy where being homeless is ultimately inevitable but if it’s able to be prevented then why not prevent.If you were promised a chance to rebuild your family's foundation, and there are outside opinions that are interfering with the final decision, would you feel robbed of this chance? Wouldn’t you miss your home? Being from her home is making my mother miss all that she built and also making her realize what she truly lost her home."
The Fort Myers City Council is considering changes to the SHIP program that would involve the police department in vetting future applicants, though some council members have reservations.
"I just think we're getting a little bit too involved in the police doing their jobs. That's why people pay taxes, that's why we have our police department," said Council Member Terolyn Watson.
Council Member Diana Giraldo suggested adding language to contracts addressing potential criminal activity: "Is there anything that we can put in that contract that moving forward if there is any criminal activity at this location? There is some sort of I guess a enforcement from the city if we're rebuilding this house. And this becomes the same issue again."
The mayor noted that police calls to the property have decreased recently and emphasized that home rehabilitation can improve neighborhoods.
Johnson supports using tax dollars for the program and wants to see the homeowner get her house fixed, but believes the visitors to the home need to change.
"If you gonna put the same people in a new home, and then what good is your tax dollar going to do because it's going to be the same problem," Johnson said.
He says he believes the change can be made.
As for the anonymous neighbor, they hope that the council does not use taxpayers money to rebuild a home where suspected criminal activity has been ongoing.
They offer their opinion on how the council should move forward with new vetting processes and language.
"Any time within a certain amount of period from the time that they move in to the time that they apply, If you have multiple arrests, felony arrest warrants, and have made arrests at that house, it should not be qualified for any ship program," said one neighbor who requested anonymity due to safety concerns.
The council plans to hold a workshop to develop a new policy for vetting these projects. For now, the home remains eligible for rehabilitation under the current program guidelines.
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