I like to make a backup of some of these articles because they almost always disappear from the Beacon Website.
Unsheltered homelessness in the county is up 300%. It’s time to take action | Editorial
Akron Beacon Journal editorial board Akron Beacon Journal
Sage Lewis, a staunch advocate for the homeless population in Akron, felt the first glimmer of hope he had in a long time when he recently met Mayor Shammas Malik.
Lewis is fighting the same old battle with a new mayor, once again advocating for a way to make tent cities work in a clean, safe way.
But things are different today than they were during the Dan Horrigan administration.
Since 2019, home prices in the U.S. have increased 54% as the housing supply dwindles. Out-of-state investors are also buying up more homes in the area, putting further pressure on supply and increasing rent despite at times neglecting the properties.
A federal COVID-era moratorium on evictions ended in mid-2021, contributing to a spike in homelessness overall. And as evictions have crept back to pre-pandemic levels, those evicted from their homes are having a harder time finding somewhere to live − even temporarily.
The unsheltered homeless population in Summit County is now 300% higher than it was in 2022, climbing from a low that year of 53 people to now more than 200.
Mar-quetta Boddie, the executive director of the Continuum of Care, which leads the annual count of the homeless population in the county, expects that number to continue to climb.
The problem has grown so quickly that Boddie, who was once opposed to tents as an acceptable form of shelter, is now in support of exploring alternatives to traditional housing as shelters across the county are at or near max capacity.
Which brings us to Lewis, who is now proposing a temporary safe sleeping encampment from December through April in Akron.
Lewis is seeking to implement this winter shelter in a secluded, safe space that will be kept clean with trash and portable toilets. Illegal drug use would not be permitted.
He’s even offering to make it happen on his own dime.
It’s a hard sell to a city that just two years ago was embroiled in a lawsuit with Lewis over allowing people to live in tents on his commercial property, which he is no longer permitted to do.
But it’s clear the status quo is no longer cutting it.
Sweeping camps, as the city recently did on the first day of November, costs money and does little to tackle the problem at hand. Camp sweeps can even exacerbate the problem, scattering homeless people to different areas of the city and making it more difficult to locate them and help connect them with resources.
Moving forward, we urge the city to work with advocates for the homeless community before efforts to clean up or remove any apparent homeless camps.
We cannot marginalize our homeless population into oblivion.
That’s why Lewis’s proposal is worth a try. Yes, more structured shelters would be ideal, and the city is currently pursuing legislation with City Council that would once again fund an emergency overnight shelter for winter nights when temperatures drop below 15 degrees.
But people deserve shelter even when temperatures are above frigid.
While we’d urge a few additional safeguards to Lewis’s proposal, such as no children allowed and an increased police presence, the idea generally follows federal guidelines aimed at reducing homelessness.
It’s a centralized, structured place for people to get at least some shelter temporarily while the city sends services available in Summit County to connect with them in person.
As a bonus, getting it off the ground requires few resources beyond streamlining the services we already have in the county.
But the city, which has the highest concentration of homeless in the county, needs to go a step further. We cannot take this issue winter by winter, only paying attention when temperatures begin to drop.
The city needs a task force or department dedicated to coordinating efforts and mitigating homelessness through long-term solutions. We need a group of people tackling the issue through the various lenses of not only quality, affordable housing, but also poverty, racial disparities, mental health and education.
People who have experienced homelessness would be a great place to start for this sort of committee, as would organizations like Continuum of Care, which is currently developing a strategic plan that explores alternative housing solutions.
The city, to its credit, has provided nearly $500,000 to develop that plan, and a city spokesperson has confirmed the administration is “interested to see how our ideas fit into that larger plan.”
We strongly urge more winter shelter options and a dedicated homelessness committee to be part of those plans.
It’s said many Americans are only one crisis away from homelessness. We should be able to live without fear that we’ll one day be in that position because of bad luck — and that starts with wrapping our arms around the people experiencing it today.
We’re looking for innovative solutions to addressing homelessness. If you have an idea, please email [email protected].
This piece was written by Akron Beacon Journal Opinion and Community Engagement Editor Theresa Bennett on behalf of the editorial board of the Beacon Journal. Editorials are fact-based assessments of issues of importance to the communities we serve. These are not the opinions of our reporting staff members, who strive for neutrality in their reporting.