CAUSES OF HOMELESSNESS There are a variety of reasons for homelessness, but sources across Montgomery County say the main reasons in The Woodlands are:
DOUBLING UP with family or friends to reduce housing costs
FLEEING domestic violence
LOSS of job
SEPARATION of family
education social worker and home- less liaison for Conroe ISD, said there are around students experiencing homelessness in the district. “We identify families that are liv- ing in shelters or doubled up because they have lost housing,” Gowin said. “About % of our [homeless] families fall under that category.” In early October, Gowin said she spoke with a single mother who has children going to school in The Wood- lands, but due to a lack of rental assis- tance she is currently having to drive from a shelter in Houston on a daily basis to ensure her children have con- tinuity in their education. The eect on education is noticeable for students living in uncertain hous- ing situations, Gowin said. “They may struggle with their assignments,” she said. “They may not have their clothes clean and are not wanting to come to school. We had one girl that did not want to come on the rst day of school because she was not able to have any new clothes,”
saw an uptick of displaced people in and due to Hurricane Har- vey, and in the number of assisted families dropped to about needing shelter, she said. Shirley Grimes, the director of the Tamina Community Center, which was established in , said the nonprot is working on adding space to the cen- ter specically for homeless women because she is seeing a need in the community. The center provides pro- grams and resources for families and children in Montgomery County. “In this area, some people nd the nearest park where they can sleep,” Grimes said. “It [happens] oen, but it is two or three of them that stay in the park and they leave in the morning.” Grimes said she began seeing young mothers and their children dis- placed aer Hurricane Harvey, but the problem has persisted since then to a lesser extent. Once the Tamina Community Center opens its converted space for homeless mothers and their children in early , it will provide temporary shelter for up to individuals for Montgom- ery County and the surrounding areas, Grimes said. BROKEN SYSTEMS According to Heintz, a lack of aord- able housing in Montgomery County is the primary factor that leads to home- lessness, especially for those working minimum-wage jobs. U.S. Census Bureau data from , the most recent data available, indi- cates , households out of , in The Woodlands—nearly %— reported a household income of lower than , annually. The median housing cost for the same area is esti- mated at , , according to census data. In The Woodlands, there are a total of ve apartments that oer sub- sidized housing. “We say homelessness is a symp- tom of many other broken systems,” Heintz said. “It is oen the last stop for those who have been failed by a lack of support or safety-net services. We are seeing more situational homelessness, which is where people lose a job and have gone through their savings, or domestic violence, where women do not want to go back to their abuser.” The issue aects more than adults in the area. Lynda Gowin, a parent
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In 2019 , the count tracked 3,938 homeless people in three counties: Harris, Montgomery and Fort Bend. 298 were fromMontgomery County, or about 7.6%. The Coalition for the Homeless con- ducts an annual point-in-time count to track the number of homeless indi- viduals across a three-county area. HOMELESS NUMBERS IN THE REGION
from , when the county was rst included in the report, which also sur- veys Fort Bend and Harris counties. Nancy Heintz, the Coalition for The Homeless project manager for Mont- gomery County, said numbers for The Woodlands area are dicult to track because people oen slip through the cracks. Heintz said limited support in the area for individuals needing emergency shelter causes displaced individuals to pass through The Woodlands while they make their way toward northern parts of the county such as Conroe, where shel- ters are more prominent. “It is harder to nd people because of the amount of trees and places people can go,” Heintz said. “We know agen- cies say they get people from The Wood- lands that have been sleeping in parks where they can tuck in and sleep.” Although chronic homelessness is limited in The Woodlands area—local nonprot Interfaith of The Woodlands reported it served only eight individ- uals who had no plan for permanent housing since —nonprots that oer transitional housing and other forms of care are the primary sources available for aid. FAMILIES IN TRANSITION Heintz said Interfaith of The Wood- lands is important as a provider of transitional housing in the area, and area churches oen organize food pan- tries and drives to provide help for low- and no-income families. Interfaith Vice President of Pro- grams Lucy Gomez said most of the nonprot’s homeless clients stem from family separations or from fam- ilies having to relocate. Gomez said Interfaith places individuals in need of emergency shelter in a local budget motel for up to two weeks. “We put them in a shelter so they can make a plan if they do not already have one,” Gomez said. “We work very closely with our community partners in identifying those folks that are homeless and wanting to move into permanent housing. We equip them with the resources they need to help them along that transition.” Gomez said Interfaith’s eorts focus on preventing homelessness by providing nancial and educational resources prior to evictions. Interfaith
7 13 14 65 93 26
Because of Harvey
First-time homeless
Veterans
Experiencing chronic substance use disorder
THE FIVE-YEAR PLAN
Severely mentally ill
Montgomery County Community Devel- opment established a five-year plan in 2014 for combatting homelessness across the county. Although the projects are on- going, theMCCD states the plan included:
Domestic violence survivors
MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Construction of one larger or two smaller shelters (incomplete)
149 sheltered 29.5% 44 unsheltered 212 sheltered 86 unsheltered 40.6%
Build residential treatment facility for substance abuse (incomplete) Construction of empowerment center (completed, given to Meals on Wheels)
SOURCE:MCCD/COMMUNITY IMPACTNEWSPAPER
HARRIS COUNTY
THE COUNTY PLAN To combat homelessness, Montgom- ery County Community Development, which is funded by the federal govern- ment, put together a ve-year plan in to build either one large or two smaller homeless shelters, an empow- erment center and transitional hous- ing for the homeless population. MCCD provides funding to build the facilities and gives them to area nonprots so there are no mortgage costs, but opera- tion costs can not be paid for by federal
2,287 sheltered 1,078 unsheltered
47.3%
2,052 sheltered 1,515 unsheltered
73.8%
SOURCE:COALITIONFORTHEHOMELESS/ COMMUNITY IMPACTNEWSPAPER
Community Impact Newspaper • communityimpact.com
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