Depressing Housing and Homelessness Facts

Well, we read his mail, and started to figure things out. Not only did he not have electricity or a phone, but his medical benefits and food stamps seemed to be cut off too because he missed the meeting because he couldn’t read his mail. And while he qualifies for disability payments, that process was stopped to because he didn’t respond. Hadn’t paid his rent for months. etc. etc. etc. Well, turns out he happens be a wartime veteran, but no one got him hooked up with services with the Veterans Administration. So we got him appointments there to get his prescriptions filled, get help for his vision and rehab, and to get him his pension benefits so he’d have an income. We paid his phone bill ourselves and got that connected so that he could communicate and make appointments. Rob took him to Energy Services (yeah, transportation is a problem when you can’t see and don’t have any money) to get his electricity turned back on. We talked to people and got appointments to get back his medical benefits and food stamps. And, got his disability paperwork and appointments all in order. We helped get most of it under control . . . but there was one problem left. 5 months of unpaid rent. Who’s going to help with that?

Well, the truth is, no one. There are some services that will help with one months rent, but only if you have a plan to continue to pay your rent in the future so you don’t end up evicted after you’ve been assisted. The section 8 waiting lists at the city and county have been closed for forever and the people on the waiting list don’t seem to move very fast. The affordable housing developments are not actually affordable to someone in this situation or have long waiting lists. Public housing has waiting lists. The vouchers that are available for veterans are only available if you’re homeless. So, I had to ask the question, should he just become homeless to get a voucher and find a new place to live? Well, except no landlord is going to rent to someone who just got evicted, has no income (yet) and likely won’t be returning to work.

Do you have any idea how frustrating this is, this is my job. I work in housing and I could help with everything else, except housing. I couldn’t find anything to help pay this rent. Even if he had only been one month behind, I’m not sure I could have helped. Luckily, he seems to have a very understanding landlord. And hopefully when he gets his pension he can start to pay back the landlord and have a payment plan.

But still, why can we find services for everything except housing?

WORKING AT THE HOUSING HELP DESK
Due to extreme staff shortages at the Tenant Resource Center I’ve been do housing counseling and direct services quite a bit lately. Last Friday I worked half a day at the Housing Help Desk at the Dane County Job Center, and I worked a full day there yesterday. Yesterday I helped about 30 people looking for housing that I actually remembered to write down (yeah, if you don’t record those statistics, you don’t get credit and without credit, you don’t get money for the work you have done) – so I likely helped even more, cuz I care more about helping people than paperwork . . . it’s true, which is why I don’t do direct services and make sure everyone else fills out the paperwork. Anyways, approximately 20 came in asked some brief questions and got housing lists and applications from us and knew exactly what they needed. The other 10 or so I spent a little more time with.

Inevitably, people come in and say that they were sent to us by some other agency or social worker to “get on housing”. So I ask, what does that mean? Are they homeless? Do they they have kids? Do they have any income? Are they disabled or have drug or alcohol issues? (Yeah, that’s fun to ask.) I talked to one homeless guy with two jobs, but no housing history. I talked to another guy who has been living at the Expo Inn (that the city is closing down) for 2 years with his brother but can’t find anything cheap enough for the job he has that is less than half time, and of course they have no housing history because before that they lived with and took care of their mother before living at the Expo. I talked to two homeless women on W-2. I talked to one woman with 6 kids living with her mother. And now that I think of it, most of these people happened to be white, tho it was about 50/50 people of color and white people. I also talked to several single moms with little or no income, cuz no one can find jobs. I talked to one woman who has a job with the state, but got evicted from her last place and had no place to live now even tho she has money to pay her rent. I talked to another woman who’s doctor won’t let her work because she has lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and just got diagnosed. Plus, the Job Center was jammed full of people all day long looking for work. Very different than a few years ago.

Anyways, I had to tell people the same thing, over and over and over and over. “I don’t have great news for you.”, “There are no immediate fixes out there.”, “You’re just going to have to try – because the alternative won’t work.”, “Get on the waiting lists now!” “Do you have family or friends you can stay with?” and of course “Good Luck.”

