Ninth District Opportunity, a regional advocate of people in need, is set to bring its Street Exit program to White County in an inaugural event Thursday, May 8.
The event will take place from 2 p.m.-5 p.m. at His Hands and Feet Ministries in Cleveland, located at 66 Blalock Mill Drive.
The Street Exit initiative connects unsheltered individuals with critical resources such as food, clothing, identification recovery, housing support, benefits applications, legal aid, veteran programs and Medicare/Medicaid marketplaces. The program will be staffed by six service providers and supported by up to 10 volunteers.
According to Ninth District Housing and Planning Manager Mike Fisher, a lead organizer for the event, about 65 individuals in White County are currently experiencing homelessness.
“One of the things we try to do with Street Exit is we try to equip communities to resolve and address homeless issues,” Fisher said.
The Street Exit event is expected to become a monthly initiative in White County, providing sustained outreach and support for the area’s homeless population.
Across the region, homelessness “always starts with a lack of workforce housing,” according to Fisher, especially in North Georgia where the nationwide housing crisis continues to take a toll on communities.
“A lot of it is also financial,” said Fisher, who called substance abuse not a contributor to homelessness – but a “byproduct of being homeless” – which in turn tends to compound an already-crippling situation. Once an individual experiences homelessness for an extended amount of time, Fisher said people could fall into “reptilian mindset” – or, in other words, a constant state of survival mode.
“Seldom, if ever, is homelessness a self-imposed situation,” Fisher said. “It’s usually because of some kind of catastrophe. The longer you’re in homelessness, the harder it is to get out. More barriers exist and just makes it, in some cases, an impossibility…it’s hard to help them plan for their future when they’re in that mindset.”
Members of the public are welcome to attend the event Thursday to learn more about how to volunteer their time and help those without shelter in White County.
Street Exit Habersham
A Street Exit program has been active in Habersham for around a year now.
Through Street Exit, resources are offered to the homeless at Sharing & Caring Place, located at 195 Stovall St. in Cornelia, every Wednesday from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Similar to White County, Fisher said current estimates by the Department of Community Affairs indicate up to 76 individuals are without shelter in Habersham. A majority of those people are in Cornelia.
