FORT SMITH -- Greg Garrett has his makeshift camp near the Arkansas River just a few yards from a building that a group of local agencies is on the verge of developing into a campus to provide social services for area homeless people.
Garrett, 59, said last week that he suffers from cancer. He has seen doctors but hasn't found anyone who wants to take on his case. He has other problems, too, including pain in his hips and lesions on his neck and wrist.
Talking with Fort Smith homeless programs assistant Violet Adams, Garrett seemed to have little hope that he'll get the help he needs -- not only for his health problems but for getting out of the camp he built and has lived in for the past four years and into a real home.
Even when Adams told him there was a good chance that she could find a doctor to help him with his cancer, to get him an eye exam and to put him in an apartment, Garrett seemed skeptical that those things would happen. He said he had no income for even a $50 deposit on an apartment.
The Old Fort Homeless Coalition, composed of several public agencies and nonprofit groups, is about to take a step toward making an array of social services available in one location to help Garrett and others in the community's homeless population.
"That's the folks living on the [Arkansas] river, in cars, under the [Garrison Avenue] bridge, behind buildings, places not fit for humans," coalition President Ken Pyle said.
Many homeless people have lost hope that their situation can change, said Greg Pair, a deacon and director of lay ministries at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, who has been working for 10 years with the homeless and those at risk of homelessness.
The campus can give people hope and help get them back into mainstream society, he said.
The coalition has raised $1.9 million to buy a 127,000-square-foot vacant factory from Riverside Furniture on the banks of the Poteau River. The coalition plans to renovate 30,000 square feet into a "low-barrier" shelter for the homeless.
A "low-barrier" shelter means there would be few obstacles to a person's admission. A person could be drunk or high on drugs and would be welcome but could not bring alcohol or drugs into the facility, Pyle said. And a person could not be violent or he would have to leave.
Pyle said the campus is being designed to offer overnight accommodations to up to 75 homeless people, with daytime services for 150-200 people.
A person in the shelter could get a shower, food, a safe place to sleep, a place to store his belongings and to wash his clothes, and a kennel for his pet.
Pyle said the coalition has an agreement to purchase the building for $603,411 and expects the deal to close on June 1, culminating a five-year effort to provide a consolidated location for services for the homeless.
The group also has hired Architecture Plus of Fort Smith to design the shelter space. Architect Michael Johnson is expected to complete detailed design work in July. The construction contract would be awarded in August.
Pyle said transforming the factory space into the shelter and supporting facilities could take up to a year.
The coalition is using federal Community Development Block Grant money administered by the city to purchase the building. The rest of the money is coming from private grants or donations.
City homeless programs Director Debbie Everly said she also is preparing to submit an application for a $500,000 grant to purchase most of the 75 sleeping mats for the shelter, a walk-in freezer and refrigerator, and to provide money to help people who are about to be evicted and those who cannot afford to fill prescriptions.
"Obviously, I'm thrilled. It's been a journey," Everly said on purchasing the building. "I think it's made a big difference to go the professional route and hire a capital campaign consultant who has led us through the process."
The Hartsook Cos. of Kansas City, Mo., has assisted the coalition in contacting the right people, she said. Hartsook is continuing the fundraising effort for an additional $2 million to complete phases two and three of the campus, which would consist of transitional housing for the homeless, and housing and care for the chronically mentally ill.
Among the more than $717,000 in private donations and grants are donations of $100,000 each from the Richard Griffin and the Robbie Westphal families of Fort Smith, Pyle said. Also, Mercy Hospital has committed $350,000 toward the establishment of a medical clinic at the campus, which Everly called a game changer.
Other organizations that have signed memoranda of understanding to provide services at the Riverview Hope Campus are Fort Smith Adult Education, Western Arkansas Counseling and Guidance Center, Crawford-Sebastian Community Development Council, Fort Smith Housing Authority, Good Samaritan Clinic and the Crisis Intervention Center.
Those organizations will offer the homeless educational opportunities, counseling, medical and dental care, job training and help in finding housing.
A group of campus supporters told 3rd District U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., at his Fort Smith office last week that the beauty of the campus model is that it seeks to help with substance abuse, mental illness, emotional problems, physical abuse and lack of education -- problems that often lead a person to become homeless in the first place.
Pyle told Womack that just putting a person in an apartment won't help unless he has a job to pay the rent each month and the skills to take care of himself.
Womack praised the backers of the Fort Smith campus project and said the model is needed in every community with a homeless population. Womack also wondered if the campus would attract more homeless people to the area.
Pyle responded that studies showed that as many as 85 percent of the Fort Smith area's homeless come from a radius of 40 miles; only a small percentage come from outside the area.
Volunteers who went out Jan. 22 for the annual Point in Time survey counted 179 people classified as homeless. That would be people who are unsheltered and those who have no permanent addresses but who stay in shelters or other temporary housing.
Of the 179 counted, 92 people were unsheltered. Pyle said that number is higher than the 68-82 unsheltered people counted in surveys over the past four years.
"The increase in the number of unsheltered individuals demonstrates that there is a definite need for the Riverview Hope Campus to provide more adequate services in one spot for our area's homeless population," Everly said in a news release.
The release said the survey found that 42 of the homeless people counted were severely mentally ill, 42 suffered from chronic substance abuse, 43 were victims of domestic violence, 33 were military veterans and 91 people were chronically homeless.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines chronic homelessness as being continuously homeless for a year or more, or someone with at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years.
Metro on 04/13/2015