Saving Mercy News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Open Arms Village can house 20 men. It soon will be able to add 10 more at the new facility, called The Nest at Open Arms Village.

Some of the RV park's residents say that have been given illegal notices to vacate as if they were "transients" rather than permanent tenants.

The annual Point in Time (PIT) count helps determine funding for public and private efforts to combat homelessness.

At least 50 homeless people were displaced last week when the City of Ocala leveled a tent city. The encampment was on city-owned land just west of Pine Avenue and north of Northeast 14th Street. There were approximately 30 tents there, and the police department had noted an increase in property and violent crime, including a stabbing the week of Jan. 25, a city spokeswoman wrote in an email to the Star-Banner. "The property was overwhelmed with trash, abandoned tents, furniture, bicycle parts, broken toys, shopping carts, fire pits, wooden pallets, electronics, tires, empty beer and soda ca...

Volunteers scoured Marion County one day last week to determine the number of homeless people living outside in camps and tent cities. It was part of the federally required annual 24-hour Point In Time (PIT) count. The PIT count, required for the distribution of federal funds to local agencies that battle homelessness, was spearheaded locally by Maj. Robin Ford, a 31-year veteran of the Ocala Police Department who is serving as temporary manager of the City of Ocala/Marion County Joint Office on Homelessness. According to Ford, the count is designed to be a 24-hour snapshot of the number of...