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Highlands Today

Homeless In Highlands County

Kathy Waters/Highlands Today

From left: Volunteer Anthony Lomonico asks Randy several questions in regards to his homeless status while taking surveys on Friday in Avon Park.

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By Gary Pinnell | Highlands Today

Published: January 26, 2008

AVON PARK — It's Friday, about 11 a.m. Two SUVs drive up, and five people get out.

There's no sign outside identifying the name of the business to G&R Supermarket, in one of Avon Park's sketchiest neighborhoods. It's the sort of place that looks scary, but the people were companionable.

For 30 minutes, Anthony Lomonico parked his maroon Cadillac Escalade in the Lacey Hills neighborhood of southeast Avon Park and tried to call a friend on his cell phone, but with no success. There were several men on the street, some just standing there looking at the cars, wondering what was going on.

"If we try to talk to them, they'll just scatter," Lomonico said. He couldn't find his associate, so he got back in his Escalade and drove to G&R, a big, sandy parking lot that the locals called "The Park." There was no sign identifying the business, but two notices were nailed to the eves with these instructions: "NO LOUD MUSIC. NO CURSING. NO DRINKING. NO TRESPASSING."

The men weren't paying much attention to those signs though. The wind rolled an empty 16-ounce Budweiser sign across the lot. One man sat with a bottle of Colt 45 between his feet, just the cap showing above the brown bag. A few minutes later, an other empty beer missed the trash can.

Luckily, Lomonico, a construction contractor by trade, knew one of the men hanging out in front of the store. They shook hands, talked for a minute, and established to observers that they were friends. The man smiled.

"Anybody homeless?" the man announced in a loud voice. "Let's sign up."

Five men rose from their chairs in front of the store and crowded around.

Homeless Count

For those with jobs and families and money, it's hard to believe there were 519 homeless people in Highlands County last year.

But Richard Reinhardt and Adrian Benson knew where to go. On Friday morning, they instructed three volunteers.

The two men, along with four other volunteers, began the annual homeless count on Friday, and they'll continue through Thursday.

First, a definition: a person is homeless if he doesn't have a regular place to stay, and that doesn't include temporarily staying with family or living with friends.

In 2004-05, there were 1,508 homeless in Highlands County, and 1,000 in DeSoto.

"That was after the hurricanes," explained Richard Reinhardt, executive director of Highlands County Coalition for the Homeless, which is squeezed into tiny offices behind Sylvan Learning Center, on U.S. 27 South in Sebring. In a few months, they'll be moving to Avon Park, not far from G&S, as it turns out.

"That's another definition of homeless," Reinhardt said. "If you're in a place that's not fit for human habitation, if it has no power or running water."

There were lots of houses and mobile homes that fit that definition after five hurricanes blew through Central Florida.

"There's one that's still got a blue tarp," Lomonico commented as he drove through Avon Park. After those tarps were pulled off by wind, the interiors of the homes mildewed.

The three men instructed three volunteers, who were conducting their first homeless count. The three men headed to Avon Park, the three women to Lake Placid, where they were going to interview women at Potter's House, a shelter. They would need extra survey forms, since each of the 20 women in the shelter needed to be interviewed.

They didn't need to stop in Highway Park, Reinhardt advised. A board member will do that himself.

The homeless may not want to talk, Lomonico said. If they're found, for instance, in a camp in the orange groves, they may get scared at the appearance of a survey taker and run off.

"Don't force yourself on anybody," Reinhardt instructed. But rule number one is to stay safe. "Pair up. Don't lose track of each other. If you go to a neighborhood where you don't feel safe, just mark it on a map."

They were given cell phone numbers to call if they have questions, and the number of the sheriff's office.

"They know we're out there doing this count," Reinhardt said.

Their Stories

One of the volunteers is Terri McClelland, with the Agency for Community Treatment Services. On Thursday, she got a call to help a woman who delivered a child by cesarean section a few weeks ago. The woman had just gotten out of jail, and she was released from the hospital after her baby was born. In the meantime, her grandmother died, and she had no place to go.

The woman left her baby with friends, but she was staying at a motel on a voucher for a few nights until McClelland intervened. She was given a can of soup and some crackers, but no can opener and no spoon, so she lived on the crackers for 24 hours.

"She's okay now," McClelland said. "She had domestic violence in her background, so we were able to get her into a domestic violence shelter."

"The look on her face," McClelland said, "was just something."

And then there's Paul, a veteran with three small children. They're all homeless.

"ACT is working with him to get him in a more stable situation," Reinhardt said.

"We're going to pay his rent," McClelland said.

Back at G&R, volunteers filled out forms for more than a half-dozen men and two women.

Lomonico talked to Randy, who has been sleeping outside.

Inside the store was Tamika Moodie, a young woman who didn't look homeless.

"All last year," she confirmed glumly. She's been staying with friends, and when she can help her grandmother, she stays there.

But both she and her mother are homeless, so she filled out survey forms for both.

And outside the front door, there was Johnnie Mae Griffin, who sat in a motorized wheelchair.

"She's not homeless," said Lomonico, back inside the Escalade now and heading back to Sebring. "She has a house, but it's not wheelchair accessible. So she needs some assistance."

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