Sullivan’s homeless population grows

Single adults drive the number skyward

By FRITZ MAYER

SULLIVAN COUNTY — Every year in the last week of January, John Van Etten coordinates a count of Sullivan County’s homeless. This year, 385 people were identified, which is up more than 140 from last year.

“That’s a large increase,” said Van Etten, who is the Homeless Management Information Systems coordinator for Sullivan County for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). “And the increase is almost entirely due to an increase in homelessness among single adults, not families or families with children. We don’t know if that’s primarily due to foreclosures or the general economy, but HUD will study the data and try to figure it out, and to help prevent it in the future.”

Van Etten said HUD has very specific criteria for the homeless people that are included in the count. “They are,” he said “people who are living in a place not meant for human habitation. That means someone living in a car, or out in the woods or something like that. The count specifically does not include people that are living with their relatives, because they lost their house due to foreclosure or something.”

People that are placed in emergency housing by the county are also counted as homeless if the location they were placed from was not meant for human habitation.

HUD will compile the information from Sullivan County and other municipalities around the country and prepare a report on the data and submit it to congress in April. The figures help determine how much funding HUD will give to the county.

The rising number of homeless people in the county is being felt by the Sullivan County Department of Family Services, the department charged with placing homeless people in shelters. Commissioner Chris Cunningham said, “We’re keeping up with it, but it’s a very stressful environment right now. Hopefully, the economy will get better and some of these numbers will improve.”

The economy has not only contributed to the number of homeless people in the county but also to the number of hungry people here. Steve White, the program director for the Sullivan County Federation for the Homeless, said the number of meals his organization is serving has spiked upwards. The organization served 35,000 meals in 2009, that’s up from 23,000 in 2007.

White doesn’t necessarily see the situation improving in the near term. “I don’t see it getting any better any time soon; we’re seeing new people all the time.” He added that working people who are not earning enough money to pay for food, as well as all of their other needs, are a large part of the new people who are coming in for food.

On a brighter note, he said that his organization has been able to keep up with the demand in part because of local businesses and organizations that help out with donations. “They wouldn’t want me to tell you who they are,” he said, “but they are names everyone would recognize.”