Homelessness

Caseworkers who work directly with West Virginia’s homeless population conducted the annual point-in-time count last week, measuring the number of individuals experiencing homelessness on one of the coldest nights of the year.“Most people who are going to be sheltered are sheltered during the last ten days of January,” said Matt Hedrick, who coordinates the count for the West Virginia Coalition to End Homeless. “The people we find on the street… have nowhere else to go.”

On this West Virginia Morning, the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in more homeless West Virginians. But just how many? We explore this question. Also, we have the latest news on the coronavirus pandemic in West Virginia, and we hear how the pandemic has affected the life and work of Us & Them host Trey Kay.

People around the world have spent nearly a year sheltering at home to avoid a global pandemic. For those who are homeless, the challenge of COVID-19 isn’t even on their list. What’s on their mind is “Am I gonna eat?” For this episode, the Us & Them team talks to homeless West Virginians about the challenge of sheltering from the virus.

On this West Virginia Morning, coronavirus cases and deaths continue to rise. We bring you an update on the virus spread in the state, and we hear the latest about disbanded encampments of homeless populations in the Northern Panhandle.

In early October, the City of Wheeling disbanded four encampments occupied by residents currently experiencing homelessness. The decision to disband camps during a pandemic was controversial, and advocates warned there could also be unintended consequences.

On this West Virginia Morning, equity is a recurring theme. We hear the latest on the dismantling of homeless encampments in the Northern Panhandle,…

Federal and state eviction bans, put in place during the pandemic, have lapsed. President Trump's executive order to prevent evictions isn't enough and Congress needs to act, housing activists say.

COVID-19 has forced Lou Ortenzio to assume a new role.“My new job,” Ortenzio, executive director of the Clarksburg Mission in Clarksburg, West Virginia,…

On this West Virginia Morning, we speak with a teacher in the Eastern Panhandle who went viral on Twitter after writing a poem using her emails. Also, in…

The stay-at-home order currently in place because of the coronavirus pandemic has changed how a lot of us go about our day. But for those without housing,…