Hope Missions Working to Meet Rising Challenges of the Unhoused

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

“Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops at all.” – Emily Dickinson

Hope Missions of the Upstate, located near downtown Anderson, noticed a disturbing trend in recent months as an unusually sharp increase in eviction-related pleas for help during the final week of July, including messages from families facing imminent displacement, creating a challenge that has no easy immediate solution.

Dave Phillips, CEO and executive director of Hope Missions, said the organization, which serves about 160-170 people each day, received at least 30 messages in one week from people seeking help. Many were in vehicles with their children and had only days before they were to be evicted from their homes.

“We get those routinely,” Phillips said. “But the number that we saw at the end of July was just insane.”

Phillips said he could not identify a single cause for the increase, but called it something of increasing concern amid high housing costs and limited rental availability. He said the overwhelming majority of the people seeking aid are longtime local residents rather than people arriving from outside the region.

“Almost everybody that we see here is from this area,” Phillips said. “When we check in somebody new, we ask them: ‘Where are you from?’ and they’ll almost all say Anderson.”

He said others commonly come from nearby Belton, Honea Path, Starr and Iva, while occasional clients come from just across the Georgia line. And more than half of the people served by the organization are age 45 or older, he said.

Higher construction costs and tight rental markets are making it more difficult for people to find stable housing, Phillips said.

He cited an example provided by a local contractor: A house that sold for $289,000 in 2019 would cost about $340,000 to build today. The difference has made homeownership harder for first-time buyers and increased pressure on renters, he said.

“Rentals are completely taken,” Phillips said. “It is really difficult for us to find it.”

The strain is especially severe for seniors living on fixed incomes, he said. A five percent rent increase can exceed the annual increase a person receives in Social Security benefits, leaving some older residents unable to remain housed.

Hope Missions is seeing a growing number of seniors who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, Phillips said. The organization recently helped place an older man, who had been sleeping outdoors and experiencing disorientation and dementia-related issues, into a long-term care facility. The placement was only possible because he had insurance and other qualifying resources, Phillips said.

“It’s a beautiful thing,” he said. “But … we see lots and lots of people that are elderly” whose families cannot meet their care needs.

Hope Missions and partners continue to pursue Hope Village, a planned transitional-housing community that Phillips said remains on schedule despite rising construction costs and the need to secure outside funding.

“It’s moving at the speed of government,” Phillips said. “That just means it’s moving slowly, but it is moving.”

The proposed plan includes 46 units: 24 efficiency apartments for single adults, each with a private bathroom and locking door; 10 family units, each designed to house up to five people; and One-and two-bedroom cottages intended for people transitioning into more permanent housing.

Phillips said the design draws on models used by Pathway House in Greenwood and on smaller-scale housing concepts developed by Habitat for Humanity. The goal is to create durable, manageable homes without relying on the tiny-home model.

McKinney-Vento liaisons, who work with students experiencing homelessness, have told Hope Missions that the village could be filled immediately if it were open.

The project also includes planned space for Safe Harbor, which serves survivors of domestic violence. Phillips said Safe Harbor is seeing an increase in older clients, another indication of the housing pressures facing seniors.

In the meantime, Hope Missions’ most visible daily service continue to be its breakfast program, which operates Monday through Saturday and serves an average of about 150 people each day. The organization has served nearly 2,000 unique individuals in the past 12 months.

The site also functions as a gathering place for people seeking coffee, food, conversation and help navigating a range of practical barriers to housing and employment.

Hope Missions operates as a winter warming center and distributes water during extreme summer heat through a partnership with the Anderson County Library, distributing hundreds of bottles of water, Phillips said.

The organization also employs a full-time housing director and case managers. Services include help obtaining Social Security cards, state identification cards, birth certificates and a stable mailing address.

More than 300 people received mail through Hope Missions last year, Phillips said. The service can be especially important for people receiving prescriptions, government documents, identification cards and other materials that require an address.

The organization is a state-approved agency for South Carolina identification cards and can help eligible South Carolina residents obtain birth certificates.

Hope Missions also launched Hope Property Management, a lawncare and workforce-development program supported by donated electric mowing equipment from TTI. The program maintains roughly 25-30 properties and has received a used pickup truck and trailer from Anderson County, Phillips said. Such donations allow the organization to provide lawn care for neighbors who cannot maintain their own yards through an “adopt a lawn” model.

The program has also created work experience for people moving out of homelessness. Phillips said one 53-year-old participant now living in transitional housing has become a standout worker and could eventually supervise the operation or use the experience to secure other employment.

“It’s not just cutting grass,” Phillips said.

Hope Missions relies on financial support, volunteers, in-kind donations and partnerships with other service providers. Phillips said the organization received more than $200,000 in in-kind donations last year, including coffee, sugar, creamer, grits, oatmeal, clothing and other necessities.

Hand lotion is a continuing need, particularly for people exposed to intense summer sun and winter cold.

The organization accepts donations during its weekday hours, generally through 4 p.m. Larger donations can be arranged by contacting Hope Missions directly. Its website includes online giving options and wish lists for needed supplies.

Phillips said the agency’s network of partnerships is essential. Hope Missions coordinates with groups including rehabilitation programs, mental-health providers and other local nonprofits through a community resource guide developed over several years.

“There is nothing we do without being a partner with somebody in the area,” Phillips said.

Despite the growing need, Phillips said recent moments have offered encouragement. He attended the graduation of a 56-year-old woman who had once sought help at Hope Missions while trying to hide bruises on her face. After completing a yearlong recovery program at Hope Center Ministries, she addressed the audience and said her life had changed.

Hope Missions staff and volunteers also recently helped disability advocate Sandy Hanebrink organize a warehouse after changes in her organization left her needing assistance. The effort included volunteers from the Knights of Columbus and Anderson University.

For Phillips, those moments underscore the organization’s purpose: helping people through immediate crises while building enough stability for them to move beyond them.