How these expanded resources are helping as Columbus homeless population rises again
The number of homeless in the Columbus area rose for the second consecutive year as organizations, such as SafeHouse Ministries and the Plummer Home, work to expand resources and provide stability.
Preliminary numbers show the number of people experiencing homelessness rose 14% from 2022’s count, according to United Way of the Chattahoochee Valley’s Home for Good program which conducted the annual Point in Time Count on Jan 23-24.
“It validated what we already suspected — that the numbers were going up,” said Pat Frey, vice-president of Home for Good. “It’s one of those things that’s a hard pill to swallow. You desperately don’t want (numbers) to go up, but you really want to have real information.”
Highlighted in the report was that more families with children are experiencing homelessness than have been counted in the past, Frey said. Children experiencing homelessness rose to 36 in 2023 from eight in 2022, which makes it the second highest year for homeless children since 2016.
Women, children and families is a group that is growing faster, said Neil Richardson, executive director of SafeHouse Ministries. SafeHouse provides resources for people experiencing homelessness as well as individuals battling addiction in the Muscogee County area.
Last year, SafeHouse Ministries was able to expand the number of beds they can offer from around 84 to 213, Richardson said, with 53 beds for women and children and five apartments for homeless families.
“It’s been the part that’s kind of fell through the cracks because in the past a lot of shelters were male or female,” he said. “Until we opened those apartments and were able to house homeless families, we had to break them up.”
There was more shelter for families, no matter what that family may look like, Frey said, and there were more beds for women than ever before. Previously, the number of men was almost double the number of women, Frey said, but the gap has closed in recent years leading to a need for more resources for women.
With the increased number of available beds, Richardson said, SafeHouse initially expected to have open beds at any time. However, with the uptick in homelessness, the facilities have been close to full most of the year.
“Income has not kept up with the cost of living,” Frey said. “Primarily the almost doubling of rent or the cost of housing. Couple that with inflation being the double digits, and it’s just been, unfortunately, a perfect storm.”
People who were already marginalized or only one paycheck away from losing housing or other necessary things for a decent quality of life were vulnerable to experiencing homelessness, she said.
Single-family home prices in Columbus were 29% above pre-pandemic levels in the second quarter of 2022, said Jerald Mitchell, president and CEO of the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce, while delivering the city’s economic forecast on Jan. 25. The median rent for Columbus is $1,050, according to data from Zillow.
Richardson stressed the role of education, job training and mentorship in their programs to help individuals increase their job skills for higher paying careers.
“We have to do a better job as a community,” Frey said. “An all hands on deck kind of approach to continuous improvement and economic upward mobility.”
Collaboration, Stability and the Plummer Home
United Way and Home for Good has successfully been leading the way in terms of collaboration, Richardson said. Groups across the region doing this type of work aren’t duplicating services as much, he said, which helps the entire network of organizations provide more resources.
“Working together you’re going to accomplish a whole lot more than a bunch of stovepipes seeking their own budgets and activities,” Richardson said.
In one such collaboration, SafeHouse partnered with The Plummer Home to provide more resources to the latter organization for helping house homeless veterans. The Plummer Home intakes homeless veterans and provides them with residential living assistance among other resources, such as assistance with obtaining VA benefits.
When the Plummer Home is at capacity, they are now able to house more veterans at the Freedom House through it’s partnership with SafeHouse. In the point-in-time count’s preliminary number, Frey said, there were 16 homeless veterans.
“We’ve got eight in our house right now,” said Greg Jordan, chairman of the board at The Plummer Home. “We’ve also got an additional 12 at Freedom House.”
Including veterans in surveys like the point-in-time count can be difficult, Jordan said, because many are hesitant to participate. Veterans don’t want to be institutionalized, he said, and the Plummer Home works to meet these individuals where they are.
“The first time they walk into our place, it’s supposed to be like home,” said Rev. Charles Bauknight, executive director of Plummer Home. “And that’s what we want to do.”
After renting the house at 1214 18th St. for 13 years, the organization announced on Jan. 26 that is now purchased the property.
Repairs and upgrades to the house can be made now that they own the house, said Jordan. Updating the flooring in the kitchen is one of the first items on the agenda, he said.
Along with the freedom to make permanent changes to the house, the purchase helps ensure the permanence and stability of Plummer House, Jordan and Frey said. This allows other organizations to know that resources will be there to make long-term plans and coordinate efforts, Frey said.
“Anytime that we have the stability of knowing that something’s going to be available, it’s always a good thing,” she said. “We’re not teetering on whether or not it will be available next week.”
The Rev. Roy Plummer, a retired U.S. Army colonel, founded The Plummer Home after encountering a homeless veteran at the grocery store over a decade ago, Jordan said. Plummer made a handshake deal to one day buy the 18th St. home for the organization, but passed away before he could see the dream fulfilled.
The Plummer Home was able to raise the funds to purchase the home through grants and private donations after his death.
There are more than 20,000 veterans living in Columbus, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“We’re proud of our story here in Columbus,” Jordan said. “It’s a unique story and we’ve got an opportunity to grow it.”
This story was originally published January 30, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
