ROCKY MOUNT — Stephen Kaplan used to make a living setting up sound systems like the one in the Rocky Mount Town Council chambers. These days, he’s dedicated to serving the homeless population in Franklin County.
“I’ve never not had a car or a place to sleep at night. Once I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan volunteers at the Warren Street Community Center, a Rocky Mount nonprofit which, among other things, helps serve members of the local homeless population. Kaplan was one of several community members to urge the town of Rocky Mount to address homelessness at the council’s July meeting.
In Franklin County, there are currently some transitional housing, temporary housing assistance and domestic violence/women’s shelter programs, but nothing as comprehensive as permanent supportive housing or as immediate as a homeless or emergency shelter.
Permanent supportive housing is ideal for people experiencing chronic homelessness. Emergency and homeless shelters usually provide a free place to sleep for a few weeks or months. Guests may also receive food, clothing and showers.
From Franklin County, the nearest such resources are in Roanoke, but not everyone agrees that the solution is to send Franklin County’s homeless to Roanoke.
“I was homeless for eight years. I lived in my van. … Nobody wanted to help me—the only thing they wanted to do was send me to Roanoke. I didn’t live in Roanoke, I lived here,” Kathy Spangler said.
Spangler said she believes there should be a homeless shelter in Rocky Mount.
“You don’t know how many people are out there in the woods in tents with kids,” she said.
Kaplan said many of the people experiencing homelessness in Franklin County are locals, like Spangler.
“These are our people. These are your students,” Kaplan said, looking to Rocky Mount Mayor Stephen Angle.
Rocky Mount Town Manager Robert Wood is working to set up a meeting with local groups that serve and interact with members of Franklin County’s homeless population.
“We don’t know what the outcomes of that will be, but we’re looking to start a dialogue with groups in the community…to help address it,” Assistant Town Manager Mark Moore said.
Kaplan said the problem is bigger than people may realize.
“If you had asked me two years ago how many homeless people are in this county, I would’ve said five, six maybe. That’s not even close,” Kaplan said.
He said there are something like 20 individual homeless encampments in Franklin County. An encampment, he said, is anything with more than two tents.
“We need a better way to handle this,” Kaplan said. “When our folks go to Roanoke, they don’t come back the same and it’s a lot harder to help them.”
