By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post 

The Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition gathered agencies Tuesday to talk about homelessness in northwest Kansas.

The Coalition has hired Amazing Traditions to do a needs assessment for the region, and representatives were in town to talk about the need for services, causes of homelessness, possible solutions and barriers to solutions during a meeting at the Hadley Center.

The Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition is the lead agency in the continuum of care for homelessness. The lead agency provides education, structure, support, decision making and program evaluation. It is the overall umbrella for care services through HUD.

The needs assessment helps the coalition understand where the greatest needs are and where they can provide the most support.

“It is really to get a temperature for the feeling in the community,” Kerri VanMeveren of Amazing Traditions, said of the focus group Tuesday. “Some communities have the not-my-backyard or a you-build-it-and-they-will-come mindset, which is important to understand what your community will accept. If there are great needs in the community and there is great disparity between need and the opportunity, are there some other things that need to take place before you put money in there, before it’s ready to be accepted?”

The Coalition applies for funding on behalf of a variety of agencies in the state. Currently there are no grant awards in the northwest region, said Linda Mills, director of First Call for Help and regional coordinator for the Coalition.

People in the Ellis County can apply for HUD programs, but Mills said most of the people who are seeking help from First Call for Help don’t meet the federal standards for assistance. To qualify for rapid rehousing funds, a federal housing program, a person or family has to be living on the street.

Many of the people in the community who do not have permanent housing in Ellis County are referred to as “couch homeless.” They may not have a permanent address, but are doubling up with other families on a temporary basis. Hays USD 489 Superintendent John Thissen said these families who are “couch surfing” are counted as homeless per state definition even though they are not considered homeless by federal standards.

Mills said when she first started with First Call for Help, the agency applied for emergency shelter grant funds, but the agency was unable to secure those funds for anyone, because the rental the person is applying for has to be at the fair market value set by the federal government. First Call couldn’t find any rental housing at or below the federal market value. Some rentals were as close as $10, but because it was over, the application was denied.

The fair market rent for a two-bedroom unit for Ellis County for 2018 is $710 a month. That includes all utilities.

Getting someone into a new home can be difficult. Section 8 housing has a long list. Hays Public Housing Authority has a waiting list of 60 to 70 with a waiting time of about a year. Mills said she can access resources for rental assistance, but not for a deposit and first month’s rent. First Call for Help had to refer out 187 people this year because of these barriers.

The group first discussed causes of homelessness in the region.

Sarah Wasinger of the Hays school district said high medical bills among family members have caused some students’ families to become homeless. Others acknowledged individuals and families struggle to qualify for Medicaid in Kansas.

Amy Bird of High Plains Mental Health said her agency has clients who fall in an insurance gap. They make too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to buy insurance on the health insurance exchange.

Mills said Ellis County has a low unemployment rate, but workers still lack a living wage. Other jobs don’t provide enough hours or employers may lay off workers when work is slow, creating an inconsistent income for employees.

Thissen said Hays residents have a misconception there are no homeless individuals in the community because they don’t see people living on the street.

Mills said the community does have a homeless camp and last year there were eight individuals living there.

One reason, the community doesn’t see street homeless is because the community has no shelter, Bird said. Those individuals who are on the street are moved to communities, such as Wichita or Salina, where shelters exist.

A lack of affordable housing was also listed as a cause for homelessness in the community. The median home price in Hays is $195,000, according to Zillow.

Dennis Wilson of First Call for Help said substandard housing makes it difficult for those trying to buy homes to qualify for HUD funding.

Although there are an estimated 150 open rental units in the city today, finding quality rental housing and a good landlord can be difficult, said Sherry Dryden, executive director of the United Way of Ellis County.

Dryden said it is difficult for renters and agencies to know which landlords are good to work with. She said she had worked with a family whose floor fell out of their rental, and the landlord charged them to fix the floor.

Mills said she had worked with a family with water running inside the walls of the rental and they had little recourse to get their landlord to fix the problems.

“It is hard for us to advise them, because the city doesn’t really have any rental inspection, which I’m not necessarily saying we need to have that. I know that it would be hard for the city to enforce,” Mills said. “What is their (renters) route to get these problems fixed without the landlord taking retaliation on them and raising their rent or evicting them?”

Dryden said a lack of awareness among community members that homeless exists in the community can be a cause for homelessness in the community.

“You stated at the very beginning there are those communities that, I am not going to be politically correct, that basically have their heads in the sand and say we don’t have it—a homeless problem—or we want to make sure they go through (town) so we don’t have a homeless problem. So, to me, one of the causes is being naive and being in denial,” Dryden said.

Wasinger said, “They don’t think it is an issue because they don’t see them on the streets every day. It is not visible. They don’t think about those families that are couch surfing as being homeless. Yet, they are more susceptible to worse things happening to them because that person can say at any time, ‘Leave.'”

Mills said there is also a perception that the homeless need to just get jobs, but most of the people who First Call for Help sees are employed.

The group also discussed other issues that lead to homelessness, including generational poverty, substance abuse, criminal records, mental health issues, transportation costs and lack of awareness of services.

The group discussed services in the community where people are accessing help. Some of these include First Call for Help, Salvation Army, food banks, churches, Catholic Charities, Community Assistance Center, Harvest America, the school system and High Plains Mental Health. The group especially had high praise for the work of law enforcement in the community.

Among the solutions the group discussed were parenting classes, financial classes, support for those being released from jail or prison, a landlord rating system, Circles, case management, transitional housing, free community transportation with regular routes, medical insurance/expanded Medicaid, affordable day care, increased mental health funding, rental assistance and community education.

Mills said those in need don’t always know how to access service and they may not have the transportation to go all over town to seek help from multiple agencies. She said she would like to see better collaboration and communication between the community agencies.

The group said they would like to see case management offered to people who were homeless or at risk of being homeless. Bird said High Plains Mental Health offers case management, but clients have to be mentally ill and meet strict requirements for those services.

VanMeveren said case management has proven to be crucial for individuals in other communities to get back on track.

The group talked about the Circles program, which is a national program that provides volunteer mentors for people living in poverty, helps them set and reach goals, and access community resources. Mills said she has looked into the program.

In addition, funding is a challenge for all the organizations, the participants said.

Chris Dinkel of High Plains Mental Health and a Hays city commissioner, said the resources at High Plains are drawn very thin. High Plains covers a 20-county area and has seen an increase in demand for services every year for the last 10 years, but has seen a cut of 15 percent in state funding. Many clients are waiting three weeks or more for services.

The group noted there is a disparity in the amount of funding allocated for support services in western Kansas compared to eastern Kansas. Mills added lawmakers don’t account for the added cost of providing services over large rural areas. Many of the social services for northwest Kansas are centered in Hays, which is good for local residents, but makes access difficult for outlying communities.