The Faces of Homelessness

Up 16%. The 26 preliminary homeless count or K count in McCracken County reveals a problem that isn't going away. If anything, it's getting worse. Earlier this year, 177 people in McCracken County reported themselves as homeless. But that phrase homeless or unhoused can mean lots of different things. 133 of those 177 were sheltered, meaning they're living in emergency shelters or transitional housing programs. The other 44 are unsheltered, meaning they're staying in places not meant for human health. habitation, think garages, sheds are outside. It's easy to forget. These numbers represent real human lives right in our community. It's that line of thinking that led us to this episode, what we're calling faces of homelessness. It's the real people and stories battling the issue itself and the stigma around it, like the stereotype that they have no job, are on drugs and sleep outside. They just act like we don't try, you know, we try and try and try. We can only do so much. I think it's a lot with the community, you know, with all the new regulations I got door here and there. What I learned, the faces of homelessness look just like me and you. You have to understand the people are people. Everybody out here had a career. Most of us had some form of education. There are a few people who've been in the system and they've lived on the streets your whole life, but by far not all of them. On this month's episode of the Crossroad Suncast, the factors driving up homelessness rates nationwide and at America's crossroads and what gives hope to people living through it in our region. I'm Ariana Allen. Let's start with the major drivers of homelessness nationwide in the ways those filter down to local communities. The broader affordability crisis is one key element. The National Alliance to End Homelessness highlights a lack of affordable housing, weak income growth, and insufficient social safety net, and the end of COVID-19 relief funds. Those funds temporarily expanded assistance programs through the pandemic. The government also paused evictions during that period. Here's Shea Rable with the Kentucky Housing Corporation. People become homeless for a variety of reasons, but at the core, of course, they don't have a place to stay that is affordable to them. Raybold says they see a lot of homelessness driven by domestic violence, job losses, and a lack of support system. Think a family member or friend to crash with while you're between housing situations. Most people are facing some type of economic challenge and a lack of a support system to be able to help them through that crisis period. Substance abuse is a common issue, as is a lack of access to treatment.

According to the U.S. Interagency Council and Homelessness, about one in five unhoused people who regularly use drugs or drink heavily want treatment but can't access it. Previous incarceration is another common cause. Every year, 50,000 people are released from jail or prison and become homeless. Homeless people are 11 times more likely to be arrested, creating a cycle that's tough to escape. The safer Kentucky act, which took effect in summer 2024, makes street camping a Class B misdemeanor. Over the course of its first year in effect, the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy finds 425 unlawful camping charges under the law. People struggling with homelessness can face a $250 fine for repeat offenses. There is a similar ordinance being discussed in Carbondale, Illinois, which will get to. Broadly spending any amount of time unhouse makes it tougher to get back into the housing market. Over the last few months, I've been in touch with a couple in Paducah struggling with homelessness. Here's with the husband. Bobby told me in December. It started eight months ago that we got kicked out of the house that we was frequently living in. And we tried to find us a place right away. And we did it because of background and credit check and no dogs. We had two dogs at that time. Now, it's been going on for probably about eight months trying to find a place. With my background... It's hard. Nobody wants to give a person a second chance. They always think, oh, the person's doing so they're going to method for everybody else. Bobby said he'd struggled with drug addiction in the past, but was able to overcome it. I've been cleaned through for a methamphetamine for four years. And not only me... It's been a struggle because every time we try to go and find a place, they sit there and say we can get in, and it's like, no, because you're a criminal record. Maria, his wife, says the stigma around homelessness just isn't always the case. It's depressing. It really is, and it's a shame, because I have a full-time job. Maria works full-time at a local nonprofit, but Bobby's records may get hard to find a stable place for them to live. workers will say, you know, it's sad that domain will give you a chance, you know, help you out because what all you do here on a daily basis, day in and day out, Monday through Friday. The couple says money isn't the central issue holding them back. One is one that, you know, once a drughead, they always say you're always will be a drughead. That's not always the case. I hold a full-time job, you know, but since I haven't had a place to live in six months, seven or eight months. They want to hold it. Oh, you can't, you know, you can't afford to get a place. Well, I can, but nobody wants to give us a second chance. For them, homelessness doesn't mean living on the street or panhandling. We started living in the back of the truck, and she lived in another vehicle for six months. But when the weather gets bad, it can be tough. We can't put a chin up nowhere. We can't put a camper in somebody's guard so we can pay and get out of this weather. Because my health, whenever I get cold, I get really sick. And I have to be where it's kind of at least decent, not freezing temperatures, but, like, 65 degrees, I'm fine. But if it gets below 65, I start having a hard time breathing. Another central issue for these two, they're service dog. Many emergency shelters don't allow pets, which makes it hard when it gets really cold.

