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United Way opens the door for Salvation Army housing
assistance program in Union County |
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| The Salvation Army is a familiar sight and sound around shopping centers during
the holiday season. That's when their volunteers are seen and heard ringing bells conducting an annual kettle drive
to raise money. But the Army will have a year-round presence in Union County as soon as January 1 with a housing
assistance program that fills a much needed social service gap. Wednesday the United Way Board of Trustees approved an $11,500 grant to Salvation Army to establish a program that will serve Union County families and individuals struggling to maintain permanent housing or who are already homeless. United Way dollars are the first piece of the funding puzzle and will serve as an impetus for additional funds from the Union County Department of Job and Family Services and the Salvation Army. A possible matching grant from the Ohio Department of Development would take the program's funding up to nearly $150,000 for its initial year. That would allow Salvation Army to open an office in Marysville that would serve an estimated 60 families a year who are on the verge of losing their housing. It would also provide direct housing services to as many as 14 homeless families per year, creating a continuum of care from homeless prevention to permanent housing. Salvation Army operates similar successful housing assistance programs in Franklin and Delaware County. "We have a lot of experience in housing and homelessness and we're excited to finally be able to put some of that to use in Union County," said Beth Fetzer-Rice, Salvation Army's Associate Social Services Coordinator for the Greater Columbus Area. The program works because it does more than throw money at the problem. A case manager works with families for up to six months after providing financial assistance to address the issues that led to the housing crisis in the first place, makes sure it doesn't happen again, and links them to existing social services to get them started down the right path. "It's an affordable housing issue," Fetzer-Rice said. "Trying to identify options in the community and then all the other support that they may need including child care, transportation, mental health issues, substance abuse issues, but mainly it's trying to get their income to the point where they can afford ongoing rent." Affordable housing has been a growing need in our community, according to a survey of community concerns taken by United Way this summer. The United Way has been an active member of the Union County Housing Coalition for two years, working with other area social service agencies to find a solution to the problem. "We're very pleased that United Way has stepped up to the plate and has been the first to fund a position that will help to coordinate these things," said Mike Witzky, Chair of the Union County Housing Coalition and Executive Director of the Mental Health Recovery Services Board of Union County. "There certainly is a population of folks who find themselves in a homeless situation or a near-homeless situation that these programs will begin to address. We don't want to wait until we see people on the streets to begin to say we've got a problem." Shari Marsh, Executive Director of the United Way of Union County, says that with the establishment of this Salvation Army program, the Housing Coalition is accomplishing its goal of bringing a number of social service organizations together to come up with a common solution for our community. "We're moving away from a band-aid approach where different local agencies did their own thing to try to patch a small part of the problem," she said, "to a collaborative effort that brings all of the services under one roof-and keeps a roof over the heads of families in need." The housing concerns of rural communities are different from those of urban areas, often making folks unaware of the issue. "You see the pictures on TV with the person living on the grate or under the bridge or going to the shelters and that's a very urban picture," Witzky said. "In rural America those people are not as visible. They're living in barns or they're living in cars or they're doubling up because of unfortunate circumstances and there are just too many people in a household. If it's out of sight, it's out of mind, so most people think that we don't have a homeless situation here." Salvation Army currently funnels money to Union County through Community Action in what it calls a service unit. This program will make the organization much more active in the area. "The Housing Program will increase the commitment of Salvation Army to Union County," Fetzer-Rice said. "We hope to start small with the Housing Program and pull people into our services and just continue to build on those. That's when you might be able to see some of our other traditional services such as vouchers and material assistance." |