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WPCNR THE HOMELESS NEWS. By Geoffrey Ruff. © 2006, The White Plains CitizeNetReporter. All rights reserved. January 27, 2006: Geoffrey Ruff, nightly client of the 85 Court Street Homeless Drop-In Shelter in White Plains, continues Part III of his report on what happens to single homeless men who choose to accept Department of Social Services “services” instead of staying in the Drop-In Shelter nightly. 

 

This report was presented by Mr. Ruff to the Commissioner of the Department of Social Services of Westchester County in a meeting Monday, January 23. (See Parts I & II published previously). Herewith Mr. Ruff’s report, on a typical sequence a homeless person, choosing to cooperate and accept DSS services by participating in a DSS Placement program (readers should be aware, this program is not available unless a homeless person chooses to accept Department of  Social Services “Services”):

 

Placement

Step III

 

At this step, the applicant’s status is deemed a resident. He is placed at a determined (Westchester County) Government-Funded Shelter, where within a week, if not less, he starts his “program.”

 

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The “Program” will consist of  1 of 3, Drug Treatment Program, Mental Health Program, or Work Program. A Shelter Case Worker makes a treatment plan. A majority of the time the resident follows the determination of the Case Worker. If the resident must go to a Drug Treatment Program, it is usually the Drug Treatment Program Case Worker who determines when he will graduate from the facility.

 

Usually, the D.T. Case Worker says 6 to 9 months, but it is often longer due to lax monitoring, or if any of the requirements, i.e., urinalysis, are broken. But usually the stay is more like 12 months.

 

The same standards also apply to Mental Health, concentrating on his mental health needs.

 

When the resident is deemed “Employable,” he usually goes to the Vaughn Glanton Employment Residence. There he is made to work on 1 of  2 crews, that are contracted by the County, the Bronx River Parkway, or Grassland Department of Public Works. This (program) is called “Pride In Work.”

 

Here, the resident works, and on his off-time, he fills out “Job Contact Sheets,” and is given opportunities for vocational training, which usually, but not always is no use due to his Criminal Felony background.

 

Exit

Step IV

 

This process is the Major problem. This step is where the accumulation of numerous breakdowns within the process occur, and fail the resident, and Social Service.

Either the resident, within the course of these Steps, fails to comply with the standards for “whatever reasons” or DSS just isn’t aware of the current needs of the resident.

 

Some of these reasons could be justified, but the case workers don’t take into reason any Mitigating Factors. They just want to follow the rules. Unfortunately, for the resident, non-compliance will normally, after a few times, send him to the Drop-In Center (85 Court Street) for a minimum of 5 days as a form of punishment. If there are any more compliance problems (with his treatment program), the Resident is sanctioned for 45 days.

 

Some Residents usually just leave the process to live back on the streets. In the sanction process, all grant funds (benefits, food stamps, money), except for Medicaid, are disabled for the 45 days. This is where the Resident becomes again Homeless, and is once again in the Drop-In, or on the street only to start the process again.

 

 

 

(The Conclusion of Mr. Ruff’s report, (Proposal & Opinion)  appears tomorrow in The CitizeNetReporter. The report was submitted to the Westchester County Commissioner of Social Services Monday, January 23 personally by Mr. Ruff who met with the Commissioner and a Westchester Housing Official to discuss conditions and Volunteers of America consumer attitudes at 85 Court Street.)

WPCNR HOMELESS NEWS. From Westchester County Department of Communications. (EDITED) January 26, 2006:  With Westchester’s homeless population half the level it was in 1998, County Executive Andy Spano announced today that the WestHab Family Shelter in Elmsford will be closed at a savings of more than $5 million. 

The 46 families still living there will be relocated to other county shelters by March 31. A plan is currently being developed to ensure that the children’s schooling is not disrupted and there will be a continuation of other services. 

 

“This has not happened by accident. We have worked hard to reduce our homeless population,” Spano said. “We have done this by preventing homelessness whenever possible and by providing job training and social services to those who have been in our shelter system. Our goal has been, and will remain, to place as many families and individuals as possible in permanent housing. I am very proud of this effort.”

By closing this facility and relocating the families, the gross annual savings will be about $5.2 million, of which one-quarter of the money comes directly from county taxpayer dollars. 

 The number of homeless single adults in 1998 was 635. The number of homeless families in 1999 was 839.

As of November 2005, the number of homeless single adults was 333  (first reported by WPCNR  in a story dated January 5, 2006, though the figure given then was 331), and the number of homeless families was 317. This is approximately a 50 percent reduction in homeless people since 1998. 

 

The WestHab Family Center in Elmsford, on Tarrytown Road, presently has a 48.7 percent vacancy rate in its 103 units.

To accomplish the reduction in homelessness the county has done the following

·        Used all possible tools to prevent homelessness, including special grants to prevent eviction;

·        Collaborated with providers of mental health services to serve this needy population, and moved about 200 of these individuals into permanent housing;

·        Gave rental assistance through a special county-initiated program to families to help them get into permanent housing (families with earned income who were taken off public assistance);

·        Moved 400 families into permanent housing through a state/county program that allowed higher rent subsidies to prevent homelessness; 

·        Continued various job training programs (through welfare to work programs) that helped homeless  individuals get job training and employment.