Funding for Homeless Program Urged
Housing advocates across the nation are urging Congress to renew funding for a program that they say is desperately needed to house disabled people who might otherwise be forced to live on the streets.
More than 500 mentally and physically disabled people in Los Angeles, once chronically without homes, are in danger of being thrown back on the streets a year from now if Congress does not restore funding threatened by the House, said Natalie Profant Komuro, director of policy and legislative affairs for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.
Profant Komuro’s concerns echo those of housing advocates around the country who say the Shelter Plus Care program assists about 30,000 households, including about 1,228 in Los Angeles.
Under the program, disabled people who had been homeless receive rental subsidies used at housing sites that also offer supportive services, such as counseling and job training. Because the housing is permanent, residents have a dependable base from which to rebuild their lives.
Advocates view Shelter Plus Care as an effective way of reaching the hard-core homeless--those who have been without shelter for two years or more and who suffer from disabilities, including mental illness.
“It really has had amazing results,” said Steve Berg, vice president of programs and policy at the National Alliance to End Homelessness, based in Washington, D.C.
“These are people most everyone else has given up on, people who are living a nightmarish existence, and also costing taxpayers a lot of money.”
Last year Congress set up a special account and appropriated $100 million to fund renewals, with local projects periodically reapplying for funding. The special fund insured that Shelter Plus Care would not have to compete with other types of homeless programs for funding.
This year the program had the support of the president and the Senate. The Senate included nearly $100 million for the program in its 2002 budget--the amount requested by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
But the House budget included no funds for the program in 2002, with some lawmakers saying enough money had been set aside for Shelter Plus Care in the last budget.
“They chose not to fund it this year, based on information that a lot of the money from last year had not been spent,” said Daniel Gage, communications director for Rep. James T. Walsh (R-N.Y.), who heads the appropriations subcommittee that oversees the funds.
But the House majority also worried that “this program was going to continue to grow and grow beyond a manageable rate,” Gage said.
Representatives of HUD declined to comment, but supporters of the program argue that there are not sufficient funds to cover renewals. “The thought was it had been funded for 2001 and funded for 2002,” Berg said. “That was not the case.”
In July, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) and Rep. John J. LaFalce (D-N.Y.) introduced an amendment to secure funding for renewals. But the amendment was defeated.
Supporters say they hope the money can be restored during conference committee, when the House and Senate versions of the legislation must be reconciled.
After hearing such concerns, Walsh’s office said this week that the congressman is now willing to consider funding renewals for the program this year.
Without the money, some of the housing subsidies will begin to disappear about a year from now, said Berg, of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
In Alameda County, there are an estimated 13,000 homeless people and many more at risk of being homeless, said Andrew Sousa, press secretary to Lee. About 410 households in that county would be in jeopardy. In Syracuse, N.Y., 150 of 300 units could lose their subsidies, said Buck Bagot of the National Shelter Plus Care Coalition.
If Congress does not deliver the money, Shelter Plus Care will then have to join the larger competition for homeless funds from HUD, battling against a wide variety of other programs. That, in turn, could lead to cuts in other homeless programs, supporters worry.
“That has a severe impact on what else we can do in the city of Los Angeles,” said Mary Maher, assistant director for Section 8, the federal housing assistance program for very low-income families. “It would absolutely reduce the amount of new homeless people we can help, which is really the big issue.”
Fear about the possible reductions have spread among housing providers and their clients, said Sandra E. Cox, executive director of the Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and Consumers Inc. in Los Angeles. “They’re frightened because they think they will become homeless again.”
Residents of the Figueroa Street apartment building run by the coalition suffer from chronic mental illness. Many are taking psychotropic medications to keep them stable, Cox said. At a time of national crisis, the threat of losing their homes has increased the stress on those most vulnerable to its effects.
“If these folks lose their housing, it would be a major trauma, not only for them . . . [but] for this city,” Cox said. “The homeless population that is now housed would be thrown back on the streets.”
On Thursday, Donald Barber, a tenant of the Figueroa Street apartment building, spent part of his day on the phone with the office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).
“We need this housing issue settled as fast as possible so we won’t lose our grants,” Barber said.
Several residents of the coalition’s apartment building and others throughout the city have written letters encouraging lawmakers to continue support of the program.
They tell of having lived on the street, in cars and in garages. They credit Shelter Plus Care with saving their lives and restoring self-worth. They make simple pleas.
Wrote one man: “Don’t make me homeless.”
