At a time in history when homelessness has become a bigger societal issue for both urban and rural areas, solutions seem to be few and far between. Several initiatives have been tried throughout the country, but most of them ultimately fail. Resources, mostly in the form of funding, have become either more scarce or more difficult to navigate the systems to receive them, such as federal and state grants.
Since the country emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, donations have significantly dropped each year at the Bisbee Coalition for the Homeless (Tin Town shelter). “Over the last four years, people don’t have the disposable income they used to have,” said Tony Bedolla, executive director of Bisbee Coalition for the Homeless. With more funding and donations, Bedolla believes the shelter has a good plan that has already been proven to be successful.
After the shelter was awarded a Crowd to Home Grant for $115,860 from the Arizona Housing Commission in 2023, they were on a mission to get people out of communal living and into a progressional setting where their development wouldn’t stagnate. Bedolla said it was important for them to be able to monitor the progress of the individuals in the program. “We work with a myriad of agencies in a collective effort to work with the unhoused, those struggling with food insecurity and those trying to get their feet back on stable ground,” said Bedolla. “Agencies include Cochise Harm Reduction, Goar Park Feeding, Chiricahua Community Health Center, Good Neighbor Alliance of Sierra Vista, Forgach House, HOPE Incorporated, House of Hope, Women’s Transition Project and Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, to name a few.”…..read full story (online subscribers only)