Fort Smith Four
Covering Local News and Local Issues
Chronically Homeless
Patricia Hofferber
November 30, 2015
At certain times of the day, homeless individuals can be found congregating on Garrison Avenue between Third and Sixth Streets. They interfere with customers and tourists on Garrison by panhandling. They interfere with the operation of businesses by bathing or doing their laundry in the bathrooms. They are the16 percent of the homeless population who are drunk, high, or mentally ill—the chronically
homeless who wander from one place to another with no clear destination in mind.
The chronically homeless gather at this location because the meager homeless services presently offered in Fort Smith are located in that area. The Next Step Day room and the Sack Lunch Program are located at 123 North 6 Street. The Salvation Army Homeless Shelter is located at 301 North 6 Street, and the Community Rescue Mission is located at 310 North F Street. Although these homeless services do their best to help, they are woefully inadequate when dealing with the chronically homeless.
The City of Fort Smith Board of Directors, whose purpose is to bring in “suitable” businesses and tourism, has taken notice of the problem. They want the visible 16 percent of homeless individuals out of downtown Fort Smith because the city’s “Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee has identified downtown and riverfront development as high priorities for future economic and quality of place improvements,” Ken Pyle, executive director of the Fort Smith Housing Authority and president of the Old Fort Homeless Coalition, wrote in a commentary published in the Southwest Times Record Sept. 30, 2014. The easily identified 16 percent of homeless spoil this plan. Ken Pyle further states in his
commentary, “Economic common sense should tell us that downtown and riverfront development will not happen unless and until existing homeless services are consolidated to a local services campus.” So, in 2009, a new coalition was formed to resolve the issue. After six years, the resolution came in the form of an empty furniture factory located on South 3 and E Street. They Christened this building Riverview Hope Campus and broke ground on Oct. 22 of this year.
Although the Old Fort Homeless Coalition did their best to talk the three present homeless service agencies into agreeing to move to the Riverview Hope Center when it opens in 2016, the Next Step Homeless Services, Salvation Army, and the Community Rescue Mission have declined the invitation to relocate. Because of their refusal to relocate, Next Step has lost some of its funding from the city of Fort Smith such as the Community Development Block Grant as the city has chosen to give the money to Riverview Hope Campus.
As stated earlier, the homeless that the various development organization in Fort Smith object to are the highly visible chronically homeless individuals that make up only 16 percent of the total population of homeless in Fort Smith. According to an article written by Chad Hunter and published by the Southwest Times Record July 19, 2015, the Point in Time Count identified 95 unsheltered individuals in Fort Smith. Whether this is 95 chronically homeless or a mix of chronically homeless, and homeless is not clear. If it is a mix then only approximately 15 individuals are chronically homeless and fall into the substance abusers and mentally ill category. The Riverview Hope Campus Phase One project will provide 75 low-barrier beds to house the chronically homeless. It will also contain showers, laundry facilities, classrooms for adult education, a barber shop, kennels for pet companions, and personal storage areas. They hope to be open for operation in the Summer of 2016. Mercy Fort Smith has agreed to provide health care for the campus.
By opening the Riverview Hope Campus, the Old Fort Coalition will be helping the chronically homeless and the downtown business owners, so it seems that it is a win-win situation. But what about the other 84 percent, roughly 80 homeless men, women, and children who are homeless because of circumstances? These are the individuals that Salvation Army, Community Rescue Mission, and the Next Step Homeless Services excel at helping. It is true that the community must work together to help end, or least stem the tide of, homelessness, so why does it seem as if the city of Fort Smith is punishing the three long-standing homeless services for not agreeing to relocate to their “pet project” Riverview Hope Center. Is it because they are only looking at the potential lost revenue of having the visible 16 percent of the homeless population on the streets? They talk about a holistic approach to homelessness, but only in the context of having all of the services under one roof, far away from the prying eyes of the public. The building they have chosen for their homeless campus is down in the warehouse district of Wheeler Avenue by the railroad and next to the Poteau River, not far from the Port of Fort Smith. There is nothing there accept the remnants of industry. There are no nearby stores, restaurants, or entertainment establishments. No schools, no nearby transportation hubs other than the railroad and the river.
It seems that the city wants to warehouse all of the homeless. How are homeless children living in the shelter with their parents going to go to school when the shelter is so far removed? How are homeless individuals going to seek employment or get to their jobs because there is no nearby businesses that an average homeless person with little or no education can work? It’s so far away from UAFS, that any homeless students on campus would find it difficult if not impossible, to live there and continue their education.
Although the Riverview Hope Center will perhaps help the 15 or so individuals who aimlessly
wander the street and disrupt businesses, it will not help the other 80 or so individuals who truly want to make a change in their lives. For them, help comes from the Next Step Homeless services, Salvation Army, and Community Rescue Mission. These agencies have a proven track record. Next Step Homeless Services boast a 65 percent success with only 35 percent of their clients still requiring services after six months. The reason they have such a high success rate is due to their well-planned avenue to self-sufficiency that each client receives and the fact that they own and operate three different homes in the community that serve as permanent supportive housing for their clients. From this agency, a client receives a myriad of services, based on his or her needs. If transportation is needed to look for employment or to go to work, Next Step has bicycles that are rented out for a nominal fee. Budgeting, life skills, and counseling is provided. At Next Step, clients are not warehoused, they are given a hand up out of homelessness.
If the Old Fort Homeless Coalition really wants to make a change in the homeless population in Fort Smith, they need to realize their limitations and recognize what is working with the established homeless services and support them without forcing them to relocate to the warehouse district. There is a place in Fort Smith for the Riverview Hope Campus as imagined, but there is also a place for Next Step Homeless Services right where it is.