A lack of affordable rental housing is widely accepted to be one of the biggest needs facing Indian River County. It can be difficult to quantify the shortfall precisely, but local leaders estimate that at least fifteen hundred more units are needed. Clearly no organization can solve a problem this large by itself. Eve Kyomya...

Siphikelelo Chinyanganya, Indian River County SHIP Administrator, “gets goosebumps” when she recalls the stories of people the program has helped. Since 1993, the SHIP Local Housing Assistance Plan has received more than twenty-six million dollars in state funding and provided 1,460 loans to people with very low, low, and moderate incomes. The goal of the...

Seventy-five year old Elaine Brown* is afraid to unpack. She’s moved four times in the past two years. The first time, the duplex where she lived in Stuart was sold. The second time, a tornado spawned by Hurricane Milton blew the roof off the Fort Pierce building where she had lived for eight months. After...

Thirty-eight-year-old Janie Desir is one of those people who says, “You can sleep when you’re dead.” As the home-schooling mother of a five-year-old autistic son, she comes by her sleep deprivation honestly.    Every Monday her day begins at 3:30 a.m. She’s out of the house with her son by 5:30. They need to make it to Orlando by 7:30 for the first of his three therapy...

A headline in the Indian River Press Journal reads, “Affordable Housing Hits Record Low.” An editorial notes, “Indian River County is not the only Florida location where home prices are not affordable to the average wage owner.” To anyone paying even a little bit of attention, there’s nothing surprising here. What might surprise you is...

Slumlord is an ugly term for landlords who prioritize maximizing profits over maintaining habitable properties. Such people charge excessive rent for substandard living conditions and rely on intimidation to prey on vulnerable individuals who fear retaliation. It’s not a term you’ll find in the marketing materials for the quaint beachside paradise so many of us...

No one likes talking about evictions. If you’re a renter struggling to pay the rent, an eviction draws an indelible line between being housed and unhoused. If you’re a landlord, it’s an unpleasant but necessary part of doing business. For the sheriff’s deputies tasked with removing people from their homes, it can be one of...

In Indian River County, many streams—the high cost of rent, the scarcity of affordable housing, and the growing numbers of people living in poverty amidst plenty—have converged into a relentless river sweeping too many individuals and families into homelessness. Even with shelters like The Hope for Families Center managing to double in size to house...

Treasure Coast Food Bank is the only food bank and largest hunger relief organization on Florida’s Treasure Coast, providing the community each year with millions of meals valued at more than $50 million through robust programs and in partnership with 300 charitable organizations in Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, and Okeechobee counties. One year ago,...

Last year in Indian River County, there were just over 500 children in foster care and the rate of child abuse was 446.1 per 100,000 children. Safe Families for Children helps to prevent these adverse outcomes by hosting vulnerable children and creating extended family-like supports for families through a community of devoted volunteers who are...