through the doctor's office, his doctor's office for four rivers, did the thing for him and have an emotional sport dog. So we have medical reason to have her, but still like the warming center, they won't let us have her there. While the cold is a hurdle, they say stereotypes are too. It's really hard to really explain, you know, but the stereotypes are just making like you're lazy, you know. Can't keep a house, this and that. It's... We ain't only looked in McCrack and we've looked in Marshall. We looked in County. Livingston County. We've looked in Cavill. We've looked everywhere for a place. Nowhere's more than a rent. We've looked on Facebook and half of them to scam on Facebook. Well, I did pick up those pieces. But... and to better myself to have my own apartment, have a roof full of my head, and to make things happen with only what I get a month. And I make it happen. I try to make it happen in every category that I possibly can. Kenny Gabriel is a local musician, but the cadence and tone of his interview feels closer to a gospel preacher. Whether it's getting a job and having, you know, money in their pocket or, you know, and yes, I'm on, I'm on SSI, I'm on disability. But I look for a better, I'm looking for a better alternative. than just down. I'm looking for ways to get out of the, what I call the Maori clay. And to make even bigger and brighter things happen. Trying to make it in Nashville as a young man, he spent time couch surfing without a permanent home. Today, he still struggles, though he does have a place of his own. He says a lot of his difficulties are rooted in past trauma. It was all because of abuse and the torments and the beatings. you know, especially moving to place to place and being told that you're not good enough, being told that you're not wanted, you don't belong. When struggling in those environments and struggling to hold on, that's the key today is to hold on, hold on with everything you got. and don't give up. Because I'm not a firm believer about giving up. The Trump administration is making major changes to federal policies on homelessness. Our once great cities have become unlivable, unsanitary nightmares, surrendered to the homeless, the drug addicted, and the violent and dangerously deranged.

As of early January, Bobby and Maria, the couple who you heard from at the beginning, found a place to live in Hickory, Kentucky, a message of hope for others who are fighting the same battle. This episode has explored misconceptions and stigma surrounding homelessness. I ask Lacey Bowling with Paduca Cooperative Ministry, what does she wish people knew about homelessness? I think there's a common misconception that... These are problems to solve. These are, these people are burdens, that these people are issues to deal with. But the way a lot of these nonprofits think about, talk about this population is these are our neighbors. You know, last year in McCracken County, we experienced nine deaths. to people who were sleeping outside in the elements. These are people who are parents. These are people who are born and raised in McCracken County. These are our people. And so I just wish that they would be treated as such. Bowling says our lives are more fragile than we might realize. And we have more in common with our unhouse neighbors than we might think. It's so quick how you can become homeless. One lost job, one medical bill. It's so quick, one hospital stay, you know, one life event that you didn't anticipate. Many people, whether we admit it or not, are very, very close to this situation, as it were. It's not just people who are... experiencing substance use disorder. It's not just that. Support on this episode from Bryce Patterson, former host of the Suncast and senior executive producer Morgan Regal. Additional reporting by Zoe Lewis, video and sound by Tay John Bumphus and Ethan Patterson, editing by Brian Clap. Thank you for listening.