DC3 talks housing and homelessness
By Samantha Lyles, Staff Writer, slyles@newsandpress.net
Last week’s meeting of the Darlington County Coordinating Council (DC3) focused on a discussion of two major issues in our area: the lack of affordable housing, and the absence of cooperative efforts to address homelessness.
DC3 members talked over these topics with a panel of representatives including Joann DeLong of United Way, Rosa McLeod of Darlington County Community Action Agency, Mark Haenchen of Darlington County Habitat for Humanity, Jamie Steen of Darlington/Lamar Housing Authority, and Cliff McBride of S.C. Legal Services.
Several panelists spoke of church-run temporary shelters in Florence that rotate homeless persons from one church to the next in order to share the burden. DeLong noted there are men’s and women’s Salvation Army shelters in Florence, as well as one privately run shelter in the Kelleytown area. The panelists noted that all these facilities are routinely full and often unable to provide lodging to newcomers.
“There just isn’t enough housing here, and this has been a huge problem in Hartsville for quite some time,” said DeLong.
She added that short stay shelters where people could lodge for two or three days would be very helpful to persons who have lost their homes in fire, or are fleeing from dangerous situations. DeLong explained that while the United Way will make phone calls on behalf of displaced families to help them secure new housing, it usually takes a few days to find and secure a rental. In the meantime, these families could end up living in their car or on the street until a new lease is completed.
“Sometimes all I need is a few days…but if we need to get their security deposits paid on electricity or rent, we can’t necessarily do that overnight. I work closely with the Community Action Agency and the Salvation Army to make that happen, but it’s going to take a few days to get it done,” DeLong said.
Rosa McLeod said that providing security deposits and other financial help to homeless families is also complicated by the nebulous definition of the word “homeless,” which can be defined differently by federal, state, and local governments. One entity may say a person is homeless if they have no fixed address, while another would disqualify a person from homeless status if they are crashing on the couch of a relative or friend.
The panel agreed that more affordable housing options would help ease the problem, but Jamie Steen said that all of her publicly-assisted Section 8 housing in Darlington is fully booked and there is a waiting list. Steen said that the homeless, elderly, and those displaced by natural disasters are given weighted preference on the waiting list, but that is no guarantee that an apartment will open up for them anytime soon.
“We only have funding to assist two-hundred and sixty-one families, so once we are assisting that number of families (with permanent housing), they could stay on that program for years,” said Steen.
Mark Haenchen explained that Habitat for Humanity is similarly hamstrung when it comes to providing fast housing options. Applicants for Habitat homes are rigorously screened for good credit, and those selected to participate in the program must save up $2,000 as ‘good faith’ money to show they are ready and able to cover monthly utilities and payments on their 20-year interest-free mortgage.
You may contact United Way of Hartsville at 843-206-4303, the Darlington County Community Action Agency at 843-332-1135, Housing Authority of Darlington at 843-393-0436, and Darlington County Habitat for Humanity at 843-383-8500.