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Highlands Today


For Naketa McQueen, homelessness was just around the corner before she found a spot in public housing for her and her five children.

She had lost her job and was living in a run-down, two-bedroom apartment. "I couldn't afford anything else," she said.

But the situation was about to get worse because she didn't have her next month's rent. That was just before she got public housing.

It was a similar situation for another woman who says she lost her house to foreclosure when she got laid off and ended up living in a dilapidated structure with a leaky roof, broken windows and wasp nests inside.

"It was really bad," said the woman, who did not want her name used. "But with not having a full time job, I had to do what I had to do. Whenever I would go to the landlord and ask him to come fix stuff, he would never come."

Now she's living in transitional public housing that helps her find a new beginning in life.

Larry Shoeman, director of the Avon Park Housing Authority and Lisa Lucas, director of the Homeless Coalition in Highlands County, say many other people face the same challenges as those two, and in many cases through situations beyond their control.

But, with cuts in federal housing money, along with more reductions planned for next year due to the federal sequestration, it will become harder to help those people, they said.

Shoeman said his budget has been cut 20 percent and he expects steeper reductions in the coming years. Currently, he said, he's hasn't had to make cuts in services, because of a reserve fund. But with more funding cuts that reserve fund will be eaten up sooner, he said.

The funding cuts have already forced the housing authority to hand over its Section 8 program, which helps people to rent housing, as opposed to living in a public housing complex, to Lakeland Housing Authority.

That means a limited amount of dollars will be spread over a much larger area, he said.

"I anticipate the Section 8 program will slowly diminish over time," he said.

Shoeman said if the federal government were to further drastically reduce or eliminate funds for public housing, many low-income families who barely get by now will face homelessness.

In years past, he said, families stepped in when a family member faced such a crisis, but that's not always the case now.

Lucas said housing programs are expected to be cut next year by 5 percent and possibly more. Less money also will be available to help people in emergency situations.

Programs that help the chronically homeless, such as those who are physically or mentally ill, as well as those trying to overcome substance abuse, will be cut, she said.

In DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, and Highlands counties, 2,258 are people are homeless and more than 1,500 other people are facing homelessness, Lucas said.

Lucas said the best chance to reduce homelessness is to provide opportunities for people to find affordable housing, she said.

"Many families living paycheck to paycheck are at increased risk for homelessness after missing only one paycheck," she said.

jmeisel@highlandstoday.com

(863) 386-5834