WEST PALM BEACH, FL -- For more than five years James Graham says he lived on the streets of West Palm without any help. "It was hell trying to make it." "West Palm didn't help me at all the only thing they helped me do was go to county jail."
James says he felt he was on his own. "I felt like other than my parents nobody cared."
Buy the county says it does care and recognizes it's time to address the issue head on.
"Just didn't concentrate on it, we stumbled for a couple of years," said Commission Koon's.
County Commissioner Jeff Koons says Federal Stimulus dollars will help in the ten year quest to end homelessness.
A seven-million dollar resource center to be built on 45th Street will provide temporary shelter, job training and a clinic.
"We didn't have a place like a resource center but tomorrow the city will be voting on that," he says.
The county has a big task on its hands. Since the housing market crash and massive job losses there's been a 50% increase in people needing assistance.
The homeless population has jumped by 22% since 2007. 15% percent are children.
For homeless women, the situation is especially dire.
Tania Johnson says because there is no shelter for single homeless women, she has no choice but to call Westgate Church her home.
"If I was a man I wouldn't be sitting here right now, said Johnson. "I know I would be in the Lord's place or I would be in one of the other facilities that they have for men."
And Commissioner Koons says he is very aware of the problem for homeless women face. "We have not had a program for single women. That's embarrassing to us and that's a problem we are looking to address in particular."
Koons says he is confident that in ten years homelessness will no longer exist in the county.
