BRONZ COMMITTEE PROBES HOMELESS ISSUES - Trends point out new challenges to health and human service providers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 21, 2006

Contact: Lois Bronz, Tel: 914.995.2833, Bronz@westchesterlegislators.com

Shifts in the patterns of homeless-ness are making an already difficult situation more complicated. That’s what clearly emerged last week when County Legislator Lois Bronz (D-I-WF, Greenburgh) convened a meeting of the Housing, Planning and Government Operations (HPGO) Committee, which she chairs, to initiate county-wide discussion on homeless services, trends and alternatives. “Linked to the affordable housing crisis, homelessness is becoming a top agenda issue,” she said. “Years ago, those of us working in this area would never have dreamed that we would still be talking

about homelessness in 2006. The trends we are hearing about might well require some significant adjustments in programs. So we need to learn more from both the professionals and the people affected.”

Some of the complications the Committee heard included:

• While federal funding helps support homeless shelters and services, many homeless individuals are choosing the streets and over-night drop in centers over the traditional shelter system with all of its support programs and case worker assistance.
• Sanctions for not following strict new reform rules and the inability to hold onto a substantial portion of their job income have forced people from the shelters and case work management or left them unable to graduate out of the system.
• Efforts to place the hard to serve population in permanent housing often result in bypassing the supportive follow-up services that are available from service providers.
• Substance abuse has replaced mental illness as the critical problem requiring focused support services.
• Half of the known homeless in Westchester are single individuals, a category with less federal funding for support services.

Karl Bertrand, a consultant and member of the Westchester Partnership, observed that over the past several years the number of families in 24-hour shelters has decreased 59% due in part to the new Rent Enhancement Program for Families. Under the program, the County’s Dept. of Social Services (DSS) is now assisting families in getting permanent housing instead of using shelters which is more costly. Funding for housing is more accessible than funding for follow-up services. However, statistics on the success rate of people able to remain in permanent housing without supportive services are not available.

The number of singles in shelters has decreased by 27% because of several factors: Welfare Reform’s new “sanction” rules force individuals out of shelters if they do not comply with treatment or work requirements. According to Rev. Anthony Hoeltzel of the Sharing Community in Yonkers, sanctions reduce the number of people served but not the number of homeless. Homeless individuals have to turn in all sources of income and are given an allowance of only $22.50 every two weeks, making it difficult for them to accumulate enough money for rent deposits. The County assists the work of not-for-profit organizations such as The Bridge Fund by awarding grants to help people get the deposits they need to rent. But these funds are limited and they are currently overwhelmed with applicants.

According to Rev. Anthony Hoeltzel of the Sharing Community in Yonkers, the shelters have empty beds-- but the 6-8 hour drop-in centers are booming.

The latest DSS statistics show that half of the known homeless people in Westchester are single individuals, a category not well funded by the state and federal governments. Funding for housing, health and social services is provided through the Westchester Partnership, a coordinated mix of municipalities, not for profits, advocates and formerly homeless people, which is administered by the Dept. of Community Mental Health (DCMH). The shelter system has multiple programs to assist people provided they fulfill often complicated requirements and remain in the system.

“We have to put a face on homelessness,” Bronz said. “We are talking about families and children, single people recuperating from adversity of one kind or another, seniors who have lost their incomes to inflation and people suffering from mental illness and substance abuse. As a responsible community, our role is to make sure we are part of the solution and not part of the problem.”

The HPGO Committee plans follow-up meetings on this issue. Other members of the Committee are Legislators William Burton (D, Ossining), Vito Pinto (D-I-WF, Tuckahoe), Bernice Spreckman (R-I-C-WF, Yonkers) and Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-I-WF, Yonkers). Also participating was Legislator Judy Myers (D-I-WF, Mamaroneck), Chair of the Family, Health and Human Services Committee.