By Maryann Schroder
As 2017 approaches, Ryan Halsey, community development coordinator with Athens-Clarke Unified Government, and members of the Northeast Georgia Homeless and Poverty Coalition, begin thinking about numbers that will come in from their annual count of Athenians without shelter.
One morning in late January, they will visit homeless camps identified by Athens-Clarke Police to speak with those they meet. They will collect information about duration of homelessness and characteristics such as veteran status and disability. They will combine that with counts from emergency shelters and breakfast programs, and counterparts across the nation will do the same.
The data will help assess progress toward goals of Obama Administration’s Opening Doors, a strategic plan to end homelessness among veterans, chronically homeless, and families. It is an immense goal, tackled by addressing needs specific to each of those populations, according to David Pirtel, public education coordinator of the National Coalition for the Homeless.
Recent counts have been encouraging. Homelessness in Athens has more than halved in the six years since Opening Doors went into effect, declining from 496 to 224. Halsey is hopeful that the 2017 count will show continuing decline.
Cautious optimism
Although successes are seen across most sectors of the homeless population, the greatest reductions are for those prioritized by Opening Doors – veterans, chronically homeless, and families with children.
Funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development are combined with support services by the Department of Veteran Affairs to end veteran homelessness. Halsey credits the VA in Athens for its outreach work finding veterans on the streets and helping them get benefits. He cites 2012-2013 as a turning point, with implementation of a voucher program for veterans.
“I believe that’s when it really started getting ramped up,” Halsey said.
Solomon Smothers, program director of Action Ministries, has also been part of the effort. Those identified as veterans are directed to Smothers who verifies their status and connects them with services.
There has been an almost 60 percent reduction in homelessness among veterans in Athens-Clarke County between 2010 and 2016.
“I’d be hard pressed to share a story of someone not getting help from the VA,” Smothers said.
Guidelines to define chronic homelessness were tightened this year to standardize what counts as an episode, now requiring each to be at least 15 days. The new guidelines read: one year of homelessness or four episodes totaling at least 12 months within three years, along with mental or physical disability or substance abuse, all of which must be documented.
Halsey noted that this definition, and requirement for documentation, narrows the number who can be served.
“It’s a much smaller subset of the homeless population,” he said.
What is available in housing and support is determined by the person’s needs. Athens-Clarke County has 120 supportive housing units for those with severe and persistent mental illness or substance abuse, run by Advantage Behavioral Health. They all currently occupied and waitlisted.
For those with less extensive needs, rapid re-housing funds can be used for financial assistance and services like job training for up to 18 months. The person looks for an affordable apartment in the rental market of Athens – a task that is not easy, given shortage of affordable housing. Still, 121 were occupied by formerly homeless individuals using rapid re-housing funds during this past year.
Application can also be made to the Athens Housing Authority where a point system is used to place individuals and families on their waiting list. Points for homelessness move the applicant a little further up, on what has become a very long waiting list for public housing.
Despite shortages and waiting lists, many who experienced chronic homelessness have found their way to housing. The numbers reflect a greater than 50 percent reduction in Athens-Clarke County between 2010 and 2016.
Family homelessness is most often situational, according to Katie Smith, assistant director of Athens Area Homeless Shelter. It is best served by focusing on education, job skills, and financial literacy. Two programs are available in Athens – one for single mothers and their children, run by the AAHS and the other for one or two-parent families, run by the Interfaith Hospitality Network.
Jocelyn Crumpton, social worker at AAHS, said that families typically reside for six to nine months at the shelter, and work on skill building.
“We’re very much an empowerment model,” Crumpton said. “We want moms to create their own housing stability for themselves.”
Member churches of the Interfaith Hospitality Network provide housing for up to ninety days while parents seek job training and look for employment and affordable housing.
“We are keeping those families from falling into chronic homelessness,” said Regina Goldman, director of the network.
Results have been encouraging, with reduction of close to 50 percent in number of homeless families since 2010. Still, there are waiting lists for both programs, and high poverty rates in Athens-Clarke County keep the numbers of families at risk of homelessness high, according to Smith.
Gaps
Opening Doors has lived up to its name for some, particularly within prioritized categories of veterans, chronically homeless, and families. But there is a need to do more. All service providers agreed there are not enough supportive housing units or affordable apartments in Athens. Waiting lists, even for those in priority statuses, result.
When it comes to those outside of prioritized categories, there is much less.
“For your general just-happen-to-be-homeless individual, there are very few resources, financial resources,” Halsey said.
The final goal cited by Opening Doors is this: to set a path to ending all kinds of homelessness.
Looking Ahead
To get ready for that day in January, the team will make plans to divide into groups of two or three to visit known encampments. They will distribute survey sheets to breakfast programs and shelters.
Their trek will begin early enough to find people in the camps but not so early that the team would likely wake them. The purpose of it all is to gauge progress and make plans to best serve people without housing in Athens.
Halsey reflected on what he has seen over the years.
“There used to be tent cities,” he said, “Now there might be one or two people there, and I think that has changed due to different services available.”