UF parents are calling on local officials to examine GRACE Marketplace’s limited screening and whether publicly funded homelessness initiatives account for safety issues affecting students and nearby community members.
During the Sept. 17 Gainesville City Commission meeting, 17 parents voiced concerns about a rise in violent crime related to the city’s homeless population. Many shared encounters between students and homeless individuals that were often violent or dangerous.
City officials, however, have disputed a connection between GRACE’s low-barrier model and crime. At the meeting, they acknowledged concerns about public safety but said the city’s homelessness services are intended to house people while maintaining community safety.
Melissa Bell, a UF parent and attorney, sent a letter to local officials calling for greater transparency around GRACE Marketplace’s intake policies, including its lack of criminal background checks, drug screening and identification requirements.
Here’s what the evidence outlined in the email shows.
CLAIM: GRACE Marketplace is a low-barrier shelter that does not require background checks or sobriety to use its services.
VERDICT: True.
THE FACTS: Opened in 2014, GRACE Marketplace is a low-barrier homeless shelter housing just over 180 beds and providing outreach programs aimed to help people transition out of homelessness.
Upon entry for emergency shelter, GRACE does not require proof of identification, a criminal background check, a drug screening, evidence of sobriety or participation in mental health or substance use treatment.
In an email to The Alligator, interim CEO Mark Bonner said those requirements are intentionally excluded from GRACE’s emergency shelter intake process.
“Many people arrive without identification because it has been lost, stolen or destroyed while they were living outside,” Bonner wrote.
GRACE prohibits violence, threats, weapons, illegal drug use and other behavior that places people at risk, Bonner said. Staff can restrict someone’s access or prohibit them from returning to campus when their behavior creates a safety concern, he added.
CLAIM: GRACE is one of only two primary low-barrier shelters in Florida. The other is located in Miami.
VERDICT: Unclear.
THE FACTS: Apart from Gainesville, cities like Orlando and Fort Lauderdale operate shelters with the same low-barrier model.
However, there’s no definitive statewide list of shelters that meet Bell’s definition of “primary low-barrier entry homeless shelters.”
Mayor Harvey Ward said the shelter’s low-barrier model isn’t unusual.
“We are not, as has been alleged, the one of two cities anywhere using low-barrier shelters. That's simply not true,” he said. “Low-barrier shelters are a best practice that are used in every major city in Florida.”
CLAIM: GRACE’s low-barrier model attracts people with criminal histories from elsewhere in Florida.
VERDICT: False.
THE FACTS: In her email, Bell raised concerns that Gainesville’s low-barrier shelter system could attract formerly incarcerated people from across Florida.
“What percentage of the people that are coming to Gainesville for homeless services are from the area?” Bell wrote. “Did they come here because it's a low-barrier setting where they will take people with violent criminal records?”
Bell acknowledged she doesn’t have data showing how many people come to Gainesville specifically to access GRACE’s low-barrier shelter. Instead, she said she’s urging officials to explore these statistics and their relation to the safety of UF students.
Interim CEO Bonner said the shelter's available intake information shows most of the people staying at GRACE are from Alachua County.
“Our shelter beds are prioritized for Alachua County residents,” he wrote. “From the information we collect on intake, it is clear that the majority of people who receive our services are from right here in Alachua County.”
Bonner said shelter services are intended for county residents and cannot be reserved remotely. People seeking emergency shelter must appear in person, meaning it provides shelter for those who need it locally.
CLAIM: Arrest records show GRACE residents are significantly contributing to crime in Gainesville.
VERDICT: Misleading.
THE FACTS: In her email to local officials, Bell compiled 37 arrest reports of homeless individuals between April 2025 and August 2026, with 13 having addresses linked to GRACE Marketplace. Other reports did not have an address or were linked to the now-closed St. Francis House, which was located in downtown Gainesville.
She said the records were intended to demonstrate a broader pattern of repeat offenses and convictions rather than allege every person listed in the records was a GRACE resident. She also acknowledged some of the cases cited in her email involved individuals who were arrested but never prosecuted or convicted.
