Hope Place facility for homeless families & teens gets injection of city cash for Spring opening to delight of Forough Hosseini

Video for Headline Surfer / 'Pastor Mike' Pastore, a street preacher who looks after Daytona Beach's chronic homeless population, tells municipal leaders at City Hall Wednesday night, he's pleased to see progress with Hope Place, the haven for homeless families and unaccompanied teens, that is expected to open its doors at the former Hurst Elementary School this summer. But Pastore says he feels great frustration with the lack of progress in way of a shelter for the homeless people he deals with - mostly individuals who are chronically homeless, drug- or alchol addicted, suffering from mental illness and prone to violence and failing heath from living on the streets. Pastore is followed in the video by a prominent citizen, entrepreneur Forough Hosseini whose advocasy led to a public-private partnership in making Hope Place a reality. 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- With little fanfare, the Daytona City Commission voted unanimously Wednesday night in chambers to provide Halifax Urban Ministries a grant in the amount of $150,000 to "develop and commence operation" of Hope Place, a homeless center serving unaccompanied youth and families with children.

The grant would be paid in two equal annual installments during the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 fiscal years, which run from Oct. 1 to the following Sept. 31. At the end of the 2017-2018 fiscal year, and annually thereafter, the City Commission would have authority to extend the agreement and provide additional grant monies. The funding comes frrom the city's general fund.

"Hope Place is progressing well, but slower than I would like because of the great things it will do," Mark Geallis, the executive director of Haxifax Urban Ministries told Headline Surfer this morning. "Architect plans are nearly 90 percent complete so we will soon put in for the building permit with Volusia County." 

Geallis said the most recent time frame has remodelling of the former Hurst Elementary School, where Hope Place will operate from, beginning in January. This in turn would lead to an opening for homeless families and unaccompanied teens next summer.

"Hope Place is progressing well, but slower than I would like because of the great things it will do," Mark Geallis, the executive director of Haxifax Urban Ministries told Headline Surfer this morning. "Architect plans are nearly 90 percent complete so we will soon put in for the building permit with Volusia County." 

Geallis said the most recent time frame has remodelling of the former Hurst Elementary School, where Hope Place will operate from, beginning in January. This in turn would lead to an opening for homeless families and unaccompanied teens next summer.