Fort Smith Four

Old Fort Homeless Coalition

Patricia Hofferber

November 30, 2015

 

News of new homeless shelter being built in Fort Smith has been in the Times Record a great deal lately. I know that Fort Smith has three well established shelters already, so I wondered why another one was necessary. I decided to do some research and discovered that the “Old Fort Homeless Coalition” is the nonprofit organization behind it, but when I tried to find exactly who the “Old Fort Homeless Coalition” is, I could not find the answers on Google. I am not alone. In the online addition of the Times Record, I found a letter to the editor written by Scott D. Monroe dated June 1, 2015 and titled “What’s the Story Behind the Old Fort Coalition?” In his letter, Monroe writes, (in regards to the coalition) “The question now becomes, who comprises this coalition?” He could find no evidence of the coalition members, either. “In their absence,” the letter continues, “it would be easy to infer that the coalition serves primarily, if not exclusively, the interests of downtown property owners.” I agree.

 

I am all for any entity that wants to help the less fortunate; the down trodden; and the vulnerable in our society, so I searched more. I discovered that the name of the new homeless facility is called Riverview Homeless Campus. I found their Facebook page. The “About” section claims that Riverview Hope Campus is “a place homeless service providers will meet to offer comprehensive assistance to the homeless in our area.” Sounds great. I looked for more information and found an article on Twitter from the Southwest Times Record written by Chad Hunter and dated Jul. 19, 2015 that reported that the new campus, located at 301 S. E St., will have 75 low low-barrier beds, on-site medical and mental health services, a kennel, worship center and space for nonprofit organizations and other agencies. They eventually want to include 12 single-room apartments for transitional housing and a 35-bed mental-health stabilization facility. The article claims that Mercy Fort Smith will provide medical services at the campus. According to another article on Twitter from the Southwest Times Record dated Oct. 9, 2015 also written by Chad Hunter, the Old Fort Homeless Coalition, the campus is designed “to meet the basic human needs of the chronically homeless and low income of Sebastian, Crawford, Franklin, Logan, Polk, and Scott County.” That’s six counties. It sounds great until I looked up the meaning of “chronically homeless.” According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), “a chronically homeless individual is someone who has experienced homelessness for a year or longer, or who has experience at least four episodes of homelessness in the last three years, and has a disability.” According to The National Alliance to End Homelessness website, the chronically homeless only make up 15% of the total homeless population in the United States. These individuals are the most vulnerable as they tend to have a high rate of mental illness and/or substance abuse disorders that are often exacerbated by physical illness. These individuals are frequent users of emergency services and public safety systems. So yes, we definitely need services for these individuals in our midst. But six counties? I believe that is excessive especially in view of their bullying of the established homeless services in Fort Smith.