Project Grace

What does Grace mean for:

The Public
Business Owners
Faithbased Organizations
Homeless and Advocates

Did you Know...?

Men’s violence against women remains a significant contributing factor to the number of women without safe or affordable housing. Flight from an abusive situation prompted the current episode of homelessness for one in six (16.8%) homeless women.

More than half of homeless adults (62.9%) are unemployed. People living on streets and in encampments were significantly more likely to be unemployed (71.8%) than those linked to housing programs (43.2%).

Project GRACE?

Project GRACE, the Gainesville/Alachua County 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness, is the guiding document behind the community initiative to address the root causes of homelessness -- a lack of affordable housing and the lack of a living wage. The plan maps out strategies in a multi-pronged approach to to get people off the streets and back into housing as quickly as possible. At the same time, the plan calls for prevention services to keep at-risk individuals and families from losing their housing in the first place.

What is Project Grace?

Project Grace is a nonprofit initiative of the City of Gainesville/Alachua County office on Homelessness to prevent homelessness by helping families develop the skills to find and keep housing. We have over 200 partners  who participated in developing the 10-year-plan to end homelessness and support this effort.
Gainesville is one of 300 cities nationwide to have a 10-year-plan to end homelessness.

We have already been successful. Within the first 15 months of our existence we cut homelessness by 20% and secured over $1 million in funding to help disabled homeless people, increase affordable housing and bolster options for shelter during inclement weather. We have since brought in another $3 million to support our efforts to fight homelessness.

We also were able to support reuniting some homeless persons with their families and provide $100,000 to support our partners in their efforts.

Annually , we conduct a “point in time” survey of the homeless in our area. This information helps us know what kind of people are facing homelessness in Alachua County.

A key component of our plan to prevent homelessness is the Grace Marketplace One Stop Center, which will provide comprehensive services for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Such services include job training, mentoring, life skills like budgeting, crisis management, understanding the legal obligations of a tenant, housing referrals, showers, preventive medical care and more.

10-year-plan Goals

  1. Provide at least 350 additional beds by 2016.
  2. Provide medical care, support services and housing referrals through our One Stop Center (link for more details)
  3. Help people who are facing the loss of their home with mortgage assistance and education.
  4. Keep down the criminal justice costs related to homelessness.
  5. Strengthen the efforts of local faith-based organizations who work with the homeless.
  6. Provide education to the public about homelessness in Alachua County.

What are Support Services for Homeless People?

Many people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless need help with life skills such as budgeting effectively. Job training, mentoring, crisis management, domestic violence support and training on tenant rights and responsibilities are among the support services offered to homeless individuals at the Grace Marketplace.