Halifax Urban Ministries and the Volusia-Flagler County Coalition for the Homeless are working to create additional programs that will help the homeless in the area. 

What You Need To Know

  • Volusia and Flagler counties are working with other groups to reach out to homeless people

  • These projects hope to include some affordable housing in the area

  • This housing could give locals a second chance

Several projects to relieve homelessness in Daytona Beach are currently in the works.

Many of the ideas are centered around North Street because the area is known to provide services such as hot meals and temporary housing.

“I think it would be great,” said Bess Dufoe, the kitchen manager at Bridge of Hope.

Dufoe has been feeding homeless visitors at the North Street location for 19 years. Her official title is the kitchen manager at Bridge of Hope, but anyone who spends time around her knows she does a little bit of everything to keep this place moving.

“I tell my husband every morning I’m going to my happy place,” she said.

Giving back to those less fortunate runs in her blood — her passion for service was sparked by her son, who passed away from cancer. She started working with the homeless because that’s what he loved to do.

“I’m actually very fortunate to do what I do until I’m too old to do it,” Dufoe said.

In the near two decades she has worked at the building, the area has gotten a reputation as being worn out and riddled with crime and poverty. That could soon change thanks to an idea that would bring affordable housing to the North Street portion of Daytona Beach.

With renderings in place, officials with Halifax Urban Ministries and the Volusia-Flagler County Coalition for the Homeless are hopeful about the possibilities.

What’s already in the works is a $1 million federal grant through COVID relief funding that will provide transitional housing for former military members.

“Just knowing someone has gotten this far, and they really have a vision for that, in particular, is great,” shared Dufoe.

The new project would be located on Derbyshire Road, where 20 new apartments are expected to be complete by October 2023. As for Dufoe and Bridge of Hope, their efforts to feed the homeless will be going mobile in the next few months.

It’ll be a new chapter for her and she is optimistic about reaching more people who need a good meal to eat.

“Homeless people are just people like you and me," she said. "Down on their luck, most of them.”