Published: November 26, 2008 11:38 pm      

Agencies struggling to help area’s homeless

Thin line between having, not having roof to sleep under

CUMBERLAND — At least one or two people in the downtown Cumberland area choose to live and sleep outside.

Those people, members of the Allegany County Board on Homelessness insist, are not homeless but are living exactly where they choose to live. An estimated 300 people, however, go to bed each night without a roof over their head or, at best, a very temporary roof, borrowed for a limited period of time.

The need is so great that Lynnette Irlmeier, executive director of the Family Crisis Resource Center on Bedford Street, expanded the original mission of the FCRC of serving victims of domestic violence to housing the homeless on a space-available basis.

Community support, she said, declared by the Allegany County commissioners in the form of Homelessness Awareness Week, is there but “the need is greater than the support.”

“It’s getting worse, not better,” Irlmeier said.

Irlmeier, along with Heidi Hager of the Allegany County Department of Social Services and Deanna Folk-Clark, program director at Laura’s Anchor, a homeless shelter, told the Times-News that their clients want their own places to stay and not rely on handouts from friends, family or the government.

People get to be homeless for a myriad of reasons. Some, admittedly, put themselves in unfavorable positions by making unwise choices. But even government assistance, in the form of Section 8 rental assistance, isn’t good enough, because many landlords refuse to accept the vouchers as payment.

All three agencies work with area churches on a regular basis. They are “so willing to give,” Folk-Clark said, but recognized a church’s ability to give is limited by its congregation’s donations. Due to the economic downturn, donations are declining.

“Things are going to be shut down,” Folk-Clark said. “I just don’t know what we’re going to do then. In my opinion, it’s been bad and it’s progressively getting worse.”

Irlmeier said the distance from being at home to homeless is a short one. One older person had worked since high school but an untimely $1,000 auto repair bill set the person back to the point of no return.

“They never get caught up,” Irlmeier said.

One person “paid her rent forever” on time but the property was foreclosed. Subsequently, the renter was left without a place to eat and sleep.

“The near-homeless population is big,” Folk-Clark said.

She said Laura’s Anchor houses 12 to 14 people at any time. A week ago, there were 18 people on the waiting list. On Monday, 10 more in need of a warm and dry place to sleep were added to the list. The facility has been at capacity for the past four-plus years with up to 53 people waiting for a spot.

The Union Rescue Mission’s cold weather shelter operates from Jan. 1 through April 30 each year. The facility is funded strictly by community donations. Hager noted there are still five more weeks to go before the shelter opens for business.

Irlmeier tries to focus on the positive but, at times, can’t help but appear overcome by the irony of some of the rules and regulations government puts on its residents. A controversial camping ordinance enacted by the Cumberland City Council in 2007 prohibits people from sleeping outside or setting up bedding with the intent to sleep at that location later. Irlmeier said the public should be allowed to see the homeless problem in Cumberland.

“If we’re going to let people freeze to death downtown, I truly feel they should be allowed to do it in front of us,” Irlmeier said.

Hager said the Department of Social Services received requests for emergency interventions for 74 homeless people from July 1 through Oct. 31. The agency was able to help only 42 people.

As to where the other 32 people are, Hager said there isn’t a way to track them.

“I really would like to know,” she said.

Said Irlmeier: “That’s the thing that bothers us the most. It really does keep me up at night.”

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.