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Saturday, February 27, 2010

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Number of families without homes climbs

By JENNIFER STOCKINGER

Staff Writer

They may be living in a car, an old bus or in a tent or camper and doing anything to survive.

They are the homeless.

Like many other regions of the country, the Brainerd lakes area is seeing a rise in the number of people who've lost their homes.

Church sites

Churches that host homeless families through New Pathways and Interfaith Hospitality Network:

In Brainerd: Bethlehem Lutheran, Brainerd Area Catholic Churches, Church of the Nazarene, First Congregational, First Lutheran, First Presbyterian, Journey North and Temple Baptist, Oak Street Chapel, Park United Methodist, St. Paul's Episcopal, Trinity Lutheran and Zion Lutheran.

In Baxter: Lakewood Evangelical Free and Lord of Life Lutheran.

In Crosslake: Crosslake Evangelical Free and First Presbyterian.

In Pillager: First Baptist.

In Crosby and South Long: First Presbyterian.

In Nisswa: Lutheran Church of the Cross.

Fundraiser

What: New Pathways annual fundraiser.

When: 6 p.m. April 25.

Where: Prairie Bay Restaurant in Baxter.

Cost: Freewill donations are encouraged; tickets are available by calling New Pathways at 454-0460.

"It's been a problem here," said Patrice O'Leary, Lutheran Social Services operations director. "We serve a three-county area (Crow Wing, Todd and Morrison) and a vast majority of the homeless are here in Brainerd. We've been here for 10 years ... and our need went from having a budget of $85,000 to having a $350,000 budget."

O'Leary said the LSS Hope housing program helps people who are homeless or are at risk of being homeless with financial assistance and case management services to prevent eviction or to assist people in securing more affordable housing.

Since July 1, there were 236 people in the Hope housing program and 94 of them were homeless. From July 1, 2007, to June 30, 2009, LSS served 701 people, of which 228 were homeless.

O'Leary said increased funding has given LSS the ability to help people on the verge of becoming homeless find ways to stay in their home or in a home that is more affordable. O'Leary said about 65 percent of the clients LSS serves today are people who were at risk of becoming homeless.

Families with children who are experiencing homelessness can go to New Pathways, which partnered with the Interfaith Hospitality Network in 2005, and serves those in Aitkin, Cass, Crow Wing, Morrison, Todd and Wadena counties. The New Pathways office on South Sixth Street in Brainerd acts as a day center for support, referrals and education. Overnight housing is provided by more than 20 area churches with hundreds of volunteers who provide the families with a place to stay and three meals a day.

Daniel Tupy, New Pathways program manager and family educator, said in fiscal year 2008-09 the program served 38 families. He said there has been a 23 percent increase in families served since July.

Tupy said the program can host up to 18 individuals at one time or six families. New Pathways has had to turn away families a few times because they were full.

In order to receive services through New Pathways, individuals must meet several requirements: They must have children; pass a criminal background check; pass a drug test and any random drug testing during the person's New Pathway stay; have been evicted from their home or are completely homeless and have no roof over their head; pass a mental health behavior evaluation to make sure the person is not at risk to hurt anyone; and be part of the six-county area.

"We cannot help the single people," said Tupy, emphasizing he meant single people without children. "We refer them to other agencies to try to help them. It's sad. In the last two weeks, we've had a lot of calls from single people needing help."

Tupy said the homeless come to New Pathways in different ways. He said a majority of them are referred to the organization through social services, law enforcement and hospitals and there are some who come straight to New Pathways for help.

Tupy said during the day the homeless stay at the day center and staff help them set goals to get them out of their homeless situation; help them with their job skills and resume; and educate them on parenting skills. School children attend school during the day.

Tupy said area churches involved in the program host families for one week four times a year. The churches provide transportation to pick up the families at New Pathways and take them to the church where the homeless families stay overnight. The churches then provide the families with dinner, breakfast and then pack them a lunch to take with them back to New Pathways for the day.

"The churches have a huge responsibility and we owe them a lot," said Tupy.

This last week two families stayed at First Baptist Church in Pillager through this program. Tupy said this is a slow time of year for their program because people use funds from their tax returns to help them make ends meet a little longer.

Carla and Ken LaPorte, who coordinate the homeless stays at First Baptist Church in Pillager, chose to host the homeless for two weeks, instead of one. The LaPortes said several volunteers at the church have put in hundreds of hours for the homeless.

"We live here half of the time," said Ken LaPorte. "You have to put your heart and soul into this otherwise it wouldn't work. We (volunteers) bring our children here to make the homeless families feel more comfortable."

Carla LaPorte said, "It's God's calling for us to help the homeless. The program is wonderful and these are good families who need help."

Tupy said the average stay for a family is about a month and most of the families are young single parents.

"The homeless families who come here are hardworking people who just can't make it," said Tupy. "They are not people who are abusing the system. They're homeless because they have to be."

Tupy said New Pathways receives hundreds of calls each month about people who need help.

"There are a lot of people who are on the fringe of being homeless," said Tupy. "People have stayed in their fish house, their vehicles or campers. There are people who've been freezing in their fish house but they'll never come to us for help because they don't want people to know they're homeless."

Tupy and O'Leary said the primary reasons people are homeless are because they lost a job, have had a sudden illness and/or have medical bills with no health insurance, or they lost their home through an abusive situation.

O'Leary said homeless people are creative and try to bounce around to different family members or friends for a place to stay before coming for help.

"People are in denial, but there are those who are forced to sleep in the parking lot at Walmart or other places or sleep in tents or a trailer in someone's yard out in the country," said O'Leary. "Winter is tough here in Minnesota and people do what they can."

O'Leary also said homeless young people, ages 16-21, have significantly increased. O'Leary said youths are leaving foster care or their homes for safety reasons.

"It's really sad," said O'Leary. "And it's really miserable being homeless if you're a single person. The Salvation Army may be able to set them up for a couple of nights, but there's very few shelter options for them and we have a lack of resources. St. Cloud is the closest shelter to Brainerd for single people."

JENNIFER STOCKINGER may be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851.

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