homeless

Press release:

Independent Living of the Genesee Region (ILGR) has long worked to assist residents of Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties (GOW) who are dealing with homelessness, through the Homeless Alliance of Western New York (HAWNY). ILGR is pleased to announce that Dai Nguyen has joined their staff in the position of HAWNY Program Specialist.

For those who might be unaware of them, Nguyen is inviting representatives of human service or government agencies that are likely to encounter clients who are homeless, at risk of homelessness, or have problems securing housing, to an ongoing series of GOW Continuum of Care meetings.

These will be held on the third Thursday of every other month, from 10 to 11 a.m., beginning March 15^th.  Under HAWNY sponsorship, they take place at the Main Office of ILGR, 113 Main St. at Center Street, Suite 5, in Batavia.

While the gatherings are primarily open discussions on the needs of the homeless, likely topics include updates on:

• The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)'s Continuum of Care (CoC), a program designed to promote community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness;
• The Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), a database that keeps track of homeless people;
• Rapid Rehousing, HUD's model for alleviating homelessness;
• Grant applications;
• Housing updates in GOW;
• Plus new events and services. 

In addition, attendees can get assistance with HMIS training, HUD procedures, and the multifaceted, non-for-profit PathStone's programs, so that their clients can access these services as soon as possible.

The third Thursday dates set for 2018 are: March 15^th, May 17^th, July 19^th, Sept. 20^th, and Nov. 15^th.

While encouraged, registering in advance is NOT required to attend. To RSVP or ask questions on the event, please call Dai Nguyen, at (585) 815-8501, ext. 417. 

Independent Living of the Genesee Region (ILGR) is a member of the Western New York Independent Living Inc. family of agencies that offers an expanding array of services to aid individuals with disabilities to take control of their own lives.

The governor's recent executive order on how to deal with homeless people in local municipalities during cold weather won't have much impact on Genesee County, said Eileen Kirkpatrick, the county's director of Social Services.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's order has been widely reported to mandate that local law enforcement require any homeless person found out and about in freezing weather to be taken off the streets and placed in an appropriate shelter.

That isn't exactly what the governor ordered, Kirkpatrick said.

"Neither law enforcement nor DSS has any legal authority to put anybody anyplace they don't want to go," Kirkpatrick said.

The order doesn't change anything for how lack-of-shelter situations have long been handled in Genesee County, she said.

All of the law enforcement agencies, along with the Mental Health department, have long worked well with DSS to help resolve lack-of-shelter situations.

When a cop finds a person who is seemingly without shelter during freezing weather, the officer tries to determine if the person is intoxicated or has a mental health issue that would inhibit the person from making a rational decision about his or her own safety.

If the person is intoxicated, the officer has the authority to seek medical treatment for the individual.

If there appears to be a mental health issue, mental health workers are contacted and the person is taken in, usually to Warsaw's hospital, where a mental health evaluation will be made to determine if the person is capable of making a rational decision about his or her shelter.

If a person is capable of making a rational decision, then the decision to stay on the street or not is up to that individual and, as Kirkpatrick said, neither law enforcement nor DSS has the authority to force that person into a shelter.

If the person, however, would like shelter, there are options.

When the warming shelter is open, as it is tonight, women and children can be taken to the shelter.

Males without children can be given a bus ticket to either Rochester or Buffalo and directions to a shelter that accepts men. If the busses are not running, an after-hours DSS worker can help arrange for a room at a local hotel or motel.

Adults judged to be competent to make their own decisions always have the choice to stay on the street, but when officials find children without shelter, Child Protective Services always has the authority to take the child to an appropriate shelter.

There doesn't seem to be the stereotypical homelessness issue in Batavia that might exist in larger cities, Kirkpatrick said. You don't expect to find people sleeping under bridges here.

However, there is an issue with people being "inadequately housed," she said. These might be people living nine to a two-bedroom trailer, or who stay with different people throughout the week or in another shelter-insecure situation.

Sometimes it's just a financial issue. There are also people who have such a bad reputation for destroying property among local landlords that they find it difficult to secure a rental.

In all cases, DSS has programs in place to help people who need assistance with shelter, she said. If there is somebody without shelter and they're competent to make that decision, then that is their decision. Typically, they've made that decision because they don't want to go along with the rules that go along with getting assistance from DSS.

