FORT MYERS, Fla. – The city of Fort Myers wants to clear out the homeless who have taken over Lions Park.
The park, just across from Lee Memorial on US 41, has been filled with people living in tents for months now. However many of them are now finally getting temporary housing.
More than a dozen people have been moved out of Lions Park alone. Among them a grandmother, who admitted she was addicted to heroin. On Thursday she accepted help and on Friday the county had moved her into temporary housing.
Theresa was fighting back tears as she was handed the keys to her new apartment Friday afternoon. She said she was forced to watch crazy things she didn’t want to witness while living in the park.
All of that changed, though, when she was handed the keys to her new apartment where she can live for the next 12 months rent-free while she works to get back on her feet.
“They kicked us out of the spot of where we were staying,” Theresa said. “Now they can’t do that. Thank you so much.”
But not everyone has been so fortunate yet.
Francis Covat has been living in Lions Park and Friday morning left to do his laundry and returned to find his tent and others removed.
“I came back, and my tent was gone,” Covat explained.
The city cleared out Covat’s tent and other early Friday morning.
“So now, I have two blankets left to my name,” Covat said.
Despite the uproar it caused many people to set up tents at the south end of their lions den.
“It’s kind of like a whack-a-mole thing,” Jim Booth, who helps feed the homeless, said. “People are just moving to a place that is more convenient for them.”
“Every time you drive by Lions Park and you see the tents you’re like what is anybody doing about this? I totally understand that. I feel the same way,” said Commissioner Brian Hamman.
He points out that the county is spending millions in federal money to get people into temporary housing.
“We housed 121 households with 193 people in their and 60 children were part of those households,” Hamman revealed.
Those are people like Theresa who are getting a second chance.
“This is something stable. Something to give me hope,” Theresa concluded.
The county is expecting a new round of stimulus money as a result of the Biden stimulus plan.
The county said it is also having difficulty finding empty apartments to place the homeless. They’re appealing to landlords who may have a place to rent to contact the county.
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March 13, 2021 at 07:09AM
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Many of the homeless in Lions Park get temporary housing - ABC7 News
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