Broward County commissioners at a November meeting kept reeling off many proposals to address homelessness, and up came yet one more idea: Can’t we just help the homeless move out of town?
It’s far from a novel suggestion.
Broward County has been doing that already — through a philanthropic program that’s been in place for decades. It’s done on a case-by-case basis, where the county makes sure that a relocated person has someone meeting them at their destination to take them in.
The relocation program recently was thrust back into the spotlight as the county grapples for solutions to help the homeless.
Here’s a look at Broward’s Family Reunification Program.
Helping others
For almost 30 years, the county has offered its reunification program, providing free one-way passes for Greyhound bus rides.
While the program was criticized in its inception in 1998 as a way to simply bus the homeless out of the county and get rid of the problem, it also has been hailed as the solution to get the homeless the help they need.