Local Dover church speaks for homeless

homelessness in the capital city of the first state. tonight local leaders gathered to take their message to city hall for the first time. as 47 abc’s ashonti ford reports – theirs is a message of awareness and solutions. nat sound “how many people in here are homeless?” pans to show all the hands 12:18:36 they’re not lawyers, they’re not politicians they’re local church members here in kent county and they’re fighting to keep the homeless off the street and now we’re in dover cities city hall where they will serve as the voice for the homeless community 12:18:47 track every year on average — about 8-thousand people in delaware experience homelessness at least once — according to the governor’s office. dover alone has 5 homeless shelters but still over 100 known homeless people in the community. aaron appling is a pastor for victory church and he says monday’s meeting is a cry for help. 12:03:53 we’ve been for about at least 6 months 7 days a week on the streets trying to get attention and we just want the people that have the authority and have the influence and have power to do something 12:04:05 track appling and other dover city leaders like sue harris are not only spreading awareness about the problem — they also feel they’ve come up with a solution — property restoration. 12:12:53 we’re hoping for abandoned homes there’s land backing opportunities for vacant houses and abandoned properties 12:13:00 track but to restore those abandoned properties — the group would need permission from the city. they would also need city approval to shelter people in tiny houses like this one. harris and victory church members joined forces to build them — the first model – stationed, right in front of the church. measuring 10 by 20 feet, each home has a full bathroom, kitchen, and pull out bed — designed to house one person. each house would cost about 10-thousand dollars to build — but nothing is expected to happen without the city’s approval. ashonti ford, 47 abc the group tells 47 abc they plan to move forward with a formal proposal aiming for the city’s approval.