GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) – Concerns about student safety are putting a spotlight on how Gainesville handles homelessness, and the role Grace Marketplace plays in that response.
Some University of Florida parents are raising concerns about student safety, pointing to the homeless population, and are questioning Gainesville leaders after a man jumped to his death at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
Questions about services and safeguards
The questions go beyond where people without housing are staying. They also focus on who has access to services and what safeguards are in place.
Some UF parents raised concerns about Grace Marketplace’s decision not to perform criminal background checks and drug testing, and whether more could be done to address safety around the campus.
Mark Bonner, interim CEO of Grace Marketplace, pushes back on the idea that homelessness and crime should be treated as the same issue, saying Grace is contributing to a solution for the city.
“So if we were just going by the 2025 counts(…) to 2026, we’ve seen a 28% decrease in homelessness in Alachua County. If we were going back to when Grace first opened in 2014 now, we would see over a 60% increase– or decrease in homelessness. Sorry,” Bonner said.
Community members raise questions about the model
Grace Marketplace works with people who come to the organization facing a variety of circumstances. But for some in the community, that model raises another question: whether the services available in Gainesville could be a factor in where people choose to seek help.
“To what extent the people that are living at Grace have extensive records or currently committing crimes, are they ending up in the jails? Are they part of the 50% that’s in our jails right now? And I’m not stating that, you know, there’s the homeless community is not monolithic. You have a wide variety. But when you have individuals that have (…) sometimes dozens of offenses, both felonies and misdemeanors, and you also have violent offenses, there is going to be a risk that those individuals are going to reoffend. So a more supervised environment may be more appropriate for the safety of the community,” said Melissa Bell, a UF parent.
Balancing services and safety concerns
The differing perspectives highlight the challenge Gainesville faces: providing services to people in need while also addressing safety concerns from nearby residents.
Bonner said finding a lasting answer will require more than one approach.
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