"There are some people who are in a perpetual state of homelessness because that's their choice as an adult," Kirkpatrick said. "There is assistance available for anybody who wants to abide by the rules and what New York State dictates. These aren't Eileen Kirkpatrick's rules. These are the state rules."

The Salvation Army and United Methodist Church are ready to provide shelter to those who need it in very cold weather, said Robert Kurtz, with the American Red Cross, yesterday following a meeting of homeless-aid advocates.

The Red Cross facility would house the men and the church would take in families.

The goal is to be ready to provide shelter when needed starting Dec. 1, but the real deadline is any night when the temperature drops as low as 10 degrees.

The coalition of church leaders, community activists and social service workers actually started meeting a year ago with the goal of ensuring there were services available for homeless people in Genesee County during cold weather.

There were originally more than 100 members, but the numbers dwindled and only recently the group has seen a resurgence in participation.  

Some of the newer members yesterday raised questions about the 10-degree threshold for opening shelters: Why can't something be done sooner with cold weather coming on fast? Why can't a permanent shelter be located immediately?

Mary Rice, with Pathstone, who was chairing the meeting, explained that the 10-degree standard was adopted because that's the standard in Rochester and Buffalo.

While Kurtz said in an emergency, shelter could be provided now, the coalition is still looking to raise funds for cots and other materials. 

The issue of a permanent shelter is far more complicated.

Rice said she's spoken with volunteers in Lockport who worked for two years before successfully opening a shelter there.

There are a number of tasks to completed before opening a permanent facility, from forming a board of directors and appointing a treasurer to finding a location and getting proper approvals, plus dealing with all the logistics involved in providing warm beds and meals to those in need.

The cost of the project would easily get into six figures.

After the meeting, some of the folks attending who have experience dealing with the economically insecure in Batavia suggested there aren't many people in need of shelter locally. On any given day, there are no more than five people Batavia without shelter at night, they say. Typically, those who face economic insecurity live within a network of people in similar circumstances. They will share shelter when available ("couch surfing" as it's called) and even share food stamps and other resources to support each other.

There have been times in recent years when shelters have been opened on cold winter nights in Batavia but nobody has shown up looking for a warm bed.

The meeting ended with some acrimony. A gentleman who identified himself as living in the camp previously covered by The Batavian didn't like the coverage. He didn't like the pictures being published. He didn't like some of the comments left on Facebook that were mean spirited toward whomever was living in the camp (the identity of occupants and location of the camp were not revealed). He was concerned his employer wouldn't like the coverage and the comments, though he admitted he hadn't talked with his employer about it. A couple of members of the coalition expressed their own displeasure with the coverage and a couple of members defended it.

A group of local residents are concerned that they're seeing a rise in homelessness in Genesee County and are trying to pull resources together to address the issue.

Genesee Community Warming Center Coalition wants to find a location for a shelter and showers, said James Rocco Soccio, one of the group's members.

Soccio said on any given day there may be from two to 15 people in Genesee County who don't have proper shelter.

Regardless of how they got in that situation, he would like to see the community come together to provide assistance.

A shower and a shave could help somebody get a job. Food will keep people, especially children, from going hungry. Shelter might save a life.

Winter's coming on and snow and cold are just days away.

We spoke with Soccio standing in the midst of a homeless encampment in Batavia (we agreed not to disclose the location to help avoid any sort of harassment of the occupants). 

There were no people at the camp while we were there this afternoon, but it's clear the camp is currently occupied. There was food on shelves, clothing hung neatly on a line in a tent, a bike leaning against a tree and a very friendly cat wandering about.

There is also a tent set off from the main group of tents, giving the impression it might serve as a latrine. There's also a covered refuse pile nearby. It's clear the camp has been in use for an extended period of time.

Soccio said Pastor Paul Ohlson from Care-A-Van Ministries had visited the camp previously delivering food. Sometimes there's one person there. Sometimes there are four or five.

It's Soccio's impression that the camp is shared by a revolving set of people in need of shelter.

It was the first time Soccio had seen it personally and he was rather taken aback.

"It's unbelievable until you see it," Soccio said. "I'm shocked that this is happening here Genesee County. We need to get something together so they're not out there committing crimes to get three hots and a cot. That's the truth of it all."

There is a Facebook group for the coalition. Also, the group is trying to raise money with GoFundMe.com. Finally, the group meets at 3 p.m. every Wednesday. Tomorrow it meets at the Salvation Army, 529 E.Main St., Batavia.