Oxford center helping record-high number of homeless

The number of homeless residents and families in Oxford is at an all-time high, and officials say they have less funding than in recent years to help those in need.

The Family Resource Center in Oxford offered aid to 78 households in 2017, more than any other year in the past decade and a significant increase from the last few years, officials said.

“It’s a much bigger issue than it ever has been,” said Missy Thompson, the client services supervisor for the Family Resource Center, the only service dedicated full-time to helping the homeless in Oxford.

The numbers of those in need does not appear to be slowing. As many residents came through the Family Resource Center in the first five months of 2018 as in the entirety of 2016. The Family Resource Center also has less money to devote to each case than ever before, with about $250 available for each household per year.

Oxford Police Lieutenant Lara Fening, who has worked with the Oxford Police Department for more than 20 years, said the number of homeless people is the worst she has ever seen it.

The police department mostly interacts with the homeless when they are illegally camped on property. Most of those repeat offenders are young and seemingly have drug issues, though Fening stressed that she didn’t know for sure how prevalent drugs were.

Individual officers often try to help the people they come across find resources to get themselves into a better position, she said.

“Do they take them? Not all the time. We refer them to people that specialize in that kind of assistance,” she said.

Often those referrals involve taking the homeless completely out of Oxford. Frequently, officers drive people to the homeless shelters in Hamilton and Middletown to stay in a more organized space.

But some refuse to leave their hometown, according to Diane Ruther-Vierling, who has worked with the Family Resource Center since 2007 and is currently the executive director.

“Some people feel safer on the street of Oxford, if they were born and raised here,” she said.

Ruther-Vierling and Thompson both said the opioid crisis has been a major force behind the increase in homelessness the past two years. More than one-third of the people who came through the Family Resource Center admitted to substance abuse issues, according to the leaders.

But there are other issues that may have contributed to this increase, according to Thompson. She said that the economic downturn took longer to come to Oxford.

“When we came into that time when the addiction crisis got really bad, they hadn’t fully recovered from the recession,” Thompson said.

The Family Resource Center is the only full-time service dedicated to helping the homeless in Oxford. It served more than 600 households in 2017 with a staff of three full-time employees and a rotating cast of Miami students studying social work and public policy. Oxford has no recovery center or homeless shelter; the closest ones are in Hamilton and Middletown. A proposed “tiny homes” settlement in the city was shot down in the early stages of planning this summer.

There are other volunteer groups in Oxford that try to help the city’s disenfranchised. The Family Resource Center helps support the Community Choice Pantry, and other groups from the area occasionally provide other food options. Local churches banded together with the United Way to create the Oxford Area Homeless Alliance, a partnership of Oxford nonprofits.

Most families camp illegally in Hueston Woods or other remote areas on the outskirts of Oxford. Those that can afford it and can clear background checks stay at Parkview Arms Apartments. The Family Resource Center can help people afford their first month of rent at the apartments, but not everyone is eligible for their help.

“Some of the population we’re helping are almost to the point of being unrentable,” Diane Ruther-Vierling said.

Diane said that about one-third of their clients were able to get permanent housing thanks to the center’s help and the majority of those still have their home.

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