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>>SOUTHERN INDIANA — It’s hard to carry around more uncertainty than not knowing where your next meal will come from, if you’ll sleep in a warm bed tonight or the next time you’ll hear a kind word from a stranger.
But for the homeless that call the Williams Emergency Shelter in Jeffersonville home, today is filled with even more questions than normal.
The shelter — operated for years by Haven House Services Inc. and its executive director, Barbara Anderson — is normally home to more than 60 residents, but could soon be empty with those people displaced.
An IRS auction today likely will shut the doors of the shelter, as Haven House has fallen as much as $300,000 behind in paying its federal payroll taxes. Also, employees have gone months without pay, which violates state labor laws.
Anderson has long said that she’s one of the few — if only — who will step up to help and advocate for the homeless in the area, and she’s likely been correct in that assessment at times.
But employees must be compensated and taxes must be paid. The fact that Anderson pursues a noble cause doesn’t excuse Haven House from areas of responsibility to which other nonprofits, businesses and people must adhere.
With necessity being the mother of invention — or in this case action — area human services agencies are stepping up, including New Hope Services Inc. in Jeffersonville; The Salvation Army, based locally in New Albany; Wayside Christian Mission in Louisville; and Louisville’s Coalition for the Homeless. Leaders of those groups last week started helping the area’s homeless find services and possible new places to stay.
Anderson said for a Sunday Evening News article that she doesn’t think it’s fair to send homeless Hoosiers from the shelter to Louisville, and Jim Bosley, CEO, agreed with Anderson that a permanent shelter was needed on this side of the Ohio River.
But, it has to work. It has to assist those who are in a rough spot in life while following the law by paying employees and taxes.
It will take a collaborative effort, like the Southern Indiana Housing Initiative, which includes New Hope, The Salvation Army and Volunteers of America. The initiative is planning a study to locate funding options, likely for multiple shelters in Southern Indiana to serve men, women and youth separately. It’s estimated there are more than 340 homeless in 11 Southern Indiana counties.
This shows this isn’t just a Jeffersonville problem. The emergency shelter just happens to be located in Jeffersonville.
Governments from area towns, cites and counties need to help out financially, but they also need to know that money will be going to help the homeless, not pay a tax debt.
Individuals and charities need peace of mind, too, that their money can really make a difference.
They need some certainty it’s being used in the right way, which will only serve to make the days a little more certain for the homeless population.
— The Evening News’ editorial board is comprised of Publisher Bill Hanson, Presentation Editor Amy Huffman-Branham and Editor Shea Van Hoy.
