Imagine you just had your 18th birthday and you’ve been in foster care most of your life. You’re 18. Now you are legally an adult. For one reason or another you have no family to rely on. You are on your own.
Now what? Where do you go? Where do you live? How do you support yourself? What if you get ill? These are weighty problems for an 18-year-old.
But do not despair. There is help. It’s called Summit Up.
Posted in Homelessness, Housing, Youth
Tagged Akron, Altrusa International, Community Supports, Education, Employment, foster care, Goodwill Industries of Akron, Health/Mental Health Care, Housing, InfoLine, Legal Services, OASIS Ministries, service organization, SOS (Street Outreach Services -- a subsidiary of Safe Landing), Summit County, Summit County Children Services, Summit County Job and Family Services, Summit Up, The Purple Umbrella logo, Transitional Housing, Transportation, Youth, Youth Emancipation Task Force
Story by Scott Myers and Katie Cassaro
Last week we looked at some statistics about homelessness in Summit County from the Continuum of Care’s 2013 Point in Time Count. Let’s look a little more closely at a few more statistics.
Total Number of Homeless Individuals in Summit County
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
824 740 820 859 857 813 862 870
Until 2014 the numbers seem to depict a pretty stable system with some random variation. 20103 and 2013 show essentially the same number, as do 2009 and 2012.
On the other hand, the two highest counts occurred in the two most recent years. Does this indicate a trend? Continue reading
Posted in Community, Homelessness, Neighborhoods
Tagged Children, chronic substance abuse, Chronically Homeless, Community, Food, HIV/AIDS, Homelessness, Housing, Living Outdoors, mentally ill, Neighborhoods and tagged Akron, Point in Time Count, Project RISE, Shelters, Transitional Housing, Unsheltered, Veterans, Victims of Domestic Violence
As of 2013, the number of homeless individuals living in Akron/Barberton and Summit County totaled 862 (Source: Point in Time Count 2013 Report).
This includes the total number of homeless persons in emergency and transitional shelters, safe havens, and the unsheltered.
– 19 of these 862 individuals were unsheltered, living outdoors
– 107 were living in emergency shelters that gave them a temporary place to stay.
– 171 were living in transitional housing, also temporary.
– 572 persons over the age 24 were homeless.
Of the total homeless population, 114 of these individuals were considered to be chronically homeless. Continue reading
Posted in Community, Food, Homelessness, Neighborhoods
Tagged Akron, Children, chronic substance abuse, Chronically Homeless, Community, HIV/AIDS, Homelessness, Housing, Living Outdoors, mentally ill, Point in Time Count, Project RISE, Shelters, Transitional Housing, Unsheltered, Veterans, Victims of Domestic Violence
By: Katie Sobiech
Previously, we shared about the opening of The Commons at Madeline Park, a brand-new, 60 unit, Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) facility for the homeless, mentally ill, disabled, and veterans.
According to experts in this area, PSH may be the best new route to go in terms of housing people facing these particular circumstances.
Continue reading
Posted in Homelessness
Tagged Akron, Akron Ohio, Disabilities, Homelessness, Housing, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Info-Line, Mental Health, Mental Health Services, Northeast Ohio, Permanent Supportive Housing, Psychological Needs, Residential Services at Community Support Services, Summit County Ohio, The Commons at Madeline Park II, Transitional Housing, Veterans
With some pretty big changes coming to the Continuum of Care (COC), new questions and hope begin to arise:
Will Transitional Housing in Summit County become a thing of the past?
Is Permanent Supportive Housing better?
Should those who are homeless have to address mental issues, addictions and any other issues they have in order to stay in government funded housing?
All of these things have been addressed by those who serves our area’s homeless population day in and day out.
Continue reading
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