The Gainesville City Commission discussed the continuation Thursday of a contract that would grant almost $2 million to homeless shelter GRACE Marketplace’s budget.
The one-year contract between the Alachua County Coalition for the Homeless and Hungry, Inc. and the City of Gainesville. would allot $1.5 million to GRACE Marketplace’s and an additional $350,000 to fund GRACE Marketplace’s supplemental emergency shelter.
GRACE Marketplace is a non-profit organization that aims to end homelessness. According to executive director Jon DeCarmine, the shelter provided over 740,000 services to 13,000 people over the past five years.
“We have also been able to move 1,748 people out of homelessness and into permanent housing,” DeCarmine said.
In February, the city commission unanimously voted to supply $700,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to GRACE Marketplace.
The $700,000 will help fund construction, upgrades and an addition of security cameras to the GRACE Marketplace building.
The contract from Thursday’s meeting entails the city granting GRACE Marketplace $350,000 from the Gainesville Community Reinvestment Area interlocal funding.
The $350,000 will fund a supplemental emergency shelter, which will supply 20 extra beds to the downtown area.
Last year, the city cut $450,000 from GRACE’s budget, which reduced the amount of beds supplied to the public by 10.
“It [GRACE marketplace] is an organization that I think this whole community should be proud of,” Commissioner Bryan Eastman said. “I think we all acknowledge that the core of homelessness is a housing issue, which I know GRACE has been working on.”
The next city commission regular meeting will be Sept. 19.
Contact Sofia Meyers at @smeyers@alligator.org. Follow her on X @SofiaMeyer84496.
