Homelessness a reality in city

Thursday, Dec. 1, 2005

Click here to enlarge this photo Christopher Anderson⁄The Gazette The Rev. Bobbi Troyer, right, talks to Rick Calhoun in the tent where he used to live in a wooded area of Greenbelt. Troyer ministers to the homeless and others in need in Greenbelt.

He witnessed a car accident on Nov. 21, at the same spot on Greenbelt Road where a car struck and killed his “wife“ not quite two weeks earlier.

He called the Greenbelt Police to report the accident and went to check on the drivers of both vehicles.

A Greenbelt Police officer arrived and immediately asked Calhoun, 48, in the presence of a Gazette reporter what he was doing there and if he caused the accident.

‘‘This is the way that people talk to you when you’re homeless,”Calhoun said.

Justine Shoop, 36, lived in a tent in the woods with Calhoun for three-and-a-half years. The pair never legally married but were known as a couple in the community.

On a recent rainy Monday afternoon, a flimsy-looking wooden shelter covered their tent, which appeared to be getting wetter by the moment.

He said the most important thing for homeless people is waterproofing. Most of their things where wrapped in plastic bags.

Since Shoop's death, Calhoun has been staying with friends in Greenbelt.

Shoop’s death has brought the issue of homelessness to the tongues of many Greenbelt residents, elected officials and religious leaders.

‘‘I recently saw an article in the press saying that there are 25 homeless people living around Greenbelt,” said Greenbelt Community Church Pastor Dan Hamlin. ‘‘I thought that estimate was low.”

Hamlin said homeless men and women come to his church about two or three times a week looking for assistance or to talk to someone.

Calhoun said he estimates the number of homeless people he sees to be about 50, which includes those temporarily homeless without a fixed address who stay with relatives or friends until they wear out their welcome.

Laura Holman of Greenbelt said many city residents are aware that the homeless congregate in the Roosevelt Center during the day. Some buy food for them and leave it on the benches.

Greenbelt Mayor Judith Davis and a few City Council members attended a Nov. 14 memorial service for Shoop.

‘‘They showed up and I hope that means they’re going to help,” Holman said.

Although she has been aware of the problem, Davis said the city will look at the plight of homeless people to decipher what it can do and what the county can do.

Greenbelt CARES, a community based, family-oriented counseling program dedicated to promoting responsible behavior and appropriate family management skills, deals with area homeless people.

Elizabeth Park, the program’s director, said if homeless people call the CARES office, a crisis counselor will try to help them obtain county services. Park said CARES has a fund, which it uses to help people on the verge of being evicted to pay their rent to prevent homelessness.

For now, churches in the Greenbelt area are gearing up to host Safe Haven, a week-long shelter for men held at different churches during the coldest winter months

It has been around for 10 years.

‘‘We open the building at 6:30 at night and the men can stay here until 7 the next morning,” Hamlin said when it is his church's turn to host the men.

The men are given dinner, breakfast and a place to sleep.

Timothy Jansen, executive director of Community Crisis Services, said churches primarily in the Greenbelt, Hyattsville and College Park areas participate in the Safe Haven program.

Community Crisis Services is a call center for those in crisis like suicide, abuse or homelessness.

Jansen said he hears of people freezing to death in the winter, but there is no way of knowing how often that happens because it does not get a lot of media coverage.

‘‘We had a gentleman four years ago who was an alcoholic ... he would get straight, then fall of the wagon,” Jansen said. ‘‘One night he fell off the wagon and laid down on some train tracks, ... and he was hit by a train.”

Jansen said he wondered if it was suicide or just impaired judgement.

In the District, he said the city picks up homeless people and takes them to shelters when there is a possibility of someone catching hypothermia. He said nothing like this exists in Prince George’s County.

While it is difficult to document, Jansen said he has noticed an increase in people who have utilized Safe Haven in the past 10 years, and recently there have been more mothers with young children and people with disabilities at the shelters.

The Rev. Bobbi Troyer, with Streetlights of Bethany, ministers to many homeless in Greenbelt. Troyer, a Greenbelt Baptist Church member, said she wants to help the homeless find a better way.

She said she thinks people in the community need to be educated about what is going on because Greenbelt really does care.

‘‘We do [help the homeless] through the ministry and influence of Bobbi Troyer,” said Pastor Mark Johnson of Greenbelt Baptist. ‘‘This is the burden that God has given her, and we just support her as much as we can.”

Johnson said Greenbelt Baptist also hosts Safe Haven for men and a similar temporary shelter for families called Warm Nights.

