Deb Dingus, the executive director of the United Way of Licking County, welcomed about 200 community members to a community forum at the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Newark by talking about a mattress.
She and her husband had been receiving ads for new mattresses on the internet, and she noticed one in particular that promised “the perfect night’s sleep.”
“There is no perfect night’s sleep,” she said to the conference room, filled to the brim with people hoping to talk about housing and homelessness in Licking County. “As we approach this topic, keep in mind that there is no perfect solution.”
This community forum on affordable housing — hosted by the United Way of Licking County on Tuesday, Oct. 29 — comes just eight days after Newark City Council almost unanimously approved an ordinance that introduces criminal penalties and fines against people sleeping on public property, including on public benches, sidewalks, streets and in alleyways.
Read more: Newark City Council approves ordinance targeting homeless people in 7-1 vote for ‘camping ban’
At the last Newark City Council meeting, Dingus told council members that she’s convinced the community can find a creative solution.
“It’s very inspiring and moving,” said Dingus on hosting the community forum. “It reaffirms that a lot of people are compassionate, caring, and want to do something.”

Sixteen circular tables scattered around the room sat around 9 or 10 people on each one. People in attendance ranged from Licking County’s political leaders, Newark City Council members, representatives from companies that build low-income housing, business owners, pastors, charity workers and community members. Upon registration, each attendee was assigned a table by United Way to encourage more varied conversation.
Due to a larger-than-expected demand for attendance, the event was moved from the Warner Center at Ohio State University-Newark to the DoubleTree Hotel.
The goal: to discuss and establish solutions to help the unhoused of Licking County.
“Folks, we have 180,000 people in Licking County. [There are] maybe 100 unhoused people, maybe more,” said Dingus from the stage. “Let’s roll up our sleeves.”
United Way had set out three rules for this forum to maximize conversational productivity. Each table was required to have a designated note taker; every individual must have the opportunity to speak; and a United Way pennant must be passed around the table to indicate who was speaking.
Dingus then handed the torch over to the people of Licking County.
“I can begin,” said John LaBelle of St. Vincent de Paul Society at St. Leonard’s Church in Heath. He opened his black three-ring binder and pulled a heavily annotated copy of the 2020 Homelessness Action Plan from the now-defunct Licking County Task Force on Homelessness.
“I was amazed that nobody took the ball and ran with it,” he said to the rest of Table 9. “I’m elated that we’re starting to do something with it.”


The document, LaBelle said, is a “play-by-play” of everything needed to combat this issue. Members passed the action plan around the table, and a few took pictures for reference.
Sean Grady, the managing director of Licking County Emergency Management, joined in the conversation.
“There’s always short-term solutions,” Grady said. “We need longer-term, sustained solutions.”
“Something that bothers me about this whole situation is that the city government does not want to get involved,” replied LaBelle. “I’m tired of the can being kicked down the road.”
According to Dingus, it is the first time since the pandemic that the community has had the opportunity to have a large-scale discussion about these issues.
“I hope it is the beginning of more conversations,” she said.
Shannon TL Isom, the president and CEO of Community Shelter Board in Columbus, also spoke at the event. Fueled with passion, she spoke out about city funding and talked about low-barrier shelters as the current solution.
“The federal government says ‘sheltering is not our issue – it’s yours,’” she said. “Shelters worked back then.”
A huge round of applause erupted.
“Keep preaching!” exclaimed Andy Davis, the pastor of The Lighthouse on Maple in Newark.
A large emphasis of the evening was low-barrier shelters — shelters without background checks or other requirements for entry — as a solution to the affordable housing issue facing Licking County.
Currently, there are no low-barrier shelters in Licking County. Efforts several years ago to create a low-barrier shelter in Newark failed.
“Low barrier means ‘you don’t need to earn my dignity to walk through my door. Have some food; have a bed,’” said Isom. “Benevolence cannot sustain it; it cannot scale it.”
But advocates at the meeting also said low-barrier shelters aren’t enough – they’re just a start.
One of the only shelters in Newark is at the Salvation Army, which has 55 beds available throughout the year.
Currently, that shelter is home to a family of nine: A mother, a father and seven children, according to Salvation Army Newark Corps Maj. Tim Higgins, who has served as commanding officer for two years. That family is preparing to move into a house after nine months at the shelter.
“Most shelters are 60-90 days,” Higgins said. “[This family] has fallen through the cracks in our system.”
The need for a more permanent solution to affordable housing is desperate. Dingus hopes that by providing more opportunities for communities to come together and discuss actual solutions, more will be done to combat these issues.
Owen Baker writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.