Groups tackle affordable housing
Community Networks

by By JESSICA WIANT

Editor's note: This is the first in a series of four Monday articles that will explore the issue of homelessness in the Eastern Panhandle.

MARTINSBURG - The need for housing for the homeless is greatest in times of severely cold or severely hot weather, according to Glenda Helman of Community Networks Inc.

"Many have illnesses that make it difficult to withstand extreme weather," she said.

But on any given night in the Eastern Panhandle, about 143 people will be homeless. That figure comes from a point-in-time survey conducted for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Helman said. But the number could be even higher, she added - there could be people the surveyors missed in cars, under bushes and bridges or sheltered in abandoned buildings.

There is a misconception that those at risk of becoming homeless are those who "live off the system" and don't work, Helman said. But homelessness extends beyond that. Working poor are also losing their homes, according to Helman.

"These are people who are working and trying to make ends meet," she said. "The biggest barriers are transportation, child care and decent, affordable housing."

And Helman said she thinks it will get worse before it gets better, as housing prices continue to rise in the Eastern Panhandle and other causes gain popularity.
"Homelessness is not the cause du jour it once was," she said, also saying the community needs more education about the problem year-round. Although helping the homeless might not be the most popular or well-known issue, there are multiple collaboratives in the Eastern Panhandle working to combat homelessness.

Among them is the Eastern Panhandle Health and Human Services Collaborative.

Representatives from health care facilities, the United Way, Telamon, Community Networks and other non-profits and from the Berkeley County Department of Health and Human Services are a part of the collaborative. While it isn't meant to deal directly with just homelessness, the group meets quarterly to brainstorm and educate each of the members about health, housing and self sufficiency.

One thing Helman would like to see that the community does not offer now is a mobile mental health team. She said there is often only a small window when people agree that they need treatment and the moment passes before help becomes available.

A mobile team could build rapport on the street.

However, the collaborative isn't asking for anything, United Way's Executive Director Jan Callen said during the group's last quarterly meeting. Instead, the collaborative, which was formed in August 2005, wants to be a resource itself.

"This is an evolving process," Callen said. "If we do this right, our work will never be done."

The collaborative's affordable housing work group wants an emergency shelter in each Eastern Panhandle county, an increase in awareness and a strengthened delivery system for affordable housing, said Patricia McMillan, the city of Martinsburg's community development director.
By affordable housing, McMillan said, she doesn't just mean homes for poor people.

"We mean housing for everyone," she said.

The group has also been involved in adding the state's 2-1-1 helpline database, a phone number people can call to connect with all health and human services, and with putting together a "street guide" for each county that lists available resources.

Another resource, the Shalom Resource Center, is a project of the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Coalition for the Homeless and the West Virginia Mental Health Consumers' Association.

Operating at 412 Winchester Ave. in the former parsonage next to the Winchester Avenue Christian Church, the center offers a variety of assistance, including a telephone for local calls, a washer and dryer for people who need a place to do laundry, magazines, hot coffee, water, small snacks and referrals to a variety of social services in the Eastern Panhandle. The center is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The phone number for the center is 263-9002.

Another potential resource could be available in the area, as government leaders of the Panhandle are exploring becoming a consortium to participate in the federal HOME program to capture funds for affordable housing programs.

The program could bring more than $600,000 annually to the Eastern Panhandle as soon as 2007. It's called the HOME Investment Partnership Program, and each incorporated city or county government is eligible to receive HOME funds, according to Lynn Daniels, the director of the community planning and development division at the Pittsburgh Housing and Urban Development office.

The money can be used for home rehabilitation, homebuyer construction or buying assistance, rental construction and tenant-based rental assistance.

- Staff writer Jessica Wiant can be reached at 263-8931, ext. 138, or jwiant@journal-news.net

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