William Smith
Community Editor
Finding homes for the homeless in Burlington is a monumental task, and Craig Fenton, Transitions DMC director, is ready to take it head-on.
But as he acknowledged during a recent meeting with Burlington and Des Moines County representatives in the Burlington City Council chambers, he’s going to need some help.
Fenton, the president and founder of the recently opened Transitions DMC homeless shelter on Main Street, summed up Burlington’s homeless situation with a presentation on April 28 that focused not only on the number of homeless but the everyday challenges they face. Under HUD guidelines, Fenton said roughly 100 people qualify for Transitions’ 13 beds.
“There are 20 to 25 people that are considered homeless every night, unable to be served by our facility or any other facility in town. These are the people who are on the park benches, underneath the bridges. They are in camps around town and in various drug houses that are not meant for habitation,” Fenton said.
There are roughly 200 children in the Burlington School District who are considered homeless, according to the guideline of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.
“Under that act, the definition of homelessness is, they can be sleeping on couches, they can be living in houses or buildings not meant for habitation, they can be sleeping under bridges, they can be just about any place,” Fenton said. “In general, those children are in a location where they do not have a custodial adult likely present. Or if there is a custodial adult, that adult is homeless, also.”
The solution, he said, lies in housing. Exactly what kind of housing could be determined by a commission that was just starting to form as the meeting ended. The possibility of a tiny house village was brought up by Fenton, and Mayor Jon Billups said it might be more cost-effective to buy a Burlington motel and transform it into apartments for the needy. Other buildings across town could be possible for renovation into apartments, as well.
Fenton said all ideas are on the table at this point. The goal is to use housing vouchers like Section 8 housing, VA homeless vouchers, and other funding to keep housing costs below 30 percent of a person’s or family’s income.
He noted that people are already trying to help the homeless on their own time, though the results aren’t always positive.
“There are at least a dozen Facebook groups alone that are following the movements of these people around town. Sometimes, they get it right, and they use the right name,” Fenton said. “A lot of times they are getting it wrong, and they are making that person look bad because they happen to be doing similar activities.”
Fenton said improving the rent-assisted housing is just the first step, though. Without supportive services, many don’t have the financial literacy or capacity to hang on to that living space. Many homeless suffer from mental illness, including military veterans affected by post-traumatic stress disorder.
That results in police, fire, and the hospital being overused by homeless citizens, who often have nowhere else to turn. Police regularly drop them off at the Transitions DMC homeless shelter, and caseworkers there attempt to help them form a long-term plan. That includes using the shelter as a mailing address, so they can receive some government assistance.
But there are only 13 beds.
“Homeless shelters are for emergency purposes and have a limited number of days. We’re not going to be able to help everybody unless we keep people moving through the shelter,” Fenton said.
Fenton explained how the process at the shelter works and said there is no shortage of people using it.
“Our main goal right now is to get someone off the street, help them get their ID, help them get their food stamps, their Title 19 card, whatever they are missing,” he said. “If they are employable, we give them to the temp services or go out for interviews. Once they secure that job, then the goal is to find housing for them.”
To combat homelessness beyond the shelter, Fenton suggested a multi-disciplinary team of agencies that can work toward tiny homes or rehab projects turned into housing. That includes community and development planners, grant writers, social services agencies, the housing authority, homeless shelters, legal services, and charitable groups.
If tiny homes are the way to go, Fenton is hoping to build on donated land with donated materials and labor. He said those units are generally managed by not-for-profit groups since the people they are helping often can’t get subsidized housing due to background issues. Transitions DMC could provide maintenance, support services, and rent collection.
He said the selection of tenants should be done through a committee of stakeholders, with input from police and jail diversion.
“There could be two tracks on the tiny home thing,” city manager Chad Bird said. “It could be a year or less (stay) through transitional, or it could be a tiny home campus where that’s just where (the formerly homeless) are. Maybe it’s one to two or three years, where they are in a little larger tiny home that is self-contained.”
A committee to address the problem will meet on a monthly basis, and the city will have representation and input on that committee. Others attending the meeting in addition to Bird and Billups included: Transitions CEO Sara Dittner; Melissa Mace, Justice Involved services coordinator for Des Moines County and Louisa County jails; Paige Pennington, Resilient Community liaison for the Burlington Community School District; Sara Hecox, Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission representative; Christa Poggemiller, director of Des Moines County Public Health; and Burlington building inspectors Larry Caston and Adam Nelson.