Steady hand helps Brevard families

PALM BAY –

After falling victim to a Craigslist housing scam in 2013, Jennifer Biramontes had few options when she, her husband and 17-year-old son moved into the Palm Bay Hotel and Conference Center.

Like an estimated 1,119 households in Brevard, Biramontes' family was homeless. And like countless other "transitional" families seeking shelter but unable to secure permanent housing because of finances, they chose a hotel where they could pay by the week.

They wound up staying for six months.

Sometimes families are placed in hotels by agencies trying to help them. It's a temporary fix. Other times, that's the only option if they can't find space in a shelter or the family includes a father or boy older than 12 and they want to stay together. Most, like Biramontes, hope it won't be for long.

In the last few months, Steadytown, a nonprofit centered on preventing homeless and "rapid rehousing" for struggling families with children in school, has focused its efforts on relocating almost two dozen people, including families, from the Palm Bay hotel. A former Quality Inn, it's targeted for renovation into an assisted living facility by new owners, who took possession in January.

In partnership with the Brevard Schools Foundation and sharing centers in specific Brevard communities, Steadytown's Steady Family program caseworkers learn of these transitional families mainly through the school system, said Keith Donald, founder.

"It just so happened that we were getting a lot of families from that hotel, and started seeing a pattern, so we're trying to get them into suitable, affordable housing," he said.

Some families had children who are among the 155 Brevard Public Schools students reported to be living in hotels or motels.

"We're just focused on helping the families the best we can," Donald said. "We can't help them all at once, but we're kind of staging them ... our resources are limited, but we help as many as we can."

In Titusville, there's been a recent rash of families, formerly housed in hotels, seeking shelter.

"We've had some motels and quasi-hotels that have closed down here recently, and we got kind of a rush of people seeking shelter during the past few weeks," said Joe Robinson, director of the North Brevard Sharing Center. "And we're seeing more single moms with children again ... it had slowed down there for a while."

The Sharing Center can help some families with first month's rent, but certain criteria must be met, from a background check to lease availability and employment status.

"We'll have a lot of families staying at these places week by week, but don't qualify for us giving them funds," Robinson said.

"One of the problems you'll run into with this population is employment: How are they going to pay the rent if they're not working? So we do a check to try and figure out how they got into this position, so that it doesn't happen again. One bad day, one emergency, can really knock a family in that situation back six months."

Many who've stayed at the Palm Bay hotel are working. Some are unemployed or underemployed. Some lost their homes. Some never owned one. But they have one thing in common besides homelessness: not enough money to allow paying, at one time, a security deposit and rent required to land a home.

For a while, the Palm Bay hotel was one of the more affordable options for families, said Donald, whose organization also works with landlords to place families and teaches budgeting to those they assist.

"In the beginning, it was $677 a month, which was actually pretty good, since it included housekeeping and utilities," he said.

"But then it was $800. And then $1,000. If it was part of their strategy to get people to move out, it actually hurt them more. Now the families have less money to put toward savings to be able to go somewhere else. They end up stuck there."

And sometimes, conditions in these hotels and motels, especially the older ones, can be difficult.

At the Palm Bay hotel, pipe failures resulted in backed-up water that smelled of sewage.

Steady Family coach and caseworker Michelle Currie said she helped clients there and "left with a headache from all the mold."

Clients reported flooding, sometimes so severe that ceilings cracked and sagged and carpet were soaked.

"It's really hard for them to be productive and think about things they need to be thinking about ... they kind of shut down. We try to help them breathe a little bit and then focus on growth."

Nuri Dorra, manager of Cristal Palace Senior Community Resort Adult Living Facility, said previous owners of the Palm Bay property allowed the rentals, but many of the families have stopped being able to pay rent. And the conditions are a product of neglect by those former owners, Dorra said.

"It was in very bad shape before to come to this point," Dorra said. "We are not a nonprofit. We don't receive money from anyone. We have to pay water. Electricity. We can't allow people not to pay rent, because we have bills to pay ... if you have been in that condition for a long period of time, this is a good moment to change their way of life."

Biramontes, a 35-year-old former Miami resident, now rents a studio apartment with her family.

She believed they had landed a four-bedroom house in Brevard when they moved from Miami in September 2013. Instead, they wound up in the Palm Bay hotel after learning the housing deal, for which they had forwarded money to the "landlord," was a scam.

Because Biramontes is bilingual, she was hired at the hotel's front desk by the latest owners in January — but was fired earlier this year. Still, she remains optimistic. She hopes to complete a bachelor's degree in business and to work in ministry to young people.

"Not having a permanent home ... it's been very difficult. We've had to start from scratch," said Biramontes, whose husband has been ill in recent weeks.

"But we've handled it. We're doing better. But it's affected my son greatly. Incidents have happened to him where they make fun of him because he's a 'transitional kid,' homeless."

Almost two years ago, Elbert Dunn, 37, moved into the Palm Bay hotel with his girlfriend and three children, sharing one room with two beds, after moving to Brevard from the Keys looking for a better, less-expensive way of life.

Now, after a series of setbacks, he and his family will soon be moving into a two-bedroom apartment in Palm Bay.

Even better, he said, he got a job just after hearing about the apartment.

"It feels pretty good," Dunn said. "Heck, yes, Michelle really helped us ... it was one thing getting a place, but I was wondering how we'd pay for it. And then I heard about the job."