Introduces successor Robert Elkin

By Pat Andrews
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Jul 13, 2012 - 7:07:58am

Randy Croy, a tireless voice for the homeless and afflicted in Volusia County, is retiring.

As he announced the change in command to the Volusia County Council, Croy also told council members about a recent success in a program started by his agency, Haven Recovery Center.

Croy’s agency studied the costs of homelessness, and learned the annual cost of dealing with a homeless person is $21,057, including jail time, court services, social services, substance-abuse treatment, emergency-room care, use of emergency transportation, emergency shelter and outpatient services.

In contrast, the annual cost for services to these individuals, after they were helped with treatment and housing, was $1,236 per person, Croy said.

The new program, Croy told the County Council, has saved 43,500 jail-bed days over about two-and-a-half years.

Croy has worked with judges and the State Attorney’s Office in the Correctional Treatment and Diversion Program. In this program, an offender who would be sentenced to at least 180 days in jail is ordered to go through a 60-day in-jail treatment program. If the offender is a good fit, he or she is released into a residential or outpatient treatment facility to complete treatment and eliminate jail time.

Croy called it “a smart way to address homelessness in a humane way.”

At a February forum on homelessness in DeLand, Croy told the audience, “The extent of homelessness should not be acceptable in a country of such wealth, and with the professed values of our nation.”

At the June 14 County Council meeting, Croy introduced his successor, Robert Elkin. Elkin will take over at the Haven Recovery substance-abuse treatment center (formerly called Serenity House), where Croy has been executive director since 1998.

The two men have been working together for several months; however, the transition time is coming to an end.

“Bob Elkin was selected from over 200 applicants to replace me,” Croy said.

Elkin brings the business experience he’ll need as an administrator and the desire to help, Croy said.

Elkin was senior vice-president for Palm Coast Data 1996-2011, and has served on the Volusia-Flagler United Way board of directors since 2001. He’s also been on the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce board of directors for 11 years, and volunteers as a grief counselor with the Begin Again Children’s Grief Center in DeLand and Daytona Beach.

Haven Recovery Center in DeLand, Deltona and Daytona Beach, is the result of last year’s merger between Serenity House and Community Outreach Services.

Haven Recovery treats and advocates for adults who have substance-abuse problems and mental-health disorders, both of which can lead to homelessness.

The agency takes referrals from the Department of Veterans Affairs and works with other individuals age 18 and older, providing individual, group and family services to inpatients and outpatients.

Elkin said he appreciates the Haven Recovery Center board’s faith in choosing him to succeed Croy, and he promised to deliver good services and good stewardship of taxpayer money.

“I want to say thank you,” he said to the board and to the County Council.

— pat@beacononlinenews.com

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