Mayors’ Group Survey Finds Needs of Cities’ Poor Is on the Rise

Demand for low-income housing and food for the needy grew substantially this year in a majority of 25 large cities nationwide, the U.S. Conference of Mayors reported Thursday.

A survey by the conference found that the need for housing soared an average of 40%, and food needs increased 25% in most of the cities.

“It is clear that conditions are worsening for people who need our help to feed themselves and their families, for people who need our help to shelter themselves and their families, for people who live in poverty,” said Joseph P. Riley Jr., mayor of Charleston, S.C., and president of the conference.

Boston Mayor Raymond L. Flynn, chairman of the conference task force on hunger and homelessness, called the situation “a growing national scandal” that is “embarrassing to the United States among the nations of the world.”

Both mayors appeared at a news conference to discuss the report, which provides voluminous data on urban homelessness, poverty, hunger and low-cost housing, issues that will be debated in the next session of Congress.

The survey noted that the waiting list for public housing is so long that 17 of the cities, including Los Angeles, have stopped taking applications.

In Los Angeles, where the average wait for public housing is 18 months, an aide to Leila Gonzalez-Correa, executive director of the city’s housing authority, said that the waiting list was opened for a few days last summer, the first time in three years, and that 5,000 telephone calls poured in. Opening the lists year-round would “give applicants false hopes,” said the aide, adding that the authority would be unable to handle the calls.

The housing problem is long-term, the report said, noting that “over the last five years, the safe, decent and affordable housing stock available to low- and moderate-income households decreased” in 13 of the 25 cities in the survey and remained the same in four. Many housing units were eliminated by urban development and others became uninhabitable because of deterioration.

The report blames cuts in federal assistance to housing, which, Flynn charged, has been “slashed dramatically” under the Reagan Administration. He said that federal spending for low-income housing has been cut from $33 billion in fiscal 1981 to less than $10 billion in fiscal 1986.

At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which administers the housing assistance programs, a spokesman said that the “primary reason for the cuts was the elimination” of a program that built new housing and rehabilitated existing housing. The program was eliminated because it was “enormously expensive,” said the spokesman, who added that it cost $60,000 to $70,000 to construct each new housing unit.

As for hunger, the report said that, in 16 of the cities surveyed, including Los Angeles, assistance centers must turn away people who need food. Most cite inadequate food supplies and insufficient staff as reasons.

The mayors’ group said that most of the cities expect the problems to get worse and urged swift action.

Flynn predicted that, when the public becomes aware of the magnitude of the problems outlined in the report, it will respond “with such outrage and such indignation” that Congress and the Administration will be pressured into restoring funds cut from social programs under President Reagan.

At a Nov. 20 news conference, Reagan said that his Administration is “spending more than has ever been spent before, trying to help the needy.” The President added that “many of these programs are being undertaken by the state and the local level and with the aid of federal financing.”

Another conference report noted that the survey showed that demand for emergency shelter for the homeless increased 50% in Los Angeles this year, the biggest rise among 25 big U.S. cities studied in the report. Except for Los Angeles, the average increase in each city was 20%, and mayors were told that that figure is expected to increase next year.

San Diego was not included in the study. However, John Anderson, a chaplain at the San Diego Life Ministries Rescue Mission, estimated that San Diego “falls basically in line, and maybe is even slightly higher” than the national homeless figures.

Anderson noted that the number of homeless who receive shelter at the Rescue Mission has more than doubled in the last year, largely because the mission moved to a larger building but also because of increased demand. The mission’s 214-bed facility--open only to men--has about a 90% average occupancy rate, he said.

The number of single women and families with children seeking shelter, whom the mission refers to other local agencies, also has increased in the last year, Anderson said.

According to the conference report, 72% of the cities surveyed must turn people in need away from emergency shelters because of a lack of resources. Los Angeles has increased emergency shelter beds by 40%--the largest increase among cities surveyed--but large numbers of the homeless are still forced to sleep outdoors.

Los Angeles “hasn’t been able to fill the gap,” said Laura DeKoven Waxman, assistant executive director at the conference. Los Angeles city officials said they have spent about $60 million in the last two years to provide shelter for the homeless, but they estimate that 33,000 people are still without homes.

The most frequently cited reasons in the survey for the escalating needs of the homeless were the lack of affordable housing, unemployment, mental illness, poverty and the lack of financing for social services.

Robert G. Vilmur, senior grants management specialist in the Los Angeles city human services division, characterized the city’s homeless population as being made up of three main types: those with chronic disabilities, such as alcoholism, those who have been traumatized by events at home and may have run away, and those who have lost their jobs.

A large percentage of the homeless in several cities were drug and alcohol abusers. In Louisville, the figure was 70%, while in both Minneapolis and Hartford, Conn., half of the homeless were substance abusers, while in Los Angeles, 30% of the homeless fell into that category, the report said.

Los Angeles city officials said that the agreeable weather in Southern California contributes to the city’s homeless problem. Los Angeles will continue to be a magnet for the homeless from across the nation, city officials said.