Despite donations of food, clothing and funds, what homeless people really need is a home, Jansen said.

He said four year-long, county-funded homeless shelters exist in Prince George’s County, only one of which admits women.

And many churches host their own Safe Haven-type programs.

‘‘It will never be enough,” Jansen said. ‘‘Unfortunately homelessness is a problem that’s just growing with fewer and fewer affordable housing resources and as people further extend their credit.”

He said many residents are unaware of the problem because there are not as many homeless people on the streets like in the District, but living in woods, abandoned buildings and cars instead.

‘‘Fifty to 60 percent of homeless people are looking at a domestic violence, mental health or substance abuse problem,” he added.

Jansen said the thought of people living in the woods is ‘‘very scary.”

Take the case of Jessie Mauceri.

At 20, she is homeless and pregnant with twins.

Mauceri and her boyfriend Travis Eddins, 25, live in a shack in the woods in Greenbelt.

Mauceri said Greenbelt Animal Control recently took her dog away because of the conditions in which it was living. Yet Mauceri and Eddins continue to live there and hope to bring their children into that situation in four-and-a-half months.

‘‘We protect the animals more than we protect the people,” Troyer said. ‘‘We immediately take animals and provide for them, but that’s not the urgency that we have for people.”

Mauceri said she and Eddins have been trying to have children for ‘‘a while,” and she is not afraid to bring them into a homeless family.

She said she is homeless because her mother disowned her and her father abandoned her as a child. But Eddins received good news Nov. 22. He was informed about the possibility of a restaurant job.

In Calhoun's case, he said a few years ago he rented a room that he shared with Shoop in a house.

He saved money to get an apartment, but his landlord kicked them out after he was laid off from his job as a telemarketer.

‘‘We ended up going to a hotel because there was a blizzard,” Calhoun recalled. ‘‘So we stayed in a hotel for two months, and that depleted every bit of savings that I had.”

Troyer continues to take people like Mauceri and Calhoun under her wing.

She goes to the Roosevelt Center in Greenbelt most days at 1 p.m. to talk with the homeless there about what they need and ways to get them resources.

She took Mauceri to a clinic for her first pre-natal visit recently.

For the most part, Calhoun said homeless people try to take care of each other.

‘‘If I have some food that’s more than enough, I’ll give it to someone else,” he said. ‘‘That’s the way Justine was, too.”

Rick Calhoun sprang into action.

He witnessed a car accident on Nov. 21, at the same spot on Greenbelt Road where a car struck and killed his “wife“ not quite two weeks earlier.

He called the Greenbelt Police to report the accident and went to check on the drivers of both vehicles.

A Greenbelt Police officer arrived and immediately asked Calhoun, 48, in the presence of a Gazette reporter what he was doing there and if he caused the accident.

‘‘This is the way that people talk to you when you’re homeless,”Calhoun said.

Justine Shoop, 36, lived in a tent in the woods with Calhoun for three-and-a-half years. The pair never legally married but were known as a couple in the community.

On a recent rainy Monday afternoon, a flimsy-looking wooden shelter covered their tent, which appeared to be getting wetter by the moment.

He said the most important thing for homeless people is waterproofing. Most of their things where wrapped in plastic bags.

Since Shoop's death, Calhoun has been staying with friends in Greenbelt.

Shoop’s death has brought the issue of homelessness to the tongues of many Greenbelt residents, elected officials and religious leaders.

‘‘I recently saw an article in the press saying that there are 25 homeless people living around Greenbelt,” said Greenbelt Community Church Pastor Dan Hamlin. ‘‘I thought that estimate was low.”

Hamlin said homeless men and women come to his church about two or three times a week looking for assistance or to talk to someone.

Calhoun said he estimates the number of homeless people he sees to be about 50, which includes those temporarily homeless without a fixed address who stay with relatives or friends until they wear out their welcome.

Laura Holman of Greenbelt said many city residents are aware that the homeless congregate in the Roosevelt Center during the day. Some buy food for them and leave it on the benches.

Greenbelt Mayor Judith Davis and a few City Council members attended a Nov. 14 memorial service for Shoop.

‘‘They showed up and I hope that means they’re going to help,” Holman said.

Although she has been aware of the problem, Davis said the city will look at the plight of homeless people to decipher what it can do and what the county can do.

Greenbelt CARES, a community based, family-oriented counseling program dedicated to promoting responsible behavior and appropriate family management skills, deals with area homeless people.

