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On one of the coldest nights in January, members of the COC Committee,
armed with
blankets, snacks and hot chocolate, searched various
locations in Darke County looking for
homeless people. After receiving
an anonymous tip, they went to a local abandoned
building to discover
makeshift sleeping arrangements amid trash and other debris
where
someone had been staying.
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Counting the homeless
in Darke County
On January 27, 2015, with wind-chill factors of below 0°, members of
the Darke County Continuum of Care (COC), led by staff from Community
Action Partnership (CAP) and the Dayton VA, completed its ninth
Point-In-Time (PIT) count. One of the positive outcomes of the study is
the awareness to our community and the response it brings to the
homeless plight. Work done by the COC has resulted in a better
understanding of who the homeless are and recognize those who are
chronically homeless. On the date of the study, 19 individuals were
homeless as defined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) during this one 24-hour period. Also on that night, 25
individuals were living in a homeless shelter, one of which was a
child. Three individuals were living in a vehicle and had stopped at an
all-night laundromat to do laundry. Those three were put up in a hotel
and one that the group had several calls about was found a couple days
later and entered the Emergency Homeless Shelter. During the study
staff members searched under bridges, abandoned buildings, the
all-night laundry facilities, libraries, all shelters, campgrounds,
abandoned mobile homes and camping trailers.
Janey Christman, Director at CAP, said, “ As we all know, families have
many dynamics and when families are forced to live with each other due
to financial hardships this often leads to a dysfunctional family
situation. Many families coming into the shelter are a result of this
outcome. HUD defines homeless as ‘unsheltered homeless - a place not
meant for human habitation, such as cars, parks, streets, and abandoned
buildings; sheltered homeless - as persons who reside in an emergency
shelter, transitional housing or a hotel/motel’.” Christman further
stated that Darke County Metropolitan Housing Authority has been
working with the Dayton VA in placement of ten homeless veterans with
vouchers through the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) program.
In addition, according to the 2014 homeless report available from the
Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio titled Out of Reach 2014,
lack of affordable housing and poverty are the greatest contributors to
homelessness for families. They further state that in order to afford a
modest, two-bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent in Ohio, renters need
to earn $13.84 per hour. This is Ohio’s 2014 Housing Wage, revealed in
the report.
“Nearly one-third of all Ohio renters struggle each month to pay for
necessities and still stay housed,” said Bill Faith, executive director
of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. “With so many
experiencing unemployment or underemployment, being able to afford a
modest two-bedroom rental is a very real question for a lot of Ohioans
right now.”
Working at the 2014 minimum wage in Ohio, a family must have 1.7 wage
earners working full-time, or one full-time earner working 70 hours per
week, 52 weeks per year to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment. “In
addition to supporting an increase in the inventory of affordable
housing, we support an increase in the federal minimum wage, which has
been static since 2009,” said Faith. According to estimates in a recent
Congressional Budget Office report on the minimum wage, an increase to
$10.10 per hour would boost the weekly earnings of 16.5 million
low-wage workers and bring 900,000 people above the poverty line.
“Increasing the minimum wage would be one way to start closing the
‘out-of-reach’ housing gap.”
The typical renter in Ohio earns $11.56, which is $2.28 less than the
hourly wage needed to afford a modest unit. The report found that
nowhere in America do minimum wage workers earn enough to afford a
decent, affordable two-bedroom apartment. In 2014, the national Housing
Wage is $18.92.
“In Ohio, we’re fortunate to have the Ohio Housing Trust Fund (OHTF),
which supports critical housing needs across the state,” said Faith.
“The Out-of-Reach report highlights the importance of dedicating all
available funds to the OHTF to help finance affordable housing projects
and programs.”
COHHIO is a coalition of organizations and individuals committed to
ending homelessness and to promoting decent, safe, fair, affordable
housing for all, with a focus on assisting low-income people and those
with special needs. For more information, visit:
http://www.nlihc.org/oor/2014
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