A number of Carbon County officials and human service agencies gathered Monday to discuss the growing problem of homelessness in Carbon County. County Commissioners Thomas J. Gerhard, William O’Gurek and Wayne Nothstein presided over the meeting.

Yvonne’s story

Directing the discussion of the agenda were community volunteers Bob Jacobs and Christine LeClair.

LeClair began by telling the story of a 55-year-old disabled woman named Yvonne, who was found living in the Carbon County Plaza Mall in Lehighton.

She had been living with her father until he died in February, and when the house was put up for sheriff’s sale, she moved into the backyard shed until authorities told her she couldn’t live there.

Yvonne moved to the mall, where she found places to sleep each night until the kindness of others provided her with food and shelter.

Jacobs mentioned that Yvonne’s story brought attention to a little-known but growing homeless issue in Carbon County.

“We need to question to what degree homelessness exists in Carbon County, and we need to collect data so we can gather a broader perspective,” he said.

‘An organic process’

Since the homeless issue had not been officially discussed, Jacobs called the fact-finding task to be “an organic process.”

Those attending the meeting were asked to offer their input from their experiences with the problem.

Rick Parsons, chief of the Adult Probation Office, said that inmates often have no place to live when they finish serving their time and are “stuck in jail” until they can find somewhere to go.

Parsons said his evidence on homeless inmates is purely anecdotal, and that data needs to be collected for accurate numbers.

Aggie Shehadeh, who initiated the “Peaceful Nights” program in Lehighton, said that homeless people, some who are living in cars, is a problem that requires an “all hands on deck” approach.

“We reach out to supporting agencies, and Trinity Lutheran Church in Lehighton has been especially helpful with providing us with food and clothing, but we need to muster resources to paint a broader picture on what we’re dealing with,” Shehadeh said. “Putting those who need shelter up in local hotels is costly. And there are those families with children who are about to lose their homes because of joblessness and disabilities, so we try to help them out with the money we get to help pay their bills, but $10,000 for assistance can be gone pretty quickly.”

Keeping families together

Gary Matson, a board director from “Family Promise,” a homeless shelter in Lehighton, said his agency tries to help families stay together. The shelter houses families with children during the day and then they are bused to accepting churches where they spend the night.

“Our goal is to help get families on their feet again,” Matson said. “We can hold three or four families at a time. Sometimes, and mostly in the winter, we can have a waiting list. In the summer, these families might choose to sleep under a bridge.”

Rules and schools

Agencies like Peaceful Nights and Family Promise cannot take in every homeless person. Rules require that there is no drug use or intoxication. Those with mental illness are not suitable because there are no treatments in the facilities.

According to Shehadeh, there is also a stigma that a homeless woman deserves compassion, but a homeless man should get a job and sustain himself.

“There are those we call the ‘easies,’ the homeless who have a desire to help themselves,” Shehadeh said. “There are also some who do not want shelter and those who have drug abuse issues. We also must be concerned with supervision when we put them in the same areas.”

Admittance into emergency shelters requires a photo ID, no visible intoxication or noticeable drug use.

“Our hearts are here,” Shehadeh said, “but for the safety of everyone, we have to have rules.”

The Rev. Allen Hoffa, pastor of St. Joseph Parish of the Panther Valley in Summit Hill, summed up the discussion by saying there are many definitions of homelessness, and that includes children who get put out of their homes anytime from birth to age 18.

O’Gurek asked the question, “What do we not know that we need to know?”

He said the Carbon County school districts learn which students are homeless.

Jacobs added that many kids bounce from home to home and the schools they attend are valuable sources of data that factors in the frequency of truancy.

Dollars and sense

Nothstein addressed the question about whether the county was prepared to fund the homeless programs.

“With what we know now, this is going to be expensive,” he said. “To try to fund these programs without raising taxes would begin by applying for grants, but the state has already cut the funding to human service agencies.”

O’Gurek added, “We have to make sure we follow the code for county programs. For 16 years there has been no talk of a homeless issue until now. We all have to continue to do our research.”

The meeting concluded with a request from Jacobs for the agencies in attendance to gather more data.

“There are short-term solutions and there are long-term solutions, but before we take that step we need to get some hard numbers on how many homeless we have in Carbon County.”

The next meeting will be at 3 p.m. May 13 at a site yet to be determined.