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Task force on homelessness puts women and children first on agenda
By Francesca Olsen
Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
Over the course of a month, the committee on homelessness assembled by the county and the city of Hudson has made progress - and members of the task force are satisfied with the dialogue and its direction.
The committee met Thursday, July 29 at Hudson City Hall at 10 a.m. for its third meeting, and continued to discuss options for potential non-profit organization involvement, placement of a shelter and funding options.
The county, according to Commissioner of Social Services Paul Mossman, currently houses 90 individuals representing 60 households in 10 motels across the county. Of these individuals, 68 are adults, 22 are children, 34 are single males, and 14 are single females. The county is renting 60 rooms as of July 29 for these individuals.
The committee will look for non-profits interested in running a shelter and possibly a consultant or project manager to help obtain state financing. The committee discussed New York State’s Homeless Housing Assistance Program, which has been infused with $30 million in stimulus funding for emergency housing and will start taking applications for funding assistance August 17.
“I think it’s an outstanding dialogue,” said Supervisor William Hughes, D-Hudson 4. “I’ve learned a lot more. Especially as a supervisor, you don’t know all the laws and regulations, nor do you know the funding strings.”
The committee, comprised of Hughes, Supervisors George Jahn, D-Austerlitz and Richard Keaveney, R-Canaan, Mossman, Columbia Opportunities Executive Director Tina Sharpe, Fran Reiter, Time and Space Limited director Linda Mussmann, Mayor Richard Scalera, Supervisor Ed Cross, D-Hudson 2, and Alderman Wanda Pertilla, D-Hudson 2, began meeting about a month ago to discuss the problem of homelessness and formulate a plan to improve the growing social problem.
So far, a target population (single mothers and intact families) to assist first have been identified, potential non-profit organizations to run a shelter have been discussed, and information on funding available has been presented.
Mayor Scalera said he thinks the committee will continue to meet “until we all agree that we’ve gone as far as we can go until we need to let the process move on with a different means.”
“I think there’s an opportunity here for the members to get each other’s perspective, which helps,” said Mossman. “You get to hear and learn about what other people are interested in doing or what ideas they may have.”
“It seems like there’s progress being made on several fronts,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Art Baer, R-Hillsdale. “It seems to be producing some very good results, both in the standpoint of identifying facilities as well as the identification of non-profit organizations willing to take on the project.”
Mossman said he’d like to see a program that would “Initially address the needs of our families with children -- young children, initially, and to provide some transportation services and support for these families.”
Deputy Commissioner at the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance Linda Glassman visited the committee at a previous meeting to educate members on available funding.
Scalera said that Glassman said that “It’s the first time that Columbia County has talked about the bricks and mortars of it all. It was quite enlightening in the fact that there were apparently rounds of funding available, though she said the grant application is certainly complex,” Scalera said.
“I believe we and the county have a strong possibility of acquiring at least some of that funding,” said Hughes. “We are open to any non-profit that’s interested.
Members of the committee are in agreement that they would like to see a non-profit organization run a homeless housing operation in the county. Scalera said they will soon come out with a request for proposals for interested non-profits - “to see if any of them are interested in running a homeless shelter, since the county isn’t.”
“Even though they are interacting with DSS, they’re not getting the full wraparound of services they could,” said Keaveney of the homeless population. Keaveney said that using a non-profit is “a model that works. Best practice is what we’re going for. We have a short-term need that needs to fit into a long-term strategy.”
The Charles-Williams school building, which the city recently offered to the county for purchase, has been discussed as a potentially viable option for the location of temporary housing. The committee is currently seeking out non-profits that may be interested in running the facility.
“Charles-Williams seems to fit more for families and possibly women with children,” said Keaveney. “The short-term issue is the Charles-Williams. It all comes down to the management and the financing at this point.”
Baer said he would rather the county use an existing structure than build a new one, but did not mention the Charles-Williams. “I’d like to use an existing structure, renovate it, and bring it back into public use,” he said. “I think we’re at a point now where we want to put it where we think it can get the maximum use from the community. At this point, they’re addressing only a partial solution to the overall issue of temporary housing.”
