There is something new in Oswego County — homelessness.
Once thought to a be a problem affecting only large urban areas, we are now starting to see it just about everywhere, including in mostly rural areas like Oswego County.
We see homeless people all around us, especially in Oswego and Fulton. We see them pushing grocery store carts with their belongings or sleeping in tents during warm weather. There are also those we don’t see, those who couch surf — sleep here and there as they go along.
Writer Stefan Yablonski spoke with Megan Stuart, director of the Housing and Homeless Coalition of CNY for a story published in this issue of Oswego County Business (page 44). Things don’t look good and the problem is getting much worse now, Stuart says.
Oswego County saw a 79% increase in homeless people in the last year, according to Stuart. “The number of homeless people in Oswego County jumped from 76 in 2022 to 136 in 2023,” she says. “Using 2019 as a benchmark, this number has increased by 161%.”
Stuart coordinates and implements the homelessness services response system for Onondaga, Cayuga and Oswego counties. She says a new survey scheduled to take place in January by her group — in conjunction with Oswego County Opportunities — will likely show the problem got much worse.
“Anecdotally, I can say that we’re seeing increases. I think we’re going to surpass that number. We’ll be higher when we conduct our count in 2024. It’s not good,” she says.
And Oswego County is not alone. A 2020 poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health shows that one-third of rural Americans say homelessness is a problem in their community. In Oswego County, 10% of the homeless population is under age 25.
Among problems causing homelessness, according to Stuart, are: People evicted from their homes, lack of jobs, or affordable housing, and mental health.
The consequences of homelessness can be devastating, both for individuals and for communities. People experiencing homelessness are at increased risk of health problems, mental health issues and victimization. They also face significant challenges finding employment and achieving stable housing.
The challenge for local government and nonprofit agencies that deal with homelessness is to address the problem before it gets out of hand. I visited Seattle in 2022 and was shocked to see how bad the situation was. I recall nearly tripping over people sleeping on the streets as I walked in downtown Seattle.
We don’t want to see that happening here.
Wagner Dotto is the editor and publisher of Oswego County Business Magazine.
