A report, released last week by the Department of Human Services, found that homeless West Virginians include nurses, construction workers and mechanics, and children.
by La Shawn Pagán
This story was originally published by Mountain State Spotlight. Get stories like this delivered to your email inbox once a week; sign up for the free newsletter at https://mountainstatespotlight.org/newsletter.
The number of West Virginians experiencing homelessness continues to increase. But state officials seem no closer to implementing new efforts to more comprehensively address the problem.
Over 1,400 people were reportedly homeless last year, a 3% increase from 2022 and a 24% increase since 2021.
The increase was outlined in a new report from the state Department of Human Services to the Legislature.
The report, mandated by lawmakers, proposes no new initiatives but does repeatedly outline the need for additional funding to help West Virginia’s unsheltered population.
A decade ago, the state published a 54-page plan to end homelessness in West Virginia by 2020. The plan included housing placement and providing resources to those already experiencing homelessness. But officials didn’t focus on the plan, and it was largely forgotten as the problem got worse.
Then last year, lawmakers passed SB239, a bill that required a new report on the issue.
One of the goals was to find out how many homeless people have moved to West Virginia from another state. The report said that many of those interviewed said they were either native to West Virginia or had lived in the state for years.
The report also found that many homeless West Virginians were working. Among those were nurses, construction workers and mechanics.
The report also noted that the problem may be worse than shown by the frequently cited “point in time” count. A different count, based on numbers enrolled for various service programs, showed that the over 3,600 West Virginians were all experiencing homelessness annually from 2018 to 2023. Even that figure could be under-reporting the total, because multiple enrollments in different years are counted differently.
The report said that West Virginia ranks lower in terms of the rate of homelessness than neighboring states. But, it also said that West Virginia’s public school students rank higher than the national average in homelessness.
Many of these students were reported to live in shelters or in transitional housing or temporary housing, such as motels or hotels, or doubled-up with family members, according to the assessment. Some reported not having a home at all.
While the report broke down key numbers, meanings and suggested some ideas to help one of the state’s most vulnerable communities, it did not propose a concrete plan to address homelessness.
Department of Human Services spokesperson Whitney Wetzel said in an email that, “it will take some time for state and community leaders to read and understand the report before making policy recommendations based on this study.”
The report does suggest improving access to resources, such as financial support, for those at risk of homelessness.
“Access to benefits prior to becoming homeless may help some individuals stay in housing,” the report said. “West Virginia could explore how to support this as one potential avenue to increase housing stability.”
The study also found that mental health, addiction, chronic illnesses, domestic violence, abusive childhoods or traumatic events often lead to homelessness.
“Individuals described traumatic life events that upended their lives as the precursors to homelessness,” the report said. “Physical health conditions – chronic and acute – were often identified as the catalyst that resulted in homelessness.”