Unsheltered during the holidays: Homelessness remains a complex concern in Jackson

With the transition of Jackson's homeless population to new and often forested areas throughout the capital city, officials battling the area's homeless problem often struggle to pinpoint how many people are in need.

Meeting those needs is often a challenge as well.

During this Thanksgiving season, hundreds of people will be without shelter and many without food.

It's hard to know exactly how many in Jackson are homeless. Part of that confusion depends on the definition of "homeless." Someone sleeping in a car or on the street or in the woods would qualify, so would a panhandler. Others might be without a home but sleep in area shelters.

According to officials at the Jackson Department of Planning, 315 individuals were identified as homeless based on a 2023 Point in Time census conducted on Jan. 24. That number represents five counties: Copiah, Hinds, Madison, Rankin and Warren.

That survey identified 72 in Hinds County as homeless, 67 of which are considered unsheltered. Many more who would be considered homeless sleep in area shelters.

Counts for the homeless people capture only a point in time, and the numbers are a moving target, officials said.

In a 2022 Point in Time count, 654 individuals in the Jackson area were identified as homeless in those five counties, according to a Clarion Ledger report.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, more than half of the state's homeless population live in the Jackson area.

So is Jackson doing better than last year? Like the problem itself, the answer is complicated.

Melvin Stamps, director of planning at Central Mississippi Continuum of Care, said what caused a two times lower count could be because shelters are provided to more individuals and families, thus decreasing the unsheltered population.

Jackson consults 25 companies to help tackle homelessness by holding meetings and public hearings throughout the year to discuss ways to help resolve the problem. Other organizations such as Gateway Rescue Mission are fighting as well.

Providing food

Gateway Rescue Mission, a Jackson community service organization, has been assisting people in need with food, shelter and addiction recovery since 1948.

Executive Director Rex Baker said Gateway’s primary mission is to provide physical and spiritual care to the needs of homeless people by offering food, overnight shelter and a chance at a new life.

Through the organization’s meal program, Baker said on average Gateway feeds approximately 60 to 100 people in one lunch period for seven days a week beginning at noon.

Stewpot feeds holiday meals to needy: Mississippi food pantry provides free Thanksgiving holiday meals to those in need

Baker said sometimes the organization serves 120 people, depending on weather conditions.

“We have a very good streamline in the ways in which we prepare food. The meals are tasty and hot,” Baker said. “That’s one of the areas we pride ourselves in.”

Stewpot, another area service organization, also serves meals to as many as 200 people in need daily.

Providing shelter

Baker also said Gateway Rescue Mission has an overnight shelter for men that is open seven nights per week at 2:30 p.m. The organization assigns beds on a first-come, first-serve basis.

For people staying overnight in Gateway facilities, they are provided an area to shower, to wash their clothes and they eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The shelter on average houses 15 to 20 men but has the ability to shelter up to 40. But the ability to continue providing shelter has become a bit harder.

Baker said homeless people used to be “more compact” in terms of all settling in a central location.

However, within the past few years, Baker said he has seen “homeless pockets” pop up around different parts of the city that are not near homeless service providers.

According to a Nov. 2 survey conducted by city officials, areas where homeless people were most likely to settle were in South and West Jackson.

Stamps said there are at minimum six housing service providers in South and West Jackson: Stewpot, Voice of Calvary; Grace House; New Dimension; Mississippi Housing Partnership and Jackson Resource Center.

However, city officials said there has been a migration of homeless individuals to North Jackson to areas such as off I-55 Frontage Road and behind Tougaloo College because, they say, homeless people living in a person's backyard is not desirable, so they seek out such deserted areas.

Stamps said in North Jackson, Salvation Army is the only housing service providing emergency shelter to transitional housing.

"You're looking at a lot of wooded areas in North Jackson," Stamps said. "So, a lot of individuals are residing in unsheltered environments."

Providing care

In the January 2023 Point in Time report, nearly 70% of those homeless were men. Roughly 63% of people were in the age range of 35 to 64.

Nearly two-thirds of people experiencing homelessness were Black with roughly 30% being white.

Baker said the organization mostly serves Black men in the age range of 30-40 but has started to see more white men in search of shelter.

Baker said the age range for white males have dropped from 40s down to those in their 20 and 30s. He said he believes more white males arriving could stem from the explosion of drug use.

“When I first started, the most common drug use was crack, cocaine and marijuana,” Baker said. “But what we are witnessing right now is crystal meth and fentanyl addiction.”

According to the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics (MBN), 281 (78.4%) of the 358 suspected overdose deaths reported in 2022 were opioid-related. The number of opioid-related deaths decreased by 25.27% from 2021 (352 deaths).

The number of deaths involving fentanyl, based on the report, started to decrease from 280 deaths in 2021 to 220 by 2022. In 2020, there were 237 fentanyl deaths.

No 2022 data regarding methamphetamine, commonly known as crystal meth, was included in the report but instead in a 2021 MBN report. The data showed that 38% of the 491 suspected overdose deaths in the state for the 2021 year involved as crystal meth. The MBN report was not specific to the homeless population.

Due to homelessness being a complex issue with multiple contributing factors, including mental health issues and substance abuse, Gateway also provides a "New Life Program" aimed at helping people overcome drug addiction, alcoholism or similar struggles.

The program is a six-month, residential program for people “who want to change and are willing to change.”

Currently the program serves approximately 20 to 25 people at any one time with the assistance of a staff counselor and a mental health program director.

“The program gives a man six months to get off the streets and sober up while working on their nutrition and their overall emotional health, so that hopefully, they can then make it,” Baker said.

Providing help

Below are a few of the Jackson-area organizations beyond Gateway that are working to mitigate homelessness in Jackson:

• Bread of Life Mission — Provides spiritual guidance and physical assistance, including shelter.

• Homelessness Programs/Homeless Services — These City of Jackson programs and resources help prevent and end homelessness among people with mental health or substance use disorders. Men, women, youth, and families living with mental health or substance use issues may need treatment, case management, discharge planning and financial support.

• Hopelink — A nonprofit organization working to end poverty in the community.

• Jackson Emergency Housing Services — The federal Emergency Solutions Grant program (ESG) funds various activities to address homelessness as authorized under the federal Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing.

• Jackson Housing Authority — Provides stable, quality, affordable housing opportunities for low and moderate-income families throughout the local community.

• Shelter and Housing Services — Transitional or supportive housing and homeless shelters that help stabilize people with mental health issues and substance use disorders.

• Stewpot Community Services — Provides compassionate assistance, at no charge, to people in need of physical and spiritual nourishment.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Homeless in Jackson, MS, shifts to new areas, including forests