Saving Mercy
Nonprofit hopes to begin phase one of construction on what would be Marion County’s only low-barrier shelter
Tiny home duplexes
Born as a ministry of Blessed Trinity Catholic Church in 2016, Saving Mercy’s mission is to bring help and hope to those who need it the most—especially those in Ocala and Marion County who struggle with chronic homelessness.
In mid-2020, the nonprofit began demolishing part of the former Motor Inns and RV Park at 3601 W. Silver Springs Blvd. in Ocala, near Interstate 75 and State Road 40. It acquired the 9.31-acre parcel in May 2018 for $2.3 million, and renamed it the Mercy Inn and RV Park.
Initially planned to break ground during the summer of 2021, phase one of the project met a series of funding challenges before construction could officially begin, according to Stacey Collier, executive director at Saving Mercy, due largely to a fluctuating economy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
But now, she said, as the economy slowly recovers, construction on phase one could start within the next several months.
“We’re fixing to put shovels in the ground for the admin building and a couple of the duplex tiny homes,” said Collier on March 24.
Current plans call for 35 “tiny house” duplexes as well as about a dozen family units and five small apartment buildings, built over the course of five construction phases. Phase one includes several duplex units, an administration building called the Client Services Center and a laundry facility.
“That’s really what we want to get done right away, because we’re going to have so many resources for people while we’re doing all the rest of [the phases],’’ she said, adding that Saving Mercy has received all the required city permits for phase one.
As is often the case with ambitious nonprofit projects, funding is a formidable hurdle.
“For phase one, it was a matter of trying to obtain funding, and then building Continued from page A1
costs increased because of COVID,’’ Collier said. “All sorts of things contributed to the delay.”
The entire project is estimated to cost around $15 million, and much of the construction is dependent on whether Saving Mercy receives the finances it requires, said Collier. Otherwise, the nonprofit would be forced to rely heavily on fundraising.
Saving Mercy relies on generous contributions from donors, as well as local grants from the state-funded program Continuum of Care, to assist with providing services to its clients.
“If the community wants to help with funding, donating toward the project, that’s wonderful,” said Collier. “But I understand that not everyone can give a sizable monetary donation. If you want to make a difference and help, even in a small way, we accept donations of food, diapers, and gift cards to get groceries, anything and everything. We’re always appreciative of anything we can get like that.”
Collier believes that it is in the best interests of the entire community especially downtown business owners that projects like Saving Mercy succeed.
“I think we all want the same thing. We all want to address the homeless issue. And we realize how much it costs taxpayers to have these individuals on the street in-between incarcerations and hospitalizations. It’s more than anyone wants,” she said, adding that it’s amazing how well an individual can rebuild their confidence after Saving Mercy has stepped in and provided them with a safe place to lay their heads.
“People can really make some big changes in their lives,” Collier added, “when their basic needs, such as housing, are met. Until then, their lives are just reactionary. It’s just about survival on the streets.”
What It Offers
Saving Mercy provides a range of support services and assistance for residents of Marion County. Its clients include senior citizens, veterans and people with disabilities, some of whom are in transitional housing while a case manager works with them to gain permanent housing. Clients are referred to Saving Mercy by churches, shelters, public service agencies and word of mouth.
Its focus is to assist individual and families in obtaining permanent and stable housing, while linking clients with medical care, mental health and substance abuse treatment, employment and any resources required to help them achieve their personal goals.
Saving Mercy has adopted the “Housing First” model for the Mercy Inn. Housing First prioritizes the most obvious need: putting homeless folks, including families, under a secure roof that is individual to them, and not a group setting.
Typically with Housing First, all comers are welcome, and without requirements, excepting for a signing lease. Only designated sexual predators are forbidden.
“Housing First is very successful in ensuring homeless individuals don’t end up homeless again,” said Collier. “If you work to get someone into a place, you ultimately have all these barriers for entry, so many hurdles to clear. Housing First has low-barrier entry. It is only interested in the most important thing: housing, which is the biggest issue facing a homeless person.”
Clients are assigned caseworkers and services are made available. Those include mental health or substance abuse treatment or counseling, like skills classes, assistance obtaining employment, spiritual guidance and planning for a long-term solution to the person’s housing issue.
According to the National Coalition to End Homelessness, Housing First operates two basic models: “permanent supportive housing” (PSH), which deals with people who have experienced repeated or long-term homelessness, and “rapid rehousing,” which is short-term rental assistance and services.
As of January 2020, Florida had an estimated 27,487 people experiencing homelessness on any given day, as reported by Continuum of Care to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Of that total, 2,294 were family households; 2,436 were veterans; 1,331 were unaccompanied young adults (aged 18-24); and 5,182 were individuals experiencing chronic homelessness.
Studies show the PSH model boasts a “long-term housing retention rate” approaching 98%, according reports provided by Saving Mercy As for rapid rehousing, studies say people exit homelessness relatively quickly, and 75% to 91% of them are still in a home a year later.
“We definitely need permanent support housing in Marion County,” said Collier. “Affordable housing for these chronically homeless individuals so they can have somewhere to call home and address their most basic needs.”
Collier said she has 15 clients who are enrolled in rapid rehousing.
“We work with landlords in the community, leading companies in the community to house people. It can sometimes be a challenge right now with inflation. But overall, finding affordable housing is just such a huge issue,” she said.
Challenges Overcome
After taking over ownership of the RV park, Saving Mercy had some issues with the police being called to the site on several occasions.
