Rural homeless remain largely invisible
By DAN HAUGEN, Courier Staff Writer
dan.haugen@wcfcourier.com
The Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier
Sunday, August 21, 2005
WAVERLY --- After a personality clash cost her a job
tending bar, Gina began boxing her possessions. Again.
Unable to afford an apartment, the single mother and her son
spent the next several months sleeping at friends' places.
"You disrupt your life, your child's life, their life,
their child's life --- just because they're trying to be good
friends," said Gina, who declined to share her last
name.
She eventually found help through the Turning Point Rural
Housing Project, a Waverly agency that assists clients in
nine counties with rent payments as they make the transition
out of homelessness.
Almost 4,000 people in Northeast Iowa lack permanent shelter,
according to the most recent state homeless survey. And about
three-quarters reside outside Black Hawk County. The numbers
haven't fallen since the state started counting in the late
1980s, and awareness of the existence of rural homelessness
has only improved slightly.
"It's not very visible," said Craig Mosure, housing
program director for Northeast Iowa Community Action in
Decorah. "We don't have a lot of people that look like
derelicts under bridges with paper bags. What we do have is a
lot of people who are just barely making it financially
because jobs pay such low wages."
Homeless people face unique challenges in non-urban areas,
where livable-wage jobs, affordable housing and assistance
programs are spread out and in sparser supply compared to
many cities. A new coalition hopes to help in Northeast Iowa.
Defying stereotypes
Gina knew stress and instability were taking a toll on her
and her son, who is 5. She worried about overstaying their
welcome. Still, she hesitated to consider herself homeless or
ask for help.
"In my mind, I thought there were people who could use
it more than me, and I didn't want to be selfish," she
said. "I tried not to consider myself homeless because
then you don't feel as bad about yourself."
Gina and her son were typical of Iowa's rural homeless
population, though. Unlike urban homeless, who are usually
individuals, rural homeless are much more likely to be
families with children.
"The trend toward family homelessness is
increasing," said Amy Knudsen, associate director of the
Iowa Coalition for Housing and the Homeless. "Iowa has a
much more severe problem than what we're seeing
nationally."
Sleeping in campers or friends' couches, these families often
defy the stereotype of homelessness. So much so that
officials and communities have been slow to acknowledge a
problem exists.
In 1988, the Iowa Department of Education approached Drake
University sociology professors Dean and Susan Wright about
performing a count of Iowa's homeless children so the state
could qualify for federal funding.
"We learned a lot more about denial of homelessness in
rural American than we did any other thing," they
recently wrote in a paper called "Nailing Jello to the
Wall: Counting Iowa's Homeless."
"We discovered that many officials did not believe they
had homeless people residing in their communities and refused
to deal with the categories."
Ben Brustkern, a case worker with the Turning Point Rural
Housing project, said it's still not uncommon to receive
survey responses from officials who say they don't have
homeless in their area.
"It's outta sight, outta mind," Brustkern said.
Numbers not decreasing
But Iowa's numbers have not fallen since the initial survey.
The 1988 study estimated 14,000 homeless in the state.
Counting methods refined, making comparisons imprecise, but
the most recent study in 2002 found about 20,000 homeless.
"When people say we don't have (homelessness) here,
they're very wrong," said Marlene Brown, chairwoman of
the Buchanan County Homeless Council.
Rural homeless face obstacles less common in urban areas such
as distance and transportation. Finding a good paying job and
a safe, affordable place to live in a single town can be
difficult, Brustkern observed.
"I just don't think there's anyway you could understand
how desperate and hopeless you get," said Tammy Bordeaux
of New Hartford. "It's tough to sleep at night because
you're always worried."
Bordeaux and three of her children were evicted from their
home in December after domestic abuse left her alone,
supporting a family in a house she could no longer afford.
Turning Point was able to place the family in a transitional
home.
"You're the freak show in town. Everybody knows ---
they've seen the sheriff throwing your stuff on the
lawn," Bordeaux said.
Dean Wright said a recent survey he helped conduct found the
more rural the county, the more likely respondents attributed
homelessness to lack of personal responsibility instead of
systematic issues like job and housing availability.
Filling the Gaps
Iowa has more homeless services, shelters and transitional
housing programs than 15 years ago, said Ray Morley, state
coordinator for homeless education.
Still, Northeast Iowa agencies report ongoing struggles to
maintain funding. Some worry a recent federal emphasis on
reducing chronic homelessness might shift funding to cities
at the expense of rural programs.
"There's a lack of services, but particularly in the
rural areas," Knudsen said. "The number of shelter
beds or transitional housing for people who are homeless is
so much smaller than what you'll see in larger
communities."
Lyle Schwery, homeless assistance coordinator for the Iowa
Department of Education, said universal health care and a
livable minimum wage would cut homelessness in half
overnight. Meantime, agencies need to cooperate creatively.
"They have to collaborate because there's not enough
resources to go around," Schwery said.
A coalition of housing and homeless advocates from nine
counties gathered at a West Union church in July for the
first meeting of the Northeast Iowa Housing and Homeless
Alliance. The discussion focused on identifying gaps in
services provided and better learning each others' programs
for making referrals.
"We're designing it to make it a broader thing,"
Brustkern said. "We're trying to tie things
together."
The alliance heard from a former Turning Point client who
described frustration finding help. Some services provide
rent assistance. Others offer counseling. Some help specific
clients like veterans or disabled. Navigating the network can
be daunting, the former client said. The group decided to
assemble a directory to share among agencies so each can
steer people to the best source for help in the region.
Schwery said agencies are making inroads in communicating the
issue to officials and the public.
"There was an old saying once that a problem well
defined is half solved," Schwery said. "The
awareness is very important. Awareness is a big part of the
solution."