DIFFERENCE MAKER: 'Face of homelessness has changed so much'
MUNCIE -- If you think homelessness isn't an issue in Delaware County, you haven't talked to Susie Kemp.
"The face of homelessness has changed so much over the years," said Kemp, the 58-year-old director of Bridges Community Services, Inc., discussing how it once typically involved a fellow -- often referred to as a "bum" -- who spent his life riding the rails. Now? Now the homeless are people with kids and jobs, people unable to keep a roof over their heads for the simplest of reasons.
"They just can't afford housing," said Kemp, a native of Indianapolis.
The agency she heads has a succinct goal: "Our mission is to provide housing and supportive services for homeless and low-income persons in the Muncie area."
In discussing that task, Kemp can surprise you.
Consider this: In a January count, she said, Muncie had 276 homeless people, more than twice Anderson's 103 homeless.
Why? Kemp believes it's because Ball State University students fill entry-level jobs that non-students might otherwise acquire, and that Anderson's interstate location makes its homeless population more transient.
Also, she said, "Anderson seems to have more of a flow in their economy for some reason."
Another trend she's observed: More people break into foreclosed homes, seeking only a warm place to stay.
"It's like some of them have lost hope," Kemp said.
For the record, she defined homelessness as, "not having a permanent place to keep your belongings at night."
For eligible homeless clients, however, Bridges can help.
"If we have room, then we bring them in," said the bespectacled director with the spiky gray hair.
She notes that her resources include 10 family units, a group home for single women and 12 low-income rentals. Four other families reside in homes under rental/purchase
Some form of help, or at least a viable referral to help, is nearly always offered.
"If it has to do with housing," Kemp said, "we don't like to send them away without options."
Being aware of options is why, every Monday morning, Bridges contacts all local shelters to check on openings.
Bridges' clients -- whom she calls "consumers" -- are typically parents with two or three children.
"And we're seeing more and more dads now who have custody of their children," said Kemp, who was executive director of Washington state's largest food bank before returning to Indiana and this job.
In helping the homeless get back on their feet, her agency offers GED training and other educational opportunities.
"We really push Ivy Tech [Community College]," she said, adding that youngsters in Bridges families are also kept active, out of trouble and under adult supervision through what she laughingly named Camp Run Amok.
When she needs a break, Kemp heads south to Sanibel Island, Fla., a favored place of which she is reminded by the sand and shells kept in her office. Still, she takes great joy in her job.
"I really love working with kids," she said, "and I really enjoy helping people attain that American dream."
Far from buying a home, however, for some folks these days, that simply means renting one, she added.
