Hope Place provides a fresh start for families with children who have been displaced from their homes by difficult circumstances and a safe place for homeless unaccompanied youth (18-24) to live while pursuing an education. The former Hurst Elementary School has been converted to offer 26 temporary emergency housing rooms and 9 transitional apartments for families, as well as dorm rooms for up to 32 unaccompanied youth.
Guests will be admitted based on referrals from social service agencies and screened during their intake to make sure their background makes them a good candidate to live in a family center and neighborhood. Hope Place will provide a safe, stable environment with the resources needed for families to quickly move on to their own permanent housing and self-sufficiency.
Volusia County Schools' student population includes approximately 2,000 homeless students. This includes around 200 unaccompanied youth that are on their own but continue to attend school even though they have no guardian or stable housing. It is estimated that there are an additional 600 preschool children that are homeless in our community plus nearly 100 unaccompanied youth as students at Daytona State College. Homeless families are the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population constituting over 40% of America's homeless people. Family homelessness is often caused by a medical or financial event leading to a family losing their residence.
Hope Place services include 24x7x365 security and resident assistants, plus day staff for case management and rehousing specialists. Guests attend budgeting, parenting, and life skills classes. Day care is provided on site through Mid Florida Community Services who offer Early Head Start, Head Start and after school care to our residents and others in the community. A new Volusia County Park and Library serve the community on the east side of the property.
How long are guests be able to live at Hope Place Family Center? The goal is to help families move out and live independently within 90 days either by their own savings and efforts or through our rapid rehousing program grant funding. Guests with unique challenges may be allowed to stay longer in an apartment unit. Case managers will help guide guests to find employment, connect with other appropriate service providers and develop a plan to independence.
Hope Place is not a shelter for single or chronically homeless. There will be no services for single adults that do not have minor children living with them. Hope Place is not a domestic abuse shelter, not a mental health treatment center and not a drug rehabilitation center, not a public soup kitchen or food pantry, and not a walk up center.