JONESBORO - If not for the support of her family and friends, Heather Clements believes she would have been homeless after a 2010 divorce.
Now the Jonesboro grants administrator has developed a 13-member committee composed of social service representatives to study ways to alleviate what Clements calls a growing population of homeless people in northeast Arkansas.
She estimates that there are more than 200 homeless people in Craighead and Greene counties, based on the number of people who seek shelter each night at centers in Jonesboro and Paragould.
A U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report estimated 3,800people were homeless in Arkansas during a count taken in January 2013 - the latest figure available. The same report showed that more than half of the state’s homeless population were not in shelters, ranking Arkansas only behind California and Florida with the highest percentage of unsheltered homeless people.
“There’s this preconceived idea that homelessness is caused by drug use or mental illness,” Clements said. “That’s not reality. It’s only a small percentage. It could be any reason. You just never know when it’s going to be you.
“I have a heart for this population,” she said. “It could have been me. If I didn’t have the support I did when I got my divorce, I would have been on the streets.”
Before moving to Jonesboro in 2009, Clements lived in Memphis and attended a church whose members took blankets and food to homeless people. The church program, called “Street Heat,” showed participants how homeless people lived and became the catalyst for Clement’s idea in Jonesboro.
“I’ve never been homeless, but I’ve met people face-to-face who were,” Clements said. “I’ve seen the families who lived under bridges. It fired me up.”
Clements asked Jonesboro Mayor Harold Perrin earlier this year if she could gather a group of people to battle homelessness. Perrin agreed.
The committee, with members from the Jonesboro Salvation Army, the city’s two hospitals, the state Department of Human Services, the Craighead County Health Department, the United Way of Northeast Arkansas and other agencies, has met once and plans to convene again in January.
A key issue, Clements said, is finding shelters.
The only shelter available in Jonesboro is the Salvation Army’s center on South Fisher Street near downtown. Other Jonesboro centers have opened only briefly in the past because of a lack of funding, Clements said.
The 22 beds at the Jonesboro Salvation Army’s shelter stay full most of the time, Salvation Army Chairman Bob Gibson said.
“It’s not enough,” he said of the center’s capacity. “We don’t know how many we turn away each week because we’re full.”
Jamie Collins, the director of the Mission Outreach Inc. in Paragould who is a member of Clements’ group, runs the only other shelter in the area.
She said she sees about 60 people nightly in the Lake Street facility. She’s turned away many over the past year and a half because the center is at capacity more often than in the previous 30 years she’s worked at Mission Outreach.
“We’re seeing a large increase in homeless young adults,” she said. “Something has drastically changed. Is it the economy? There’s more than ever.”
Collins said the Mission Outreach provides homeless people with shelter for a longer term than other centers do, and workers offer instruction in a variety of life skills.
“We help teach responsibility, communication, problem-solving, decision-making and other things that most people overlook and take for granted,” Collins said.
“People are homeless because of poor choices. But behind those poor choices are a lack of training and education. We’ve also seen an incredible amount of abuse. We’re tackling the tough issues, and we’re working with people until they are solid on their feet.”
Some may stay at the mission shelter for up to a year, she said.
Clements’ group plans to help Collins locate a building in Jonesboro to open a second Mission Outreach in 2014.
“We’ve reached the point where we can’t handle all of the homeless,” Collins said. “We need more shelters. Others have tried to come to Jonesboro and not make it. They focused on wanting to get individuals off the street but not addressing why they are homeless. That’s like telling someone with a drinking problem to just stop drinking. Unless you address the problem, it’s like putting a Band-Aid on a major wound.
“People aren’t addressing the root of the problem,” Collins said. “It’s not just about food and shelter.”
Clements said group members will discuss ways to keep people off the streets. She wants to meet with those who run successful shelters in other cities and develop a regional approach to combating homelessness.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 12/27/2013