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Homelessness rises for poor Iowa moms, kids

Source: Des Moines Register and Tribune Company
January 13, 2006 Author: LEE ROOD

Copyright 2006, Des Moines Register and Tribune Company



...... "African-Americans make up 2 percent of the population, but they now make up 24 percent of the homeless population.

Ninety-four percent of homeless households with children are headed by single women.


"One of our moms here has four kids and an IQ of 58,"

Homelessness among poor women with children in Iowa rose dramatically from 1999 to 2005, with that group now making up more than three out of five of all homeless households, a new study has found.

The study shows a 14.5 percent overall leap in homelessness, an increase based on "conservative" reporting by public and private agencies.

The yearlong study commissioned by the Iowa Council on Homelessness cost $76,000 and paints the most accurate demographic picture ever of the estimated 21,280 Iowans believed to be without permanent homes in 2005. It includes the first specific information about public school children who are homeless.

The findings are stark: 550 schoolchildren lived on the streets or "doubled up" with others in Cedar Rapids, 523 in Des Moines, 447 in Council Bluffs, 317 in Davenport and 223 in Sioux City.

"It has gone from bad to worse, it really has," said Kittie Weston-Knauer, principal of Scavo Alternative School in Des Moines. "And the thing is, if we really wanted to stop this, we could find a way."

Those who work with homeless populations say several factors - a lackluster economy, growing family dysfunction and drug problems, demographic shifts and less government help - have collided to worsen living conditions, especially for single mothers.

Affordable housing and employment were two top concerns among homeless people surveyed for the research, as 32 percent could not find an affordable place to live, 26 percent had been evicted or foreclosed upon, and 20 percent had lost jobs.

"I think it's really hard to put a firm picture on any homeless community because they're invisible," said Mike Peterson, outreach coordinator for Iowa Homeless Youth Centers in Des Moines, an agency that helps homeless people ages 16 to 22. "But it's clear we are seeing more females than males now."

Like other nonprofit groups, Iowa Homeless Youth Centers is seeing many more new faces in its fluid population. Thirty to 40 people each month seek help at its downtown Des Moines service center for the first time; there they can get food from a pantry and hot meals.

The agency serves 400 to 500 people a month. In coming weeks, the pantry may have to further ration food - the current limit is 16 items a month - to meet greater demand.

A policy team from around the state met Thursday and today at the Des Moines Botanical Center to use the new research to hone a two-year-old statewide plan to deal with homelessness, said Lyle Schwery, homeless programs coordinator for the Iowa Finance Authority.

That group is expected to make recommendations to the homeless council, a group with 30 voting members representing nonprofit agencies, businesses, religious groups, and homeless or formerly homeless adults.

"We just got the study last Friday," Schwery said. "We are struggling to get it analyzed ourselves."

The research by the Iowa Policy Project in Mount Vernon suggests that more people are being turned away from shelters, while homelessness is increasing at a greater rate among some groups.

African-Americans make up 2 percent of the population, but they now make up 24 percent of the homeless population.

Ninety-four percent of homeless households with children are headed by single women.

Linda Williams-Moore, executive director of the YWCA in Des Moines, and staff members said the growing number of women and children seeking assistance are in more desperate situations than in years past.

Some have reached the federal government's five-year limit on welfare benefits but show no hope of ever being able to hold a job that pays enough to support their children.

Others are victims of domestic violence. Some come out of prison and have nowhere to go. Many made their way through school systems but are barely literate.

"One of our moms here has four kids and an IQ of 58," said Cathi VaNote, a YWCA residence hall director.

Said Williams-Moore: "For a segment of our population, the standards are unreachable. It's not that they don't want out of here. But for some, this is going to be it."

Shuianda Ross, a 30-year-old YWCA resident, is typical of some of Iowa's new homeless.

A former nursing student in Louisiana, she was forced to quit school last year after learning she was pregnant with her fourth child. Her relationship with her boyfriend failed. Her welfare checks amounted to $250 a month.

Deciding Louisiana had nothing to offer her, Ross packed up her children last June and took a train to Iowa. Here, she receives more welfare money from the state - $495 a month plus food stamps. Most of that money - $310 - goes toward the small, low-income apartment she rents at the YWCA; the rest goes for food.

After giving birth a month ago, Ross said, she is already looking for work.

"I want to be independent - to work, buy a car, eventually get a bigger place and set an example for my children," she said. "I just want to have a simple life and be happy. That's all."

But it's not easy.

Those who determine public policy should walk in a single mother's shoes to understand her need for job training and a better-paying job, she said.

"I think they need to see the things we go through," she said.

While the 2005 homeless study excluded individuals who live temporarily with relatives and friends, it did include some families who were living together, according to one school that officials surveyed.

That's why the West Sioux Community School District, on the western edge of the state between Sioux City and Sioux Falls, S.D., was found to have the highest proportion of homeless schoolchildren in the state - 12.8 percent. Superintendent Paul Olson said many Hispanic families there make the most of lower-paying jobs by "doubling up."

In Olson's opinion, many are poor, but they are not necessarily desperate.

"In some cases, we have four to five families living in one place," he said. "Part of this is cultural, but every once in a while it concerns us. We had one family living in another family's garage with no insulation."
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