Agenda 2024: Progress being made on homelessness, but more to be done

Five years ago, Robert Marbut delivered a report on the state of homelessness in Wyoming. In it, he defined some key objectives service agencies would need to achieve if they were to more successfully address the problem.

Looking at where we are today in light of these recommendations is encouraging, but it’s clear there’s more to be done.

First, the good news. As we sat down earlier this week with many of the main local service providers, it was refreshing to hear that they view each other as partners in the ongoing effort to get people off the streets and into long-term housing. From the COMEA House and Resource Center, which provides emergency shelter to the unhoused and many other services, to Recover Wyoming, which provides case management and housing support services for people with serious mental illness and substance abuse disorders, no single group seems to be getting a disproportionate share of community support.

In fact, much gratitude was expressed among leaders of these nonprofits, who said they couldn’t achieve the progress they’ve made without each other. That’s refreshing, since it hasn’t always been the case. A coordinated entry system is helping agencies target which ones can best meet each individual’s needs, and better communication between agencies means referrals are more successful.

Today, programs like Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD), coordinated through the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office, are helping homeless individuals stay out of the county jail, and break the cycles of recidivism that previously caused the same people to come back time and time again.

Family Promise of Cheyenne is doing much more than giving families a roof over their heads. During their minimum 10-week program, staff help up three families at a time (with a maximum of 12 people total) get back on their feet through temporary housing, budgeting education, accountability and more. And they do it in a stable location so families no longer have to pack up each weekend and move to another church building.

Volunteers of America is working with around 125 veterans and families who earn up to 80% of the Average Median Income (AMI), helping them to obtain housing and remain in it. They also connect with the Department of Veterans Affairs and other programs to ensure those who have served our country can live with dignity.

Cheyenne has several other programs that address homelessness, including: the Unaccompanied Students Initiative (USI), which serves homeless teens; the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless, which operates the Welcome Mat day center; and a student support liaison in Laramie County School District 1, Denise Ryden, who helps connect children living in a shelter, car or other temporary accommodations with public education. While leaders of these groups were unable to attend our meeting, we know they are doing good work.

And thanks to a combination of grants, local government assistance and private donations, COMEA has been able to buy and renovate additional space to provide more room for families, transitional housing for individuals and an emergency shelter for those who are intoxicated and need to get in out of the cold weather. COMEA also is offering more connections to mental health services for its clients — including a part-time therapist on staff and using outreach funds to connect people to the LIV Health mental health urgent care clinic — and is leaning on the LEAD program for case management.

Wyoming connections a priority

Another way local agencies are taking Mr. Marbut’s advice is to focus their efforts almost exclusively on those with connections to the Equality State. Robin Bocanegra, COMEA’s executive director, said this was difficult at first. After all, COMEA was started by local churches, and many of them believe everyone who expresses a need should be helped, regardless of where they’ve been or what they’ve been doing.

But despite what some people think when they head to Wyoming from other places, a state with fewer people doesn’t mean less demand for services. Instead, it often means there are fewer resources available to help those in need, as evidenced by the limited access to mental health care in Wyoming. As a result, COMEA leaders decided to focus their efforts on those with ties to the state, as outlined on their website: “If you are not from Wyoming and do not possess a Wyoming ID, you are not eligible for any services beyond our emergency stay, which is limited to 7 nights of shelter. We do enforce this policy, so if you are coming from out of state, please be prepared for a short stay and have a plan for moving on.”

This policy, which has been adopted by other service organizations, meets another of Mr. Marbut’s recommendations: stop pouring resources into the “summer surge” of adult travelers who pass through the capital city because it’s located at the intersection of Interstates 25 and 80.

His report defined people with “direct connectivity to Wyoming” as those “(a) who attended high school in Wyoming, or (b) who have living parents or siblings currently living in Wyoming, or © who have deceased parents that were living in Wyoming at the time of their passing, or (d) can prove they have been living continuously in Wyoming for more than 24 months.”

