Florida

Hollywood Homeless Eye New Home in C. Florida

A man who ran a homeless shelter in South Florida is planning to buy a 125-room central Florida motel where he'll rent rooms to tenants for up to $24 a day.

Sean Cononie ran the Homeless Voice shelter for more than a decade before Hollywood officials agreed last week to pay him $5 million to leave town.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports Cononie took 112 people with him to Haines City. He has a contract to buy a former Howard Johnson motel in Haines City for $2 million.

Deputy Polk County manager Gary Hester questions whether the property is zoned for a homeless shelter. But Cononie calls it a low-income hotel.

Hollywood officials say the shelter will be torn down and the property will be sold.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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