DeLand, FL - It was a busy Volusia County Council meeting, with topics ranging from affordable housing, to opioid settlements, to a $240,000 contract with a local domestic violence shelter.
Members of the FAITH organization spoke out at Tuesday’s (April 3) Volusia County Council meeting and demanded action to introduce affordable housing in the county. More specifically, members of FAITH are asking the council to create a housing trust fund. The group gauged interest with a petition and reportedly secured over 12-hundred signatures calling for the fund.
Ben Collins is a former pastor, the president-elect for the Main Street DeLand Board of Directors, and a member of FAITH. He spoke to the council on behalf of FAITH and highlighted the importance of affordable housing by talking about the county’s First Step Shelter, which is supposed to help people transition into a home from homelessness. He says some residents are ready to move, but have nowhere to go.
“There are residents currently at the First Step Shelter who are ready to move out and can’t, because there is no housing,” said Collins.
FAITH has often pushed for affordable housing in Volusia County and gauges interest through petitions and meetings. According to Collins, the group secured over 1,200 signatures on their most recent round of petitions. If that weren’t enough, he claims the group saw the attendance of over 1,100 residents at their last annual action assembly.
“We wish all the council could have been there to see the public support that very clearly exists for this housing trust fund,” said Collins.
Jackie Mole is also a member of FAITH who spoke to the Volusia County Council. He supports the fund and asked the council to find a funding source that won’t raise taxes.
“Let me say that again, would not raise taxes on ordinary citizens,” said Mole.
Volusia County is set to earn a big chunk of change once the county settles a number of pending lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and pharmacies.’
The most recent settlements came after manufacturers Allergan and Teva, and CVS Pharmacy settled with the State of Florida. Volusia County Attorney Arthur Graham told the council the money is going to go into two funds: A fund that the county may specifically dip into, and another that's earmarked for the county's Opioid Taskforce.
In total, Volusia is expected to receive over $34 million over the next 18 years. But with more cases still pending, Volusia could earn more money, according to Graham. That’s because of pending litigation with Perdue Pharma, which could contribute to Volusia’s share of the settlement. Walmart and Walgreens are also tied up in ongoing litigation, both companies have yet to settle.
“We expect the total to go up,” said Graham.
In talking about the money, Volusia County Attorney Paolo Soria reminded the council that it’s not free money, it will have a specific use once it’s granted.
“That money represents the cost to the community from the opioid crisis,” said Soria. “It can only be used for opioid abatement.”
And that’s all part of a plan introduced by the county in December. The plan includes investing into therapy and mental health services, funding crisis support, and introducing preventative and intervention family services.Part of the plan will even also help support efforts to prevent over-prescribing, which includes training for health care providers regarding safe and responsible opioid prescribing, dosing, and tapering patients off opioids.
The council voted 6-1 to table an agreement to give $240,000 worth of ARPA funds to Volusia’s only certified domestic violence shelter, the Beacon Center.
The main concern of the council was a $100,000 expenditure on the center’s budget plan, which was considered “vague” by some members. District 3 Rep. Danny Robins weighed in and said he wants to see the $100,000—which was set to be paid out in $25,000 increments over four years—go towards “direct” help for victims. The $100,000 was set to go towards a statewide conference on domestic violence, which is where the council believes the proposal ran into some trouble.
The center’s director, Angie Pye, says the conference would host experts on issues related to domestic violence. If anything, it was to serve as an education opportunity that raised awareness on indicators of domestic violence.
“It’s so people can learn more about the challenges that survivors of domestic violence face, and the challenges the criminal justice system has in prosecuting cases,” said Pye to News Daytona Beach. “Interestingly, they all dialed in on this one issue. They didn’t talk about the larger plans for training and bringing these experts in.”
And the plan wasn’t to bring the experts in just for the conference, she says the plan was to keep them in town year-round. That could give law enforcement agencies and departments a chance to better train and equip themselves when it comes to dealing with domestic violence issues. The funds could also help fund more tools and training for detectives to make domestic violence suspects more accountable for their actions.
The grand total of $240,000 was agreed upon during the council’s February 15 meeting. The center had plans to use the money for their “Safe at Home” project, which aimed to monitor perpetrator compliance and find areas of improvement.
The council says tabling the grant will give the Beacon Center time to review its budget. It also gives other domestic violence shelters a chance to contend for the funds. District 4 Rep. Heather Post was the lone dissenting vote against tabling the agreement.
If one thing was clear from the meeting, the county wants more say in Sunrail coming to DeLand.
At the meeting, Chair Jeff Brower talked about a group for Sunrail going to Washington DC to ask for more money for the project. But, according to Brower, the group went specifically to represent just Orlando, not Volusia.
“I don’t fault them for looking for funding. But again, we need to be a part of that discussion.
Brower says it’s important that Volusia is involved more, especially if a new system is going to drive up maintenance costs for the county. That’s why they're sending a letter to the rail commission.
In the letter, the county stresses the importance of transitioning Sunrail to local partners before the expansion to DeLand is completed. By just expanding to a North DeLand station, Volusia’s share of maintenance costs went up from 4.6 percent to 21 percent.
“If we expand as is being anticipated, going to the Orlando airport, to I-Drive, to Universal, to Disney, it’s going to go up again, significantly,” said Brower.
The rail commission is expected to meet again on Thursday (May 5).
