A driving force behind several Pickens’ non-profit organizations said it was “unacceptable” that a couple had to live for a month in the Ingles Parking lot, as detailed in a story in last week’s Progress.
Don Russell, who was involved in founding the Thrift Store and related agencies, said this appears to be case where the homeless couple was unaware help was available and none of the agencies was aware of the couple living in a van during the sweltering summer heat.
“There is no reason for people to have been homeless in Pickens County,” Russell said. “It is unacceptable.”
The Community Resource Center, which operates through the Thrift Store, would have worked with the couple but they weren’t contacted by the couple or by other agencies on their behalf.
Russell said Friday that after discussing the article in the paper last week with others involved in the non-profit, it seems likely the couple never knew there was help and the center’s volunteers were never made aware of the couple.
He said they checked their logs and the couple mentioned in the story, never approached them for help.
While the center does have an emergency shelter it is viewed as a last resort and likely wouldn’t been used for the couple.
According to their records, the resource center receives 20 calls per month for some type of housing assistance in Pickens County. They average one call where someone is either homeless or within 24 hours of homelessness.
But this year, they have only put three families into the emergency shelter.
Russell said their philosophy is to work on the “crisis” that has left someone without a place to live.
“Putting someone in a homeless shelter doesn’t solve the problems,” he said. “It just adds three or four weeks to the problem.”
Russell praised the ability of the Community Resource Center, with director Cheryl Blankenship, to work out situations to prevent people from being left without a place to live. Russell said there are many churches in Pickens County that will also deal directly with housing situations.
Working with the St. Vincent De Paul Society, the Community Resource Center will put people, especially when it’s a family, up in a motel while they evaluate and offer support for a long-term solution.
From there, they typically rely on shelters with related work/counselling programs or “transition” programs which offer more services than merely a homeless shelter. He mentioned the Timothy House for males and a Cartersville program for women. Both of which offer job training and help with personal issues.
“Some of these cases you have to go into depth [about why someone is homeless],” he said. “You have to look at the options that are available.”
He said sometimes the issue is as simple as convincing a young person that they are really better off at home with their parents.
However, Russell said there are a handful of reasons why people remain homeless.
First, he said, as the case here demonstrates, the homeless people aren’t aware there is help. In many cases, agencies that would help can’t indentify those who need help as homeless people don’t want to confess they are without shelter, even when receiving food and other assistance at CARES, the Good Samaritan Clinic or at a church.
“There remains a stigma with being homeless,” he said.
Second, Russell said in many cases the homeless people have a fear/distrust of government and authority and associate that with a homeless shelter.
Fourth, a key reason people remain homeless is they object to rules that most shelter have. He said the emergency shelter here has strict rules about smoking in the building, lights out and seeing that people there are up and being productive – looking for work or a place to live every morning.
Even if they can’t work out housing for the above reasons, Russell said the Community Resource Center does offer other help. He said they would let people shower or use the laundry facility without staying there.
For more information or to get in touch on behalf of someone who is homeless, call 770-894-3246.
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