Beat notes: why it was important I went inside a homeless shelter

Editor’s Note: Beat notes is a weekly feature from Dispatch journalists who share what’s been happening in their area of coverage and upcoming events. This week we hear from Jordan Laird, who covers government and politics. I've visited plenty of halls of power as a reporter. In July, I spent some t

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Columbus Dispatch reporter Jordan Laird talks to Kristie Dawson inside the dormitory at LSS Faith Mission. Franklin County leaders still have not made a decision on how much to fund the Community Shelter Board in 2026. LSS Faith Mission is one of the largest adult shelters in the county which is losing funding.

Editor’s Note: Beat notes is a weekly feature from Dispatch journalists who share what’s been happening in their area of coverage and upcoming events. This week we hear from Jordan Laird, who covers government and politics.

I've visited plenty of halls of power as a reporter.

In July, I spent some time somewhere less glamours but still important: Lutheran Social Services Faith Mission, a homeless shelter Downtown.

I went because I had caught wind the Community Shelter Board, facing uncertainty about county funding, is making cuts to capacity and services that will affect people like the residents in the Faith Mission shelter. Lutheran Social Services is one provider with the Community Shelter Board, a nonprofit that has managed Franklin County's

response to homelessness for about four decades, and their shelter was kind enough to find a resident willing to speak with me.

Kristie Dawson, 54, told me about how she came to live at Faith Mission. She said she worked long days as an early childcare provider in Columbus for 25 years and even got her Associate's from Columbus State Community College, but she was living paycheck to paycheck. When she was hospitalized for a month for a medical emergency earlier this year, Dawson lost her job and apartment. She started to tear up as she said she had nowhere else to go when the hospital discharged her.

Dawson has a cane she uses sometimes. She's having trouble finding work because her symptoms keep flaring up and she still doesn't have a diagnosis. Walking through the shelter, I saw seniors with canes, walkers or other mobility aides and it was striking.

Statistics show seniors and people with disabilities are disproportionately affected by homelessness. Seeing it firsthand was different.

It struck me that a lot of these people probably need a higher level of care than a homeless shelter can provide them. But as it stands today, the alternative to the shelter is sleeping on the sidewalk outside.

The Community Shelter Board is making cuts to its adult shelter capacity as it continues to ask Franklin County Board of Commissioners to pass additional funding in September.