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Fire Rescue and JSO report large reduction in unsheltered count after PATH team and shelter beds brought online
Summary
Jacksonville Fire & Rescue Department and Jacksonville Sheriff's Office officials told the finance committee that a regional point-in-time count found a 49% drop in unsheltered people compared with 2024; officers and PATH outreach reported contacts, shelter placements, storage of belongings, and funding through Sept. 30 for temporary beds.
Chief Keith Powers of Jacksonville Fire & Rescue and Jimmy Ricks, District 1 commander for Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, briefed the finance committee on April 15 about the PATH outreach team, shelter bed capacity, operations and preliminary results from the January 30 point-in-time count covering Duval, Clay and Nassau counties.
Powers said Jacksonville's PATH outreach has encountered 562 unsheltered individuals since it began street outreach and that partner shelters and vendors'beds are being used: Trinity Rescue Mission, City Rescue Mission and Salvation Army beds were brought online in early April and the PATH team's sheltered placements were in use. Powers said 159 uses of a nearby storage facility have occurred to hold belongings; 38 of those uses were for people taken to Trinity earlier in the rollout. He reported Trinity had served 262 men and 129 women in the period referenced, and that City Rescue Mission had served 42 men.
Powers and Ricks described the count across the three counties as 1,009 people in January 2025: 719 sheltered and 290 unsheltered, with 968 of the total in Duval County. Powers said the unsheltered count in Duval County dropped from 566 in 2024 to 290 in 2025, a 49% reduction. Ricks gave enforcement figures since Oct. 1, 2024: 775 warnings for camping violations, 198 arrests since February, and 54 notices to appear; he also described Homeward Bound transport numbers and costs (242 travelers at a cost of $45,214 since October; 149 travelers year-to-date with $27,926 expended).
Committee members asked about the duration of storage for belongings; Powers said the storage is available for 35 days and that retrieval is coordinated by JFRD using a card system. Members asked whether the shelter placements were long-term housing; Powers said the beds are temporary and funded through Sept. 30; partners (Trinity, St. Johns County facility and others) work with residents on longer-term transition programs such as 90-day programs and further recovery services. Powers said JFRD would request budget funding to extend those temporary beds beyond Sept. 30.
Committee members and the chief discussed scope and next steps. Council members praised the reductions and said they wanted to preserve PATH staffing if demand persists; Powers said if PATH is no longer needed the department would reallocate positions. No formal policy vote occurred at the meeting; members were told the current shelter funding runs through Sept. 30 and a budget request to extend beds is expected in the JFRD budget process.
Ending: Committee members commended the work and asked staff to return with any budget requests to sustain temporary beds after Sept. 30.
