By Ariell Fain
Mississippi Representative Cheikh Taylor and Cate Van Halsema, co-director of The Village, met with the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors on October 18 with a proposal to use part of the West Oktibbeha County High School complex as temporary housing. The proposal was a plan to use one of the high school’s buildings for housing for those affected by the Catherine Street evictions. The plan was initiated by a group called The Village, a spin-off from the local group Starkville Strong.
The Village proposal asked for a $50,000 financial investment from the county for project funding. The board voted to take the proposal under advisement. The supervisors and the citizens of Maben were apprehensive about the project.
“Eight classrooms that you’re going to turn into a housing project for a family is not feasible for $50,000. There is just no way,” said Tony McGinnis, a Maben citizen.
After hearing comments and concerns from the board meeting, Van Halsema said that the Village has halted the plans. There were a lot of genuine concerns about how the shelter would operate and its construction.
“It became clear after the county board of supervisors meeting and talking more with Cheikh, that there were just going to be too many hurdles,” Van Halsema said.
Monetary funds were among one of the biggest worries of the supervisors. The Village hoped to use part of the county’s ARPA funds to help with the project. However, the county has already put aside the funds for projects such as roads, bridges and office spaces.
“With our money we’ve been given, we've got an issue as well. We have limited office space. People are on top of each other. We are in the process of using that money to alleviate permanent needs on the county level,” said supervisor John Montgomery.
Supervisor Marvel Howard brought up the issue of distance. Maben lacks places such as grocery stores. Transportation would be needed to bring the people back and forth to such places.
The citizens of Maben had a chance to speak and voice their opinions of the proposal with most being against the project. Concerns such as safety and monetary needs were discussed. Melissa Walker, a citizen of Maben, discussed possible criminal activity happening due to the arrival of the citizens.
“As far as crime rate, I don’t know what the regulations are for being in the backdoor of a church. Are they criminals? And how many feet do they have to be from a church building or a daycare?” Walker said.
With the feedback from the board meeting, The Village has decided to take a more permanent approach to the situation. Instead of waiting for an answer, the village has paired with Kimberly Christy to find a community of support for the homeless issue.
Van Halsema said that the group is looking into possibly renting or building a shelter from the ground up in Starkville. The plan is for the building to be more than a shelter and offer support and services to the homeless.
“We would really like it to be more than just a place to stay and also give people the education and tools they would need to be stable for the long term,” Van Halsema said.
Kimberly Christy, a cofounder of The Village, hopes to have the support of the community on its side. Because it is something the community desperately needs, she said she believed a good amount of support would come from the citizens.
“This is not a problem that started overnight, so fixing it will not happen overnight. This is going to take an all hands-on deck process. We need the entire village,” Christy said.