By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
COVID-19 has had a significant financial impact on people all across the United States and the world.
Millions of Americans lost their jobs, and therefore, struggled to pay for basic needs like rent and utility bills. Buchanan County was no exception.
The Community Action Partnership of Greater St. Joseph has fielded an average of 200-300 calls per day from people in need of rental or utility assistance.
Rachael Bittiker, the director of community development and public relations for CAP St. Joe, says the stimulus payments, including the $1,400 in the latest round of COVID relief from Congress, helps temporarily.
"And then we'll see (the call rate) go back to normal," Bittiker said. "We're grateful that the stimulus went out to help individuals and homelessness, but it's still going to be a problem and an issue for the whole country. You're seeing a lot of individuals who maybe weren't needing help prior to COVID who need it now, due to being out of work."
Homelessness has been a growing issue in St. Joseph even before the pandemic. The 2018 point-in-time count for the city showed 204 homeless individuals and then 202 in 2019.
The count for 2020 was completed in late-January, and it only showed 22 homeless people in St. Joseph. This count, Bittiker says, is not an accurate reflection of the full scope of homelessness within the city and the surrounding area.
COVID-19 protocols and precautions prevented the point-in-time from going ahead as normal.
"In previous years, there were always 2-5 people in a group that would go out and kind of search the community and areas where we knew that (homeless people) might be," Bittiker explained. "This year, we didn't do that at all, and not because there's not homeless people out there. We just weren't able to find them as accurately as we could in other years just because of the COVID stipulations we were maintaining.
"We do an awesome job of providing resources for homeless individuals, but 22 is not even close to what the accurate number is for people who are living on the street."
The point-in-time count, a requirement from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is an important tool when it comes to applying for and receiving federal grants. Bittiker says the lower-than-normal number could present challenges, but it shouldn't affect the amount of federal relief that CAP St. Joe receives.
"We will present the numbers that we have and we may take a ding on ratings or something like that," she says, "but as far as losing money, we don't foresee that happening."
CAP St. Joe was allocated about $369,000 in federal grants from the CARES Act late last year. Buchanan County could receive up to $17 million from the latest COVID relief bill out of Washington this year.
Bittiker doesn't know the exact amount CAP St. Joe will get this time around, but they're hopeful it'll be about the same as last time - if not more.
"Hopefully, we know sooner than later so that we can prepare and use the money in the best way that we possibly can."
Bittiker expects the point-in-time count in St. Joseph for 2021 to be much higher, and much more accurate. The key to getting a more accurate glimpse of the homelessness problem in the area, according to Bittiker, is getting everyone a COVID vaccine as soon as possible.
"The more people we can get vaccinated in this realm of work," she said, "the more it will allow us to open up and go back to the norm. Next year, when we do this count again, we'll definitely have a real capture of what it looks like - street homelessness in the county."
The CAP St. Joe Emergency Shelter at 8th and Locust Streets can hold a maximum of 62 people. Right now, they're housing around 40. Face masks and nightly temperature checks are still required.
Deep cleaning and proper hygiene practices are also still observed. As hard as the pandemic has been, especially on low-income and homeless individuals, Bittiker says it has instilled some safety measures and habits that arguably should have been in place before the COVID outbreak.
"I think it's taught us a lot of things," she said. "Especially in the population we work with. Just being conscious of those things and just moving forward so we don't see ourselves in this situation again."
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