For people in need of immediate housing, we have the list of less expensive hotels. There are a few programs (single women, single men, families) out there, but many people were already familiar with them, were told there were no vacancies or were on their waiting lists, or don’t qualify because they don’t have AODA issues or mental health issues. I could offer them the “flexible” landlord list, but if they have no income because they were standing in long lines with everyone else looking for jobs, no landlord is going to be THAT flexible!

A couple people asked me why its so hard to find housing right now. They say they respond to craig’s list ads but don’t get answers. Landlords take a long time to process their applications then say no. I tell them I’m just guessing but there is a low vacancy rate right now (see below) and I think they are kinda waiting for college students to find their places and have plenty of responses to their ads. I tell them I think it will get a little better in September, but I don’t know that for sure.

For people who are trying not to get evicted or looking for security deposits, we have this hand out, but its also more bad news. You can participate in a lottery. Or you have to call during very specific hours. Or there are services but not in the area you live. And then, I say the thing I hate the most . . . “Do you have any connection to any churches/religious institutions? You could try calling them.” And, I don’t hate that for the reason that you think. I hate it because it is such a wild goose chase and quite frankly, not fair to the churches. But the list is so short and there aren’t many options.

Then, there are the people that are the hardest to work with. The formerly white middle class middle-aged people who come in and are “just looking”. I say, “well, let me know if there is anything that I can help with.” Then I wait a while and see what is catching their eye. Sometimes I ask, what brings you to the building? Then I commiserate with them a bit (most of the time they spout off about Walker) and then I make sure that they know that all of our information is on the website. They then look relieved and leave. Sometimes I just want to shake them and say “It’s ok, you can ask for help.” But I understand and try to be helpful without insulting them.

So yeah, that’s the day in the life of a Housing Resource Specialist at the Tenant Resource Center. And, believe me I get it when people complain about the “housing system” because there just isn’t one. It’s a mish-mash of programs struggling to help a few people . . . and wishing the rest “good luck”.

THE FACTS
So, if those two stories didn’t make it clear how bad things are, here are some statistics for you . . . we’re still working on this, so its draft, but its pretty depressing.

Homeless
Families – 2,413 individuals in families were turned away from shelter in 2009 in Dane County.

Kids in Schools – 776 children attending schools in Madison were homeless in 2008.

People of Color Disproportionately Impacted – 71% of people in shelter identify as non-white.
– African Americans are the largest minority group.
– 83% of families identified as non-white.
– 64% of single women identified as non-white.
– 54% of single men identified as non-white.
– 48% of unaccompanied youth identified as non-white.

Seniors – 69 persons in the Dane County shelter system were 62 years and older in 2009.

LGBTQ Individuals – 20-40% homeless youth identify as lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and/or queer (LGBTQ) while 3-5% of the overall youth population identifies as LGBTQ.
– 44% of gay homeless youth are African-American and 26% of gay homeless youth identify are Latino.
– 62% of transgender youth homeless are African-American and 20% of transgender homeless youth are Latino.

Violence and Crime – the National Coalition for the Homeless recorded over a thousand incidents of crimes committed against homeless individuals due to the housed offender’s bias of the victim’s housing status be-tween 1998-2009 and in 2009 alone, forty-three homeless men and women lost their lives to such violence.
– LGBTQ youth are twice as likely to be the victims of sexual crimes while homeless.
– 29% of families and 30% of single women reported “the threat or fear of violence” as the reason they were seeking shelter in 2009.

Renters
Vacancy Rate Down/Rent Up – Vacancy rate for multi-family rentals in the Madison area for the 2nd quarter of 2011 is only 3.54%, which is down from 4.72% in 2010 and only half of what it was in 2005, resulting in rental prices increasing by 17.82% from May 2010 to May 2011.
– 52% of Dane County renters are unable to afford a 2 bedroom unit at fair market rent.

Minimum Wage Not Enough to Afford Rent – Dane County renters making minimum wage would have to work 79 hours per week to afford rent for a 1 bedroom rental unit, 93 hours for a 2 bedroom and 125 for a 3 bedroom rental unit.

SSI Not Enough to Afford Rent – A Dane County renter whose sole source of income is SSI can only afford $227/month for rent, which is $515 less than the fair market rent for a one-bedroom unit.

