Northeast Ohio's rural communities are continuing to tackle a steady rise in homelessness, driven in part by a lack of affordable housing, according to local advocates.
In January, outreach groups across the country are conducting the Point-In-Time Count, an annual, federally mandated survey of individuals experiencing homelessness. They will submit their PIT data to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which will use it to target funding for further outreach.
Last year, Ohio saw a slight uptick in individuals experiencing homelessness last year, a 3% increase compared to 2023. Nationwide, homelessness rose 18% last year, according to HUD data.
In Wayne County, about 20 volunteers set out around 8 p.m. on Tuesday to gather information from individuals living both in shelters and outside.
Inside a temporary emergency overnight shelter at the Wooster Salvation Army, Logan Lehman, an outreach worker, took a head count of the individuals staying there, and asked them questions to better understand what resources they needed.
One individual, Tyler Pearson, said he’d been experiencing homelessness for much of his adult life. He told Lehman he’s struggling to find an apartment because rent in the area is too expensive.
“These landlords do credit checks, background checks, and you have to make at least three times the minimum rent amount. And I can't afford that,” Pearson said.
Additionally, some landlords aren’t accepting of his criminal background, he said.
“The only thing that's [barring] me is my criminal background and no employment history,” Pearson said. “I've had employment, but it's not consistent enough to where a landlord would like to see.”
Local agencies, including addiction treatment services center OneEighty, work with individuals like Pearson to help them find housing and even provide vouchers for their first rent checks.
However, more cooperation from local landlords is needed, Lehman said.
“They're like, ‘Well, we don't want to take a OneEighty voucher.’ And so they won't accept this money for them to get them on their feet,” Lehman said. “So, it's hard to find those landlords that will do it.”
“That's why you've got to go out of town or out of county to find any resources on housing,” Pearson added. “That's been my biggest downfall because I get so used to being in one spot, I don't want to uproot.”
Pearson also struggles with mental health issues, he said, which is another leading cause of the uptick in homelessness in rural communities, said Dr. Mark Yoder, executive director of the Viola Startzman Clinic, a health care facility that serves many low-income individuals in Wooster.
“There's a lack of mental health providers in basically all of the rural areas,” Yoder said. “I think that's where a lot of the underlying issue is, is not having accessible care, specifically regarding mental health services.”
Yoder and a few other Viola Startzman employees helped with Wayne County’s PIT count. They drove out to parking lots across the county and talked with individuals living in their vehicles.
Yoder and his team were able to educate some of the individuals about their medical conditions and Medicaid and Medicare, and connect them to resources, he said.
Transportation – or the lack thereof - is another issue in rural communities, said Christina Dantona, director of homelessness and housing services at OneEighty.
Many of the county’s outreach services are in the city of Wooster, she said.
“So, if you don't have a car to be able to get from Orville or Rittman or West Salem to Wooster to access the meal sites or more of the services, and [Jobs and Family Services] and the housing and homelessness services, that's definitely a barrier,” Dantona said.
The Stark Area Regional Transportation Authority ended its Wayne County Transit service last year, which has led to more barriers for the unhoused population, she said.
While the Salvation Army is temporarily letting local agencies operate a shelter in the gym when the weather is below 32 degrees, Homeward Bound, a local nonprofit, is gearing up to open a new shelter that would serve as a year-round day center and emergency overnight shelter in the colder months.
City officials approved a temporary permit for the shelter on Wednesday.
“We are excited that we got the approval from the city and all the work that has went into getting this facility renovated," said Brandon Barnes, Homeward Bound's director of services. "We are going to be opening our doors really soon."
Pearson, the individual staying at the Salvation Army overnight shelter, said he’s hopeful there will be more affordable housing developments in the city.
He also hopes people can try to better understand the factors behind homelessness.
“It's a survival game. People don't realize actually how hard it is out here unless they've experienced it. I don't wish this upon anyone,” Pearson said. “No matter how hard I try, nine times out of ten, I fail. And I pick stuff right back up to where I left off at.”
Last year's PIT Count found more than 110 people experiencing homelessness in Wayne County. Dantona expects that number to, at the very least, remain unchanged this year, she said.
