By Jeff Devine, Editor-in-Chief, Dale County Chronicle
Ozark Mayor Charles Ward has called a community-wide meeting for Tuesday, January 13, at 7:00 p.m. at the Ozark Municipal Complex, aiming to bring together local, state, and community partners to address homelessness in Ozark and the surrounding area. Ward announced the meeting during last Tuesday’s Ozark City Council Meeting.
Ward said the community meeting is intended to move the conversation beyond awareness and toward coordinated, practical action.
“First of all, we know there is a homeless issue in our community, and I believe we can begin to address it if we get everyone together and united to start working on the problem,” Ward said. “This is what this meeting is about. I want to get all of the state groups and everyone who deals with this. I want to meet with at least one representative to form a task force to work as a group to come up with tangible solutions to begin to address the homeless issue.”
Ward said he will outline his vision for addressing homelessness while also giving professionals who work directly with unhoused individuals an opportunity to explain the services they provide and the challenges they encounter. Additionally, Ward pointed out he hopes the community will learn from experts in various fields so the city can harness that knowledge to bring about change for the homeless in Ozark.
“What this meeting is going to be about is me sharing my vision of what I think we need to do to begin to address the issue with the homeless,” Ward said. “We will have professionals who work with the homeless, and I’ll have them explain to everyone what they do so we can learn and collaborate to address the issue.”
The meeting comes as homelessness continues to impact a growing number of people in the Ozark area. Local organizations report that mental health challenges and substance use disorders are among the most common contributing factors, often compounded by job loss, family breakdowns, medical crises, and the lack of access to treatment and identification.
Recent conversations with individuals living without stable housing highlight how complex the issue has become. Several people shared that long-standing mental health struggles and limited access to care have made it difficult to regain stability, even when they are actively seeking help. Their experiences also underscore how quickly life circumstances can change, leaving many just one crisis away from homelessness.
Ward said those realities reinforce the need for a more comprehensive approach.
“You have members of our community who are in need,” he said. “For so long, when it comes to homelessness or other issues, all we do is treat the symptoms. We don’t get to the root of the problem. I want us to take a holistic approach where we look at everything where we figure out what the problems are.”
He acknowledged that homelessness is not driven by a single cause and that solutions must account for a wide range of situations.
“So many are homeless for many different reasons, from mental health issues, struggles with addiction and alcoholism, to folks who just gave up on life because the way people have treated them led them to totally give up and not care anymore,” Ward said. “And I believe if we begin to look at this step by step, maybe we can…help as many as possible.”
Local efforts are already underway to address those root causes. Organizations such as the Roberta Rose Foundation, the Ozark Counseling Center, and other community partners are working to expand access to mental health and substance use treatment, along with providing food, hygiene resources, and assistance with identification, employment, and recovery. Advocates involved in those efforts stress that progress depends on collaboration and a shift in how homelessness is viewed.
Stories from individuals living in wooded areas around Ozark illustrate both the hardship and the humanity often hidden from public view. Some rely on small, informal work opportunities or the kindness of local residents and businesses to survive day to day. Others speak openly about the stigma they face and the feeling of being judged or pushed out of public spaces, even when they are simply seeking warmth, safety, or human connection.
Ward said Tuesday’s meeting is intended to bring those realities to the forefront while focusing on what can realistically be done in Ozark.
“We will then take all of the ideas discussed and continue working on figuring out what is going to work for Ozark and develop plans to implement the solutions,” he said.
He emphasized that the meeting is only a starting point, but an important one.
“The meeting tomorrow is just to get everyone to start having a conversation about it,” Ward said. “Sticking our heads in the sand hoping it will go away will not solve the problem. We need to at least have the conversation and come up with sustainable solutions to help our community with this.”
The meeting is open to the public, and Ward is encouraging residents, service providers, nonprofit leaders and anyone interested in being part of the solution to attend and participate in what he hopes will become a sustained, community-driven effort to address homelessness in Ozark.
The Dale County Chronicle will be at the meeting, and we will record everything that occurs and provide a news report after the conclusion of the meeting. Below, we have also provided a link to our special report on homelessness in the area and our interviews with several homeless individuals in our area.
Click below to visit the special report:
