Homeless population in Cape Coral irks residents and business owners

There is a homeless problem in Cape Coral. People are crowding the streets to the frustration of residents and business owners who want them to leave.

Some business owners working in downtown Cape Coral want the homeless people sleeping on the streets moved to a proper shelter.

“They’re literally camping out in a driveway where we have work trucks,” said Darcy Van Zijl, who owns Buffed & Bare. “We have people going in and out and they’ve taken it over like it’s theirs.”

“For the sake of taking people who don’t have a home and giving them a home,” said Jeremya Yedor, of GP Plumbing & Air Conditioning, “absolutely, we would [be] in favor of that.”

Owners said dozens of homeless people camp out in their sleeping bags behind bushes, walkways and even on the side of the road.

Cape Coral Police told WINK News even though they have not seen a rise in the homeless, they have made many arrests over the past couple of years.

Police try to offer guidance, as Roberto Abad does. Once homeless himself, he now gives hope to others through his non-profit, “Bridge of Hope of Southwest Florida.”

“What I’m trying to do right now, I’ve started with a food truck where I can feed the homeless anytime they’re hungry,” Abad said. “They can come to my food truck, and also I want to do housing. Helping people with social workers, helping them get jobs, which they need jobs.”

Abad and his team feed more than 60 homeless men and women each week, as well as helping out with clothes. He said he has reached out to the city in hopes of coming up with a housing solution.

“Everybody deserves a second chance at life,” Abad said. “We as a community need to do that for them.”

“I feel like they need housing,” Van Zijl said. “I feel like we are kind of short on that here in the Cape as far as that goes.”