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West Palm Beach expands homeless outreach team; mayor reports hundreds housed or connected to services
Summary
Mayor Keith James described an expanded outreach team and reported the city sheltered or housed 302 chronically homeless individuals and conducted thousands of engagements through neighborhood outreach.
Mayor Keith James said his administration expanded the city’s homeless outreach capacity and detailed outcomes from the outreach team’s work.
What the mayor reported - The outreach team grew from one to 10 full‑time employees during his first term to interact daily with people experiencing homelessness. - The mayor said the team successfully housed or sheltered 302 chronically homeless individuals, reconnected 75 people through a Home‑bound program, and provided mental health and substance‑abuse services to 156 individuals. He also said the team conducted 2,743 engagements in parks, neighborhoods and other locations.
Examples from outreach - The mayor recounted a case he called MJ: after a medical emergency in West Palm Beach and contacts between the hospital, police and the outreach team, MJ was connected with a Gainesville shelter and safely returned home. The mayor used the story to illustrate cross‑agency coordination and individualized solutions.
Why it matters - The mayor framed outreach as necessary because homelessness has diverse causes — substance use, mental health, and economic dislocation — and requires on‑the‑ground engagement to link people to services. He described the approach as both empathetic and programmatic: “We have 10 full time employees whose job it is to go out and interact with all of us,” he said.
Ending note - The mayor said progress is directional rather than fast and celebrated outreach results while encouraging continued collaboration with county and nonprofit partners.
