Brown County Home Solutions Coalition gave a status report at a community meeting on Thursday, and sought feedback and comments from those in attendance about their implementation of a comprehensive plan to help the homeless population in Brown County.
Their plan, which is still in development, seeks to pool resources from local social services organizations to help homeless and potential homeless people in the community. Their strategies to “empower people toward self-sufficiency” includes street outreach, collaborative partnerships between organizations, homeless prevention, rapid re-housing, and an emergency shelter.
Central Texas Opportunities (CTO), Center for Life Resources, The Ark, Family Services Center, Salvation Army, and Good Samaritan Ministries are leading the coalition and already offer many of these services individually except for the shelter. They hope to work more closely together to better serve the homeless as they look to add the emergency homeless shelter element, and they stressed that the homeless shelter is just one part of a larger plan.
“This homeless emergency shelter is a small part of the overall plan,” said Good Samaritan Ministries Executive Director Angela Bostick. “I know we have put a humongous focus on the shelter, but it is a part of our overall plan to prevent homelessness and help those people who are already homeless.”
Bostick recapped how the project was initialed when they received word that the county might be open to use the juvenile detention center as a homeless shelter.
“We were approached that the juvenile detention center might be available from the county for us to use as a homeless shelter and we have looked at that,” Bostick said. “We’ve met with the commissioner’s court; they want us to get more community input which I think is an excellent idea. What we are looking at is a place, and we are not married to that location. That was the first thing that came up that might be available for us to use as an emergency shelter. “
Bostick said that regardless of the ultimate location of the homeless shelter, one of the great benefits of the juvenile detention center being considered is that it initiated the formation of a plan that many have wanted to implement for a long time.
“Whether that is where we end of or not, it got us off of center,” Bostick said. “For years we have been talking about ‘oh there are homeless here.’ They’re here, we are serving them already so what are we going to do about it. So it got us off of that saying ‘maybe we can get together and actually effect change.’”
Funding for the homeless program and shelter was a large part of Thursday’s discussion, not just initial costs, but renovation money for the shelter and money to sustain the program over time. Coalition leaders said that they have applied for the Emergency Solutions Grant, federal money that will help get the program started.
“Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs is in the process right now of reviewing all the applications for this particular grant, and notification will be in the month of June,” said CTO Executive Director Jim Williamson “For those who would be awarded that contract, implementation would be in September.”
If awarded, the grant will be for $177,000 with $21,000 to be allocated for renovations of the proposed shelter.
Organizers said that implementing the homeless program is not totally dependent on being awarded this grant money, and they will continue to seek out other funding.
“I promise you that there is money out there for this through foundations; this is the beginning. I personally will start looking,” said Doak Givan of Family Services Center. “This one fell into our laps, it’s a start and I don’t even think we can say that we are totally optimistic that we will get it, but the point is that without this we are still going to go forward. We will still look for other grants; they can be foundations, they can be corporations, they can be private donations, they can be fundraisers; so there’s lots of different resources we can look at.”
Coalition members said that the current grant they are seeking would be used the first year and they would seek other grants and donations once the program is in place and the shelter is open to sustain the project.
Local city and county officials were in attendance at the meeting and offered some comments and insight on the efforts.
“One of the things that bothers me is the categorization or characterization of good/bad (people). We are not here to judge people,” said County Judge Ray West. “You use the term bad people and it is just irrelevant.”
Brownwood Assistance Chief of Police James Fuller also contributed his thoughts from a law enforcement perspective.
“The emergency building could be a great place; it could be a central location for folks to get help without necessarily having a place to sleep. The places to sleep are a bonus, getting help is the priority,” Fuller said. “I’ve been a policeman here for 12 years, and I do only think of the negative things.”
Fuller cited several incidences regarding the homeless from a law enforcement perspective, and outlined how he thinks the homeless program can be helpful.
“My pessimism is really strong as well, but at the same time if we focus on everything and then have a place for them to sleep would help my mind,” Fuller said.
Local business owners also offered feedback from their perspective about having a homeless program and emergency shelter in the community.
“As a business person, if we can take two or three of those people that come to the homeless shelter; give them the stability, the encouragement, and the resources needed to find a job which in turn makes them pay taxes, in turn makes them buy things which increases our sales taxes,” said Jodie Hohertz, owner of Brownwood Music. “I think that still in the long run the goal is an all-win situation for Brown County because it is making them successful citizens of Brownwood.”
Coalition members will continue to look for public feedback on the project and will give an update on the status of the grant at their next community meeting.
