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The Ross County Community Resource Center saw many families utilize its new shelter during a record-breaking first year of use
By: Theo Peck-Suzuki | Report for America
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CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (WOUB/Report for America) — On a cold December afternoon, the front room of the Ross County Community Resource Center is bustling.
People sit at tables, some on smart devices, others with their heads down, others eating cake the staff has put out on a nearby counter. A mother holds a child; nearby, a baby plays in a bouncer. Along the walls, someone has put up holiday decorations. In the adjacent room, where visitors can sleep at night, the lights are off, save for a Christmas tree.
The center is Ross County’s response to homelessness, which is on the rise throughout southeast Ohio due largely to a lack of housing. Operated by Ross County Community Action, it provides emergency shelter and wraparound services like case management and peer recovery support. Since opening a year ago, it has seen a surge in demand, according to executive director Julie Bolen.
“The number … has definitely been higher than we even anticipated,” Bolen said.
In its first year, the center served 601 individuals. Of those, 399 were men, 200 were women, 2 were trans and 66 were children. Bolen said 82% of all visitors were either from Ross County or one of the surrounding counties.
Bolen said this represents a roughly 30% increase compared to what Ross County Community Action had seen before the center opened. That data came from a temporary shelter project the organization ran from January 2022 to April 2023.
In response to the unprecedented demand, the center has increased spending on staff and food. Bolen said the organization has been particularly surprised by how many kids are coming in.
Each visitor has their own story, though there are common themes. Lack of housing is the big one; many can’t afford rent, even with a job. Chronic health issues and mental health conditions are also not uncommon.
“And then just, you know, life situations: divorces, house fires, the list could go on and on,” Bolen said.
The ARPA dollars that initially funded the project have been spent, but Bolen said the center has stayed operational 24 hours a day thanks to a variety of other funding streams. These include a “sponsor a cot” program the organization introduced in the summer.
“What we did was, we have taken our operating costs and divided that by the number of cots we’re offering each night,” Bolen said.
That comes out to $12 per cot per night.
“So some could sponsor a cot for one night … and that’s $12. Or for one month, the sponsor cost is $375. And then we have levels that go all the way up to sponsor a family for a year,” Bolen said.
Families use the Ross County Community Resource Center to regroup
Twenty-six-year-old Levi Davis and his wife have been staying at the shelter with their three kids for four months. The oldest child is five; the youngest is one.
“At first, they were a little on edge, crying, not understanding what we were going through, but now they’re okay. They go to school. They’re just happy now. They’ll play, run around here. They don’t shy back now,” Davis said.
The shelter is the latest stop in a challenging journey for the family, and for Davis in particular.
“For about six years, I was a drug addict, and I was in a very dangerous life and doing the wrong things,” he said.
Davis’ wife didn’t think he’d ever change.
“We got separated there for a while, I’d say for a good two years, ‘cause I was getting locked up and she needed a place to stay, so she just went forward with her life,” Davis said.
Davis said he went to jail for the last time last year. After that, he went to a rehabilitation clinic in Gallipolis.
“When I first went there, I was like, ‘No way, I’m not gonna do this,’” Davis said. But then someone on staff asked him a question that got him thinking.
“She talked to me and she said, ‘Do you really want to be running around chasing something your whole life that, you can never build and have nice things?’ And I was like, ‘No, absolutely not,’” he recalled.
Davis started hitting various treatment milestones. He got a truck and realized, “If I do good, good things will come. So I just dedicated my life to doing everything good.”
He reconnected with his wife after he got out.
“She didn’t think I was ever gonna get clean, but a year and a half later, here we are,” Davis said. “She was amazed. She was very, very happy with it. She didn’t think twice about coming with me, cause she knows when I’m clean and sober, I get my head right and I’m doing what they need and not what I need.”
The family was together again, but they still didn’t have a place of their own to live. That’s when they went to the Ross County Community Resource Center.
“Regardless if you’re having a bad day or not, you walk through their door, they’re saying, ‘Hi, how are you?’ I mean, if you need their help — I mean, heck, Robert here (a staff member) has helped me change my whole front end on my truck. Anytime I ask him for help, he’s always there to help me,” Davis said.
That’s a new experience for him.
“I’ve never had anybody help me with anything. Except for when I went to rehab,” Davis said.
He’s working two jobs — one at BP, one at Taco Bell — in the hopes of one day finding an apartment for his family. His wife also works at BP.
Davis, who is originally from nearby Circleville, said they’d like to stay in Chillicothe once they’re housed.
“It’s nice. School’s good for our kids. I just really, it’s not a bad place,” he said.
Lack of housing remains a major challenge
The center’s goal is to rehouse people in thirty days, but Bolen acknowledged that’s often impossible. There just isn’t enough housing.
Bolen said that’s also a big reason why there are so many unhoused people in the first place.
“Even transitional options beyond shelter are very limited,” she said.
People are free to stay as long as they keep looking.
“Having them there, giving them a safe, warm place to sleep every night makes that process much easier,” Bolen said.
Wraparound services can also help, and they have had some success. Bolen said the center has found housing for 106 of its 601 visitors thus far.
Another resident, Steve (he declined to provide his last name), expressed strong frustration with the lack of housing.
“Apartments are pretty hard to find. I think our government needs to do a little bit more on that,” he said.
Unlike Davis, Steve made a point of noting that he has never considered doing drugs. Born in Jackson County, he moved to northern Ohio and spent most of his adult life there until losing his house in a divorce. He moved to Chillicothe, expecting his decades of work experience would make it easy to find a job and an apartment.
“I looked for a job for over a year here, thinking that I would get one right away,” he said. “And I didn’t.”
For a while, Steve lived in his truck. After it broke down, he had no choice but to come to the center. This was something he’d avoided, having heard bad rumors and out of concerns regarding drug use.
“They do a good job here,” he acknowledged. “Better than what I was led to believe.”
With the center as a home base, Steve was finally able to find a job. He still can’t get an apartment, though.
While Steve remains somewhat unsympathetic toward those with addiction issues, he said he was surprised at just how many people there are experiencing homelessness — and how different their stories are.
Steve said he’s unhappy with Ohio’s government for its indifference to how homeless populations are treated.
“It’s a shame. We should be having housing for ‘em,” he said.
Bolen said the center would like to tackle housing next. There are six acres on the property that could be developed into some kind of housing.
For now, though, they’re focused on day-to-day operations — and getting ready for the holidays. Decorations were already up in early December, including a Christmas tree in the cot room.
“We’ll make sure all the children have presents under the tree when they get up for the morning,” Bolen said.