FAYETTEVILLE -- Thursday's clear morning had turned chilly and overcast as dozens of homeless and low-income people in coats converged on Central United Methodist Church for a midday meal.
Children clung to parents' shoulders and older folks had canes and deeply wrinkled faces. Smells of gravy and chicken wafted through the door.
By The Numbers
Northwest Arkansas’ Homeless
Area shelters report their populations every year, but every two years, University of Arkansas professor Kevin Fitzpatrick and dozens of volunteers try to count all homeless in the area, whether they’re in shelters, doubling up with family members or living on the streets. This biennial count has found a sharp increase in the homeless.
Year*Total
2007*1,170
2009*1,287
2011*2,001
2013*2,429
Source: University of Arkansas Community and Family Institute
The downtown church offers a free lunch twice a week. A cluster of young women stood out front, armed with clipboards and pens to conduct Northwest Arkansas' biennial, 24-hour homeless census.
"This'll be the largest homeless count that we'll get all day," said Stephanie Collier, the census team's leader, as people walked past. Collier also helped with the last survey two years ago and said Thursday she'd seen some of the same people.
"It's hard," she said. "Sometimes it's almost harder when you don't see someone again. You hope it's for good reasons."
Collier was one of about 80 volunteers who fanned across Washington and Benton counties to kitchens, churches, woods and shelters Thursday to find and interview those who have no stable bed or address. The effort continues until 11 a.m. today. Results should be ready in the coming weeks.
The goal isn't to find every single homeless person but to get the best possible snapshot or sample of who's homeless and why, said Kevin Fitzpatrick, professor of sociology and director of the University of Arkansas' Community and Family Institute.
Fitzpatrick has managed the surveys since they began in 2007, each time attempting to cast a "24-hour net over Washington and Benton counties," he said. He combines volunteers' counts, reports from school districts and information provided by survey participants to compute an overarching total for the region.
Three dozen or so agencies and shelters, along with cities, counties and the broader public, can use the information to adjust policies and programs combating homelessness, he said. Agencies like LifeSource International, Fayetteville's Seven Hills Homeless Center and the Salvation Army also use the data when applying for federal or state grants.
"They need to understand this population and its needs as much as possible," Fitzpatrick said. "You've got to know who you're serving."
A similar count was carried out earlier this week in Little Rock. All the data flows to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which this week announced almost $5 million given to Arkansas agencies, including more than $200,000 to Seven Hills.
The image of a single, older man as the typical homeless person doesn't match a more mixed reality, Fitzpatrick said. Homeless people are younger, many of them in families with children. Breanna Flynn, 17, said she's been living with three others for about a week in a wooded area in southeast Fayetteville. Flynn said her mother kicked out her and her husband, Lederrion, to have more space for other family members.
"We go to places like this, and we're applying for food stamps," Flynn said over a lunch of drumsticks and mashed potatoes. She stays optimistic, she said, and the plan from here is, "Get a job. Get an apartment. Live our life."
The number of people like the Flynns in the two counties has soared in the past several years, according to Fitzpatrick's reports, contrasting sharply with falling homelessness nationally. The 2007 report found about 1,200 people in both counties were homeless or temporarily living with relatives on any given day. That number ballooned to more than 2,400 in 2013, half of them children.
Jon Woodward said he became Seven Hills' CEO about the time the survey began. The center was helping about 650 people a year with its day center, low-cost housing and other programs, he said. Last year the center served about 4,200.
"It's a thing where the need has just grown and grown and grown," Woodward said.
He and Fitzpatrick blamed a lack of inexpensive housing in the area, noting the homeless have grown in numbers quicker than the overall population.
"Every time the survey comes out, we learn something new," Woodward said. "There have been drastic changes to the composition in the homeless population. The largest two groups far and away are families with children and veterans."
The center has branched out its work to help these growing groups, Woodward said. Workers try to house families with children within their school districts instead of sending everyone to one central location, for instance.
The higher numbers have kept the Salvation Army's warming centers busy this winter, Area Commander N. J. Pope said. The organization can take in more than 100 people in its Fayetteville and Bentonville locations when nights drop near freezing. Several nights have been full, he said.
"I think we're doing a lot," Fitzpatrick said of the area's help for the homeless. "The question is how much more can we be doing."
He called for more services, more options for affordable housing and more assistance for the agencies that provide those services "on a shoestring." Flynn and other homeless people agreed.
Struggling people need more shelters and more help to pay for medications, IDs and other concerns, said Cybil Baker, 28, who said she left her mother's home and a husband because of domestic violence. "There's twice as many campers as you think."
NW News on 01/30/2015