COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- As many cities deal with large populations of unhoused people, a documentary coming soon to Columbus is shining a light on the issue.
A documentary film called Beyond the Bridge: A Solution To Homelessness will be screened in Columbus on Sept. 24. The filmmakers visited cities in the U.S. that have decreased the number of people living on the streets and asked how they’ve solved their homelessness problem.
Filmmakers Don Sawyer and Tim Hashko with A Bigger Vision Films said they are screening the documentary in Columbus because they believe it is a city with the tools to resolve the issue. The pair originally made a documentary about the criminalization of homelessness. But they said when people watched it, they often asked what the solution was. That’s why they decided their next venture was to create Beyond the Bridge.
“We’re picking cities that have issues with homelessness, which is everywhere, but we’re picking cities that have a great chance of solving it and Columbus is one of those places,” said Sawyer, the producer and director of the film.
In Ohio, there has been an increase in the homeless population over the past few years, according to the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio or COHHIO.
“That’s due to several things. Primarily it’s due to the fact that housing is getting unaffordable. It was already unaffordable and it’s getting worse,” said Marcus Roth, the communications and development director for COHHIO.
For Beyond the Bridge, Sawyer and Hashko went to Milwaukee and Houston. They said those are cities that have decreased the number of citizens without homes.
The filmmakers said Milwaukee and Houston leaders realized the answer to homelessness was to combine community resources -- like service providers, police departments, the local government and residents of the city.
“All of these have to work together to create a system that’s coordinated, that can take all the populations of homelessness, from youth, chronics, families, et cetera, from homeless to housed,” Sawyer said.
Roth with COHHIO said Columbus has all the resources necessary to do this.
“We have a strong business community that’s really engaged in civic issues. We have strong city leaders, we have great county leaders, we have a really strong philanthropic community as well,” Roth said. “There’s no reason, if everyone is rowing in the same direction, we can’t make this work.”
That’s why the filmmakers said they are excited to bring Beyond the Bridge to Columbus.
“They keep coming to us and saying, ‘Thank you so much for opening my eyes. This is very impactful. Now I think about this problem differently and I really want to be part of this movement.’ So, it’s been very rewarding,” said Hashko, the cinematographer and editor of the documentary.
Beyond the Bridge: A Solution To Homelessness will be screened at the Lincoln Theatre at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 24. Tickets to the screening are free but you do have to reserve them. You’ll be able to reserve those tickets at this link in the coming days.
For more information about the documentary and other cities they are visiting on their film tour, click here.
