People walk past them in places like the Old Market, ignoring their existence. The only time they seem to get noticed is when they act "crazy" or stand at medians, asking for money. They're Omaha's homeless. And there are about 1,800 in the city. 

Mayor John Ewing Jr., Tamara Dwyer, the city's homeless services coordinator, and others notice, while some people choose to shun them. "I do see this as a human issue," Ewing said during a public event at Community Alliance in early spring. 

Ewing has been active in addressing issues affecting homeless people, having served on the board of directors at the Sienna Francis House for six years, as well as with Habitat for Humanity. 

He opposes efforts to criminalize homelessness at the state and local level, Ewing said. 

"For me, this really is about looking at how we treat people who have homelessness, who have mental health issues, drug addiction issues, that we treat them as human beings and not a statistic," he said. "It's critically important that we also treat them humanely."

Criminalizing homelessness creates issues that can have long-term implications for people, Ewing said. They'll have a criminal record, making it more difficult for them to be able to navigate the system and get permanent housing, he said. 

"It's a counterproductive measure," Ewing said. "It also criminalizes them and makes it more difficult for them to be able to feel respected and treated with dignity. So it's just not going to happen." 

His administration has worked to bring together organizations dedicated to working with homeless people, so they can have access to available services, Ewing said. 

The city plans to use opioid funding to hire additional staff to handle coordinating services, allowing Dwyer to build a long-term program. He also plans to add staff members who can work with the police and fire departments to address situations involving mental health issues, Ewing said. 

As the City of Omaha's homeless services coordinator, Dwyer doesn't spend a lot of time behind a desk. Instead, she goes where the homeless can be found, often visiting them at encampments. 

"We often talk about homelessness as a single, monolithic problem, but in reality, it’s much more complex," Dwyer said. "It is the intersection of a housing market that has outpaced wages and a healthcare system that has left our most vulnerable neighbors behind. That and the mental health care system." 

Omaha needs to shift its perspective from simply managing the homeless crisis to ending it, Dwyer said. Innovation is key to accomplishing it, she said. 

Looking at the continuum of care, organizations tracking homelessness see conflicting situations, Dwyer said. 

"On one hand, our sheltered population remains a testament to Omaha's generosity," she said. "We have a lot of great shelters and a lot of great beds and services. And on the other hand, we see the rising of our unsheltered population since 2019, where it's risen from about a little over 3% of our homeless population to about 14%, in just those few years' time. (Several) of those people report having a disabling condition of some kind, including mental health, substance abuse and all of those different things." 

The area has experienced a spike in first-time homelessness, people who have never needed help before, falling into the system because of a lack of options and services, as well as increased housing costs, Dwyer said. 

"The complexity to navigate some of those services leads us to a truth that we must face," she said. "We show that we can manage homelessness, but we can't quite get to the ending of homelessness. We are kind of staying stagnant, and reflect that. We can't end homelessness under the current business-as-usual. We have to do things differently."

Community Alliance offers programs that address issues holistically, from exercise and nutrition to mental health services, as well as health care, Dwyer said. 

New to the homeless scene, Josh Place is a planned housing community designed to work with homeless people experiencing mental health issues that don't require around-the-clock supervision. It's the brainchild of Sherry Strong, whose son, Josh Schweinfurth, dealt with a rare form of paranoid schizophrenia and died by suicide in 2022. 

A development like Josh Place can provide a level of care different from the services offered by Community Alliance, while also offering stability and housing, Dwyer said. 

Plans for Josh Place involve building seven units with 12 bedrooms each, housing 84 people who experience mental health issues, Strong said. 

While it will provide homes for a small number of homeless people, it addresses a major concern of people with mental health issues, she said. About 45% of Omaha's homeless - about 800 people - have untreated or undiagnosed mental health issues, Strong said. 

Of Nebraska's 93 counties, 88 have staffing or service issues in handling mental health issues, according to a study by the University of Nebraska Medical Center. 

While Schweinfurth lived at home at the time of his death, he'd previously lived in group homes. In order to receive the benefits of the arrangement, about 80% of his income was used to help pay for his care, rent and other expenses, Strong said. 

"It also limits them to $2,000 in resources a month," she said. "Well, Josh had a car. His car was worth more than $2,000 a month. If he had a job, he would be making more than $2,000 a month. Then he would no longer qualify to live in a home." 

The idea behind Josh Place is to be privately funded, with 30% of a resident's income contributing to rent and care, Strong said. 

Hopefully, Josh Place is the start of a larger movement in the private sector to address homelessness and mental health, she said. 

With a committed religious faith, Strong said she sometimes finds herself looking for signs that Schweinfurth is in heaven and doing well. 

"You want it. You want to believe it so bad, like he's just going to say, 'Mom, I'm doing okay,'" she said. "I would just pray that he would just pop his head through the clouds, and I would just sit there and cry. Please, I know he's OK, but can you (God) just let me know that he's OK, that he's where I think he is? Please, please."

Tim Trudell is a freelance writer and online content creator. His work has appeared in Flatwater Free Press, Next Avenue, Indian Country Today, Nebraska Life, Nebraska Magazine, Council Bluffs Daily Non-Pareil and Douglas County Post Gazette, among others. He is a citizen of the Santee Dakota Nation.