Sunday, January 28, 2007

Developer defends homeless-village concept - Orlando Sentinel
I guess it had to happen: a planned community for the homeless, to get them in one place so they don't bother people. I gather from the article that this developer "transformed" a bad neighborhood into an upscale "Garden District," but the former residents are still hanging around. So the developer proposes to build them cheap housing near the jail and call it "Tiger Bay Village." Can you imagine what their HOA board meetings will be like?

At a meeting inside the neighborhood he helped transform from a crack den into the trendy Garden District, urban developer Michael Arth on Friday defended his latest big idea: a $100 million village for the area's homeless. About 40 people crowded Arth's office to weigh in on Tiger Bay Village, a place where the homeless would live, work and get counseling. Some had questions about paying for it while others were worried a secluded village would stigmatize the homeless and further ostracize them from mainstream society...His plan calls for building a resort-style,pedestrian-friendly village on 125 acres in rural Volusia County near the jail. It would have bungalows, dining halls, community gardens, a swimming lagoon and winding paths...Lindsay Roberts, the executive director of the Volusia-Flagler Coalition for the Homeless, said she also was concerned about segregating the homeless. She said at one shelter in Daytona Beach, school officials had to move the bus stop because some children made fun of kids who lived at the shelter. "The object is to integrate them, not segregate them," Roberts said after the meeting.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hmmmmm.......

Do you think it will "ostracize" these new homeowners when the CAI affiliated lawyer and management company convince the HOA's Kangaroo Court to fine 'em, and then foreclose on 'em, and kick 'em out of a community designed for the homeless?

Or do you think that these folks have been homeless this long only because they were waiting for this CAI utopia ?