{"id":3844,"date":"2010-02-26T08:23:58","date_gmt":"2010-02-26T13:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=3844"},"modified":"2013-02-11T20:40:22","modified_gmt":"2013-02-12T01:40:22","slug":"gauging-wakes-fight-against-homelessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/featured\/2010\/02\/26\/gauging-wakes-fight-against-homelessness\/","title":{"rendered":"Gauging Wake’s fight against homelessness"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the first of a two-part series looking at the Raleigh-Wake County efforts to end homelessness. Read part two here<\/a> and get the perspective from the people facing homelessness..<\/em><\/p>\n

The recession continues and the news is rife with stories of struggles from board rooms to homeless shelters. Corporate cutbacks, unemployment extension and insurance losses abound, but how\u2019s the recession impacting those who never had much to start with?<\/p>\n

The Department of Housing and Urban Development\u2019s last report to Congress<\/a> showed the nation\u2019s total homeless numbers were relatively steady from 2007 to 2008, but noted a 9 percent increase in homeless persons with families.\u00a0 Raleigh and Wake County\u2019s picture is a bit different.<\/p>\n

Who they are<\/strong><\/p>\n

To start, let\u2019s lose some common misconceptions. According to the current 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness, homeless does not always equal jobless. In fact, most work full- or part-time jobs, but can\u2019t afford a place to stay. At best, a two-bedroom Raleigh apartment rents for $799. Minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, leaving area waitresses, child care workers and clerks without many housing options.<\/p>\n

Homeless doesn\u2019t always equal substance abuse and mental illness, either, according to Ken Maness, the Raleigh representative for Raleigh-Wake\u2019s 10-Year Plan to end homelessness.\u00a0 That\u2019s part of it, but more than 80 percent of homeless woman suffered domestic violence and take their kids with them.<\/p>\n

Maness also said that foster kids leaving the system without any support find they can\u2019t afford to work and pay rent. Living paycheck to paycheck means vehicle breakdowns, illness and job loss force many into eviction. Criminal records prevent some from finding jobs and our nation\u2019s veterans, badly needing re-entry assistance, often end up homeless. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"How many there are<\/strong><\/p>\n

To qualify for federal aid, communities must create a Continuum of Care, a local or regional system for helping people who are homeless, and a 10-year plan to organize agency, community and business efforts to address the problem. Local governments use Point in Time Counts<\/a> to tally community homeless populations.<\/p>\n

Like many working with the population, Jean Williams, executive director of Women\u2019s Shelter of Wake County, acknowledges the method lacks precision and leaves many uncounted, but the method remains a national best practice for the simple reason no better method has been found.<\/p>\n

The counts also loosely categorize the population into subgroups labeled chronically homeless, homeless families with kids and unsheltered homeless to help project the resources needed.<\/p>\n

Raleigh-Wake\u2019s 2009 count<\/a><\/strong> found more than 1,100 are homeless in Raleigh\/Wake County every day. From 2005 to 2009, Wake\u2019s total homeless population grew just 4 percent compared to the state\u2019s overall growth of 52 percent.<\/p>\n

The number of chronic homeless person declined 54 percent compared to the state\u2019s 25 percent drop. Williams explains the disparity, \u201cStrides have been made with those who are chronically homeless by implementing Housing First<\/a> vouchers.” The vouchers <\/strong>assist very low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market.<\/p>\n

Despite HUD\u2019s findings, Wake\u2019s number of homeless families with children dropped 26 percent as the state\u2019s total increased 46 percent. Williams attributes the difference to women\u2019s ingenuity in finding alternate housing, such as being doubling up in housing, sleeping in cars and other alternatives that prevent them from being counted. Homeless Prevention and Raid Re-Housing<\/a> stimulus funds also played a preventive role. Received in October 2009, the funds can last for up to 18 months per family, but as Williams states, \u201conce it\u2019s gone, it\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The term \u201cunsheltered,\u201d refers to \u201cpeople counted living in the woods, on the streets and on your doorstep,\u201d says Maness. The bad news? Wake\u2019s unsheltered population grew a whopping 221 percent compared to the state\u2019s 39 percent gain.<\/p>\n

