County wants to partner with churches to help address homelessness
The homeless crisis continues to plague Palm Beach County. Now officials are reaching out to churches, hoping to partner with them to help reduce homelessness.
St. Mark's Episcopal Church and School is one church in our area that's doing something to help address the issue of housing the homeless.
The county wants to get more churches involved.
"It's kind of a no-brainer. I think it's kind of the easiest thing Jesus says, you know, take care of the least among you. This is a need that I think churches of all traditions and types should be doing," said Rev. James B. Cook, Rector, St. Mark's Episcopal Church and School.
St. Mark's Episcopal Church and School, 3395 Burns Road, Palm Beach Gardens wants to help others who need it the most, by providing housing for people who might otherwise be on the street.
"Our call, our mandate right, is to serve one another as God serves us and doing things inspires people," Rev. Cook said.
Over the past decade, St. Mark's has purchased three homes, in West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach and in Pahokee, and has rehabilitated them with the help of church members who've provided the funding, and these are now places for those who need a home.
Palm Beach County is holding a workshop Saturday afternoon, to bring together churches, non-profits and county officials to hopefully partner with churches that have land to build affordable housing.
"We're hoping that bringing them all into the same room will create some synergy and maybe get some of these projects going," said Dr. James Green, Director of the Palm Beach County Community Services Department.
Dr. Green says there are possible funding sources that the county can provide to help churches build affordable housing on their property. Churches would also provide some of the funds.
"We know that there are a lot of churches out there, other faith-based entities that have land and that land can be used to develop multi-family units," Dr. Green said.
"Why do you think the churches are part of the solution?" we asked him.
"Everybody has to be a part of the solution. Homelessness is not a county government problem. It's a community problem," Dr. Green said.
The workshop is Saturday afternoon, October 19 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Riviera Beach Marina.
The county hopes churches will want to participate and find out more about how they can get involved to help with the issue of housing the homeless.
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