TREASURE ISLAND, Fla. — The start of June marked a new contract between the city of Treasure Island and a longtime organization to address homelessness in their coastal community.
City commissioners signed off on a new agreement with the nonprofit Directions for Living.
The organization will provide a street outreach coordinator 20 hours a week to provide resources, housing assistance and mental health support.
“Lots of people who are living homeless, who are living without homes, are traveling to those places to live on the beach believing that, you know, that it’s safe for them to do so,” said April Lott, Dirrections for Living CEO.
She said that many people they are helping aren’t outsiders.
“In Treasure Island, it was post-hurricanes, it really was like people living in cars. So they’ve lost their homes,” she said.
A few years ago, Treasure Island created the LIFT program, which stands for the Life Intervention Focus Team. It was spearheaded by Treasure Island’s police and fire chiefs.
In 2023, LIFT partnered with the nonprofit Directions for Living to hire a street outreach coordinator. (Spectrum News/Justina Rhines)
LIFT is a public nonprofit funded by the city to provide mental health services to its community.
LIFT Board Member Keith Dalton said this is after many resources were being used for the same people in crisis.
“We had actually one year we spent $93,000 on one individual of taxpayers dollars, helping this one person because of police calls, trips to the hospital, fire department, etc,” said Dalton. “In that one year, we saved them over $93,000 just with that one person.”
In 2023, LIFT partnered with the nonprofit Directions for Living to hire a street outreach coordinator.
Recently, their contract with Treasure Island was at a standstill.
“We kind of took a pause in Treasure Island,” Lott said. “There were some leadership changes there, and now what’s happening is we’re getting restarted again with them.”
June 1 marked the beginning of a fresh contract.
The city is paying more than $53,000 for the nonprofit’s services.
“I think if you look at the six or seven cases that we’ve had just last year, it’s probably close to $200,000 (in services). So the city is investing $50,000 to save tax dollars to about $200,000,” said Dalton.
This latest contract launched a new round of efforts with prevention, while focusing on new issues as well.
“Since hurricane Helene and Milton, we’ve found that there’s a whole new population of Treasure Island involved with PTSD from the hurricanes, with mental health issues,” Dalton said.
Lott agreed.
“In Treasure Island, they are also seeing an increase, though, in people who are experiencing mental health crises,” she said.
Treasure Island was one of the man locations that saw damage from hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024. (Spectrum News)
That’s why she believes their expertise is essential.
“We understand the difference between, you know, somebody who is engaging in criminal behavior versus a mental health dynamic or a mental health concern. We have the support and resources to address housing, housing insecurity, homelessness,” said Lott.
More than ever, Lott said there has been a specific need.
“That’s one of the most significant changes to the agreement, is that we will also work hard to support those people in crisis, people who are calling 911 or calling law enforcement or emergency services for support to be able to go to them, try to help figure out what’s driving this need,” Lott said.
Not too far from Treasure Island is the city of Gulfport.
Fire Chief Rene Fernandez said the city has been using the Directions for Living services for the last three years, and he believes it’s working.
“At that time, I wouldn’t say (there was) a huge homeless population or unhoused individual population, but it was starting to get there,” he said.
It’s a different zip code with similar problems. The hurricanes uprooted many lives.
“Post-hurricane, we’ve had a few people that have been staying, you know, their house got damaged, so they’re staying outside of their house in their cars,” Fernandez said.
Ever since this partnership, they have seen the number of calls decrease, while seeing more support for those in need.
The city recently renewed its annual contract.
“I believe moving forward, we most likely will be continuing that partnership,” added Fernandez.
That’s why Treasure Island saw value in this partnership — a partnership that will provide a Directions for Living coordinator to Treasure Island 20 hours every week.
Dalton shared, “We’ve taken a very different approach to the homeless aspect, which is we want to support them. We don’t want to just move them and make them somebody else’s problem … a lot of these guys just don’t know what’s available to them.”
Dalton gave one example of a recent incident.
“We had an 83-year-old veteran who was here in Treasure Island, and one of our police officers went up to him and started just talking to him like a human and finding out what the issue was. And it turned out he just didn’t know what (was available),” Dalton said.
They connected that veteran to the VA, and he found out there were services were available to him.
All the players involved believe extending compassion and care can be a catalyst for change.
For next steps, Treasure Island’s LIFT program wants to create more outreach with a speaker series.
The goal is to continue fundraising in order to expand efforts as well.