The Old Concho Community Assistance Center (OCCAC) provides a specialized emergency management service throughout Northern Arizona that may not be top of the mind for persons suffering a substance or behavioral crisis.
OCCAC maintains the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) emergency and permanent housing grants for both Apache and Navajo counties. The agency reports that on any given day, it houses more than 68 individuals in communities that equal 120 people.
OCCAC Executive Director Cindy Furrh explained, “Currently in Winslow we have 21 units of emergency and permanent housing. We house people with special needs, such as those recovering from substance abuse or who are seriously mentally ill.
“Our agency has spent well over $55,000 since the beginning of this year to keep people in housing as a measure of addiction prevention, or to place people in housing, which we call rapid rehousing. So we will pay the first and last deposits for the individual’s monthly rent, and see if they can make it on their own,” she said.
Furrh said the agency has experienced a 70 percent success rate in getting its clients reemployed or in obtaining Social Security and disability benefits.
Furrh also noted that with its funding, the agency is looking to partner with local churches, businesses and lodging establishments to suitably support persons who become homeless, or who are in mental or behavioral crisis, particularly as the harsh winter weather arrives.
OCCAC is accepting donations of used furniture to furnish its recently acquired 68-unit Winslow facility. Contact Cindy Furrh at (928) 337-5047 for more information.
