homelessness

CoMo Mobile Aid is a local grassroots organization that sets up outside the local overnight shelter, Room the Inn [RATI], twice a week – offering a pop-up thrift store, a wound care station and a large, converted van where folks can get all sorts of essentials: from band aids and Tylenol to menstrual pads and shampoo.

Jaquie Melloway and John Trapp are the leadership team that run Room at the Inn, the local overnight shelter in Columbia that serves unhoused people. They spoke about some of the things that have surprised them about the folks they serve.

Reighna is an unhoused woman in her 40s. She spoke about some of the systemic challenges that can make it hard for people to climb out of homelessness, but also about the community that supports her.

Amy is an unhoused woman in her 50s who we met at Room at the Inn, the local overnight shelter in Columbia. She spoke about some of the challenges of trying to take care of her health while living on the street with chronic illnesses.

Homeless Columbia residents

Reporters Anna Spidel, Harshawn Ratanpal and Rebecca Smith take listeners inside Columbia's only year-round homeless shelter, Room at the Inn, for one night.

The council debated the necessity of the study, but voted 7-0 to approve it.

The count provides a snapshot of how many individuals are experiencing homelessness on a given winter night.

Winter is an incredibly dangerous time to be unhoused – and more specifically, unsheltered. KBIA’s Rebecca Smith has more on how Columbia’s emergency warming center is helping keep people safe and alive.

Organizations in Missouri will receive over $57 million in federal funding for homelessness assistance, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.