Jacksonville’s efforts to address homelessness are gaining renewed momentum with the formation of a new community steering committee.
Prairieland United Way announced this week that an Unhoused Steering Committee has been established to strengthen the city’s response to homelessness and better support individuals experiencing housing instability. The group includes Rabbi Rob Thomas, Karen Walker of Prairieland United Way, Justian Corliss of the Salvation Army, Jacksonville Alderman Joe Lockman, and Claire Peak, a community health consultant with Jacksonville Memorial Hospital.
The committee is still in its early stages and plans to begin collecting data this summer to better understand the scope of homelessness in Jacksonville, identify gaps in services, and explore ways to improve coordination among local organizations.
This effort follows a previous committee launched by Jacksonville Memorial Hospital in 2023 that ultimately stalled due to a lack of consensus on how to consolidate services and move forward.
Community conversations around homelessness began to regain traction in 2025 through the Moving Jacksonville Forward initiative. At the time, attention was focused in part on the former Jacksonville Developmental Center property, where a number of unhoused individuals had been staying in abandoned buildings despite safety concerns, trespassing issues, and repeated fires.
More recently, both the City of Jacksonville and the Village of South Jacksonville have approved public camping ordinances, adding urgency to discussions about how to provide safer and more sustainable solutions.
Rabbi Rob Thomas, who is serving on the new committee, expressed optimism about the effort, saying on social media that he is “honored to be a part of this awesome, compassionate, and dedicated team.”
Thomas and his wife Lauren also recently purchased Grace United Methodist Church, a move that will allow the Esprit De Corps Academy, a nonprofit arts program for local children, to relocate there while also providing a permanent home for the New Directions homeless shelter. The shelter had previously faced uncertainty due to the church congregation’s need to downsize for financial reasons.
Organizers say they hope the newly formed committee will lead to more coordinated, data-driven solutions to better serve Jacksonville residents experiencing homelessness.