Housing Opportunities, in cooperation with the United Way Porter County, announced their groundbreaking plan to end homelessness in Porter County on Monday evening.
“This plan is a 10-year plan” said Bruce Linder of Porter County Aging and Community Services. He explained, “Homelessness can happen to anyone. We need to stay away from being judgmental and take this step by step. It is going to take time.”
Presenting the astonishing data involving homelessness was Amy Rynell of the Social IMPACT Research Center at Heartland Alliance. Rynell pointed out many reasons why people become homeless today, saying, “Some of the causes of homelessness include inadequate income, lack of job skills, credit problems and domestic violence.”
With the growing number of homeless people in Porter County, this groundbreaking plan lays a foundation to retool and refine the Porter County homeless service delivery system, allowing the plan to most effectively prevent homelessness and rapidly re-house people.
The vision foresees that all residents will have access to safe, affordable homes, along with resources to support necessary services.
In the audience was a woman who was able to rise out of her homeless situation. Jennifer Dillin moved away to Phoenix, Arizona, and then found herself in an abusive relationship. With kids to think about, she finally got away. She snuck out in the middle of the night and called 911 at a neighbor’s house to rescue herself and her children. On the way to the shelter, leaving behind a nice home and a swimming pool, the realization of the homelessness set in.
Dillin managed to come home to Indiana and was told of The Caring Place by her mother. She attained housing, went to Ivy Tech on a Pell Grant and is now working as a nurse. Dillin said, “This wouldn’t have been possible if it were not for all the local organizations that helped me.”
Community involvement is vital in preventing homelessness. Barb Young, President of the Porter County Community Foundation said, “We are part of a coalition because homelessness is a serious issue for Porter County. We want to be able to develop effective and efficient programs to address the need. It will take everyone working together to really solve the problem.”
Involved in the coalition, and answering questions for the forum, were Caroline Shook of Housing Opportunities, Bruce Linder of the Porter County Aging and Community Services, Mario Bustos of the Valparaiso Mennonite Church (responsible for the men’s homeless shelter), Rocky Schiralli of Porter Starke Services and Mary Beth Schultz of The Caring Place.
Shook commented, “If you are in need of assistance, when you walk in to one of these (coalition partners) you’ve walked into all of them, because we are going to make sure to direct you to the services you need.”
If you are in need of assistance, you can call 211 and will be given information to assist you. If you are not able to get through using 211, call direct at 219-794-1829 or visit www.nwi211.com.
Also visit: www.housing-opportunities.com www.portercountyfoundation.org www.porterstarke.org www.unitedwaypc.org