Jackson community service group uses COVID-19 relief money to help homeless find permanent housing
“She said the pandemic is what really exposed the need for a program like this. Not only did it lead to more people living on the streets, but it also forced homeless shelters to reduce the number of those it served at the exact same time.
‘People have less money, less stability, higher degrees of addiction, higher degrees of untreated mental illness, and that’s all contributed to the problem,’ she said. ‘Our shelter system lost half of its beds during the pandemic because of spacing, making sure people were far enough apart so that they didn’t infect each other.’
In fact, Buckley said local shelters are struggling to keep up.
‘Shower Power has been really key in helping to put people up and find places for them to go, Salvation Army has maxed itself out, Gateway has maxed itself out, and Stewpot has maxed itself out,’ Buckley said.”