Solutions elusive, expensive for helping Newark-area homeless
NEWARK − A low-barrier shelter. More low-income housing. Access to fentanyl test strips. Compassion. Building trust through relationships. First-aid training. Mental health services.
The search for ways to help the Newark-area homeless continued with discussions at a recent United Way forum and Newark City Council meeting, but solutions to the complex problem seem elusive and years into the future.
The Salvation Army shelter and the St. Vincent Haven men's shelter are frequently at capacity, leaving few immediate housing solutions for those suffering from homelessness. There are plans to expand St. Vincent Haven.
“At United Way, we do believe that having a bed and having something to eat is a human right,” United Way of Licking County Executive Director Deb Dingus said. “Everybody should have a place to sleep and something to eat.”
Dingus identified some of the needs as affordable housing, better collaboration of all local services and a low-barrier shelter. United Way began working with community leaders to address the needs in 2018 and completed that strategy at the end of 2020, she said.
“We’ve kind of lost a little bit of that momentum,” Dingus said. “As we come out of the pandemic, we’re hoping now to get folks together and start some of these conversations back up.”
Patricia Perry, co-founder of Newark Homeless Outreach, said affordable housing is important, but simply taking someone off the streets and putting them into an apartment is not a complete solution.
“We need to start with a low-barrier shelter," Perry said. "That’s the fastest, quickest thing. If people could get into a low-barrier shelter where they will have someone there that can help them with mental health.”
A low-barrier shelter would serve anyone, especially during severe weather conditions, regardless of addiction, mental health issues, criminal record, pets, or other concerns.
“We helped a gentleman from the Outreach get into an apartment through one of our local agencies,” Perry said. “He lived on the street for eight years. He didn’t know what to do in that apartment, so what did he do? He walked to the Salvation Army every day and ate, even though he had food and stuff in his refrigerator. Along the way he picked up everything he thought was of value and drug it to his apartment.”
It appeared the city was going to have a low-barrier shelter a few years ago, but it never happened. A warming shelter opens when the temperature dips below a threshold.
The Evans Foundation, working with Newark Development Partners and the now-defunct Licking County Task Force on Homelessness, purchased the former Family Dollar store on East Main Street in 2019, and leased it to the city of Newark as a location for a low-barrier shelter.
Instead, it became a second thrift store for St. Vincent de Paul Center. Sarah Wallace, chairwoman of the Evans Foundation, said the time had come to do something with the building at 200 East Main St., because it had sat vacant too long.
Dan DeLawder, chairman of Newark Development Partners, a public-private community improvement corporation involved in the effort to open a new shelter, said at the time that converting the building into a shelter failed because of a lack of funding.
"We need a sustainable funding source to operate a shelter, and we haven't found a solution to that,” DeLawder said in 2021. “We haven't seen anybody raise their hands and say we can help on a regular basis. We're really stymied."
The number of homeless in Licking County or Newark is difficult to determine. The Housing and Urban Development’s annual point-in-time count was conducted here on Jan. 24, but the results have not yet been announced.
Deb Tegtmeyer, director of the Licking County Coalition for Housing, said the count was done differently this year -- limited to three census tracts in central Licking County – making comparisons to previous years difficult.
The housing coalition served 276 adults in 2022, up from 188 in 2021 and the most in five years. The number served included 86 unsheltered.
Perry said they have seen an increase in people coming to the Newark Homeless Outreach on Saturday mornings at the corner of East Main and Buena Vista streets.
“We’ve lost two in the last year because their wounds got infected and they died," Perry said. "We have seen a huge increase in our elderly population, which is very sad."
Mallory Meeker, who went from being a banker to being homeless on the Newark streets in less than a year, has turned her life around and now volunteers at Newark Think Tank on Poverty.
“Homelessness, in my eyes, has increased substantially,” Meeker said. “We need more recovery housing in this community if we want to fix this problem in our community. At the Salvation Army, when we wake up in the morning, where do we go when it feels like nobody wants to help us. It’s like being a small child.”
Meeker said a person sleeping outside the Salvation Army last year was severely malnourished and dehydrated and it took four days to convince her to go to the hospital.
Linda Mossholder, co-founder of Newark Homeless Outreach, said the key is understanding the homeless people and not blaming them for their situation. She said she sees no evidence of reports that people come here from other parts of Ohio just to take advantage of local services.
“On Saturdays, we see an average of over 100 people a week (at Newark Homeless Outreach)," Mossholder said. "Not all without housing. Some just want a warm meal. We have not seen many people coming from other counties. Most are from the Licking County area. To get services, you need to be a resident of the county.”
She said one man had a 12-year old domestic violence charge and could not get into a shelter and spent $24,000 to stay at the Budget Inn for a couple years. A woman who came to a warming shelter had severe frostbite and had to go to a Columbus hospital.
Ben Shirley, a Behavioral Healthcare Partners neighborhood homeless outreach specialist who was once homeless in Los Angeles, participated as a panelist at the United Way forum. He's a concert composer, film composer and musician.
Shirley said it's a misconception that people really want to be homeless.
“We did not want to be like that," Shirley said. "I never met anybody that wanted to be homeless, but there has to be some accountability as well. No one wants to live out there. I was out there because I liked getting drunk and getting high. It worked for me, until it didn’t.”
Newark resident Rochelle Volen-Smith recently criticized Newark City Council for not providing funding for the purchase of fentanyl strips, which identify the presence of potentially deadly fentanyl in a drug.
“Fentanyl strips save lives,” Volen-Smith said. “They do not take them. They are to prevent deaths. It does not promote taking fentanyl. It does not promote taking any other drug. It virtually saves lives.
“I have met a lot of homeless people and they have a lot to offer. I think we need to give them a chance. You are killing them.”
City Councilwoman Cheri Hottinger, R-at large, said council members and city leaders are trying to help the homeless situation, including the expansion of St. Vincent Haven men’s shelter.
“I am very offended that you said that we are killing the homeless,” Hottinger said. “There are a lot of people up here and in the audience that work very hard to take care of the homeless. We try to do things we can. We support them financially. Saying we’re killing them is not necessary and rude and offensive for me.”
City Councilman Doug Marmie, R-Sixth Ward, said, “I am not going to promote anything that promotes the use of fentanyl or any other drugs in this capacity that I know creates unfunctionable individuals within our community.”
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Solutions elusive, expensive for helping Newark-area homeless
