- October 31, 2024
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The homeless camp, which recently had swelled to a population of about 40 behind the Flagler County Public Library, is now a ghost town.
What was once a forest behind the library was stripped of its underbrush in March, exposing to the full view of elected officials and residents alike something with which library workers were already all too familiar for the past decade: the blue-tarp and red-tent homeless camp.
As of May 1, according to the signs posted along the perimeter of the property, no one is allowed in those woods because the area will soon become a construction site: A new headquarters for the Sheriff’s Office’s Palm Coast district will be built there. As a result, the homeless population has vacated the property, and they have been “pretty darn cooperative,” according to Janet Nickels, Flagler County’s Human Services project manager.
She and her staff talked to every homeless person on April 29, “and we went to each tent again today, with the Flagler Sheriff’s Office,” she said on April 30, under a shade tree between the library and the camp. She added that they have worked with many of the homeless for years and have tried to build relationships. “We have cases on every single person here,” she said.
She pointed to a red tent in the distance and said the owner, who is now staying with one of his friends, promised to remove the tent a day ago but failed to do so. Time is running out, but he has been fairly warned, she said. If it’s not gone by the midnight deadline, the tent will be discarded. There are about 10 tents or blue tarps remaining, waving in the wind, scattered from the library to the canal.
In addition to staying with friends, the homeless from the camp have found other solutions, like going to detox, staying in hotel rooms or moving to trailer parks, like the Ponderosa Trailer Park on U.S. 1, in Korona.
Denise Calderwood, a volunteer with Family Matters of Flagler, was frustrated with what she called the county’s “arbitrary” May 1 deadline, leaving some homeless people scrambling to get IDs and negotiate assistance from multiple social service agencies. She showed up April 30 herself, taking time away from work, to help some of the homeless take their belongings to their new arrangements.
And while the county staff has helped many over the years, Calderwood has several stories of people who get some help but then ended up right back where they started because, she says, the county failed to follow up.
“This is what happens if you don’t have the case management,” she said.
Nickels praised Calderwood for cultivating relationships with the homeless and helping them, and she shrugged off Calderwood’s criticism. “Everyone has a right to an opinion,” Nickels said.
Nickels emphasized the responsibility of the homeless to make their own decisions about their future. “Flagler County is all of us,” she said. “If you see someone fall, you help them up. You don’t blame Janet Nickels.”
Bellino, pastor of Church on the Rock, walked around the tents and talked to the homeless, many of whom he knows and has sheltered and fed at his church in Bunnell. He would like the church to be an official homeless shelter in the county, but he reported that the city of Bunnell is reluctant to partner with him so far.
“You can’t make it against the law to be alive. If a jurisdiction can’t provide you with a better alternative than sleeping outside, then they can’t prohibit you from sleeping outside.”
JERRY CAMERON, county administrator
Two people who are happy with the progress at the library are County Administrator Jerry Cameron and Library Director Holly Albanese.
Cameron said on the phone on April 30, “The homeless will be gone this afternoon. ... We’ve been working diligently to find places for them. … Janet Nickels has done a wonderful job.”
But, Cameron said, more remains to be done.
Albanese walked out of the library in the late afternoon on April 30, as Nickels and Bellino talked quietly under a tree in the parking lot. Meanwhile, a homeless woman named Simone Smith, walked two dogs nearby. Smith said she wasn't impacted by the clearing of the camp because she didn't sleep there; she sleeps in her car.
The library is a “de facto homeless shelter,” Albanese said, because of the WiFi, the computers, the air conditioning, the books. And, she said, because "we’re open to everyone.”
Still, Albanese is pleased that action was taken after all these years. She has sent emails and photos to her bosses on county staff in the past, but she felt they were ignored. With Cameron and new leadership in place, she took to the opportunity to go directly to the County Commission. When Chairman Donald O’Brien agreed to take a tour and saw the size of the camp, the process started. Now, there is a security guard at the library, staff feels less obligated to intervene if homeless people cause disturbances, and the atmosphere is, as a result, “light.”
“I’m feeling good for everybody,” Albanese said. “I’m hoping that everyone who wanted help will get help. Living in a tent — it’s no way to live.”
