AKRON, Ohio — There are more than 10,000 people living without permanent shelter on any night in Ohio, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
In Akron, organizations like Community Support Services (CSS) are working to find homes for people experiencing homelessness through their ‘Tent to House’ program.
Keith Stahl, director of residential services and operations for Community Support Services, explained this is a multi-step program and they help participants through every part.
The first step is to make contact with people who are living in homeless encampments. He said once the people who are experiencing homelessness agree to the program, they then stay at a shelter. While at the shelter, CSS will help participants with finding housing and figuring out how to pay rent.
“So we would go out and offer them to come into our shelter. We would agree that if they stay here, we would house them. In the initial phase, we were able to get them housed within 30 days. So we would help them get I.D.s, help them find landlords and help them pay for that unit,” Stahl said. “So it was a really intensive experience for them. It wasn’t that they were just coming into shelter. We were meeting with them every single day and we developed a housing plan and we would set goals and targets for them.”
Since this program started around 15 months ago, 70 people have been placed into permanent housing.
Robert Halman went through the program several months ago.
Halman said he was homeless and living in a tent for 13 years before CSS stepped in and helped him find an apartment to rent.
“I got a shower, a toilet, a place to sleep, refrigerator, a stove and I can actually cook,” Halman said.
Now that Halman has a permanent place to call home, he said his next step is finding a job.
In this upcoming year, Stahl said he hopes CSS can help around 50 more people find permanent housing.
“It is really is about identifying what is the barrier for this individual obtaining housing and how can we overcome this barrier?” Stahl said.
