Treasure Coast Sun

St. Lucie County issued the following announcement on Nov. 4.

St. Lucie County Commissioners are looking for volunteers to serve on the newly created One St. Lucie Community Homelessness Task Force to develop strategies to prevent, reduce and end chronic individual homelessness in our area. This 13-member task force will meet monthly to help community leaders end homeless throughout St. Lucie County.

The task force is challenged with creating and presenting a community action plan to the Board of County Commissioners no later than June 1, 2022. The task force will consist of 13 members from the community including:

• Treasure Coast Homeless Services Council representative;
• Representative with experience in job training, self-sufficiency and workforce development;
• Representative from a medical provider that provides direct services to the homeless population;
• St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners member;
• City of Port St. Lucie City Council member;
• City of Fort Pierce City Commission member;
• Mental health and substance abuse professional with experience working with homeless population;
• Member with life experience of homelessness;
• Representative from a non-profit agency with experience in assisting with homelessness issues;
• Representative from the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office;
• Representative from the 19th Judicial Circuit;
• Representative from the St. Lucie Public Schools;
• Representative from the business community.

Additional qualifications include:

• Must be a St. Lucie County resident;
• Must not be related to another committee member, County Commissioner or county employee involved with the committee of interest;
• Must not be employed by the same business entity as other committee members;
• Must not serve on more than two county committees (does not apply to Ad Hoc Committees).

According to the latest data, there are more than 700 individuals who are homeless in St. Lucie County. Statewide, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported an estimated 27,487 experiencing homelessness on any given day. Of that total population: 2,294 were family households, 2,436 were Veterans, 1,331 were unaccompanied young adults (aged 18-24) and 5,182 were individuals experiencing chronic homelessness.

Original source can be found here.