BUTLER COUNTY, Ohio — Four people from Butler County, including Butler County Commissioner Cindy Carpenter, are flying to Vero Beach, Fla., Tuesday to meet with representatives of a company that builds buses for the homeless.
Jeff Diver, executive director of Supports to Encourage Low-income Families (SELF), is one of those traveling and he wants to see if the option is “feasible” for Butler County and if it’s worth SELF pursuing.
He said the four will fly to Florida on Tuesday and return on Wednesday.
Besides Carpenter and Diver, the group includes Gayle Drexler, program director of SELF, and Elizabeth Slamka, a representative from a Middletown group concerned about the unhoused population.
Last month, DeAnna Shores, program coordinator for the Coalition for a Healthy Middletown, and Slamka made a presentation to City Council asking the city to spend $360,000 on three Dignity Buses that would provide the unhoused a nightly warm place to sleep during the winter.
She said the buses would be available from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The buses would pick up the homeless at four locations in the city and park at undisclosed locations, Shores said.
The homeless would be dropped off in the morning at a location where breakfast and programming were provided, she said.
The coalition hopes to obtain three buses, one for men, one for women and one in case of overflow, Shores said.
The buses are specially-equipped with 20 sleeping pods, two toilets, personal lockers, a luggage area and a place designated for pets. The buses would be cleaned daily.
According to Shores, the buses would be “a potential short-term solution to a long-term problem."
City Council has not voted on the Dignity Buses and the legislation is not on Tuesday night’s agenda.
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