Streets That Speak - Homeless have different faces in rural areas

Homeless have different faces in rural areas
Princeton Daily Clarion, IN
By TRAVIS NEFF

EVANSVILLE-The plight of the homeless in Southern Indiana is not always understood by the public, said Kay Isbell, education specialist with Aurora Inc., a Vanderburgh County organization that provides services for people who lose their homes.

“When you have people living in more rural communities, you have a different type of homelessness than the common view of what kinds of situations people are in who lose their home,” she said.

Few of the homeless people her organization helps have drug or alcohol problems, Isbell added, but rather are families who have fallen on hard times. Many of the people have difficulty paying bills and are forced to live with relatives or are put up in motels, she said.

Some people wind up losing their homes after foreclosure or simply run into high medical bills due to an accident, illness, or other economic factors, Isbell said.

In Gibson County, the Community Action Program maintains a duplex where families can stay for up to 45 days, said Debbie French, Gibson County Area Rehabilitation life skills director. But that facility is usually full and there are no homeless shelters in the county, she added. French then tries to find families long-term assisted living in Evansville.

There are a few shelters in Evansville that allow families to stay for up to ...

one or two years, giving them time to pay off bills and build a positive landlord report, said French.

According to information provided by Isbell, an average of 429 individuals stay in a shelter or in transitional housing every night in Evansville. Of those, more than a third are under the age of 18, Isbell said.

She said it is estimated that in Southern Indiana counties, 10 percent of homeless individuals live in unsafe, unlivable conditions while others are living with friends or family members as they try to get back on their feet.

“Family homelessness is what we are seeing these days in rural communities, or doubled-up housing” said Isbell. “The average age of a homeless person is nine.”

The goal of social service organizations is to stop the inflow of homeless people and to get those who have lost homes back into traditional housing, even if it comes with assistance, said Isbell.

Isbell said affordable housing is difficult to find in low-income areas. “'Affordable' means 30 percent of your income should be spent on you mortgage, and that is very difficult for people to achieve.”

Since homeless shelters in Evansville are usually full, Isbell said individuals sometimes have to be turned away. “It can happen to anybody.”

Anyone who has lost their home can receive information about social organizations that offer legal, food or other assistance by calling 1-800-639-9271.