By By ANDY HAMILTON / Niles Daily Star
NILES – Michigan is the only state in which every county and the state has a 10-year plan to end homelessness.
The 10-year plan for Berrien County was written by the Housing Resource Network, and was passed October 2006 by the county's board of commissioners. It includes conducting a housing needs survey as well as a homeless count every January for the entire county.
"This is not just about Benton Harbor and Niles, there are homeless people throughout the county," said Alysia Babcock, the chair of the Housing Resource Network and executive director of the Emergency Shelter in Benton Harbor.
Babcock said the homeless count in January 2006 showed there were 293 homeless people in Berrien County, with 59 of those individuals living on the streets. Final numbers from the most recent homeless count are due next week.
Other parts of the 10-year plan include establishing housing; community mobilization – organizing the community to understand the homeless situation in Berrien County; centralized response, or "one stop shop" for the homeless; assisting with substance abuse and domestic violence; integrated strategies, such as education and job skills training; and homeless youth.
The housing needs survey helps determine what category of homelessness people fall under – youth, families, or individuals; precariously housed who have been staying at different houses for weeks at a time; or the chronic homeless, who have been without permanent shelter for more than one year or four times in the last three years.
"The solution is called permanent supportive housing," Babcock said.
The county is currently in need of places to house the homeless. Babcock said the Emergency Shelter is full and has a waiting list, plus 55 percent of the people staying in the facility are children under the age of 5.
"Forty-percent of people in my shelter are working," Babcock said. "These are not people that aren't working, they're just not making enough money."
The state figures the average cost per year of emergency room visits, plus the price of staying in shelters and jail for one chronically homeless person is about $40,000, she said. The cost per year of placing an individual in permanent supportive housing is about $7,000, Babcock added.
With a permanent supportive housing plan, Babcock said a homeless person on disability would get assistance paying 30 percent toward a place to live, and a large chunk of the remaining portion would be defrayed by housing vouchers from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. But, Berrien County is still in need of rehabilitated buildings to convert to permanent supportive housing facilities.
One possibility is having a congregate apartment building of 100 units. Another idea is mixed housing, with some units for low-income individuals and families and some for those living with disabilities.
Once a person is in a stable and permanent living environment, then mental issues or substance abuse issues can be addressed, Babcock said.
"It's hard to stop drinking the bottle every afternoon when you don't have a place to go. Most of them are just self-medicating," she added.
The 10-year plan also includes having a "one stop shop" during the homeless count, where people in need can get all the services in one place, and not have to worry about the difficulty of finding transportation from rehabilitation services to the Salvation Army.
"Right now, someone who lives in Niles has to go here, there and everywhere, and transportation is a problem," Babcock said.
Another one stop shop will be available April 26 at Residential Services of Southwestern Michigan in Niles. The agencies available will include the Department of Human Services, River Wood Mental Health, Southwestern Michigan Community Action Agency, Legal Aid, Michigan Works!, Lake Michigan College, Tri-county Head Start, Michigan State University Extension, The Red Cross, Salvation Army, Michiana Rehab, and Catholic Family Services.
"And we're welcoming more," Babcock said. "We really want to get the faith based community involved because we know they do wonderful things."
They also need volunteers to greet and help escort people through the process.
The Housing Resource Network meets at 9 a.m. on the second Wednesday of every other month at the Berrien County Intermediate School District.