Hattiesburg’s recent purchase of the former Courtesy Ford building on West Pine Street was primarily meant to transform the facility into a maintenance site for Hattiesburg Police Department vehicles – an extension of sorts for the upcoming Hattiesburg Public Safety Complex.
But with an extra 9,000 square feet of heated and cooled space in the building, the city is seeking to use the site for an additional purpose: an upcoming homeless resource center, made possible with the help of a $180,000 grant from the Department of Mental Health. The center, which would be managed by Pine Belt Mental Healthcare Resources, will work with homeless individuals on matters such as job training, mental health issues, placement for community resources and facilitating access to housing.
“The funds that the Department of Mental Health provide will give us the ability to develop a resource center to be an alternative service delivery setting for individuals that are displaced and need targeted services to help make connections to community resources,” said Dr. Rita Porter, Director of Adult Services at PBMHR, at Monday’s Hattiesburg City Council meeting.
In the interest of helping homeless individuals develop and maintain stable housing, the center with two main tasks in mind. The first goal would be to increase individuals’ knowledge of community resources that already exist.
“We are lucky in Hattiesburg with that,” Porter said. “We do have the availability of organizations like Mississippi United To End Homelessness, as well as mental healthcare and other things that are available to people with the knowledge of these things.”
The second goal of the center would be to help individuals with serious mental illness to develop an income stream, which would allow them to afford and maintain their housing once it is procured. The center would provide individual crisis planning, with officials working to remove any barriers faced by homeless individuals seeking resources.
“Of course, homeless individuals don’t have transportation, and it’s often difficult for individuals to go to multiple agencies,” Porter said. “So we want to develop a one-stop shop, so to speak, where we can invite other community agencies to have a visible presence at the center.”
To do that, officials plan to provide space to homeless individuals at designated times, in addition to setting up a computer lab for GED preparation, job searches and housing searches. Resources will be provided for initial housing setup once housing is found, and life skill groups will be offered to help participants maintain their mental health stability.
However, traditional mental health services would not be provided at the facility; any individuals needing those services would be referred to PBMHR’s 19th Avenue location.
The resource center would be staffed by be four full-time employees, including a master’s-level clinician who will serve as coordinator for the facility, a case manager and two peer support specialists. Staff will be present from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
“We’re going to provide a 1 to 12 ratio for staff and persons served,” Porter said. “We’d like to provide wrap-around services, where each individual comes in, is assessed, and an individualized treatment plan is developed to see what the goals of service need to be for the person to be self-sufficient.”
Along with the homeless resource center, Mayor Toby Barker also recently announced another measure that officials hope will connect people with needed resources, while still ensuring public safety: tighter restrictions on panhandling around the city. An amendment to a current ordinance will now classify panhandling as a misdemeanor, with fines and possible jail time.
“This comprehensive approach, these two things in tandem, I think gives us a holistic approach to a very complex issue,” Barker said. “We are approaching this with compassion and common sense, and we are trying to provide opportunities for people who want to be connected to resources and treatment, as well as providing for the public safety.”
