Uncertainty for the homeless and jobless
The Recovery Community Center at Healing House seen before and after restrictions for COVID-19 are forcing help agencies to scramble for new ways to help clients. Picture from Jackson County COMBAT.
The homeless and the jobless are cast into the pandemic’s lonely maelstrom without a safety net in many situations.
Many of our neighbors who work part-time or seasonally in food or entertainment venues — like 45-year-old Dallas Weant — are cut loose onto the slimmest margin from homelessness.
The father, his 17-year-old son, 14-year-old daughter and their dog have landed in a Motel 6 room without means of paying beyond this week.
“I don’t know what I’ll do,” Weant told The Kansas City Star, in an account that visited with many people in distress.
The Beacon has been compiling a COVID-19 community resources page that links to many organizations that are rallying funds or services to help people in need. Access that page here.
Jackson County COMBAT, which supports multiple service organizations, paired two pictures (above) showing a busy Recovery Community Center room for Healing House just a week ago and then the empty room now.
The Recovery Community Center at Healing House seen before and after restrictions for COVID-19 are forcing help agencies to scramble for new ways to help clients. Picture from Jackson County COMBAT.
People on the margins can’t gather for help anymore. Many can be hard to reach without online connections or stable addresses. And the numbers in need will grow quickly as many people have already lost jobs.
Executive Director Carolyn Whitney of Sisters in Christ told COMBAT that “all but one” of the women staying in her organization’s recovery houses has already been laid off or expects to be soon.
Jackson County, by court order, will not be enforcing evictions until at least April 17. The advocacy group KC Tenants had been calling on the court to provide such relief.
"There had been no orders given by the county to stop evictions from being executed,” KC Tenants director Tara Raghuveer told Channel 41. “But we immediately spun into action and we drove hundreds of calls into the presiding judge.”