Homeless community growing

It is estimated that over 15,000 people will experience homelessness in Utah in 2009, which represents 6 percent of the state’s population. Utah’s population has increased by 8 percent in 2009 from the previous year, according to Pamela Atkinson, activist for the homeless citizens of Utah.
The face of homelessness “is changing from mostly men, to families and single mothers with kids 6 years old and younger,” Atkinson said.
Homelessness is growing in Utah, especially among families. Utah currently maintains the Pamela Atkinson Homeless Trust Fund, which has been administered by the Department of Community and Culture since 1983. Money from the Utah State Legislature and contributions from individuals on their Utah Individual Income Tax Form, TC-40, is used to fund various agencies statewide that help move people from homelessness to self-sufficiency. Eligible activities for funding under the PAHTF include emergency shelter operations, meals, transitional housing, case management services, homeless outreach and day centers. 90 percent live along the Wasatch Front, concentrated in Salt Lake and Weber counties. Forty-three percent are families, the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.
“If all the people donated $1 on line 27-A of their state tax returns,” Atkinson said, “then we would have close to a million dollars for the homeless here in Utah.” 
Patricia Endman, a Weber State University sophomore majoring in education and homeless chair for the WSU Community Involvement Center, started a Communication 2110 project that ended up as a mission of compassion for the homeless and near-homeless families of Ogden. Every weekday Endman collects food from a local grocery business and stores it in her freezer, then loads the food in her personal vehicle and distributes it to families in need.
“Sometimes I see the kids at the same school my kids attend, and they tell me that they would have had no food to eat for that week if we had not delivered food for them,” Endman said.
Endman does this week after week, on top of attending school and work, and asks for nothing in return.
“Just knowing that we helped a family out by giving something as simple as food to eat is all that I need,” she said. “People know what’s going on in Haiti and (about) starving kids and families all over the world, but nobody can see what’s going on right here or the need in their own backyard. There are starving children and hungry families here.”
According to theroadhome.org, the demographic that has seen the most rapid growth in homelessness is children, which increased 53 percent from 1991 to 1999. These young people are poor, staying on the streets, in a shelter or substance abuse treatment center, and most have no resources to meet their basic needs.
“There is an increase in families at our shelter,” said Summer Rohwer, program director at St. Anne’s Center on Wall Avenue in Ogden, “so much so that the four rooms we have for families in the shelter are doubled or tripled up.”
There are so many families and so little room that most sleep on the floor in the hallways and in the kitchen, meaning two to three families must share a room.
“There is also a huge amount of single fathers and older boys in this area and there are no accommodations to meet their needs,” Rohwer said. “We are also seeing 18-year-olds who have grown out of foster care and they have no place to go.”
Homelessness affects the whole community, and according to Rohwer, there are even homeless students attending classes this spring semester at Weber State University.
“You never know who you might be sitting next to in class,” Rohwer said. “It even might be the WSU student that lives in her car after her classes are done for the day.” 
Rohwer confirmed that there are more than several homeless students attending WSU.
“It’s closer to home than what a lot of people think,” she said.
Weber County has two homeless shelters — St. Anne’s and the Ogden Rescue Mission.  With the homeless numbers growing and funding being cut to the PAHTF, the centers are always looking for volunteers, whether to work in the kitchen or assemble hygiene kits. Interested parties may call 801-626-5036 or stop by the center at 137 W. Binford Street. St. Anne’s also accepts donations, from socks to children’s books. Donations can be dropped off at the center from 9 to 5 p.m.