Ocala Police Department records obtained by “Gazette” show Saving Mercy had a total of 37 calls involving battery or assault (as well as aggravated battery and aggravated assault) from 2018 to 2021. Nearly half of those calls, 15, were in 2019, the year after Saving Mercy took over the RV park.
Tighter screening and vetting processes were implemented in early 2020, according to Collier. Since then, the number of police calls have dropped significantly, she said, with a total of seven calls pertaining to any of the above-mentioned crimes in 2021.
A total of 219 calls involving burglary of auto, residential or other were recorded from 2018 to February 2022, with the bulk, 77, again coming in 2019. Only 39 such calls were recorded last year.
“We’re checking and making sure that the community is safe and that anyone who comes in we’re doing proper background checks on them),” Collier said. “We do realize that some individuals have records from 10 to 15 years ago. And we try and take it on a case-by-case basis. Someone who made a mistake 10 or 15 years ago may need a second chance. We’re all about that. But we do want the community to be safe.”
Before Saving Mercy purchased the property, several individuals already lived there. Some remain there now. Saving Mercy looked to work with each long-term resident, but not every resident was happy with the changes.
“Some of the individuals have been here for a very, very long time. And you live somewhere for so long, you get used to the way things have always been,” said Collier. “Change isn’t always accepted. There can be resistance. But we’re here to help everybody and do anything we can.”
Why It Matters
Rev. Patrick “Father Pat” Sheedy, pastor of Blessed Trinity Parish in Ocala since 1988 and a Saving Mercy board member, acknowledged that progress on the Mercy Inn project has been slow but he said he and the rest of the board 100% believe in its mission.
“Eventually, it’ll be so successful that we hope to be able to have close to a 100 chronic homeless people in the program at any one time, once it’s fully developed,” said Sheedy on March 29. “And hopefully, our business community will see it as such. We’re going to try and get everybody off the streets—all who want to get off the street—and hope to help them recover their lives.”
Construction delays can be discouraging, Collier admitted, especially when so many have contributed so much to the cause over the last four years and want to see some action. But now, she feels, things are finally moving in the right direction.
“We’re getting toward the tail end of all the impact that COVID had,” she said, “and, hopefully, we’re going to continue to progress in this project and cross that long-delayed finish line.”
Despite Blessed Mary being involved with the Saving Mercy, Sheedy said that the church does not insist any religious strings be attached to those the project helps.
“We don’t force religion, but we make it available,” he said. “In other words, to receive service, you don’t have to believe but it’s there if you want it.”
Sheedy touts Saving Mercy’s goal to take in as many homeless people as it can as one of its key tenets from the very beginning.
“Whether you’re an alcoholic or a drug addict, you can still get in and you can get help working with a caseworker,” he said.
Private funding alone, said Sheedy, wouldn’t be enough to get the Mercy Inn project off the ground. Because of this, the board has requested several grants, as well as money from the hospital district.
“We’ve done all kinds of requests for grants,” said Sheedy. “We will be eligible [as the project progresses] and we have already got some. We’ll be eligible for more as we go on along. Hopefully.”
“I have asked the hospital district for money as well,” he added. “Once we get going and get more people…we’re rather limited right now because we don’t have the space…but we’ll more formally ask in time, once we get going [with phase one] and taking in more people at the inn.”
Room to Grow
Phase two had originally been planned to start in 2023, but Collier doesn’t think that is likely at this point, not till phase one is completed and the project knows where it stands financially.
“What we’re doing over the next month is getting together with the building committee and Florida Housing Finance…we’re working together, meeting on [April 20] to have some discussions,” said Collier. “We’re going to go down to Miami on April 8, looking at some potential co-developers. That’s a big part of the application process [for additional finances and grants], having a co-developer on board.”
Heavily depending on financing, the remaining three phases would help the facility reach its goal of 144 total units. For now, Saving Mercy is hoping to bring more attention to what it’s doing in the community, in the hopes of bringing in more donations and volunteers out for the cause.
“We’re raising awareness and we want to stay as involved with the community as we can,” Collier said. “So anyone in the public who wants to can get involved at a future event, please don’t hesitate to come out.”
Saving Mercy will next host an Easter dinner on its premises on April 13. For more information, call (352) 629-6902, email [email protected] or visit www.savingmercy.org.
Saving Mercy Success Stories
Saving Mercy has housed a total of 22 individuals and families in 2021, including five individuals and families who were living in emergency shelters, according to documents proved by Stacey Collier, executive director of Saving Mercy.
• One individual was living in an emergency shelter for a whole year before being placed in stable housing at Mercy Inn.
• Another family was in Saving Mercy’s transitional housing program before obtaining stable housing. The other three families were living in their cars or hotels paid by agencies. Five of those individuals and/or families were homeless for a year or longer before being case managed by Saving Mercy.
• Saving Mercy described one client who lived in her car for two years, which severely impacted her physical and emotional well-being. She was eventually able to move into transitional housing and obtain gainful employment.
• Three other clients in transitional housing had been in and out of prison/jail for most of their adult lives but have not had any legal trouble since working with Saving Mercy.
• Another client was living on property in Ocklawaha without running water or electricity for more than six years. He also wasn’t receiving the mental health treatment or medical care that he desperately needed. He is now doing very well in Saving Mercy’s transitional housing program.
• A family of seven residing at Saving Mercy has been staying at various hotels for the past five years because they did not qualify for any financial assistance. Saving Mercy was able to help that family find a home to move into before Christmas 2021.
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