Since 1980, St. Francis House has served Gainesville’s homeless community with shelter and hot meals. Prioritizing women and families, it has served over 5,000 guests since 2016 alone.
But in under a month, the shelter will permanently close its downtown facility due to funding and staffing challenges. Some fear the closure will result in a resource gap for one of Gainesville’s most vulnerable populations.
“I think that we all grieve,” said Lauri Schiffbauer, the organization’s executive director of five years. “It's been a challenge when you've been working really hard to make something successful, and then it doesn't come to fruition.”
The shelter’s planned April 16 closure is largely due to an unsustainable business model, Schiffbauer said.
Providing three meals a day to shelter residents, she said, became costly and unproductive for staff. In the future, she hopes to pursue a model with multiple kitchen spaces and an in-facility pantry to allow residents to prepare their own meals.
“I think that's a great model, because it really works towards teaching people the skills they need to be able to sustain themselves,” Schiffbauer said.
Rising operating costs also contributed to the closure, she added.
After selling the downtown location, the organization will use the funds to buy another building and resume services, she said. The new location will ideally provide more space to serve more guests.
“We'd like to be able to accommodate, because we feel like there's a much larger program, much larger need for family shelter than what our community sees,” she said.
The shelter’s current residents won’t be abruptly cut off from resources, she added.
St. Francis House is working with the TaskForce for Ending Homelessness to provide alternative placement for those currently residing in the shelter. The task force's North Central Florida Chapter, Keys to Home, approved $35,000 in rapid rehousing dollars to Family Promise, a local organization working to support the stabilization of the families in the shelter.
To ensure residents still have access to regular meals, Schiffbauer said, the shelter’s director of housing is compiling a list of churches providing free meals.
Walter Rosenbaum, the vice president of St. Francis House’s board of directors, has served on the board for over 25 years. He said along with changing the shelter’s business model, it will be looking for a new director.
Despite challenges, he said, they will continue to work until they have the resources to rebuild their shelter.
“The bottom line is that as soon as we have the resources … we will be back doing what we have been doing for 40 or 50 years,” Rosenbaum said.
The city and county have provided some financial support, he said, specifically providing funds for Cold Night Shelters, which allow for St. Francis House to admit an additional 60 guests when temperatures drop below 45 degrees.
Still, it takes nearly $1 million a year to operate the shelter, and Rosenbaum said the funding barely chips the surface.
“The city and the county have provided some financial support — not a great deal, considering our budget needs,” he said.
Rosenbaum hopes the shelter can get back on its feet soon. Support from local organizations has helped it prioritize its current guests.
“We have been very, very appreciative of the support we have had from the community,” he said. “So it's with great reluctance that we have to cut back on our services.”
Surya Dodia, a 22-year-old UF political science and international studies senior, has volunteered at St. Francis House intermittently over the past two years. She also expressed her fears for families currently residing in the shelter and community members who rely on the shelter for meals.
“It’s just taking away a resource that was already very limited, and I'm definitely worried, because that area of Gainesville has been a safe haven for a lot of homeless people,” she said. “I'm worried about where they're going to go.”
After a 2024 bill signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis banned counties and municipalities from allowing public encampment, the city of Gainesville created an option in the neighborhood myGNV app for residents to report public camping. According to records obtained by The Alligator, a majority of encampments are reported to occur along or near North Main Street downtown.
While Dodia wishes the shelter could stay open, she said, the closure doesn’t come as a surprise due to unorganized management and understaffing.
Dodia recalled multiple times when she would be the only person serving dinner for up to 30 shelter residents, with no staff to help her.
“There's no reason that I, as a college student, should have been the only person there in the middle of the night at a homeless shelter serving food,” she said.
She said there was no central communication between her and higher level management, and no one had informed her about the closure until The Alligator reached out for comment.
Schiffbauer said volunteers were informed via email and social media about the closure.
Regardless of her issues with staffing, Dodia said she’d continue to volunteer if St. Francis House opened a new location.
Rossana Passaniti, Gainesville’s public information officer, wrote a statement on behalf of the city to The Alligator. She said the city has valued its partnership with St. Francis House and is committed to aiding struggling residents after the closure.
“As they end shelter operations, the city remains committed to supporting our neighbors in need through the services offered by our Community Resource Paramedicine team, our police co-responder teams and by community partners such as GRACE,” Passaniti wrote.
Grace Marketplace, located at 3055 NE 28th Drive, is a low-barrier shelter that offers services including housing, warm meals, showers, clothing and laundry. St Francis’ Arbor House, a low-income housing facility for women and children, will remain open despite the downtown closure.
Contact Kaitlyn McCormack at kmccormack@alligator.org. Follow her on X @kaitmccormack20.
Kaitlyn McCormack is a senior journalism student serving as the County Commission Reporter for The Alligator's Spring 2026 metro desk. In her free time she enjoys journaling and drinking too much coffee
