Myrtle Beach seeks to unify aid to homeless and end homelessness

Your recent article about providing emergency shelter in cold weather did not give a full account of the city of Myrtle Beach's efforts to help those who are homeless or otherwise struggling in our community.

City Council remains committed to its 2011 resolution to assist those who are homeless through activities, programs and housing options that will let them break free of the homeless cycle. Rather than helping someone merely sustain their homeless circumstance, Myrtle Beach wants to help them escape that condition and not be homeless anymore.

The city's stated goals are to provide real help to those in need and to make everyone's charitable dollars go as far as possible. Providing more assistance and achieving an economy of scale is exactly why the community supported an umbrella organization such as New Directions.

Translation: Instead of doing your own thing, let’s work together to achieve something greater. The costs will be less and the results will be greater. Having one agency is more efficient than multiple agencies providing overlapping services. Everyone's money and time goes farther when we work together, and most important, the clients are better served.

Today, New Directions operates four shelters under one umbrella. They are: New Directions for Men (formerly Street Reach), New Directions for Women (formerly Lifeline), New Directions for Families (formerly Myrtle Beach Haven) and New Directions for Women and Children (formerly the Center for Women and Children).

The success of New Directions during the past two years easily proves the concept. It's hard to argue with the genuine assistance that these numbers represent:

· More than 900 people have enrolled in the Back to Work/Back to Life Program.

· 504 people have found jobs.

· 182 people have graduated from Job Readiness classes.

· 353 people have moved into permanent housing.

· Another 245 who were not direct clients have moved into permanent housing through New Directions' partnership with the Myrtle Beach Housing Authority.

· 53 families have been saved from eviction and homelessness.

· 145 people, including four children, have been reunited with families or a support system outside of Myrtle Beach.

Myrtle Beach applauds church members and others who want to help the less fortunate among us, but asks that they first work with the existing resources. By everyone's estimation, we have enough emergency shelter space to house all who would want to get in out of the cold. Unless and until that space becomes insufficient, isn't it counterproductive to set up alternative shelters? Duplicating existing resources seems an unnecessary reinvention of the wheel in this instance.

The city also must take into consideration the safety of those who are being sheltered, not just the good intentions of those offering the shelter. Housing someone in a church or building not designed for overnight accommodation is a violation of the fire code. Churches, whether in residential or commercial neighborhoods, are not built as homeless shelters. And it goes without saying that neighborhoods usually aren’t zoned for group home activities.

The city of Myrtle Beach definitely is “called to help the needy,” but the council wants that assistance to be truly helpful. The goal is more than just a night's shelter or a warm meal. To be sure, useful assistance includes those things, but also education, job training and other programs to help people who are homeless get back on their feet.

As the old adage says, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

The writer is the public information officer for the city of Myrtle Beach.

This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 8:35 AM with the headline "Myrtle Beach seeks to unify aid to homeless and end homelessness."