In Chapel Hill, demand for poverty-related services persists

When Cowboy moved to Chapel Hill from Maine in 1991 to take a roofing job, he never expected that several injuries and one family conflict later, he would find himself living on the town’s streets.

“Bush 13 – that’s my address,” he said. “I’m not used to this and I don’t like it.”

But Chris Moran, executive director of the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service, said the 61-year-old isn’t alone.

Although head counts taken one night each January show a decrease in homeless people in Orange County, Moran said more people have fallen below the poverty level and the demand for poverty-related services in Chapel Hill has increased in recent years.

That increased demand prompted the Chapel Hill Town Council to approve in May plans to relocate the IFC Community House from its 100 W. Rosemary St. location to a roomier spot at 1315 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Cowboy, whose legal name is Ray Staples, said although he doesn’t use the current shelter, he does eat at the IFC Community Kitchen regularly. He said he has needed to lately, because he has made barely $15 a day by panhandling — a significant decrease from past years.

“It’s not living, but it’s surviving,” he said.

Chapel Hill demand rises

Moran said that 3,404 households in Carrboro and Chapel Hill depend on the IFC’s food pantry for once-a-month groceries — a “hell of an increase” from 3,000 in 2010.

He said the need for housing has also grown, and though the new shelter will offer more space, it will also be 3 miles away from the center of town.

The new shelter will offer 52 permanent beds and 17 emergency cots in a two-story building, compared to the current shelters’ 36 beds and 14 permanent floor spaces.

The shelter has been projected to cost $3.5 to $4 million, and Moran said it will target rehabilitation services.

He said no emergency shelter closer to town is in the works for now and no funding exists for such a project.

And he said while panhandling is sure to be a hot election topic, homelessness is often too touchy for candidates to discuss.

“There needs to be an emergency shelter somewhere. I think everybody knows it, but it’s a hard discussion,” he said.

“I mean, we can talk about the environment, we can talk about abuse … but to talk about poverty and emergency shelters, they are conversation stoppers … not election conversations.”

Jason Baker, a town council candidate and planning board member, agreed that Chapel Hill needs to address homelessness.

He said it will be a persistent topic, but the town has already worked to counter homelessness by approving the new shelter.

“I think it’s something that the town has worked hard on.”

Baker’s fellow candidate Lee Storrow cited the approval of the new shelter as a step toward dealing with the issue.

Moran said as the election season moves forward, he hopes to see the issue discussed more.

“If Obama carried a book with him everywhere he would go, more people would read,” he said.

“If our mayors and the chair of the board of commissioners talk more about poverty, more people would listen.”

Orange County numbers

Jamie Rohe, the homeless program coordinator for the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness, said though imperfect, estimates showing county homelessness declining shouldn’t be discounted.

“Though they might underestimate the homeless population … It’s what we’ve got at this point,” she said.

Based on those counts, the number of homeless individuals fell from 208 in 2007 to 136 in 2011.

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