MELBOURNE, Fla. — Melbourne City Council members held a heated meeting Tuesday to discuss a proposal to speed up the closure of the Daily Bread soup kitchen at 815 Fee Avenue.
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During the meeting, business owners, residents, and city council members voiced frustrations with the non-profit and demanded its immediate closure.
Residents who spoke at the meeting blamed the Daily Bread soup kitchen and day center for attracting the homeless.
Melbourne Mayor Paul Alfrey even claimed other cities were bringing those experiencing homelessness to Melbourne in part because of the Daily Bread.
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The non-profit was called to answer tough questions from councilmembers during the meeting, during which the Executive Director of Daily Bread said he supported a shift in the organization’s mission.
“A soup kitchen, as we all agree, is an antiquated model. It’s not solving the need,” said Jeff Njus, Daily Bread, Executive Director, “We’re very happy and confident moving forward with a focus addressing the housing crisis.”
A proposed plan for accelerating the closure of the Daily Bread Soup Kitchen states the current operation has become “Increasingly untenable, creating significant challenges for staff, the surrounding community, and the individuals served.”
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The organization proposed shifting its focus to affordable housing by launching a new “scattered-site housing program” modeled after the Melbourne Bridge Housing Program implemented during the COVID-19 Emergency.
The program would serve 15- 20 of the most vulnerable unsheltered individuals and would move them into housing with wrap-around support services to help individuals achieve stability.
That program is estimated to cost about $600,000 a year. The Daily Bread said the program would require approximately three months to develop but would be launched within the year.
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The Daily Bread said the “Scattered site housing program” would begin while the organization worked on opening an affordable housing project that would bring online 80 units to serve homeless families, called Providence Place.
Anyone staying at Providence Place would be provided wrap-around services, would be given workforce development, and would have to pay at least some rent.
That project would take at least two years to develop and could be built on vacant land at 850 Apollo Blvd. in Melbourne.
City Council ultimately pushed many decisions on the Daily Bread’s proposal to a workshop that will be held on February 14th.
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