The Schoonover brothers, Samuel and Michael, have worked in various jobs across 25 states, from their hometown in Homedale, Idaho to Gilbertown, Ala.

“I’ve done almost everything,” Samuel Schoonover said. “I’ve worked in a restaurant; I farmed for 20 years; there was the cell phone company…”

Their pursuit of work brought them to Meridian, but they hit a snag when Michael Schoonover had to be hospitalized due to complications from chronic heart failure.

Now the men, both in their 40s, stay at the Shelter of Hope, the Salvation Army’s emergency shelter on B Street in Meridian. 

The brothers are just two of the more than 150 documented homeless individuals in Lauderdale County. At last count, the county had one of the highest homeless populations in the state.

“There’s a lot of stress (when you’re homeless),” said Salvation Army Major Glenn Riggs. “You’re not in your own place and you don’t have your privacy. You can’t go to your fridge at 1 a.m. and drink from the milk carton. A lot of people don’t think about those things.”

Homelessness, in Meridian and elsewhere, comes with an additional set of problems. Some people have trouble securing healthcare (such as the Schoonovers) or mental healthcare. Others can’t find someone who will hire them when they have no access to a shower or resume – even when they have the right qualifications. Shelters can accept only a limited number of people and agencies have difficulty finding affordable housing in East Mississippi.

In January 2016,  the organization Mississippi United to End Homelessness (MUTEH) counted 155 homeless people in a single night in Lauderdale County, including those sheltered, at places such as the Salvation Army, and those unsheltered. 

In January 2015, Lauderdale County had the highest “point-in-time” count of MUTEH at 211. The agency will conduct a new “point-in-time” count the last week of this month, but results won’t be available until later this spring.

“(For the PIT count) we’re not only looking at people who are housed, but we’re also looking at those (unsheltered and) living under bridges or in clusters of trees where there are homeless camps,” said Ronald Collier, the executive director of Multi-County Community Service Agency. 

“That’s a number that we work from. But it’s hard to actually count every homeless person because there are people sleeping in cars or on someone else’s sofa so it’s kind of hard to pin down a hard number that can be totally accurate.”

Most agencies fighting homelessness in Lauderdale County use the annual count from MUTEH.

Most temporarily homeless

According to MUTEH, only a fraction of homeless individuals can be classified as chronic, or “an individual or family with a disabling condition who has been continuously homeless for a year or more or has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years.” 

In the January 2016 PIT count, the organization found 54 chronically homeless individuals and one chronically homeless family in the state.

Most, like the Schoonover brothers, are temporarily homeless.

No agency officials interviewed could provide one major reason for homelessness, but most cited job loss, a lack of affordable housing and mental health struggles as contributing factors. Other homeless people may be victims of domestic violence, people dealing with substance abuse issues or veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Meridian and other cities have higher homeless populations for a few reasons, including the availability of more resources (such as shelters) and the convergence of highways. This makes it easier for the homeless to travel and try their luck in Meridian, according to MUTEH.

“We have people who say, ‘Well, I came to Meridian because I was told there are jobs here!’ ” Collier said, recounting the story of a welder who came to Meridian with his pregnant wife. “And their skill set may not match with what jobs are available.”

At Multi-County Community Service Agency, a private, non-profit, community-based organization that helps low-income citizens, Collier works with Marci Ann Reynolds, the program director, to address the needs of homeless people in Lauderdale, Jasper, Neshoba, Kemper, Clarke, Smith, Scott, Wayne and Newton Counties.

“Homelessness is not a cut-and-dry formula,” Collier said. “It’s about trying to meet the individual where they are and finding out what is needed, and then being able to service them.”

Multi-County also provides case management, supplies a clothes pantry, finds transportation for its clients, finds housing, locates parenting or substance abuse programs, secures counseling with Weems Community Mental Health Center, assists with paying power bill or deposits and more.

“We serve the whole person,” Collier said. 

Lack of shelters

“If a person is homeless, there are several avenues we can steer them towards,” Reynolds said. 

Though shelters and organizations seek to help as many as possible, certain shelters simply can’t accept every walk-in they encounter and rely on a system of referrals to place those seeking shelter.

For women and children fleeing domestic violence, referrals send them to the Care Lodge in Meridian. A shelter in Hattiesburg specializes in the treatment and care of individuals with HIV. Some shelters in Jackson provide support and services specifically for veterans; others provide mental health services. 

