MOULTRIE — The homeless population in Colquitt County was the main concern of people participating in the Archway Partnership Housing Summit in January.

Homeless population topic broached

Representatives from the Carl Vinson Institute of Government led the summit, presenting data related to housing in Colquitt County. The data included demographics, median incomes versus housing costs and types and numbers of housing units.

Not included was data about the homeless population in Colquitt County. A member of the group of participants wanted to know why it was overlooked.

Ashlee Tziganuk, Carl Vinson Institute of Government research associate, responded that getting accurate homeless data was difficult. She referenced the Georgia Balance of State Point in Time Count for Homelessness, which is a yearly count that’s done on a single night in January.

Denise Pope, homeless liaison for the Colquitt County School System, responded that the homeless children in the community were counted by the school system.

Taylor Hafley, applied demographer for the institute, replied, that, in the context of the presentation, it was a “30,000-foot view.” It was the data they could get from the Census Bureau or third-party sources.

“Recognizing, that trying to survey 537 municipalities and 159 counties, on one night, of the homeless population is a very difficult thing to do. … But people who are in the community 365 days a year have a better insight of things like couch-surfing or something else,” Hafley said.

Roadblocks the homeless experience

“Talking about the homeless situation, we are actually trying to work with LAMP in Valdosta,” United Way of Colquitt County Director Caroline Horne said. “And we were gonna get Denise to come sit with us and then they had a hurricane.”

Lowndes Associated Ministries to People (LAMP) is an organization that provides comprehensive support, services and housing solutions to homeless individuals. Horne said they were going to help her collect data on the community’s homeless population.

She said, in terms of the homeless population, it was a cycle. They were on drugs and got on the street, she said, or got put in the hospital and couldn’t make bill payments.

“And then, they spiral. And then, they don’t know what to do and they lose their kids and then, they’re stuck and they’re just stuck in a rut,” Horne said. “Okay, and then, they live in a tent. Let’s be honest. And we’ve been to several of them.”

She explained how a homeless individual, with no ID or birth certificate, has a difficult time getting a new ID. She and her staff, she said, had helped individuals and found that it wasn’t a quick or easy process.

Next, they tried to get them a job, she said, but they didn’t have the right work clothes and no transportation.

“We give them transportation but then we have to, you know. … It’s just, it’s just a cycle. That they can’t get out of to get them one step ahead to even figure out how to get them into affordable housing. … to move them forward because they’re still so far behind,” Horne said.

She said there were many restrictions and red tape when transitioning an individual into housing and into a stable environment. How does an individual break it?, she asked.

Matthew Clifton, vice president of ancillary services at Colquitt Regional Medical Center, said any entity that tried to address the situation alone would fail. He said he was hoping the summit would assist in forming some kind of consolidated effort.

Transitional housing for homeless

Next, Angel Jackson, Archways Partnership operations coordinator, facilitated a discussion after participants had talked in small groups. Representatives from each group reported on the conversations at their tables.

Barbara Grogan with Georgia Power said, “We kept coming back to this homeless topic. … So, where we landed … was to go after some type of transitional programming for people whether they come out of mental health services, here, and they have nowhere to transition or they come out of jail or they just become homeless and need stability to get back.”

Horne said what she was seeing lately were individuals who were transitioning from facilities like jail or mental health care. She said she told them there was some local transitional housing, however, they get full.

“And then we don’t know what to do with them next. They might not be from here. They come out of jail and they’re not from here,” she added. “So, some kind of transitional program, that would be great.”

Community Action Council Director Randy Weldon said,”You know, just what you’re saying, that’s a great idea because we see so many people come to our office and they either have mental health issues or they have substance abuse issues, almost 100 percent of the time, which is leading them to where they’re at. So, I think that’s a great idea …. and we actually discussed some of that in our group, as well.”

Pope said her group talked about several social service agencies combining to have a place that was centrally located. It would have all the services needed to help a variety of problems.

She also said it was important to have the right people in the room to hear the discussion. She welcomed anyone interested in going out on a home visit with her.

Homeless coalition topic broached

Another group reported that their goal was to have a homeless coalition. Jackson asked if there was one in Colquitt County and Horne replied, “This, kind of, is it.”

Horne said she was meeting with UGA to do a “wraparound” service for homeless, which was a model of care that was individualized to assist people in achieving housing stability.

“So we have something, there,” added Horne.

Jackson asked what the group’s thoughts were on actually creating a homeless coalition.

Julio Ginel, co-responder and mental health professional with Georgia Pines, said, “It kind of already exists. We have a mental health coalition that you are more than welcome to preserve and create a homeless coalition.”

“That’s a start. But you need everybody at the table because, if you don’t have everybody at the table, you’re getting bits and pieces of what’s contributing to the problem …but you don’t have everybody there to get a comprehensive plan,” said Weldon.

“We need somebody to stand up and say, ‘I’m fixin’ to lead this.’,” said Grogan and Horne agreed and asked, “Who feels led?”

Jackson said they could make the conversation into a project through Archway and Hand could facilitate it. She added that maybe a champion or leader would hopefully appear.

“But if that’s what this group feels is important, that conversation certainly can happen,” she said.

Resource center for homeless

Horne said, before COVID, she and Grogan had actually worked on starting a non-profit that would be in a central location.

“Not really like a homeless place to go but like a place where you could walk in and you might get assistance from a myriad of non-profits,” she added.

Jamie Lowery, Crossroads Mission director, said he had looked back through his 2024 records and they had 50 men come through. They were all homeless.

“But the good thing about it, because it is a transitional program, is that only three of those men walked out back to the street,” he said.

Then, he said, the community didn’t need to say they wanted to open a “homeless shelter.”

“You don’t need to shelter the homeless. What you want to do is say, ‘We’re opening a transitional resource center where we can transition you from homelessness to a home.’ And that way, it’s also a deterrent for the ones around that’s only searching for a homeless shelter,” he said.

Lowery said he thought they needed a resource center and housing that was separated into families, men and women. He said the individuals would have access to people who could help them with their individual situations. He said he had seen it done in Jacksonville with a tiny home community.

Homeless individuals shunning help

Tonero Bender of the Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office said, “A lot of times, we that are in the public, we see people walking down the street, we see them pushing a buggy and we all automatically assume that person is homeless.”

“And they want a home,” added Horne.

“And that they want a home,” Bender agreed. “Usually, people that you see are not ‘homeless.’ Because when I approach them, from law enforcement standpoint, and ask them about resources and all, they’re fine. They want to live off the grid. They don’t want anybody dictating where they live.”

He said, the “true homeless” were, like Pope had said, in the school system. That’s where they were finding kids and finding people who needed help.

“I think we gotta be okay with people that are out there saying, ‘No, we don’t want your help.’ And being able to say, ‘That’s what that is for today. If you want to come see us, here’s the information, come talk to us.’,” said Angela Bowman, outreach program coordinator at United Way of Colquitt County.

She said she’s had people tell her they didn’t want her help. Then, people in the community saw them out on the street. People assumed that no one was trying to help the homeless population and posted comments on social media.

“I just think a lot of people just got to learn that we are helping. We are out there but we also got to be okay to say, ‘they’re fine’ and go about our day,” she said.