W-2 Not Enough to Afford Rent – An affordable rent amount for a Dane County family whose sole source of income is W-2 is $202, which is $675 less than the fair market rent for a two-bedroom unit.

Seniors – 38% of renters over the age of 65 spent more than one half of their monthly income on housing.

Local Protections for Renters Under Attack – our local efforts to improve housing opportunity and tenant protections are under attack by our state legislature which seeks to preempt decades of our hard work on housing issues.

Homeowners
Foreclosures – The Madison area has had a record number of foreclosures in 2010 and over 30% of Dane County homes in or near foreclosure in early 2011.

Seniors – 18% of homeowners over the age of 65 spent more than one half of their monthly income on housing.

Access to Housing Has Repeatedly Been Identified as a Need
Dane County Enhanced Youth Gang Prevention Task Force (2007) listed “accessible and affordable Housing” as one of their prevention strategies and recognized that “stable and affordable housing is foundational to family stability and gang prevention”.

Dane County Task Force on Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System (2009) reported “ex-offenders returning to the community after prison face great difficulty obtaining stable housing, employment, support, and treatment” which is “instrumental in avoiding re-incarceration”.

Dane County Task Force on Poverty (2009) report identified “seeking housing” as one of the underlying problems for Dane County citizens in poverty.

Community Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness in Dane County (2006) was developed by the Dane County Homeless Services Consortium to address homeless in Dane County.

Commission on People with Disabilities has identified increased development of accessible housing as a priority.

City of Madison and Dane County as a recipients of federal funds for housing and development, has an obligation to affirmatively further fair housing.

U.S. has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), giving it the force of law, which protects individuals from discrimination based on property and economic status.

UN Human Rights Committee has asked our government to take “adequate and adequately implemented” measures to remedy the human rights abuse of having a 12% African-American population, but African-Americans making up 50% of all homeless in the U.S.

U.S. has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which requires the government to eliminate all racially discriminatory effects of government laws and rules.

United States has signed onto the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which provides that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including….housing…”.

Housing Program Funding Dwindling/Inadequate
Federal funding for subsidized housing has plummeted in the last thirty years, from $80 billion in 1978 to $34 billion in 2006.

CDA waiting list for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher rent assistance program has been closed since April 1, 2003 (when it only briefly opened up pursuant to a lottery system) and public housing waitlist times range from 12 months to over 3 years.

No shelter for those in need- 94% of turned-away families were rejected due to lack of shelter space or lack of funds to pay for motel vouchers. Resource limitations mean families with children can only stay in shelter up to 90 days and have a 180 life-time limit.

Community Impact
Children – Unstable housing causes children to suffer from slowed development, emotional problems, and underachievement in education.

Health – Studies have shown that the most important piece of a person getting stabilized from struggles with employment, addiction, mental health issues, and physical health, is by having stable long-term housing as a first step.

Systemic Problems – Unemployment and poverty are systemic problems, and individuals should not be blamed for the lack of income or stability to maintain housing.

CONCLUSION
Human right to housing includes legal security of tenure, availability of services and infrastructure, affordability, habitability, accessibility, location, and cultural adequacy.

I believe it, do you? And what do we do about the people like former Alder Cindy Thomas who said at a recent budget meeting that affordable housing is not a basic service, “nice to have, but not basic.”? How much more basic can you get than shelter? And if she really thought about it and what it costs, she’d probably conclude that having people in affordable housing is cheaper than having them homeless and having to feed them and their families and pay for case managers to help them find housing. But then again, maybe not?

If you’re interested in working on housing issues or poverty issues, please let me know. brendakonkel A T gmail.com is the best way to get in touch with me. In addition to the efforts of Take Back the Land, Operation Welcome Home, Affordable Housing Action Alliance (wow, this is embarrassing, I don’t have anything to link to, we’re still old school and only have a listserve) and the People’s Affordable Housing Vision, we are also now starting a Fighting Poverty Coalition, have a Food is a Human Right Resolution and are starting to think of a similar process/resolution for jobs. And, if you work in a non-profit, there is the United for Funding group as well.