Everyone Counts in Bourbon County

Local residents who have stumbled upon difficult times which have in turn uprooted them from their homes, may feel forgotten, but they will soon discover that "Everybody Counts."

In support of a multi-organizational effort, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has proclaimed January to be Everybody Counts Month. The initiative, which is sponsored by KHRC and the Kansas Social and Rehabilitation Disability and Behavioral Health Services, will produce a Point-in-Time Homeless Count on Wednesday, Jan. 28.

Coordinated by the United Way of the Plains, the count will help make it possible to provide assistance to Kansans who have no place of residence, according to a statement by Sebelius.

"This one-day snapshot will establish a baseline count of the number of people who are homeless in Kansas." Sebelius said. "Once there is a better understanding of how many people are impacted, efforts can be tailored to help."

Although homelessness may not be as noticeable in rural communities as it is in larger cities, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, www.endhomelessness.org, rural communities have a significant problem as well.

"The number of people who experience rural homelessness is unknown, but the last national count of homeless people found that nine percent live in rural areas," the National Alliance to End Homelessness Web site said.

According to Jay Preston, the director of My Father's House Community Services in Paola, it is sometimes easier to determine the number of homeless people who are living in larger cities because many of them are able to stay in shelters. In rural areas, these shelters are not always available.

"They hide," he said. "We can't always find them."

The National Alliance to End Homelessness refers to homeless people located in rural areas as "hidden homeless."

"Advocates and researchers often refer to people who experience rural homelessness as the hidden homeless," the Web site said. "Many rural homeless people live in places we do not see; they often are sleeping in the woods, campgrounds, cars, abandoned farm buildings or other places not intended for habitation."

The National Alliance attributes homelessness in rural areas to insufficient income and a lack of affordable housing. A lack of available jobs has created high rates of poverty in rural areas which adds to the problem.

"The lack of available jobs and steady incomes means that household income is significantly lower in rural areas; according to the latest report by the U.S. Census Bureau," the National Alliance Web site said. "The median income for households living in non-metropolitan areas was $37, 564, compared to $48, 474 for metropolitan areas."

Poverty is a constant problem in rural areas, according to the Web site. The majority of poverty stricken counties are rural counties.

"The national poverty rate is 12.6 percent, whereas the poverty rate in rural areas is 14.5 percent, and 189 of the 200 poorest counties are rural," the Web site said.

According to the KHRC, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development distributes grants to communities and organizations that participate in homeless assistance planning programs. Preston said after the homeless count has been completed, he will be writing a grant request for funds to be allocated to the local area for the development of homeless housing.

Preston's housing plan is called Transition in Place, which is a program that will help individuals and families learn to live on their own while creating partnerships with others in that same community for support. According to a previous article in The Tribune, Transition in Place would be able to place individuals or families in a house or an apartment for six months to two years. Transition in Place would also offer counseling, life skill training and other services.

The goal, Preston said in a previous interview, is to place a family or an individual in a rental home and eventually the person or family would begin to make the rental payments themselves instead of having the payments made by Transition in Place. This will allow the individuals or families time to get on their feet and give them a chance to become self sufficient, Preston said.

Although the United Way is organizing the program, local volunteers are needed to survey homeless individuals in the local area. Preston, one of the organizers for the local area, said he is hoping for about 20 local volunteers to step forward and help with the homeless count on Jan. 28. According to Preston, Bourbon County was one of only 40 counties in Kansas which was selected to participate in the program. By participating in the count, Preston said people in the county can communicate to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that there is an issue in the local area that needs to be addressed.

Anyone 18 years of age or older who wishes to volunteer should call 211, which is a toll free number throughout Kansas. According to Preston, each volunteer will be asked to attend training sessions from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Jan. 22 and then again from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Jan. 27. Both inservices will be conducted at the First Church of the Nazarene, located at the corner of Third and Margrave streets. Preston said he encourages anyone in the local area who is currently homeless to come to the church anytime between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 28 to feel out a survey.

"It's an investment in perhaps their (homeless people's) future, but certainly in the next couple of years," Preston said.

According to a press release from the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, the Point-in-Time Homeless Count in the past has been conducted every two years during the last week of January, and was a requirement for communities that receive the HUD funding for housing homeless services. According to the press release, local volunteers can help determine the outcome of the program.

"The success of this initiative depends on community involvement," the SRS press release said. "If you can participate in the activities needed to make Everybody Counts a success, it will benefit the people served through HUD funded homeless programs as well as state policy makers who oversee state service programs."