Taking account of the homeless

County continuum remains steadfast in mission

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — “I make do on a daily basis,” said Arthur Walters, one of Mahoning County’s homeless residents.

“This place [St. Vincent De Paul food kitchen] is extremely important to me,” said Walters, 51, recently as he ate one of the hot meals served daily by St. Vincent De Paul, which is part of the Mahoning County Homeless Continuum of Care.

The mission of the continuum of care is to eliminate being homeless, improve housing options in Mahoning County and address the needs of homeless individuals and families.

To that end, for the past seven years the continuum of care has participated in the Ohio Point-In-Time Count in an attempt to identify the homeless so as to better provide services to them, said Erin Bishop, coordinator of the Mahoning County Homeless Continuum of Care.

The 2010 count, conducted Jan. 26, had 179 sheltered homeless and four not sheltered. This compares with 178 sheltered homeless and six not sheltered in the county in 2009.

Not-sheltered homeless are people who have no place to spend the night. They live on the street or sleep in cars or tents or under a bridge.

Sheltered homeless are people in transitional housing, such as the Beatitude House, which has programs that include housing but for a limited time, Bishop said.

The annual count is a collaborative effort of the continuum of care, which is comprised of 40 local nonprofit agencies, government agencies and faith-based organizations that are interested in housing and those who are homeless, Bishop said.

Seven of the 40 have programs funded under the continuum of care, which this year received a $1,737,656 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide housing and services for homeless individuals and families.

The annual count information is used in the submission of the continuum of care HUD grant application, to monitor trends regarding homeless in the community, to assist in development of new programs and services and to ensure that the much-needed programs continue to receive adequate funding, she said.

A lot of the grant money goes toward permanent supportive housing, which is the direction HUD wants to go. Mahoning County has 232 people in permanent supportive housing, she said.

“HUD will continue to support existing transitional supportive housing but not new programs,” Bishop said.

The original strategy of the continuum was to provides funds for emergency housing, but the long-range plan all along was to go to permanent housing, said Larry Moliterno, Meridian Services chief executive officer.

Though the continuum is doing a good job and is a great example of agencies’ working together to fill that need in the community, there remains a lot of people who need emergency and transitional housing, said Moliterno, whose agency operates 11 facilities.

“Our programs stretch from transitional housing for women with children, permanent housing, some housing for homeless who are not part of the continuum and a facility for homeless veterans.

“I think people generally underestimate the number of homeless in our community. There are lots of people living in unsafe conditions or relationships. The problem could be a lot worse than the count indicates,” he said.

Helping to fill one of those gaps is Youngstown Greater Point, a drop-in center for homeless located at 1555 Belmont Ave. on the city’s North Side.

The Point serves lunch five days a week and provides a place indoors between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. for homeless men. They have to leave after that hour, and they can sleep overnight at the Rescue Mission of Mahoning Valley on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

The Point also works to get its clients plugged into whatever services for which they are eligible, such as Social Security and housing, by helping them get birth certificates and proper identification.

“A lot of people don’t realize they can get housing even if they have no income,” said Lola Simmons, Point assistant director.

Just as the loss of a job can lead to being homeless, getting a job can be the path out of being homeless, said Michael James, Point executive director.

Homeless and jobless clients need to develop and apply a plan. The Point helps them overcome the inertia of being homeless and develop job-seeking and marketable skills, James said.

Besides food, clothing and shelter, the most pressing need of the homeless is jobs, Bishop added.

Emergency shelter and transitional housing are necessary at this time but also are the long-term goals of the HUD and the Mahoning County Homeless Continuum of Care, Bishop said.

“That’s why the number of people in transitional housing went from went from 111 in 2009 to 82 this year. One of our biggest projects went to permanent supportive housing,” she added.

alcorn@vindy.com

Homeless in Mahoning County

The 2010 Mahoning County homeless count, conducted Jan. 26, found 179 sheltered homeless people and four not-sheltered homeless people. This compares with 178 sheltered homeless and six not sheltered counted in the county in 2009. Here is a breakdown of the county’s homeless population. The major subpopulations do not add up to the total because not all the homeless fall into the categories listed.

• Chronically homeless: 13, 2010; 7, 2009.

• Severely mentally ill: 33, 2010; 28, 2009.

• Chronic substance abuse: 33, 2010; 51, 2009.

• Veterans: 11, 2010 and 2009.

• People with HIV/AIDS: 0, 2010 and 2009.

• Victims of domestic violence: 21, 2010; 23, 2009.

• Unaccompanied youths under 18: 9, 2010; 5, 2009.

Source: Mahoning County Homeless Continuum of Care