Elizabeth Park, the program’s director, said if homeless people call the CARES office, a crisis counselor will try to help them obtain county services. Park said CARES has a fund, which it uses to help people on the verge of being evicted to pay their rent to prevent homelessness.

For now, churches in the Greenbelt area are gearing up to host Safe Haven, a week-long shelter for men held at different churches during the coldest winter months

It has been around for 10 years.

‘‘We open the building at 6:30 at night and the men can stay here until 7 the next morning,” Hamlin said when it is his church's turn to host the men.

The men are given dinner, breakfast and a place to sleep.

Timothy Jansen, executive director of Community Crisis Services, said churches primarily in the Greenbelt, Hyattsville and College Park areas participate in the Safe Haven program.

Community Crisis Services is a call center for those in crisis like suicide, abuse or homelessness.

Jansen said he hears of people freezing to death in the winter, but there is no way of knowing how often that happens because it does not get a lot of media coverage.

‘‘We had a gentleman four years ago who was an alcoholic ... he would get straight, then fall of the wagon,” Jansen said. ‘‘One night he fell off the wagon and laid down on some train tracks, ... and he was hit by a train.”

Jansen said he wondered if it was suicide or just impaired judgement.

In the District, he said the city picks up homeless people and takes them to shelters when there is a possibility of someone catching hypothermia. He said nothing like this exists in Prince George’s County.

While it is difficult to document, Jansen said he has noticed an increase in people who have utilized Safe Haven in the past 10 years, and recently there have been more mothers with young children and people with disabilities at the shelters.

The Rev. Bobbi Troyer, with Streetlights of Bethany, ministers to many homeless in Greenbelt. Troyer, a Greenbelt Baptist Church member, said she wants to help the homeless find a better way.

She said she thinks people in the community need to be educated about what is going on because Greenbelt really does care.

‘‘We do [help the homeless] through the ministry and influence of Bobbi Troyer,” said Pastor Mark Johnson of Greenbelt Baptist. ‘‘This is the burden that God has given her, and we just support her as much as we can.”

Johnson said Greenbelt Baptist also hosts Safe Haven for men and a similar temporary shelter for families called Warm Nights.

Despite donations of food, clothing and funds, what homeless people really need is a home, Jansen said.

He said four year-long, county-funded homeless shelters exist in Prince George’s County, only one of which admits women.

And many churches host their own Safe Haven-type programs.

‘‘It will never be enough,” Jansen said. ‘‘Unfortunately homelessness is a problem that’s just growing with fewer and fewer affordable housing resources and as people further extend their credit.”

He said many residents are unaware of the problem because there are not as many homeless people on the streets like in the District, but living in woods, abandoned buildings and cars instead.

‘‘Fifty to 60 percent of homeless people are looking at a domestic violence, mental health or substance abuse problem,” he added.

Jansen said the thought of people living in the woods is ‘‘very scary.”

Take the case of Jessie Mauceri.

At 20, she is homeless and pregnant with twins.

Mauceri and her boyfriend Travis Eddins, 25, live in a shack in the woods in Greenbelt.

Mauceri said Greenbelt Animal Control recently took her dog away because of the conditions in which it was living. Yet Mauceri and Eddins continue to live there and hope to bring their children into that situation in four-and-a-half months.

‘‘We protect the animals more than we protect the people,” Troyer said. ‘‘We immediately take animals and provide for them, but that’s not the urgency that we have for people.”

Mauceri said she and Eddins have been trying to have children for ‘‘a while,” and she is not afraid to bring them into a homeless family.

She said she is homeless because her mother disowned her and her father abandoned her as a child. But Eddins received good news Nov. 22. He was informed about the possibility of a restaurant job.

In Calhoun's case, he said a few years ago he rented a room that he shared with Shoop in a house.

He saved money to get an apartment, but his landlord kicked them out after he was laid off from his job as a telemarketer.

‘‘We ended up going to a hotel because there was a blizzard,” Calhoun recalled. ‘‘So we stayed in a hotel for two months, and that depleted every bit of savings that I had.”

Troyer continues to take people like Mauceri and Calhoun under her wing.

She goes to the Roosevelt Center in Greenbelt most days at 1 p.m. to talk with the homeless there about what they need and ways to get them resources.

She took Mauceri to a clinic for her first pre-natal visit recently.

For the most part, Calhoun said homeless people try to take care of each other.

‘‘If I have some food that’s more than enough, I’ll give it to someone else,” he said. ‘‘That’s the way Justine was, too.”