Why can’t homeless get services?
She wants to know why so many homeless people can not or will not be sheltered in the program the city pays private agencies to run, Maniaci said. “We need to get the service-providing community together, we need to get the county at the table, we need to figure out why this isn’t working.”
A. Um, men can stay in shelter 60 days a year or when it is below a certain temperature (32 degrees). After 60 days, there is no shelter.
B. Families have a 90 180 day LIFE TIME limit in staying in the shelter. Yes, I said LIFE TIME. The Road Home does not have that same limit, but can only house only 14 people (3-6 families) and there are usually 40+ families on the waiting list.
C. It’s a landlords market to REJECT, REJECT, REJECT! It takes longer than 60 – 90 days to find housing. Security deposits are going up, rents are going up, vancancy rates are at the lowest ever at 2%. (Can anyone remember anything lower, I can’t, not in my last 20 years) Laws were changed to allow landlords to reject people for more reasons. It’s ugly out there. Finding housing, even with a job and decent rental history is difficult because of the competition. There are 1,048 apartments available in Madison, Monona, Middleton, Cross Plains and Fitchburg.
D. Services are FULL! At the last homeless services consortium meeting, when we went around the room with about 25 agencies represented, only 2 have openings. One is for case management if you already have housing. One is for pregnant women under 25. Housing Initiatives has a waiting list of over 75 people to get in. (Housing for homeless people with mental health issues) That’s a year or a year and a half.
E. Here’s the lovely statistics that we heard about at our last Homeless Services Consortium
People Served, went down:
2010 – 3136
2011 – 3079
People Turned Away, went up:
2010 – 1605
2011 – 2003
Why? See C above. And, apparently there are more larger families being served which means less beds available. Also, DAIS has been keeping victims of domestic violence in the domestic abuse shelter longer because regular shelter is not available.
Number of Kids in the schools who were homeless on track to reach an all time high – 991 so far this year, and that about what it was at the end of last year and we still have a quarter to go.
RANT: Face it people, there aren’t freaking services available, there isn’t housing available, and the housing isn’t affordable. If you’re paying any attention at all, this shouldn’t be a surprise at this point people!
F. Finally, even if there are services, there are very good reasons why some people might not choose to use them. We need a third party complaint system for the shelter system. There has to be a way for grievances about the services to be heard by someone other than the agency providing the services. ‘Nuff said.
p.s. I’m not picking on Bridget. I’m glad she asked and thinks tents are an unacceptable form of a homeless shelter. I just think people need to know that “all that money” doesn’t get the job done – there is more need than services.
Really well said, succinct, readable, clear. Great job
Great article!
This is an industry now. Not a service. In order to maximize profit, the most “clients” the homeless industry has, the better it is for them. So, IT WILL NOT CHANGE!.
They are compensated by how many “clients” they take in, so it is in their best interest to get them in … then get them out … as fast as possible. Then get them back in … then back out … etc.
Some shelters have also become recruiting tools for the local low wage, slave like industry. These folks who are “advised” to apply and accept work will never be able to work their way out of homelessness. Not at 7, 8, or even 9 dollars an hour. It just doesn’t fly any longer as those low wages cannot support the costs and the mandatory massive bonus’s and salaries of those who pay for and are served by our business based representatives.
Get used to it … It will not change.
Rent is going up… but to be a bit clearer… up from what should be illegally high to start with.
Nobody at Occupy Madison ever claimed that our tent city was “going to solve it,” whatever “it” is. Just that it might be a creative supplement to an underfunded and overstressed system. Anyway, Soglin is adamant that we have to be cleared off the site on as of noon, April 30th, and no other site will be allowed. The Occupy residents themselves have learned a lot about how to be self-governing and less dependent on city services, and now the city of Madison will just flush all that hard-won experience down the toilet. Nothing to learn here, please move along…
Instead of depending on the city for a new location (although I think using the “central park” area would be great), what about talking to some private property owners to see if they have some space that can be used. The county also has an awful lot of park and space available that might be a lot more comfortable than an a hot parking lot in summer. The community at OM is becoming self-sufficient and doesn’t necessarily have to be downtown as long as there’s public transportation near wherever they set up their new encampmnet.