The Homeless Voice is an American homeless advocacy center that operates out of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. It was founded by Sean Cononie and runs a

street newspaper Street newspapers (or street papers) are newspapers or magazines sold by homeless or poor individuals and produced mainly to support these populations. Most such newspapers primarily provide coverage about homelessness and poverty-related is ...

by the same name. The center also ran a

homeless shelter Homeless shelters are a type of homeless service agency which provide temporary residence for homeless individuals and families. Shelters exist to provide residents with safety and protection from exposure to the weather while simultaneously r ...

Hollywood, Florida Hollywood is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States, located between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. As of July 1, 2019, Hollywood had a population of 154,817. Founded in 1925, the city grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, and is now ...

that closed in 2015.

Newspaper

The ''Homeless Voice'' used as a fundraising tool for the COSAC Foundation to help employ their homeless clients. In 2008, newspaper sales totaled $985,698. COSAC collected $410,000 in other donations, bringing the total revenue to nearly $1.4 million. In an interview with NBC, Sean Cononie (founder of the Homeless Voice) claimed that "The Homeless Voice revenue helps cover the cost of food, shelter and social services for more than 400 men, women and children each month". Paper

vendors In a supply chain, a vendor, supplier, provider or a seller, is an enterprise that contributes goods or services. Generally, a supply chain vendor manufactures inventory/stock items and sells them to the next link in the chain. Today, these terms ...

are typically

homeless Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

and sell the newspaper as a temporary job. The current Editor-in-Chief of the paper, as of March 2020, is Andrew Fraieli.

Shelters

The Homeless Voice shelter was opened in Hollywood, Florida in 2002. The building formerly served as a hotel for nudists and was renovated in order to serve as a homeless shelter. The shelter was met with a mixed reception and received complaints that the shelter was a zoning violation and an eyesore. In 2015 Cononie agreed to let the city purchase the shelter and several of his other properties, and in March of the same year moved the shelter's residents to a low-income hotel in

Haines City Haines City is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. Its population was 13,174 at the 2000 census and 20,535 at the 2010 census. It is the third most populous city in Polk County. It is part of the Lakeland– Winter Haven Metropolitan S ...

. The hotel, billed as the Stay Plus Inn (a former Howard Johnson's), has faced claims that it was taking advantage of the homeless by taking the majority or entirety of their limited income, which kept them from saving for the future. Cononie has responded that it was common for shelters to request that its residents pay a program fee. In early 2016, Cononie agreed to sell the Polk County location. According to the Homeless Voice's own website, in 2017, they opened a facility, called "Motel 8" in Lake City.

References

External links

* Street newspapers Newspapers published in Florida Homelessness in the United States {{Florida-newspaper-stub