homeless

The month of August will mean some good news for the four-legged citizens of Amarillo.

First off, a new low-cost pet clinic will open on August 5. The P.E.T.S. clinic, located at 2500 SW 6th Ave., will provide low-cost spaying and neutering, as well as vaccinations, deworming, microchipping, wellness exams and other services.

The Downtown Women’s Center of Amarillo has brought in an incredible fundraising haul this year, and the charity remains one of the most important resources for homeless women in the Texas Panhandle.

Amarillo’s homeless population has increased over the last year, according to the results of a count performed in late January.

The City of Amarillo is following through on its threat to sue a local landowner for allowing a homeless encampment to reside on his property. As The Texas Observer reports, Amarillo officials announced last week that they would take Melvin McEwen to court over the homeless tent village.

A tent city of homeless campers in Amarillo was told last week that they must once again shut down their camp and go elsewhere.

As KFDA reports, the Christ Church Camp must disband by the end of this week or the city of Amarillo will begin fining the camp’s homeless residents $2,000 a day for being on the site.

An Amarillo man who made headlines last month for his creative way of helping others is at it again.

Last month Kit Rudd gained statewide attention for living among the homeless in Amarillo to call attention to their plight. And now Rudd has announced that, later this month, he plans to ride the 300 miles to Dallas on horseback.

The number of homeless students in Oklahoma has soared by 55 percent over a period of just four years, according to Oklahoma Watch. As of 2015 the number stood at almost 28,000 homeless students in the state. Of that number, about 1,600 were live in unsheltered locations like cars, parks, campgrounds and abandoned buildings. The rest are “doubling up,” meaning they’re runaways or unaccompanied youths living with relatives or friends.

NET Nebraska recently delved into what it means to be a homeless student in Nebraska. When most of us hear “homeless,” the word conjures certain images in our minds. But Bryan Seck’s job as homeless outreach specialist for Lincoln Public Schools is to change that perception. “Family homelessness is not folks on the street,” Seck explains. “Family homelessness is working class people and something bad has happened to them and they don’t have savings.” 

12 out of every 10,000 Texans are living homeless, reports Texas Standard. And a lot of these have intellectual disabilities. For many homeless, wait times for state services have proven daunting. When it comes to helping those with intellectual disabilities, Texas consistently falls near the bottom in state rankings.