Grant could establish new homeless shelter
Agencies combine efforts to apply for $225,000 from state
A homeless shelter like this one could be opened somewhere in Medina County if the Medina County Metropolitan Housing Authority and Battered Women’s Shelter get a $225,000 grant they applied for. Submitted photo
MEDINA – Officials at the Medina County Metropolitan Housing Authority and the Summit-Medina County Battered Women’s shelter have applied for a $225,000 state grant they hope could establish a homeless shelter in Medina County.
“There’s a definite need,” said Debbie Kubena-Yatsko, deputy director at the Metropolitan Housing Authority. “We have the most people we’ve ever had in our homeless programs and the problem is growing.”
MCMHA has people in 60 households around the county who are in a permanent housing program for the homeless because they do not have another home and the leader of the household is disabled.
Another MCMHA program provides up to five months of rental assistance to families that are homeless and the head of household does not have a disability.
In addition, the nonprofit agency Operation Homes placed 60 adults and 10 children in temporary shelters provided by 11 churches around the county last year.
However, the need for housing exceeds the capacity of MCMHA and Operation Homes to provide it. Kubena-Yatsko said MCMHA had found 19 homeless adults and 10 children they didn’t have emergency shelter for in July.
What the county lacks is a permanent shelter where homeless people can be housed while awaiting temporary shelter provided by MCMHA or other sources.
“That’s the missing piece,” said Kubena-Yatsko. “Finding a unit to lease for these people doesn’t happen overnight. We need a shelter in which to place these people until something more permanent can be arranged.”
Operation Homes fills that need, now, but it’s not enough.
“We want Operation Homes to keep doing what they do now,” said Kubena-Yatsko. “They do a great job but we’ve outgrown the number of beds they can provide.”
The MCMHA director added, “Through my experience, as the population of Medina County has increased, so have the demands on social services. For someone experiencing a housing crisis it takes time to secure permanent housing and people in crisis need basic shelter and safety each night if they are to be successful, especially during winter months. Operation: Homes is at capacity every night. Medina County needs additional crisis shelter beds. Even just one child, senior citizen, or person with a disability living on the streets or in a park is one person too many.”
As a result, Terri Heckman, director at the Battered Women’s Shelter, has submitted the grant application to the Ohio Development Services Agency Homeless Crisis Response program. If approved, the grant would provide $225,000 to operate a shelter in Medina County for two years.
Kubena-Yatsko said she is optimistic the grant application will be approved because the state agency notified officials in Medina County they were aware of the need here and money is available because another county closed its shelter which was operated with state grant money.
The location of a homeless shelter in Medina County is not clear and Kubena-Yatsko is hoping for helping in finding it.
“We’re wide open about ideas for locating it,” she said. “It could be a home or it could be a business. We just need a building with bathroom and kitchen facilities and enough room to put up bunk beds for 12 to 18 people.”
Anyone with property they think might fit the bill is asked to notify Kubena-Yatsko at 330-725-7531.
Heckman said nearly any currently vacant building could fill the need if the owner could provide it at little or no cost. The Battered Women’s Shelter is leased for $1 a year and Heckman said she hopes her agency can find a similar arrangement for a homeless shelter.
If the grant is received, Heckman said the money would be used for ongoing operations of the shelter, and funds would be awarded on a continuous cycle. The goal is to operate a facility with staff available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and use tools and resources that other county organizations offer.
“We are a team in this,” Heckman said. “Medina has a wealth of social services and we would all work together.”
“There’s a definite need,” said Debbie Kubena-Yatsko, deputy director at the Metropolitan Housing Authority. “We have the most people we’ve ever had in our homeless programs and the problem is growing.”
MCMHA has people in 60 households around the county who are in a permanent housing program for the homeless because they do not have another home and the leader of the household is disabled.
Another MCMHA program provides up to five months of rental assistance to families that are homeless and the head of household does not have a disability.
In addition, the nonprofit agency Operation Homes placed 60 adults and 10 children in temporary shelters provided by 11 churches around the county last year.
However, the need for housing exceeds the capacity of MCMHA and Operation Homes to provide it. Kubena-Yatsko said MCMHA had found 19 homeless adults and 10 children they didn’t have emergency shelter for in July.
What the county lacks is a permanent shelter where homeless people can be housed while awaiting temporary shelter provided by MCMHA or other sources.
“That’s the missing piece,” said Kubena-Yatsko. “Finding a unit to lease for these people doesn’t happen overnight. We need a shelter in which to place these people until something more permanent can be arranged.”
Operation Homes fills that need, now, but it’s not enough.
“We want Operation Homes to keep doing what they do now,” said Kubena-Yatsko. “They do a great job but we’ve outgrown the number of beds they can provide.”
The MCMHA director added, “Through my experience, as the population of Medina County has increased, so have the demands on social services. For someone experiencing a housing crisis it takes time to secure permanent housing and people in crisis need basic shelter and safety each night if they are to be successful, especially during winter months. Operation: Homes is at capacity every night. Medina County needs additional crisis shelter beds. Even just one child, senior citizen, or person with a disability living on the streets or in a park is one person too many.”
As a result, Terri Heckman, director at the Battered Women’s Shelter, has submitted the grant application to the Ohio Development Services Agency Homeless Crisis Response program. If approved, the grant would provide $225,000 to operate a shelter in Medina County for two years.
Kubena-Yatsko said she is optimistic the grant application will be approved because the state agency notified officials in Medina County they were aware of the need here and money is available because another county closed its shelter which was operated with state grant money.
The location of a homeless shelter in Medina County is not clear and Kubena-Yatsko is hoping for helping in finding it.
“We’re wide open about ideas for locating it,” she said. “It could be a home or it could be a business. We just need a building with bathroom and kitchen facilities and enough room to put up bunk beds for 12 to 18 people.”
Anyone with property they think might fit the bill is asked to notify Kubena-Yatsko at 330-725-7531.
Heckman said nearly any currently vacant building could fill the need if the owner could provide it at little or no cost. The Battered Women’s Shelter is leased for $1 a year and Heckman said she hopes her agency can find a similar arrangement for a homeless shelter.
If the grant is received, Heckman said the money would be used for ongoing operations of the shelter, and funds would be awarded on a continuous cycle. The goal is to operate a facility with staff available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and use tools and resources that other county organizations offer.
“We are a team in this,” Heckman said. “Medina has a wealth of social services and we would all work together.”