“I don’t think that any single arrest is demonstrative that they lived at GRACE,” Bell said.
According to Bonner, an arrest record listing GRACE as an address doesn’t mean the person was staying at the shelter when they were charged with a crime. Some people use the shelter as a mailing address if they don’t have a permanent residence, might have received day services there or stayed there in the past, he said.
“An arrest report that identifies someone as homeless or lists GRACE somewhere in that person’s history does not establish that the person was staying at GRACE when an incident occurred,” Bonner wrote.
The records provide evidence of individual arrests and allegations but do not establish that GRACE residents significantly contribute to Gainesville crime or that GRACE’s policies caused those offenses.
Gainesville Police Department spokesperson Art Forgey said there’s no connection between GRACE Marketplace and crime rates.
“I don't know that you could correlate that once GRACE came about and concentrated a large portion of the homeless population that we saw a significant increase in crime,” he said.
CLAIM: GRACE’s low-barrier model contributes to crime around UF.
VERDICT: Not established.
THE FACTS: Bell’s letter connected GRACE’s policies to safety concerns affecting UF students. She cites interactions with people she said were homeless or associated with GRACE.
Some of the incidents she described came from arrest records, while others were accounts shared by parents or in social media posts.
“There's a lot of anecdotal information in the parents group,” Bell said. “While it's not the evidentiary standard I like as an attorney, you can't ignore these parents.”
During the Sept. 17 city commission meeting, Teresa White, a parent of three UF students, described an incident last Spring where a homeless individual followed one of her children and her friend to their apartment and tried to get in.
Anne Smith, another UF parent who called into the meeting, said her daughter waited over an hour for police to arrive after she reported a homeless individual sleeping outside her car in a parking garage. While she waited for officials to arrive, the individual “woke up and started pounding on her window,” Smith said.
Those reports don’t independently establish a relationship between GRACE and crime around campus. GRACE Marketplace is located more than 5 miles northeast of UF’s main campus.
Forgey said reports of incidents involving homeless individuals are often wrongly associated with GRACE.
“Immediately people's minds go to GRACE, and I think people just jump on that bandwagon,” he said. “I don't think that GRACE is the driver of the crime rate within the city.”
Ward similarly said the city has not seen evidence showing a correlation between Gainesville crime and GRACE’s operating model.
The city’s approach is based on the idea that providing shelter does not create the conditions that lead to crime. Instead, he said, removing low-barrier shelter options would result in more people experiencing homelessness.
“Unsheltered people can't just go somewhere else. If we don't offer a low-barrier shelter, then people will simply be unsheltered,” Ward said. “I don't think that providing a roof over someone's head creates crime.”
Ward added the city continues to enforce laws regardless of where someone lives.
“We will also always enforce the law when someone breaks the law, whether they live in Haile Plantation or Grace Marketplace,” he said.
IN SUMMARY: Overall, the available information confirms GRACE operates a low-barrier shelter and does not require traditional screening measures.
However, the evidence available does not prove the shelter attracts people to Gainesville because of its low-barrier policies, that GRACE guests are responsible for a particular share of Gainesville crime or that the shelter’s operating model has caused an increase in violent crime.
Ward said the city’s approach is based on maintaining shelter access while continuing to enforce laws against dangerous or illegal behavior.
“I think what we should do is focus on helping people, and that is where the city of Gainesville consistently is,” Ward said. “We want to make sure that laws are enforced and that we are doing everything we can to help folks.”
Ray Garcia contributed to this report.
Contact Hailey Kon at hkon@alligator.org.
Hailey Kon is a senior public relations and psychology double major serving as this fall's city and county commission reporter. This is her second semester on staff at The Alligator, having previously worked as The Alligator's student government reporter and a contributing writer for The Gainesville Sun. When she's not on campus, she can be found in the Dutch Bros drive-thru or a Ticketmaster queue trying to buy concert tickets.
