Join YWCA Columbus on Monday, June 30, at the Coleman Garage Conference Room (141 North Front Street) from 2 to 4 p.m. for a public FRAC meeting on housing and homelessness. Your attendance will help the committee and the broader community understand the critical importance of funding for shelter.

Every day, we see how access to shelter can mean the difference between folks getting back on their feet or falling through the cracks. But, right now, that lifeline is under threat.

Overall homelessness in Franklin County rose by more than 7% in 2025, outpacing population growth six times over. Without a change, unsheltered homelessness is predicted to surge by 68% by 2028, per the Community Shelter Board’s 2025 Point-in-Time Count Report.

And, dually, the shelter system that our neighbors rely on is facing a $25 million funding gap this year. For the last several decades, the YWCA Family Center and other emergency shelters have faced an absence of meaningful, systemic investment in shelter infrastructure. At the national level, homelessness is regarded as a local problem; yet the cost of shelter far exceeds what local governments like the city of Columbus and Franklin County can sustain through their general revenue funds.

We have an opportunity to turn the ship -- but we need your help.

As you may have heard during YWCA Columbus' advocacy call on May 28, we are deploying a comprehensive strategy to secure long-term funding for emergency shelter, which currently includes an assessment from the Funding Review Advisory Committee (FRAC) on public revenue options to identify sustainable funding models and apply those directly to shelters for people experiencing homelessness.