“We estimate that there are about 1,200 homeless people a year here in Richland County,” said CEO of Harmony House Vicki Kane.
During the end of January, the Richland County Coalition on Housing and Homelessness held its annual Point in Time to report the number of homeless in the entire county. The homeless are surveyed and provided direction on receiving help.
Kane shared that 82 individuals were reported to be homeless through Point in Time this year.
Harmony House is just one of the non-profit organizations that are an agency involved with the coalition. Kane shared that the Harmony House has been taking part with Point in Time since the mid 1990’s. “We have been doing this a long time and there are many non-profit organizations that are involved. We do try to involve some government and occasionally we have a county commissioner. We have gotten banks like Directions Credit Union and we have city schools. We try to have a cross section of the community,” said Kane.
Kane has been with Harmony House since 1990 and that is also when Harmony House opened its doors. Harmony House has shelter and services offered to families and individuals who are homeless. Some of the programs that are offered through Harmony House include 65 bed emergency and case management services, first month’s rent and deposit assistance, after school, summer, and tutoring for those children within Mansfield City Schools, medical screening with referrals, and permanent housing.
Kane revealed that Harmony House receives funds from Housing and Urban Development (HUD). “It is required by HUD to conduct this once a year and they pick the date. It is usually the last Tuesday of January. This year, it was extremely cold the day we did Point in Time,” said Kane.
Kane shared that Harmony House works with Coalition of Housing and Homelessness in Ohio (COHIO). “COHIO receives information from HUD and then sends it out to the local agencies,” said Kane.
Kane reported that there were 15 volunteers that assisted with Point in Time this year. “The number of volunteers ranges from year to year and I think the extreme temperatures affected the amount of volunteers we had this year,” said Kane. Case Manager for men at Harmony House Alex Norris shared that 36 volunteers were reported a couple of years ago. “It averages around 30 volunteers that help out,” said Kane.
Volunteers went through specific training for Point in Time. Norris shared that on January 10, team leader met and then on January 24 other volunteers met to receive training. Kane shared that the number of homeless people is not declining.
“For us it has been growing by about 1,000 for our nights of lodging over the last three years,” said Kane.
In 2011, 13,448 overnight stays were recorded and in 2012 there were 14,258. For 2013, 15,676 were reported.
Kane explained some of the reasons why homelessness is so high within the area. “There is a lack of affordable decent housing and the job market can be unstable because a lot of the jobs are through temporary agencies. This has really hurt people and about one third of our population is disabled,” said Kane. Norris added that some of the homeless are in the process of receiving social security for being disabled.
Twenty-four out of the 82 individuals that were reported homeless through Point in Time this year were veterans. “That is just a few of them that were reported. There are many more out there,” said Norris.
Harmony House assists on average about 50 people a day and within a year’s time about 600 adults receive services about 150 children per year. “Harmony House provides food, laundry, transportation, bedding, referrals for services in the community, workshops for onsite training, nursing program, and after school program,” said Kane.
Donations are accepted by Harmony House. Kane shared that any household items and food products are accepted.
“We provide life sustaining services and to me that is important. Getting people off the street and giving them the basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing,” said Kane.
“There is a lack of affordable decent housing and the job market can be unstable because a lot of the jobs are through temporary agencies,” said Vicki Kane.
