- Alachua County proposed $350,000 for homeless street outreach’s third year amid debate over housing-first vs treatment-based models.
- County staff support housing-first but must include treatment-first options to comply with new federal funding rules.
- Commissioners unanimously approved directing staff to align the RFP with housing-first without delaying contract renewal by Oct. 1.
Alachua County was set to approve $350,000 for its third year of homeless street outreach along with 24 other items as part of Tuesday’s consent agenda, with one vote finalizing all the items.
But Commissioner Anna Prizzia pulled the street outreach contract from the consent agenda and opened a conversation with commissioners, staff and contractors about the county’s housing-first model to homelessness versus the shift toward a treatment-based model by the Trump administration.
Prizzia was concerned that the county’s contractor, TaskForce for Ending Homelessness, had signaled a move away from the housing-first model when it issued a request for proposals for the street outreach work…