Ms. Bocanegra shared examples of families that have shown up in Cheyenne expecting to stay at the local shelter while one family member works at the Frontier Days carnival, and others who have returned to the capital city to seek local services because they had it better here than where they relocated. Thanks to tracking through the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), not only can these people be prevented from taking advantage of the system, those who qualify for local services can be tracked by multiple agencies, working together to get them the help most needed for long-term success.

What more needs to be done

All of this is great to hear, but of course the problem hasn’t been “solved” (not that it likely ever will be completely). The Marbut report was designed to offer a template for local and state officials to follow to get the most impact from limited resources.

The six statewide strategic action steps it contained were:

• Create statewide funding for root cause treatment and recovery programs, including both short-term and long-term mental/behavioral health treatment services. Gov. Mark Gordon has convened a Mental Health Task Force, which has been looking for ways to increase access to such services, and efforts are being made at the local level through a variety of agencies and service providers.
• Expand funding to the existing Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) program, which is funded, in part, at the federal level by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This program provides prevention and diversion funding for things like emergency one-time rent assistance, utility assistance, emergency vouchers, etc., and is coordinated by Wyoming Continuum of Care and the state Department of Family Services. More funding is always needed, and the Legislature should do its part to help out.
• Source new housing opportunities of all types whenever possible, especially transitional housing. Government officials at all levels in Wyoming are aware of the need for more affordable housing throughout the state. Although efforts are being made in certain areas, including Cheyenne, no clear solutions have been forthcoming so far.
• Create housing and case management for unaccompanied students. The aforementioned USI is doing this in Cheyenne, Laramie and Casper, but other communities need it, as well.
• Whenever possible, separate families with children from non-family single adults. COMEA has been able to do this in Cheyenne, preventing the negative developmental issues that can result in children when such commingling happens.
• Establish statewide service eligibility criterion (with emergency protocols). As mentioned previously, many local agencies have adopted policies built around this recommendation to focus their efforts on people with local ties.

Ms. Bocanegra shared that she is still in touch with Mr. Marbut, and his expertise continues to inform what they do to address local needs.

Other things that need to be done locally include more access to public transportation, especially during hours it’s not currently offered, and donations of used vehicles that still run well; increased state funding as federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars go away; giving more job opportunities to homeless veterans and others; and prioritizing the needs of people in our community as much as we do animals.

How you can help

Of course, none of this is possible without the support of compassionate community residents, who time and again have answered the call for financial and material donations to help keep local service agencies afloat.

Ms. Bocanegra reminded us that just because they may get a grant to buy a former motel and turn it into temporary housing for homeless people doesn’t mean they have enough to cover their daily, weekly and monthly operating expenses. In fact, not long ago, it looked like COMEA might have to shut down for lack of funding to pay the utility bills and cover other costs.

Food pantries are always in need of nonperishable items, efforts like Day of Giving accept financial contributions year-round to help fill in gaps, and both COMEA and Welcome Mat encourage donations of money that they can use to buy targeted, meaningful gifts for unhoused individuals (because no one wants feminine products or other toiletries as a holiday present).

More than anything, though, our panelists unanimously encouraged residents to view homeless people as human beings worthy of courtesy and respect. For Beth Cook and her colleagues at the Laramie County Library, this has meant inviting unhoused people into the public facility, rather than having them congregate in the lobby, and treating them with the same level of respect and customer service as everyone else. For all of us, it means not going out of our way to avoid homeless people, but rather smiling at them, shaking their hands or getting involved as a volunteer for those who help this population. (And no, not giving cash to panhandlers.)

Instead of passing judgment on someone or making assumptions about how they got into the situation they’re in, we all need to offer compassion. After all, most of us are much closer to becoming homeless ourselves than we are to becoming a millionaire.

Lastly, we need to offer a heaping helping of much-deserved gratitude to those who work in this arena day in and day out. Have questions about how your donations are being used? Take a tour of the local shelter and see for yourself. Wonder why certain situations don’t seem to get any better? Ask how you can become an advocate and best lobby for change.

By working together, we can continue to make progress toward reducing homelessness and giving people the basic human dignity everyone deserves.