The Salvation Army building, which dates to the 1960s, has a wheelchair-friendly entrance but no bathroom accessibility for people who use wheelchairs, meaning the shelter doesn’t qualify for emergency grants.

“I don’t want to put anyone at risk with that type (of disability),” Riggs said, speaking about one wheelchair-bound man with other health problems he had to refer to another shelter. “How is he going to get the proper healthcare in our facility? We’re a shelter, not a medical facility.”

Additionally, because of the limits of the facility, the Salvation Army cannot shelter women but has 25 beds for men. The Care Lodge shelter, with 40 beds, can accept only women (and children) who have experienced some form of domestic violence. Multi-County has 24 beds, including two family units for up to five children. With 16 beds for men, only 8 of those beds can go to women.

With nearly 100 beds between the three shelters, that leaves more than 50 individuals with no beds, according to the MUTEH PIT count.

“If (a homeless individual) is willing to leave Meridian, there are shelters all over the state,” Reynolds said, describing the extensive referral system. In an emergency, organizations such as ASLANe’s Mission or Wesley House can help secure a bed at a volunteer’s home. As a last resort, Multi-County will seek the assistance of churches or pay for a motel room for the night. 

Personal needs

Once sheltered, agencies can start addressing the other services needed, ranging from haircuts and showers to GED classes. But finding housing poses its own challenges.

“I think with the job market as it is, it’s hard to locate a good living wage income job, housing is very expensive in the Meridian/ East Mississippi area so those are some of the things that contribute (to homelessness),” Collier said. 

Reynolds said Multi-County could pay up to three months of rent through federal funding and grants, depending on the individual’s commitment to job searching and providing the necessary paperwork. 

“We have to follow the housing quality standards of HUD and a lot of landlords don’t understand that,” Reynolds said. “They want to charge an exorbitant fee for their rental property (when) it’s not up to HUD quality standards.”

Reynolds described rental properties with cracks above the doors, mold, broken windows, exposed wiring and fire hazards. HUD allows for a rental property up to 30 percent of the individual’s income. For some people, that means finding a rental at $550 a month.

“Those are the easy ones,” Reynolds said. “At $350 or $400 (per month) it’s a struggle to find something habitable.”

If the rental doesn’t qualify by HUD’s standards, Multi-County cannot use HUD grant funding to pay the rent.

“We have to tell the landlord, ‘Before we can pay rent, before we can give you HUD dollars, we’re going to have to come back for another inspection because we have to make sure all these things are met,’ ” Reynolds said. “Some landlords say, ‘Fine, we’ll do it,’ but then other landlords balk at having to make changes.”

“I understand they want their rent money… but sometimes it takes a little longer so we try to get the landlords and the rental agencies to understand,” Collier said.

According to U.S. Census from 2013 to 2015, the percentage of families living below the federal poverty level in Lauderdale County has remained constant at around 20 percent, nearly twice the national average of 10 percent. In 2016, the guideline was $11,880 annually for a single person and $24,300 annually for a family of four.

For the last three years, the unemployment rate in both Lauderdale County and the country nation has dipped slightly, from 6.5 percent (6.2 percent nationally) in 2013 to 5.6 percent (5.2 percent nationally) in 2015.

Lack of employment

Finding full-time work can also make securing housing difficult for workers in this area, according to Riggs. 

“Businesses have been moving to more part-time hours instead of full-time,” Riggs said. “But your landlord’s not going to charge you ‘part-time’ rent.”

For now, the Schoonover brothers stay at the shelter, waiting for Michael Schoonover’s disability application to be processed.

“Fortunately they’re patient,” Riggs said, adding that because of Michael Schoonover’s health issues, they would get assistance with an apartment that would allow his brother to stay as his caretaker. 

“(But) when it happens, I’ll believe it,” Riggs said.

Four months into their stay, the Schoonover brothers remain optimistic. Samuel Schoonover likes to draw cartoon figures, carrying a notebook with him wherever he goes. He draws famous characters such as Snoopy, Scooby Doo or Mickey Mouse by request, looking only at a reference photo for his drawings. 

“I got my own book and I fill it up,” Samuel Schoonover said. “It relaxes me.”

A self-described ‘country boy,’ Samuel Schoonover has a constant smile and wears a baseball cap. If he had the means, he knows where he would go.

“I would love to visit Ireland.”