Huron County Homelessness Program Supervisor Brings North Huron Council Up To Date on Homelessness In Huron County

by Bob Montgomery

Huron County Homelessness Program Supervisor Erin Schooley presented North Huron Council with an update on the homelessness situation in Huron County at their last council meeting.

Schooley says council wanted more information about what is currently being done to address the problem and what kind of progress is being made. Schooley says they know there are currently about 140 households in Huron County that are experiencing homelessness and have consented to have their names on the county's By-Name List. She adds, she believes that is a modest number, but that's the number they're currently working with.

Schooley says they try to support people where they're at and they have had some success in finding housing for people in the past year, including four this month, but it is a very difficult market.

She says it's difficult to say the numbers of homeless people have gone up because they haven't tracked those numbers in the past, but they are now and they're connecting with people on a monthly basis. She also says it's difficult to say whether we're seeing increasing numbers now, as opposed to five years ago, or we're just seeing increased visibility of homeless people, or possibly both. Another contributing factor is that everyone is in a tighter place, so places where they were able to get support or sleep on a friends couch in the past are no longer options because most households are in a tighter financial space now than they were five years ago.

Schooley says she's encouraged by the way all of the community partners are working together. It's very hard work and slow work but she believes they've come a long way in the last five years and they have a reasonably clear picture of what they have to continue to do to address the problem. She also points out, Huron County has a couple of builds underway that are designed specifically to help people who are homeless, and their community partners have made homelessness a priority and are leveraging staff to address the problem. She says she's optimistic about the progress they're making and their ability to do things now that weren't possible a few years ago, partly because of increased funding and resources.