Oxford Area Solutions for Housing is working to get local property owners involved in the fight against homelessness.
In the wake of the PIT count that identified nearly 100 people living without stable housing in Oxford, OASH has been working to get more community members involved.
On Feb. 26, the group held its second monthly meeting since the count was conducted in December 2023. Over 30 community members, as well as OASH’s 4 facilitators, met to identify goals for 2024.
One step is enlisting aid from other organizations, such as the Butler Metropolitan Housing Authority, said OASH facilitators.
On March 18, OASH will be hosting a meeting for rental property owners to share information about BMHA’s Housing Choice Voucher program. In this program, property owners in Oxford would receive a portion of rent from federal funding and a portion from renters. This would allow families who aren’t typically able to afford rent in Oxford to have a safe, reliable place to live.
Volunteers believe that programs will provide new opportunities for the less fortunate in Oxford.
“Some citizens are afraid of having lower-income people in the community,” OASH facilitator Anne Bailey said. “But we need strong citizen support to help everyone have a decent place to live.”
Members of OASH have divided themselves into six different sectors; philanthropy, economy and business, government, education, civic and faith, and human services. At the meeting, after an update of the count by facilitators, these groups began working on action plans.
Ann Fuehrer, another OASH facilitator, participated in a discussion with the government sector about how the organization can help support local government in making change.
Feuhrer helped to create OASH back in 2023. The group was a merger of two other local organizations, the Eradicating Systemic Poverty Team of the Oxford Presbyterian Church and the Oxford Homelessness Network. She and her fellow facilitators recognized there was a need in the community for a cohesive group to work together
“We decided we had to turn this into a real practice in the community, we have to build community awareness and try to bring together resources to prevent homelessness and to fill resource gaps,” Feuhrer said of the organization’s inception.
OASH’s new website defines its ultimate goal as developing a “coordinated approach among the many community groups already working in a variety of ways to respond to and prevent homelessness.”
“We think it’s a human rights issue that everybody have housing and shelter,” Feuhrer said, who also previously served as the executive director of Talawanda Oxford Pantry & Social Services. “I knew that 10% of our customers didn’t have a permanent address and were struggling to meet basic human survival needs.”
OASH meets every fourth Monday of the month from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Oxford Presbyterian Church Seminary Building. Organizers invite any community member with a passion for change to get involved.
“My sense of what a community is is people who share a geographical area and are accountable for the wellbeing of not only themselves and their family, but of everybody around,” Fuehrer said.