Why the explosive growth in this category? \u201cOur shelter bed capacity has been relatively static over that time period,\u201d stated Williams. \u201cThat has been intentional as we have focused on ending homelessness, which means we want to work toward more affordable housing. However, as a community, we have not really made a dent in that need and have actually lost units\u2014Housing Authority Hope VI projects, low cost apartment complexes sold and replaced with high end condos during the housing boom.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 10-year plan<\/strong><\/p>\n

City and county officials adopted to Raleigh-Wake 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness in 2005. Created to coordinate efforts by related agencies and groups that each have a piece of the solution, the plans are designed to change as new data and opportunities arise. Some examples include new data from Housing and Urban Development research<\/a> showing housing, not supportive services and a focus on the chronically homeless (who are often mentally ill) yield best results along with creating centers that offer 24-7 assistance centralized in a single location.\u00a0 So what\u2019s our progress in these key areas?<\/p>\n

Affordable housing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Given our high-priced housing market, over 25,000 additional housing units are needed for people earning less than 40% of median income, a total of 23,475 per year (Source: 10-Year Plan<\/a>).\u00a0 As Williamson stated, we\u2019ve lost ground in that area.<\/p>\n

24-7 center<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cornerstone Center<\/a>, a joint city-county operation on Snow Avenue, was the original destination, but local budget cuts stripped services leaving only services with federal funds. Cornerstone continues its day shelter and soon may offer more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of building a single center, an expensive and time-consuming effort, Williamson says efforts are now geared to \u201ctaking three existing \u2018one stop shops\u2019 and expanding them so each will serve a specific target population of the homeless.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plan would steer, single homeless men to Cornerstone, youth (mid-teens to 21) to Haven House and the Women\u2019s Center of Wake County would serve women and families. \u201cDividing the population has advantages. We often have single mothers with children who have experienced great trauma with histories of domestic violence and encountering a larger number of single males while trying to access services would be re-traumatizing them,\u201d said Williams.<\/p>\n

Chronically homeless <\/strong><\/p>\n

Although the Raleigh-Wake area has failed to create affordable housing, the federal government\u2019s Housing First<\/a> program supplies vouchers to chronically homeless folks who need housing and services. Should that support decline, this population will grow unless the city and county figure out a way to add low-cost rental units to the market.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s ahead?<\/strong><\/p>\n

New life has been breathed into the effort lately as The Raleigh\/Wake Partnership to End and Prevent Homelessness just hired Ruth Peebles, a new part-time Executive Director. Peebles describes the job as helping to\u201d improve coordination and to engage and re-engage community members from all sectors \u2013 business, faith communities, service providers and more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Continuum of Care recently re-organized into a nonprofit for so that they could receive tax deductible donations. The plan is being updated to include changes outside the community and changes within. Peebles said, \u201cOne of our priorities will be affordable housing specifically for low-income homeless special needs population, such as those suffering from substance abuse and mental health issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only time will tell if the new emphasis on housing, service centers and prioritizing efforts with the chronically homeless will help, but cutting the budgets that support the efforts seems penny wise and pound foolish. On average a chronically homeless person costs the community $5,500\/month<\/a> (including 23 nights in a shelter, police and emergency transport, medical care and professional crisis assessment) and that doesn\u2019t include the cost of those who seek arrest for a warm spot to sleep.<\/p>\n

Raleigh alone is projected grow by 10,000 persons yearly and the city will soon see an additional 300 new households per year, or one third of the growing population, expected to raise their families while working at jobs that pay at the poverty level.<\/p>\n

PIT_07!08!09 Statewide Comparisons<\/a> <\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

PIT_05!07!09 Statewide Comparisons<\/a> <\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The recession continues and the news is rife with stories of struggles from board rooms to homeless shelters. Corporate cutbacks, unemployment extension and insurance losses abound, but how\u2019s the recession impacting those who never had much to start with?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[51,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3844"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3844\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}