Commissioners Address Keeping Homeless Warm
At Thursday’s Scioto County Commissioner’s meeting, Scioto County Commissioners addressed concerns about the lack of warming station facilities for the homeless.
Commissioner Bryan Davis said the county had been working with Portsmouth City officials to find solutions for sheltering the homeless during bitterly cold weather, but the matter is complicated.
“There are a lot of questions in regards to our current funding status.” He said the county is not getting a lot of answers. “We’re going to continue to dig into that.” Davis said the county had not been made aware that the Salvation Army would be unable to provide its usual warming centers during the recent arctic blast. He pointed out that Scioto EMA, which is part of the county government, was involved with a local rehab facility in providing space for a warming center.
Davis said he also felt the area’s growing homeless population was tied to people coming to the area for addiction services, dropping out of the programs, and ending up on the streets. He added that the local mental health crisis contributes to the problem.
Davis said that those with mental health issues often resist coming into shelter, even when weather conditions are extreme.
“To say that the county or the city doesn’t care, is patently false, “ Davis said. “We’ve been working on the issues, but we aren’t getting a whole lot of answers. We’ll continue to ask those questions, and hopefully, we’ll resolve something. It’s not an easy task.”