Point-in-Time Count reminds us ‘What about housing?
By Lolita Huckaby
BEAUFORT
By the time this week’s edition of The Island News hits the street, the Point-in-Time – or PIT – Count will have been conducted.
Wednesday the 24th is the designated day for volunteers and agency representatives around the country who work with the homeless population to spread out and complete surveys with those who are without a designated “home.” It will be some time before the actual number of homeless individuals in our community are known and shared with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development which uses those numbers to determine federal funding for programs designed to help those citizens.
PIT, coordinated locally by the county’s Human Services Department, has been used by HUD since 2005 in an effort to get some sort of accurate count of this roving population. It may seem like a relatively simple process – going down to the city’s Waterfront Park to talk with the handful of individuals who hang out there; talk to the men and women who use the public libraries on a daily basis; or interview the guys asking for money at the Robert Smalls Parkway intersections out near Walmart. The volunteers tasked with going out where informal homeless camps have been reported, can tell you it’s not.
Many individuals are not eager to share their stories, much less their names or other personal information. They may not consider themselves “homeless,” just in between jobs or fighting with parents who’ve kicked them out. There’s also the strong likelihood mental issues may be involved.
Previous count results point to the difficulty of collecting good information. Last year’s count reported 65 individuals were homeless, while organizers stated they felt like the number was closer to at least 120. A couple of years ago, before the agencies got organized with handout supplies like backpacks or health supplies, the recorded number was as low at 17.
The public school district, which has to keep a record of its homeless students by federal law, knows it has 244 students that fall into that category, but we know that’s just the public school population.
Beaufort County for the past two years has employed a program coordinator who helps coordinate the PIT Count with other agencies as well as working with other programs like one at the county detention center to help inmates who are being released but have no place to go. There are private shelters in the county for certain populations, such as the CAPA shelter for women and children suffering from abuse or the residential community for veterans proposed by Circle of Hope. Other agencies have funds to put individuals in a motel room for a night or two.
Cold weather, like we’ve had this past weekend, prompted the opening of Sea Island Presbyterian Church’s overnight shelter which saw more than 30 beds filled over the three nights it was open.
And while we count the homeless among us and continue the complex debate about the need for a shelter, the local focus remains on providing “affordable” housing for those still in the work force (read teachers, EMT’s, law-enforcement officers, nurses, etc.).
Elected officials from the Beaufort and Jasper County councils plus the eight municipal councils worked together to create the Beaufort-Jasper Housing Trust last year with a goal of using $3.4 million in COVID-recovery money to entice developers into the area to build something besides half-million dollar homes in gated subdivisions. The county officials are even looking at using accommodations tax money for workforce housing.
As another example, county officials also worked with city officials and a private developer who will be using tax credits to construct workforce housing townhouses on the former county jail and health department offices on King Street.
How these projects, on paper, will impact the availability of local rental property is yet to be seen. While dozens of apartment buildings are springing from the former forests, they certainly don’t seem to be lowering local rental prices. It seems they’re just forcing the relocation of those homeless tent “villages.”
More on the housing front
LADY’S ISLAND – A spot of good news, if the amount of construction and its impact on traffic concerns you. Action by the County Council on Monday might bring a smile to your face.
The council, following on recommendations from the county planning staff, the county planning commission and their own land use committee, held the second of three necessary votes to rezone 57 acres within the Pleasant Point planned unit development, a tract that had originally be permitted for 179 single-family homes.
Instead of 179 homes, the new zoning provides for the subdivision of four lots, four homes. Probably will be big homes … but only four … not 179.
And over south of the Broad, the Bluffton Town Council voted last week to spend $2.5 million to buy 15 acres to stop them from being developed. The Bluffton Parkway site, which was described as “culturally significant” because of its location within a Black community, had been eyed for the past several years for potential apartment buildings.
But because of concerns about impact on the community … and traffic, the town council did more than just say “no.” They’re gonna spend tax dollars to stop development they don’t want. Hmmmm.
Lolita Huckaby Watson is a community volunteer and newspaper columnist. In her former role as a reporter with The Beaufort Gazette, The Savannah Morning News, Bluffton Today and Beaufort Today, she prided herself in trying to stay neutral and unbiased.. As a columnist, these are her opinions. Her goal is to be factual but opinionated, based on her own observations. Feel free to contact her at bftbay@gmail.com.
