Jeanine Kleimo is the chair of Dover Interfaith Mission for Housing.
Five million dollars is a huge sum for most of us. For a nonprofit organization that seeks to improve life for those experiencing homelessness, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
A request for support in this amount has been awarded to the Dover Interfaith Mission for Housing for the purpose of acquiring and renovating properties for shelter and housing.
Money alone is not enough. It will take the cooperation of local governments to bring about new facilities.
Five million dollars buys a lot of hope. Our hope is that we will be permitted to use it.
Recent commentaries in major national publications call attention to the link between hope and crime, particularly the discovery that communities that lack hope have rising incidents of crime. The sermon in my local church on a recent Sunday noted how fear drives away hope, emphasizing the love of Jesus in dispelling fear among those with whom he interacted.
Fear is an all-too-common emotion experienced by those who encounter members of our community who are homeless. This fear diminishes whatever shred of hope that remained among those in such dire circumstances.
The Dover Interfaith Mission for Housing promotes hope and the transformation of the lives of those experiencing homelessness. The investment that we make in the form of shelter, food, case management and other assistance pays off in terms of “outcomes,” or the impact on the individuals assisted and on the economy of Kent County.
Over the past 14 years, we have sheltered nearly 4,000 men and assisted hundreds of men and women who seek to regain productive and purposeful lives through an active case-management program. We achieve results. Over time, we have seen approximately 70% of those who come into the shelter succeed in gaining work and housing in the Kent County area. At least 200 individuals each year go back to work as a result. They earn an estimated $4 million in wages in the local economy — wages that are spent mostly on local businesses and housing. In economic terms, that is a rate of return of 1,000%, meaning that our efforts generate benefits equal to 10 times our budget. Any business would be proud of such a result!
Most of us know that housing has become too expensive for many of our residents. This is particularly true for those who enter the labor force in manual jobs that pay minimum wage or a bit more. Many workers must pay half of their income for housing, leaving less to spend on local goods and services generated by local businesses.
We have been accused of “warehousing” men in the shelter. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Most achieve stability and employment in short order, moving out after an average of about 60 days. A few are difficult to move on: A man with a disability that prevents him from working receives disability income of about $800 per month, which is not enough to rent anything on his own. The woman with four children, only GED qualifications, a minimum-wage job and a landlord who just sold the building whose apartment they rented. The young couple who did their best to keep body and soul together when one had a serious case of COVID-19 and was unable to work for two months.
They also include the stroke victim without family, the elderly widow who cannot manage alone, the man who takes medication to manage his mental illness, the domestic violence victim, the family that simply cannot make ends meet and more.
Recognizing this, we seek to develop housing that offers dignity and stability to such individuals, moving them from the street or the shelter and into housing that meets their needs and their income. Others with new employment will be able to move into transitional housing, achieve stability, improve their credit and move on to the next productive phase of life.
The greatest obstacle to individual or household achievement of stability is the lack of affordable housing. This has only been exacerbated by recent increases in housing costs.
We need a spectrum of housing steps that maximize entry to housing while creating options for increasing self-reliance and opportunity. Shelters help those experiencing homelessness to take the first step: a safe place to stay while accessing the guidance and services needed to enter or reenter the workforce or to receive the assistance needed to apply for disability income.
Next is affordable rental housing in a setting with continued access to the training, health care and coaching many need to become successful over the long term. The creation of permanent affordable rentals or access to Habitat for Humanity and other programs for homeownership enable those with limited means to establish themselves as valued members of the community.
What will we do with $5 million? We will endeavor to continue an effective program of shelter and housing that rapidly moves those experiencing homelessness into short-term shelter then on to housing that enables them to achieve the stability needed as a basis for productive and purposeful lives.
We are beginning with the purchase of the former St. John’s Lutheran School on Walker Road, which will be converted to a shelter and transitional housing for women and children. Zoning restrictions and approvals dictate what can be developed elsewhere, with changes granted by the Dover City Council or the governing body of other local municipalities.
The demand is great. The resources are now available to make an impact. We need the cooperation of local officials and that of willing sellers to achieve what is now possible.
