CIRCLEVILLE, OHIO (September 11, 2024) – Students from The Ohio State University are helping Pickaway County Community Action Organization (PICCA) explore the feasibility of creating housing for homeless veterans at its East Ohio Street property.
Harral and Stevenson, a Circleville-based civil engineering firm, also is donating services to the project.
Twelve college seniors from the city and regional planning section of the Knowlton School at OSU are working with PICCA as part of a capstone research project this fall semester, said Chad Gibson, associate professor who is also the community development director for the City of Upper Arlington.
The class project began on Aug. 20 and concludes Dec. 3.
“Capstone projects give college students practical, real-world experiences they can draw upon after graduation,” Gibson said. “We are excited to partner with PICCA and officials with the City of Circleville to provide support for such an impactful project.”
Building a community of tiny homes is one idea under consideration. This is one approach to serving the homeless or increasing the volume of affordable housing is either being done or under consideration in a number of cities across the country. Tiny homes are dwellings that are 400-square-feet or less.
The OSU class will examine the project from zoning, property development, utilities, fundraising, marketing, community relations, and operating perspectives, Gibson said. It is looking at a variety of housing options, including tiny homes, cottages, traditional homes and apartments.
“The class will present a final report with recommendations to PICCA at the end of the semester,” he said. “The report is intended to support efforts to make this project a reality.”
Helping the Homeless
Creating a permanent housing solution for the unhoused is a long-time goal of PICCA Executive Director Becky Hammond. A sense of urgency to do something locally has grown with the number of people counted as homeless, increases in rent prices, and a shortage of affordable housing in the county.
An annual point-in-time study conducted by PICCA in January showed that the number of unhoused people in Pickaway County increased at least eight percent between 2023 and 2024.
“If not us, who? If not now, when?” Hammond said. “If we do nothing, then nothing happens.
“PICCA is among local non-profit and civic organizations, churches, business owners, government officials, and caring individuals on the front line of helping serve our homeless population,” she said. “This is a community effort.”
PICCA is focusing on unhoused veterans because it already works with the Veterans Administration in Chillicothe to provide transitional housing for VA clients at Ohio House, which is located on PICCA’s 16-acre property, Hammond said. Background checks on those referred to PICCA are completed. This is necessary because PICCA operates Early Head Start and Head Start programming on its property.
A portion of PICCA’s property getting early attention is a six-acre area with mature trees between a parking lot that serves Head Start and the Emergency Clearinghouse Food Pantry west to Clinton Avenue. Another location is a gravel lot south of a building PICCA uses to operate its bi-monthly fresh produce distribution service.
Circleville Mayor Michelle Blanton said she is excited about the idea of PICCA helping homeless veterans on a property where she spent her youth attending church camp. She said the city stands ready to assist OSU students with their project.
“This property has a lot of meaning for me,” Blanton told the OSU class during a Sept. 5 visit. “In a way, if it (housing for homeless veterans) can happen it’s like the property is returning to its original use.”
Blanton, who serves as the registrar for Ohio Christian University, is a former member of the PICCA board of directors. She is a graduate of OCU.
Returning to its Roots
Members of the Churches of Christ Christian Union denomination founded Mount of Praise Campground in 1917 on a two-acre portion of the Ohio Street property PICCA now calls home. In 1928, the CCCU built a 100- by 140-foot tabernacle to replace an original, smaller structure. The original tabernacle would become a dining hall.
The CCCU opened the Mount of Praise Bible School and a Christian printing press in 1949. In 1953, after construction of an administration building the school changed its name to Circleville Bible College (CBC).
At one point, more than 100 cottages and six dormitories dotted the 16-acre property to accommodate the more than 10,000 people who regularly attended annual 12-day camp meetings.
The campground continued operating even after CBC moved its administration/academic offices to a building on a 40-acre property on State Route 22, east of Circleville in August 1966. That site is now the home of OCU.
PICCA bought the East Ohio Street property from the CCCU in 1997 and moved its administrative offices and other services to various buildings in 2000. PICCA razed the tabernacle in 2006 after the structure was condemned. The area is now where PICCA parks its fleet of buses.
Craig Stevenson, managing partner of Harral and Stevenson, is developing a site plan for the proposed housing project. He is working with the city to determine the extent of service and condition of water and sewer lines that served the former Mount Praise Campground. This effort will help PICCA determine the level of investment required to make the idea of a housing project a reality.
Stevenson said his firm is donating its services to the project because of the benefits it could provide to homeless veterans and the community.
“The value and support a project like this would provide our homeless community is immeasurable,” he said. “We are proud to lend our professional experiences to help make this a reality.”
The OSU class will share a mid-term presentation of ideas to PICCA and city officials in early October, Gibson said.
“The class was excited after our visit,” he said. “The ideas discussed on the drive home were impressive and inspiring.”
