Hundreds in Beaufort Co. struggle with homelessness, leaders say. What’s being done?
In a matter of days, thousands of renters across Beaufort County will no longer be protected from eviction. On March 31, the Centers for Disease Control’s ban on evictions — in place since September — expires, requiring those whose unpaid rent has piled up over the past several months to pay it immediately or be handed an eviction notice.
The county’s top homelessness experts find this reality extremely worrying.
At a presentation to Hilton Head town council’s community services and public safety committee last week, Ben Boswell, the department of human services’ administrative manager, said he believed the past year’s COVID-related eviction bans have helped keep people in their homes, and that when the bans end, more people could find themselves on the brink of homelessness.
“Once that moratorium ends, there’s probably going to be a wave of people asking for assistance,” Boswell told The Island Packet. “I don’t think there’s going to be enough resources available to help, so we’re worried about that. ... We’re just kind of bracing ourselves.”
Data from the department indicates that 100 people in Beaufort County were homeless in 2020, meaning they either had no shelter or lived in a car or motel. Overall, 756 people — including 224 children and 111 seniors — struggled with housing insecurity, meaning they were either homeless, about to become homeless or living with friends and family.
In 2019, 126 people were identified as homeless, and 939 were identified as housing insecure. Both numbers are likely severe under counts, officials said; they reflect only those who reach out for help from nonprofits that enter data into the CharityTracker system.
The past year has caused economic distress for the area’s low- and middle-income residents. Unemployment hit record highs last April as businesses were forced to close in the pandemic. In the winter months, as coronavirus cases spiked across the country, the area’s nonprofits reported increased demand for food and rental assistance. As more of the population becomes vaccinated, cases decrease and stimulus checks arrive, a more stable future seems closer.
But for those behind on rent and late fees, the end of the eviction safeguard could spell trouble. Landlords need give only five days’ notice before filing an eviction in court, and often, that notice is written into the lease, said South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center attorney Adam Protheroe.
“The real problem is that there is [federal] rental assistance coming,” Protheroe said. “It’s just not here yet.”
South Carolina is set to receive millions in rental assistance through The American Rescue Plan passed by Congress in March. But it is unclear when that money will become available, Protheroe said, and it’s unlikely that it will arrive before the eviction ban expires.
The CDC ban could be extended once again, but that is not guaranteed.
To deal with the homelessness issue, Boswell, the human services manager, and Fred Leyda, department of human services director, have proposed a new tool: a full-time position within the department of human services to address homelessness. The homelessness coordinator, a social worker, would build relationships with homeless people and those at risk of homelessness to get them into more secure housing.
Human services is the umbrella office for a range of departments and policies, including Civil Rights/Title VI, Fair Housing and the Collaborative Organization of Services for Adults. It has only three full-time employees, including Boswell and Leyda.
“I’ve been working on [this issue] for eight years,” Boswell said. “We really need someone who spends 40 hours a week just looking at this one situation. It’s important because even though [there’s] a low number of people, [there are] a lot of resources going into these people. ... It’s a worthwhile investment.”
Finding shelter
Currently, Beaufort County has few options for those without shelter.
Although private shelters have popped up from time to time, there is no designated shelter in the county. Boswell said establishing one was simply not feasible at the moment.
“It’s just too much, too overwhelming, too expensive,” he said. “I think there’s just too much we don’t know.”
But some advocates and officials say a shelter would be a welcome addition.
Lynda Halpern, executive director of Family Promise, works with homeless families to provide temporary housing in places of worship.
A shelter is definitely needed, she said. “But do I think it’s going to happen? I have no idea. I don’t believe there’s a conversation.”
Halpern said the nonprofit has begun receiving many more requests for shelter recently, and that it has had nearly as many clients in the first few months of 2021 as in all of 2020.
She doesn’t know how much the eviction ban coming to an end plays a factor, but said the area’s lack of affordable housing and child care make it difficult for people to afford rent. Low-income renters often get priced out of income-based apartment complexes when new owners buy the complexes, she said. They often charge rent at market rate once the required rent-control period ends.
“COVID unfortunately has just exacerbated this whole issue,” Halpern said. These are “issues that the families and folks in the nonprofit world, social service industry have dealt with for a long time, ... and nobody sees a real end in sight.”
Leyda noted that detention centers often serve the unintended purpose of housing mentally-ill homeless people — part of a “homelessness-jail cycle” that criminal justice reform advocates have said can be difficult to break.
“We have a gentleman who has been living in our detention center for 10 months out of a year, every year, simply because his family doesn’t know how to cope with his disability,” he said. “Because they don’t know how to deal with him, they call him in for trespassing. He gets 30 days, he spends 30 days in the detention center, gets released, comes home for a few days, and they call him in for trespassing again.”
“A relationship of trust and respect”
According to Leyda, the proposed homelessness coordinator for the county would work closely with all local governments, ”law enforcement probably the most critical.”
“Law enforcement deals with this population probably the most on a daily basis,” he said. “So it becomes a really good mechanism for us to use to take this social worker and have them work in conjunction with local law enforcement and begin to develop those relationships that will eventually allow them to turn their situations around and become housing-secure.”
“Plopping them into a house” does not solve the problem, Leyda said.
“You have to build a relationship of trust and respect,” he said. “Over time, you’ll be able to eventually move that person towards recognizing that they have an issue, and that they need to get help.”
Alex Brown, Hilton Head Island’s Ward 1 town council member and a Native Islander leader, said he hopes the island would step up to support the county’s efforts to curb homelessness.
“Although it has been in the shadows for a really long time, it is real,” he said, “and if we’re going to promote Hilton Head as a place of excellence, then that means that all folks have to be on board.”
GET HELP WITH HOMELESSNESS AND HOUSING INSECURITY
Family Promise of Beaufort County — Provides temporary housing in places of worship to homeless families with children.
Hopeful Horizons — Offers emergency shelter for victims of domestic violence.
LowCountry Habitat for Humanity — Can help build or rebuild homes with affordable mortgages.
Beaufort Housing Authority — Provides affordable housing to low- and moderate-income families within Beaufort County.
Additionally, many nonprofit organizations, including the Deep Well Project, Bluffton Self Help and Help of Beaufort, offer rental assistance to help low-income families and individuals pay rent or mortgage.
