FUND SHORTAGE KEEPING DRUG, ALCOHOL TREATMENT BEDS EMPTY

DAYTONA BEACH -- People hooked on drugs and alcohol wait weeks and in
some cases months for treatment, while waiting lists grow.

And while there are more than 50 open slots for addiction treatment in
Volusia and Flagler counties, the agencies are unable to fill them.

Some rooms have been empty for a year at Reality House, which can
serve another 40 people with substance abuse problems. But the money
isn't there to fill the facility because most of those who would take
those places can't pay for treatment.

Just down the road at another agency, a newly built 16-bed
transitional housing facility for homeless veterans has been bare five
months past its original opening date because of permitting issues
with Volusia County.

Serenity House officials said the facility will open
today.

But by the end of next year, even more space for treatment could go
unfilled as Stewart-Marchman Center opens a new 100-bed facility in
Bunnell. State money may not be available to pay for half the beds
dedicated to the indigent.

Yet the need remains constant, local officials say, as people wait for
treatment.

"The question isn't filling them. It's who is going to pay for them,"
said Janet Miller, CEO of Act Corp., the area's main mental health
agency, which also provides substance abuse treatment at Reality House
for inmates from the state Department of Corrections.

While Act's Reality House treats 85 people using funds from the
Department of Corrections, the agency has been searching for local,
state or federal funds to fill 40 more spots there. Twenty-five beds
were left empty since last November after the state Department of
Children & Families stopped funding two programs and moved them to
other agencies.

Officials at Act, which has had financial problems, said the state
wasn't providing enough money to operate them. Jo Ellyn Rackleff,
spokeswoman with the state Department of Corrections, said she wishes
the state could fill Act's extra beds but the department has to cut
$70 million from its budget this year.

"We certainly have no money to expand," Rackleff said.

At Serenity House, the agency is behind in opening its facility
because of a permit being held up by a storage shed on a county
easement. The issue was resolved this week.

Randy Croy, Serenity House executive director, said people referred
from the Veterans Administration -- which funds the facility -- will
begin moving in Monday. The facility will be filled in 30 days.

"It's been frustrating," Croy said. "We are just as anxious because we
have homeless veterans who are awaiting placement."

Serenity House expects to open another 76-bed treatment facility late
next month. Those treatment slots are fully funded and will be full by
mid-February, Croy said.

Meanwhile, Stewart-Marchman Center is building the 100-bed Vince
Carter Sanctuary in Bunnell. Half of the beds will be used for people
who have insurance or can pay on their own. The agency next year will
ask legislators for about $1 million to help fund the other 50 beds
for people who can't pay.

Ernest Cantley, president of the Stewart-Marchman Center, said his
agency is making contingency plans because officials there have been
told the state will have no money for new programs. Some of the beds
could be used by the county, Cantley said, to divert people from the
county jail who need treatment.

"We just hope the economy turns around," he said.

But "if we don't get a nickel to operate it," Cantley said the beds
will be ready to open when the funding is available.