First-time homeless swell the ranks of mid-valley people who need housing

Ray Listebarger used to have a good job as a private investigator back home in Texas, but a cascade of health problems - vision and hearing loss, diabetes - forced him to quit work and go on partial disability.

Then, last fall, Hurricane Ike came roaring into the Gulf Coast and destroyed his rental house. He was staying with friends in the Houston area, but permanent housing was tough to come by in a region swamped with refugees, so Listebarger decided to relocate to the Northwest.

Looking for a fresh start, he caught a Greyhound for Corvallis with his 15-year-old son, Matthew - and ran smack into another problem. There was no subsidized housing available for a family living on disability benefits.

Since late November, the two have been living in the homeless shelter at Community Outreach.

"I never imagined I'd be in this situation," Listebarger said. "This is a scary moment for me."

It's becoming a familiar refrain at Community Outreach, where few empty beds are available and the number of first-time homeless people seeking shelter, food and health care is on the rise.

"We're running between 50 and 60 a night right now ... we're pretty much at capacity," said Rich Donovan, the nonprofit agency's executive director. "The economy here in Oregon is tough, and even though Corvallis probably weathers it better than other places, that's not true for poor people."

The same story is playing out at Albany Helping Hands, which is also seeing an influx of the newly homeless.

"We're anywhere from 85 to 100 every night," said Philip Busteed, the shelter's property manager. "Times are pretty hard. A lot of people are just down and out because of the economy. They're losing their housing because they lost their jobs and that sort of thing."

Homeless numbers are up across the mid-valley. A recent survey found 418 people living in shelters, crisis centers and transitional housing in Linn and Benton counties, a 31 percent increase from last year's count.

This year's tally includes 157 men, 123 women and 139 children. What it doesn't include is people camping in the woods, sleeping in their cars or couch-surfing with friends. No estimate of those numbers is available.

Similar counts were conducted in communities all over the country during the last week of January, and the results are being tabulated now. And while state-level totals aren't yet in, housing officials say the nosediving economy will almost certainly push the numbers higher.

"What I can tell you is the trend has been an incredible increase in the number of people identified as homeless," said Lisa Joyce, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Housing & Community Services Department.

There are many different causes of homelessness, but the two leading factors cited in last year's statewide survey were high rents and unemployment, she said.

"Now we're seeing how the economy is driving the homeless problem."

Caseloads have skyrocketed at welfare offices around the state, Joyce added, with large numbers of middle-class families applying for aid for the first time in their lives.

"It'll be interesting to compare 2008 to 2009 because we know the picture has worsened," she said. "It's been tremendously difficult for families, (especially) families who are new to public assistance."

Government funding to help the homeless is always in short supply, and in the face of the current economic crisis that money could be even harder to come by. But a couple of measures are working their way through the legislature that could provide some additional assistance, Joyce said.

Senate Bill 200 calls for a formal state policy aimed at reducing homelessness, and House Bill 2436 would impose a new document filing fee with 10 percent of the revenues going to programs for the homeless.

Several communities around the state have created 10-year plans for reducing homelessness, and both Benton and Linn counties launched their own planning efforts last year.

But the state's budget crisis makes funding any new initiatives extremely uncertain, said Albany Mayor Sharon Konopa, who co-chairs Linn County's 10-year plan committee.

"Things to me aren't as hopeful as they were six months ago," Konopa said.

While the Linn County plan is still in draft form, Konopa said key elements include programs to help chronically homeless people develop the "life skills" they need to become permanently self-sufficient.

"That's where we need to go in serving the homeless," Konopa said. "It doesn't do any good to keep that cycle going."

Meanwhile, the demand for emergency shelter keeps rising as the economy deteriorates, leaving local nonprofits that help the homeless scrambling for funds.

"At the same time when our need is greatest, our funding drops off," said Dan Kress, guest services manager at Albany Helping Hands. "We get a lot of our funding from churches in the community, and their resources are down."

Community Outreach is in the same boat.

"We're like everybody else - nonprofits are all hurting," said Donovan. "I hope this is my last recession before I retire."

Like them, Ray Listebarger is ready for a change of fortune. He's had more health challenges since arriving in Oregon, including a recent diagnosis of emphysema that's got him on a nicotine patch to kick his smoking habit.

Looking after Matthew, who has a developmental disability, takes a toll on his father, and Listebarger misses his 18-year-old daughter, who stayed behind in Houston to finish her senior year of high school.

"I'm not a quitter," Listebarger said. "But sometimes I want to give up."

That's when he turns to the staff at Community Outreach, especially his counselor and case management worker.

"They won't let me give up," he said.

Now Listebarger's prospects may be improving. By week's end, he was hoping to get approved for federally subsidized housing in Corvallis. He's in line for an apartment that's supposed to open up next month - with room for both his kids.

"I think it's going to come through pretty soon," Listebarger said. "I think we're going to be all right."

Bennett Hall can be reached at 758-9529 or bennett.hall@lee.net.