Non-profit faces opposition from neighbors toward new homeless shelter for families

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A non-profit group behind a new homeless shelter in Daytona Beach will meet with concerned neighbors Monday night.
 
Hope Place is slated to be put inside the old Walter Hurst Elementary off Wright Street and Derbyshire Road. Project leaders said the shelter would only be for families.
 
The shelter is right across the street from homes and leaders behind it said it will be a place to help get working families on their feet. However, some residents oppose the new shelter.
 
"I hope that they take all the neighborhood's input and that they change their mind on moving it here and find another location for it," resident Aaron Forsman said.
 
Halifax Urban Ministries, the non-profit behind the shelter, plans to open the facility in a year with the help of $4 million in tax dollars from Volusia County.
 
Mark Geallis, HUM's executive director, said the shelter will help 300 people, including mothers and fathers or children with no family.
 
"Most of these families get evicted because of a financial dilemma or (they) run into a health problem, but these are just ordinary working folks," Geallis said.
 
Channel 9 reported on the giant homeless camp outside of a county services building on Beach Street that took months for local leaders to dismantle. This new shelter would not directly benefit those men and women known as chronically homeless.
 
Geallis said the shelter will open more space for families, which could open 90 beds elsewhere to prevent similar incidents.
 
Neighbors of the shelter said they don't want it at their expense.
 
"You still have your homeless families that don't want the help (and) are just trying to freeload and take advantage of the system," Forsman said.
 
Channel 9 will update this story after Monday's meeting.