MORGANTOWN — The annual point-in-time homeless count, held over 24 hours on Jan. 23, indicates the number of unsheltered homeless in Monongalia County has nearly doubled in the past year.
Rachael Coen, chief programs officer with the West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness, told the Monongalia County Commission that the number of people living without shelter has jumped from 13 to 25.
“Specific to Monongalia County, we counted 25 people who were unsheltered this year. That’s approximately twice what we’ve seen in the past three to four years. On average, we see between 13 and 16 people,” Coen said.
“Of those, there were eight females, 17 males and there were no children or families experiencing unsheltered homelessness.”
She said that 75 percent of the unsheltered in Monongalia County are from the area. She also noted that the homeless cited rent costs, mental and physical ailments and chronic unemployment as the major underlying issues leading to a lack of stable housing.
“I think it’s real interesting that three out of four are from here,” Commission President Tom Bloom said. “There’s always that misnomer that they’re elsewhere and coming here because of our services.”
The count also took in those utilizing emergency shelters like Bartlett House and the Rape Domestic Violence Information Center, as well as those in transitional housing.
“So the total number in emergency shelters was 41. The total number in transitional housing was 28. The total number of unsheltered was 25, giving Monongalia County a total of 94 people experiencing homelessness on Jan. 23, 2019,” she said.
According to Coen, the uptick in unsheltered homeless has been consistent across the 44-county area covered by the coalition, noting the numbers have more than doubled, from 85 in 2017 to 180 this year.
“Trying to figure out the ultimate reason, I don’t have it because we’ve increased the number of people we have out there providing services,” Coen said. “Do we tie this to the opioid epidemic, I don’t know. Is it an increase in housing costs, maybe.”
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