- February 7, 2025
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After a five-year-long process of searching for funding and rallying the county and neighboring cities to the cause, the First Step Shelter for the homeless is expected to be "up and running" by the spring of 2018, said Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry at the Eggs and Issues program by the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce held on Thursday, Oct. 12.
“We as a city recognize that we’re in the business of city government," Henry said. "...We’re not experts in homelessness. However, as we all know, sometimes responsibilities that go outside of the purview of your expertise land in your lap.”
Henry, who is also the chair for the shelter's board, provided an update on the status of the First Step Shelter, outlining the need, overall mission and what they hope First Step will accomplish. The shelter is planned to house an approximate 100 single homeless men and women in Volusia County with the purpose of providing them with the resources they may need to "graduate" from homelessness. Though once built the shelter will be owned exclusively by Daytona Beach, First Step will be a coordinated effort between local governments, behavioral and social health providers, law enforcement and faith-based charities.
“Ultimately, it’s everyone’s responsibility," Henry said. "It’s everyone’s burden to bear.”
Henry said Volusia County has pledged $2.5 million for the construction of the shelter as well as promised to match the $400,000 the city of Daytona Beach will annually put toward the shelter's operational budget. The funding pledged by Ormond Beach and Port Orange, who were originally on the fence about the project, has turned them into two of the shelter's most important partners, Henry said. Ormond Beach has pledged $82,000 toward the shelter and Port Orange has put in $35,000.
First Step's has a total annual expenditure of $831,532.
One of the shelter's most prominent operating partners is Catholic Charities, which Henry hopes will also step in to help with transportation, a key issue that has been raised due to the planned location for First Step. The shelter is planned to be built on Red John Drive, near the Volusia County Jail.
“We felt, for a lot of myriad of reasons, that we needed to remove the homeless from having access to many of the things that continue to help them to spiral out of control and move them into an area where they can focus on regaining control of their lives,” Henry said.
Halifax Health's Bob Williams said the project is still in it's beginning stages and that more help is needed.
“One thing we’ve learned: If you see one shelter, you’ve seen one shelter," Williams said. "Every one of them is different. So it’s now time for our community to come together and take the best practices from other communities and customize and craft for the need here.”
Henry said that while the cities' support is needed, he understands many of them do not wish to continue pledging some of their annual budget to the shelter for a long period of time. Because of this, he asked the private partners and businesses on the venture to garner support throughout Volusia.
“It’s critical that we get it done, but it’s also critical that we get it done in a way that’s going to be successful,” Henry said.
Henry illustrated the impact the First Step Shelter could have with a personal account of running into a former student athlete who attended a rivaling school while Henry was a basketball coach at Mainland High School. The student is now homeless, and though Henry said First Step might not work for all individuals, those that the shelter helps to "graduate" from homelessness will regain something else.
“It gives them hope, and what has happened we find with a lot of folks who are in this condition, they’ve lost hope," Henry said. "They’ve embraced the lifestyle that they have because of the sense of hopelessness."
