Frigid temperatures kept Oxford's cold shelter busy throughout February. The executive director of TOPSS says the program was intended to last through the end of February but had nearly depleted its funds.
Winter still has seven weeks to go, but Oxford’s cold shelter has already supported almost a year’s worth of hotel stays to keep homeless people out of frigid temperatures.
The cold shelter, operated by Talawanda-Oxford Pantry and Social Services (TOPSS), sets people up in rooms with partnering hotels when the night temperature dips below freezing. Sherry Martin, executive director of TOPSS, said the especially cold conditions this January have led to 326 nights’ worth of stays across roughly 20 households since November, as of Jan. 27.
For Tresa, who asked to be identified by first name only, and her fiancé, the cold shelter has meant more than a warm place to go for the past six weeks. It’s meant survival.
Last week, the National Weather Service recorded temperatures as low as -5 degrees at night in Oxford. Those temperatures can lead to frostbite in under half an hour for people exposed to the elements. Tresa and her fiancé, who were first evicted last January, were able to get out of the cold and into a hotel room because of the cold shelter.
“If it wouldn’t have been for Sherry and all the things that she helped us with,” Tresa said, “the cold shelter and the food bank and reaching out to see if we needed blankets or tents or sleeping bags or anything that we’ve needed — we wouldn’t have survived at all.”
TOPSS operates the cold shelter by partnering with multiple local hotels to provide rooms to people with nowhere else to go when the temperature drops below freezing. People using the cold shelter are subject to both TOPSS rules and hotel-specific rules such as no pets. Many homeless people in Oxford know to come to TOPSS for help, but Martin and other staff also spend time reaching out to people they know may not have shelter on cold nights.
So far this year, the cold shelter has operated on $12,500 from the city and $12,500 from the McCullough-Hyde Memorial Foundation. Other people and organizations have given some additional funding, but Martin said the operation is strained right now.
“We are reaching the limits of our budget just because it’s been so cold,” Martin said. She plans to ask other organizations for additional funding to stretch operations through the next few weeks. “The cold shelter was originally supposed to go until the end of February, but the way we’re funding right now, it doesn’t look like we’re gonna make it to the end of February.”
For Tresa and her fiancé, an end to the cold shelter would mean a return to their tent. Tresa said they had tried to save up for a vehicle last year, but several of her fiancé’s disability checks failed to come through, and she doesn’t know what comes next.
Just one year ago, Tresa said she couldn’t have imagined being evicted. When the eviction notice came, it felt almost like a joke, and then when they were given a date to move out, the situation became real. Since then, she’s endured multiple setbacks as she’s attempted to find housing again, and now she’s facing the prospect of going back outside once Oxford’s cold shelter closes for the year.
“People in this town need to open their eyes and see, everything is not always the homeless person’s fault … We’re not here because we want to be here. They need to open their eyes and see that we are people, we’re humans, and it could happen to them at any time.”
Oxford Area Solutions for Housing OASH) found that nearly 100 people met the definitions of homelessness used by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Talawanda School District during a Point-in-Time (PIT) count last year. OASH has led another PIT count this week to understand how the homeless population has changed in Oxford in the past year, and results will be publicized at a later date.
Countywide, leaders are making an effort to improve service options for homeless people. County Commissioner Cindy Carpenter recently met with HUD officials and hopes to create a county board to receive and distribute funds for homeless services, according to reporting from WCPO.
Data from last year’s PIT Counts statewide shows that Butler County had the highest homeless population of the surveyed counties. Ohio’s eight urban counties — Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, Lucas, Mahoning, Montgomery, Stark and Summit — were excluded from the comparison by the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio.
