Area homelessness on rise

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March 23, 2008

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Sun Mar 23, 2008, 08:07 PM CDT

By Derek Spellman

dspellman@joplinglobe.com

The numbers are in, and they have gone up.

There are at least 409 homeless people in Jasper and Newton counties, according to totals released late last week by the Jasper/Newton County Homeless Coalition.

That number takes in “unsheltered” homeless who live on the streets, under bridges, in vacant buildings and at makeshift camps, and “sheltered” homeless who are lodging with relief agencies or shelters.

But Carol Thomas, chairwoman of the coalition, said the total most likely represents a minimum number. Firmer totals are elusive, she said, because some people are part of the “hidden homeless” who live in cars or other places not readily visible to observers. Members of the coalition tried to get some notion as to how many are in that group by walking through parts of the city where the homeless might live.

“There are more out there that we could not verify,” Thomas said.

The coalition last year tallied 341 homeless, sheltered and unsheltered. This year’s survey was conducted in late January.

“I didn’t anticipate an increase to the extent that we (found),” Thomas said of this year’s figure.

Segments within the sheltered homeless population that have seen an increase include:

n Children, who this year accounted for 21 percent of the total.

n Veterans, who accounted for 29 percent.

n Victims of domestic violence, who accounted for 12 percent.

The increase in the number of homeless veterans has been a trend faced by House Inc., a Webb City-based shelter and drug-rehabilitation center, said Tom Hubbs, the organization’s executive director.

In the seven homes that House Inc. operates in the Joplin area and the one home it has in Arkansas, the operation houses 166 people. Between 50 percent and 55 percent are veterans, Hubbs said. The average age of those veterans is around 45, he said.

House Inc. contracts with the federal Department of Veterans Affairs to take on veterans for treatment, which includes counseling and rehabilitation programs. The organization requires participants to stay at least one year, and the successful residents usually stay between two to three years.

In most cases, the veterans who go to House Inc. have resorted to drugs and alcohol to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder, Hubbs said.

House Inc. requires residents to spend 30 days in a hospital before joining one of its homes.

“Before that, a lot of them were on the streets,” Hubbs said, adding that most homeless veterans could fit everything they own into one black trash bag before going to House Inc.

Homeless summit

The homeless veteran population likely will be among the subjects during a summit that is being organized by Joplin Mayor Jon Tupper.

Tupper proposed the summit earlier this month after the City Council voted 5-3 to deny a change in zoning that would have allowed the City of Refuge shelter to remain open at 502 E. Seventh St. The operation provides meals and a food pantry, clothing, sleeping quarters and activities, but the building it was leasing was not zoned for such an operation.

While trying to raise money to make repairs to correct code violations that included a lack of smoke alarms and fire extinguishers, and insufficient exits, officials with the shelter learned that the building’s zoning would not permit its type of operation there, and they requested that the shelter be rezoned. Dan Anderson, pastor of City of Refuge, has said he would look for another building to house the ministry.

Efforts to reach Anderson for comment were unsuccessful on Friday and Saturday.

Tupper, who was among the three council members who voted to grant the rezoning, said Friday that he is assembling representatives from local relief agencies into a smaller group that would give a structure and agenda for the larger summit meeting.

Tupper said he hopes to have that smaller planning group meet in early April. The larger summit likely would be held within two weeks after that planning meeting.

Tupper said the City of Refuge situation heightened public awareness of the area’s homeless problem.

“I think we have created an awareness of a situation that needs to be addressed,” he said. “It’s just time. I think it has come to a head, and now it is time to do something.”

Thomas, the homeless coalition chairwoman, said the numbers help the organization when applying for grants. She said the results will be particularly important as the homeless summit takes shape.

“This is going to be very critical,” she said.

Homeless veterans

House Inc., a Webb City-based shelter and drug-rehabilitation center, in the past 13 years has expanded from one home with 10 beds to eight homes with 166 beds. The majority of its residents are homeless veterans.