Central Ohio shelter finds homes for people, pets

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- The number of people experiencing homelessness is at an all-time high in Franklin County.  

The Community Shelter Board, a local nonprofit helping address the issue, predicts it will only get worse because of a lack of affordable housing.  

The success stories of people getting out of homelessness and into housing are few and far between. However, one Columbus shelter is trying to reverse that trend. In the last month the shelter founder has been able to get three people into housing.  

3rd Shift Warming Cooling Center is open 24/7, accepts pets and is a space for those who may have been kicked out of other shelters. The goal is to help everyone they can, and their model is paying off.  

"I didn't know that this shelter was going to be my turning point,” 3rd Shift client Malcolm Dawson said. “I didn't know, I assumed another problem and another amount of days and it wasn't.” 

Dawson and his dog Reese have been without a home for the last three years.  

"Sometimes I would be incarcerated at Jackson Pike for a month or two,” he said. “I used to walk the streets around summertime to fall.” 

He says this took a toll. He struggled with his mental health and was kicked out of multiple shelters. 

"It's created like anger and just sort I want to like yell or feel like I need to do something," Dawson said. 

Then he found 3rd Shift, which takes in pets and ides supplies and support services. Dawson got a job and with the help of 3rd Shift, found a home.  

"We partner with Maryhaven, that does housing, also with the community health workers that I have here as well that comes to help the guest with housing, food stamps, medical. We also have an in-house mental health intrinsic," founder and CEO of 3rd Shift Warming Cooling Center Jasmine Franklin said.   

Dawson’s story is one that we don’t hear often with the housing crisis. Since last year, homelessness has risen 3.3% across Ohio.  

Of the states that surround it, Ohio has the second highest population of homeless individuals, just behind Pennsylvania, and about 2,000 more than Michigan, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

"I get mainly the people that's been coming from the campgrounds and stuff since they’ve been closing down," Franklin said.  

Just a month with 3rd Shift has helped Dawson beat the housing odds and get a roof over his head.  

"I just feel so much peace," Dawson said.  

A report released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development outlines how numbers compare across the United States.