Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Homeless Helped Through HUGS Housing Ministry

Helping house the homeless is one of the goals of HUGS, or Homes Uniting Good Friends.

Lance Anderson, executive director of the organization, said HUGS actually began as a Methodist housing ministry. It is a non-profit organization incorporated in 1994.

It was the brainchild of Mike Maddox, who thought the homeless needed to be served. However, many homeless people fell between the cracks of services offered by the state and federal governments.

These are the ones he wanted to help. He learned the main area lacking in public housing was for those suffering chronic mental health problems.

Anderson said about 1 in 3 people will suffer with some type of mental illness during their lifetime. Many of these illnesses are hard to spot as they can be masked or hidden by the sufferer.

However, he said, it is the goal of HUGS to bring stability and quality to their lives.

In 1995, the group went to the state to get rent subsidies for the mentally ill. It received $2.5 million for five years for housing.

The project really got off and rolling in '96, but it was hard to find people. HUGS had been going though various agencies to find those who qualified for the housing and get them identified.

In '96, Anderson said, they had about 36 clients and weren't meeting their goals. However, the board of directors began pushing and now HUGS serves more than 200 clients a month while keeping its staff the same size.

The staff, Anderson said, works efficiently.

Now, the organization is looking at other venues to help serve, including food drives. Those it has held, Anderson said, have been successful and help insure there is something on hand for the clients to eat.

HUGS, he said, makes sure the clients are fed as well as housed. The clients pay 30 percent of their income for rent and have no utilities to pay.

The average stay, he said, is 18 months to two years before the clients are able to get out on their own for the most part.

"I'm pleased with what we've been able to do," he said.

HUGS, he added, must produce its own audits for the state and Internal Revenue Service to show where and how the money is spent.

HUGS serves a five-county area in Southwest Arkansas.