Salvation Army plans to engage with 320 homeless this year

The Lawton Salvation Army’s goal is to engage with 320 homeless people during 2025, Capt. Bryan Brinlee said.

Brinlee was supplying the number — and his plans to upgrade the Salvation Army complex and add programs to engage and help the homeless — during a Homeless Action Committee meeting. That committee was created by the City Council to coordinate and make recommendations on programs and projects keyed toward lessening Lawton’s homeless population.

Multiple entities have begun setting programs, housing and resources for that population, including the Salvation Army.

Although the Salvation Army now is limited on what it can do — it has no usable space for indoor housing and recently moved a tent city off its complex in south Lawton because of liability concerns — its members are engaged with the homeless.

Brinlee said the agency engaged with 82 homeless people in January and February, noting that of that total, 34 were removed from the street, four returned to the street, and 44 were living on the Salvation Army property at the end of February. That outdoor on-site number had decreased to 29 as of March 31, after the Salvation Army had to move the population off its complex and across the street on March 8.

He said based on most recent statistics, the Salvation Army’s program has a failure rate of 9.76 percent of the homeless people they engage with, noting the majority (31) have been removed from chronic homelessness. However, eight returned to the street or have been banned from the property because of behavior, and one was jailed.

In a further breakdown of engagements in January and February: six homeless people went to drug or alcohol treatment, 11 relocated to family, two went to Taliaferro Community Mental Health Center, for support, eight went to assisted living or Section 8 housing, two received help from Veterans Affairs, and one family moved into the C. Carter Crane Shelter. However, four were arrested and five returned to the street because they were unable to abide by the goals of the program, Brinlee said. One death was reported, due to drugs.

Under the most recent count of homeless people living in the tent encampment north of the Salvation Army complex, there were 51 people living in 47 tents.

The tent population doesn’t surprise Brinlee. He said many homeless people enjoy having their own space, which is why they prefer a tent city. But the down side: engagement with Salvation Army personnel is less in a tent city because those areas typically are open from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m., times when they are sleeping and staff is not working. That’s why engagement is better with an indoor facility, experts said.

As city officials work through the details of finding and designating outdoor sleeping space for homeless people who may not camp in public areas under a new city ordinance, the Salvation Army continues to make plans for what it wants to do with its campus to support the homeless.

This year’s goal is to engage with 320 homeless people, Brinlee said, adding those engagements will be focused on helping the homeless through stewardship (teaching them to care for themselves, so they can move to permanent housing), relationships (help them develop connections or reconnect), and learning self-control.

While there are plans to work in the field, Brinlee said the Salvation Army also is planning an indoor campus.

The deteriorating two-story building will be torn down, he said about plans to create a new area while moving the thrift store to another location, freeing up that space. While funding hasn’t been identified yet, Brinlee said the plan is for a 4,100 square foot day center where participants will work with the chronic homeless (those homeless for long periods of time). Planned upgrades also include a 3,360-square-foot warehouse space, and 800 square feet for social services/pantry.