Homelessness Around the United States

Local Reports April 2010

National Coalition for the Homeless Met in DC this last Week

Minnesota

Significant growth in homelessness within the State. They are working on a Tenant Bill of Rights in Minnesota— it would cap late fees, require receipts provided by landlord, and guidelines for screening tenants. Applications for an apartment would have to be provided an apartment in the order they were received. Denied for a subjective reason, the tenant would get any fee back. The state is facing massive cuts in emergency assistance.

Miami Florida

Sex offenders going into hotels after the encampment under a freeway overpass was fenced off. Miami held as a model city in the Continuum of Care, but there are issues with budget cuts and expanding populations. Florida house passed the homeless hate crimes legislation. Looks good for passage in the Florida Senate.

Ft. Lauderdale

HPRP not doing well, and much is going to moderate incomes. State has cut homeless funding. Broward cut 50% of their services due to the downturn. Several large shelters have closed. Transitional shelters have had to close. Cut beds, services and hours to deal with budget cuts. Proposal to continue to criminalize homelessness in Ft. Lauderdale and Oakland Park will fine people who give food and money to homeless people. Increasing number of homeless and decreasing number of beds. No programs for the long term homeless. Alternatives to incarceration coalition established to try to reduce prison stays and long term punishments and mandatory minimums. Florida has a huge problem with one of the worst rates of incarceration in the United States.

Indiana

Continued budget cuts and HPRP has supplanted local dollars, and so there are more shelters and services closing locally. The state is defunding shelters, and more attempts to make it illegal to be homeless. Poor use of the HPRP funds for smaller groups especially in the rural communities.

Puerto Rico:

They do a poor job in receiving funding from the United States federal government. Worst managed HOME program in the United States, which has opened the door to greater scrutiny. Feeling threatened over HEARTH act, and attempts by local planning groups that could block grant of all those federal dollars. Have not been able to open an affordable housing project because of local bureaucracies, and while the buildings are done they have not been able to move in and now have become targets for vandalism. New protocol on how homeless people are served in the courts. There is a law that gives the rights to people who find themselves homeless, but it is ignored in the local community. Census told the population that they had to have an address to work for the Census.

Atlanta, GA

Shelter facing foreclosure is in court, and proving that you can operate without funding. Residents of the shelter do a lot more to operate the facility. 99.9% of staff are still hanging around without funds. Local grassroots organizations excluded from Neighborhood Stabilization and HPRP. There is some danger of losing the Foreclosure money (Neighborhood stabilization), which would go back to the Federal government. Massive demolition of public housing, 50% cut to public transportation, and privatization of the last public hospital..

DC

Catholic Church not going to close the shelter over the DC gay marriage issue. Big cuts that resulted in decrease in the number of shelter beds. They have closed the winter shelters for the spring/summer/fall. Family homelessness is increasing. Incidents at the shelters have increased including a death where an individual was turned away and died of exposure on a bench outside of the shelter. They have seen an increase in the incidents between shelters and staff because of the budget cuts.

Little Rock, Arkansas

Coalition is still on life support. Talked to the Mayor of Little Rock, because of city being named one of the meanest cities. Paid homeless coordinator in Little Rock to help. Another Little Rock About 1% of the population is homeless in the state of Arkansas. shelter closed because of a lack of funds.

South Carolina

State does not have any state dollars for homelessness—all dollars are pass through from the federal government. State initiative to require homeless veteran’s a preference over all other populations for a shelter bed and first for services. This did not pass. Defeated an initiative to be able to evict tenants within 15 days without going to court. Magistrate could appear without the tenant and get rid of the tenant. Four police officers arrested for Civil Rights violations in Greenville They have pled out after an investigation by the FBI. State HPRP is not being spent. At the local level it is being allocated at a good pace. Homeless awareness is increasing because of the NCH VISTA program educating the community. One City Administrator in Greenville has indicated a willingness to talk about ending homelessness. This is unusual for a public official in South Carolina. over the beating of a homeless person.

Montana

No more Montana Council for the Homeless by the Governor, and they may switch to become a private non-profit. Statewide HPRP going to the usual suspects. It is given out, but difficult to find in some communities. Information has spread and made a run on many of the programs.

Baltimore, MD

Mayoral transition difficult after the Mayor was forced to resign. She was very good for homeless people despite the scandal. The United Way initiative to end homelessness and continue the 10 year plan is still on track. All HPRP went through the United Way to administer the funds. Money is going out in large numbers.

South Dakota

Major issues in trying to distribute HPRP and lots of complaints with state for changing guidelines periodically. No state money going into local homeless services. Safe home program --32 long term homeless units is the cornerstone of the City’s project and they have now walked away from the program. No local dollars in Souix Falls from City. The City has established a zero tolerance for kids in the shelter to try to get them back into housing quickly. Indian reservations are the hardest hit.

Sacramento, California.

Massive deficit and massive proposed cuts. Hate crimes legislation introduced. Massive cuts to human services at the local level, and huge Continuum of Care cuts. Advocates want a safe ground to organize themselves with temporary structures while they search for housing. They won the lawsuit—got $250,000 to buy back tents and stuff after the police came in and destroyed their camps. Advocates have also registered hundreds of people and did a candidate forum focused on housing and homelessness. Training in May over HEARTH planning for the future. State HPRP is not going out very quickly. Better at the local level and trying to link the employment programs. Religious community organizations are trying to match HPRP funds in Sacramento. Director of Hunger and Homeless Program now including re-entry stuff into their work.

Denver

Sustained a huge budget cut for Health Care for the Homeless fund in order to fill gaps in the state budget. Cut the general assistance funds to single adults. After protests state government had to reverse the GA cuts and they never went into effect. Also advocates convinced them to reinstate the $2 million of the $3 million cuts to Health care for the Homeless. HPRP is given to the state Coalition and there is a match from TANF families. Some agencies are getting the funds out, but others are struggling. No ability to do training. Started construction on a 98 units of affordable housing that will include a work component in which they get homeless people to do the labor on the project then get first preference. Took over the HMIS system, and assure that privacy protections are in place. Colorado Springs has the homeless computer system is contracted to the local sheriff to manage. The State Coalition has told them to stop this or they will no longer have access to the management system or the funds that goes with it. Down the road the health care reform bill that just passed Congress will help our constituents including the leveraging of Medicare resources.

Taken from notes at the National Coalition for the Homeless Board meeting this past weekend April 2010 by Brian Davis

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