Homeless Count Complete for Kent, Portage County

At least 61 people are homeless throughout Kent and Portage County, according to a recent count conducted by .

The federally mandated Point in Time Count, , determines how much federal funding communities receive through various government support programs.

Cathey DeBord, housing services director for Family and Community Services, which runs the homeless shelters in Kent, said this year's count comes with a backlog of requests to get into the county's homeless shelters.

“There’s always a backlog,” DeBord said.

But another aspect this year is the extended stay of many of those people in the county's shelters. Portage County has 36 beds for area homeless, excluding those available in the Freedom House transitional housing shelter for veterans. Many people relying on those beds each night have done so for two, three months or more.

“There’s pressure to keep it at a 30-day limit from funding sources, because shelters are supposed to be short-term,” DeBord said. "We're trying to move back to a 30-day limit at the shelters, but it’s tough to get people off the streets and into stable housing."

Part of the problem, DeBord said, is people who are retaining their Section 8 federal housing vouchers.

"In the past, there was flexibility where people could develop their income to a point vouchers were not helping them, so their vouchers were becoming available," she said. “What’s happening is people are hanging on to their vouchers because of the economy. Because if they lose their income, they can increase their voucher income and not lose their housing. Our options are a little tighter than they used to be."

In the meantime, DeBord said county housing administrators are examining ways to get more affordable housing into Portage County — a tough task no matter the economic picture.

“One of the barriers is that the costs of housing for the people that are homeless are rather hard to match," she said. "We do have some financial assistance available, but generally the range of housing affordability is tough, so it’s hard to get people into housing they can afford on a low income.”