Dalton City Council: Homeless definition may
be expanded
March 20, 2006
by Daniel Bell
Dalton (GA) Daily-Citizen News
— Members of the Dalton City Council voted
unanimously Monday night to join other communities around the
country in asking the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development to change the definition of homelessness.
“The picture you have in your head of a homeless person,
that is how HUD defines it. But that leaves a lot of people
out,” said Teresa Sefcik, homeless education liaison for
Whitfield County Schools. Sefcik explained that people
sleeping outside are not the only people without homes.
The new definition would include people who are
“doubled-up” — living with other families
because of financial or other hardships — and people who
live in hotels or shelters.
“Ten to 15 percent of your community is homeless or
unstably housed,” said Gaile Jennings, director of the
Dalton-Whitfield Community Development Corporation. She said
that includes people who move several times a year, and those
who live in dilapidated homes.
Groups who help homeless people in this community cannot
apply for certain grants because many of those people do not
fit the current definition, officials said.
Council member Terry Christie attended a retreat with
Jennings and other members of the Stable Housing Committee, a
joint effort of various education and government
organizations in the community, recently. They saw
presentations about the homeless population in the county.
“I saw pictures of people living in huts with blue
tarps. Then driving in the rain today I thought about these
tarps. It’s a distressing thing,” Christie said.
Members of the committee meet monthly to coordinate efforts
to place citizens in improved housing and improve the
county’s housing situation overall.
Sefcik said if HUD broadens the definition, “we can
bring down more money for this community.”