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Work remains to support local homeless one year after camp’s closing
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Jerry Deyton, left, pastor and operator of a day center for the homeless in Gainesville called The Way, speaks with Doug Hanson, advocate for chronically homeless men. - photo by Joshua Silavent
A lot can change in one year. A lot can remain the same, too. Since the closing of a homeless encampment beneath the Queen City Bridge in Gainesville last October, community advocates, nonprofit leaders and city officials said they have made slow, steady progress to address the larger social, cultural and economic conditions that contribute to homelessness. It’s the kind of incremental progress that can leave them both frustrated and motivated, and includes everything from a push for new affordable housing development to designs for new transitional housing, mental health and substance abuse services.