Volusia County's chairman says Daytona Beach's mayor wants the county to fork over more money for a homeless shelter.

It’s an issue which has been plaguing the city and came to light when more than a hundred homeless men and women camped out in front of the Volusia County Administration building for a couple of months.

One of those who camped out is Russell Cavender who is homeless.

The 47-year-old says he moved to the Salvation Army's temporary shelter when they opened.

But Daytona Beach and the county have been working on trying to build a 250 bed shelter called Safe Harbor, which would be located near the Volusia County Branch Jail, about 15 miles away from downtown Daytona Beach.

"It's a little far. So, it's pretty far from the center of town and people are used to doing their daily routines." said Cavender

So far, the biggest stumbling block to building that shelter has been funding.

County leaders have said all along they would donate the land and pay $4 million for the construction of the building.

What county leaders don't want to do is pay for the annual operation costs of running it.

Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry revealed he met with county chair Jason Davis and came up with a new plan, one which would ask the county to contribute more to the operational costs.

"He wants us to, or at that time, also wanted us to go ahead and fork in another $4 million over 10 years. I told him I'll take it to the council. I don't think it’s gonna fly," said Davis.

But Cavender says if it is built, the homeless would not go there for two reasons: lack of transportation and he says rarely will homeless people travel so far to a place which would impose rules.

“And that's part of being homeless; you get to do what you wanna do. You don't have to worry about burning your house down; you can smoke your cigarette while you're sleeping," said Cavender.

Cavender says a building 15 miles away near the branch jail could remain mostly empty if it is built.

On Thursday the Volusia council members voted to change the way they fund the proposed Safe Harbor homeless shelter but the motion failed with one council member saying “This is not the final no. We’re just not there yet.”

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