“When you become homeless, you go to Hudson,” said Scalera. “The services are here.”
The committee started with the basics -- identifying the causes and types of homelessness. “Sometimes I think that dominated an entire meeting. The economic stresses that people have, the other outlining issues, the lack of jobs,” said Scalera. “One of the things that we did learn is that homelessness is becoming more of an issue than it has been in probably a decade.”
“This is where the county needs a comprehensive plan,” to deal with the issue of homelessness, said Mussmann. “It’s a big issue. It’s a big discussion. I think the city of Hudson and other communities need to engage in this discussion as well. However this building functions, the goal is to help people for an interim period of time and then move them on, otherwise the county is not really functioning in their mandate.”
“I’m willing to sit there and talk about the root of it all, but I try to stay focused on the fact that there was a county proposal out there to move the homeless into a hotel,” Scalera said, referencing the June plan to house members of the homeless population in Hudson’s St. Charles Hotel that was subsequently taken off the table.
“Let’s not veer too much from the fact of -- what’s Hudson’s commitment to homelessness? Where do they think that Hudson fits into the picture beyond that location?” said Scalera.
“There’s a lot of people trying to quickly grasp this information. This has been an emergency for a long time,” said Mussmann. “This problem needed to be addressed some time ago. The reality is, now, its very expensive. The price of things does nothing but go up and up, and the county has put off doing certain things for a long time. We’re way behind and now we have to play catch up. Let’s really do something. Let’s do it right. Let’s do it well.”
The committee met Thursday, July 29 at Hudson City Hall at 10 a.m. for its third meeting, and continued to discuss options for potential non-profit organization involvement, placement of a shelter and funding options.
The county, according to Commissioner of Social Services Paul Mossman, currently houses 90 individuals representing 60 households in 10 motels across the county. Of these individuals, 68 are adults, 22 are children, 34 are single males, and 14 are single females. The county is renting 60 rooms as of July 29 for these individuals.
The committee will look for non-profits interested in running a shelter and possibly a consultant or project manager to help obtain state financing. The committee discussed New York State’s Homeless Housing Assistance Program, which has been infused with $30 million in stimulus funding for emergency housing and will start taking applications for funding assistance August 17.
“I think it’s an outstanding dialogue,” said Supervisor William Hughes, D-Hudson 4. “I’ve learned a lot more. Especially as a supervisor, you don’t know all the laws and regulations, nor do you know the funding strings.”
The committee, comprised of Hughes, Supervisors George Jahn, D-Austerlitz and Richard Keaveney, R-Canaan, Mossman, Columbia Opportunities Executive Director Tina Sharpe, Fran Reiter, Time and Space Limited director Linda Mussmann, Mayor Richard Scalera, Supervisor Ed Cross, D-Hudson 2, and Alderman Wanda Pertilla, D-Hudson 2, began meeting about a month ago to discuss the problem of homelessness and formulate a plan to improve the growing social problem.
So far, a target population (single mothers and intact families) to assist first have been identified, potential non-profit organizations to run a shelter have been discussed, and information on funding available has been presented.
Mayor Scalera said he thinks the committee will continue to meet “until we all agree that we’ve gone as far as we can go until we need to let the process move on with a different means.”
“I think there’s an opportunity here for the members to get each other’s perspective, which helps,” said Mossman. “You get to hear and learn about what other people are interested in doing or what ideas they may have.”
“It seems like there’s progress being made on several fronts,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Art Baer, R-Hillsdale. “It seems to be producing some very good results, both in the standpoint of identifying facilities as well as the identification of non-profit organizations willing to take on the project.”
Mossman said he’d like to see a program that would “Initially address the needs of our families with children -- young children, initially, and to provide some transportation services and support for these families.”
Deputy Commissioner at the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance Linda Glassman visited the committee at a previous meeting to educate members on available funding.
Scalera said that Glassman said that “It’s the first time that Columbia County has talked about the bricks and mortars of it all. It was quite enlightening in the fact that there were apparently rounds of funding available, though she said the grant application is certainly complex,” Scalera said.
“I believe we and the county have a strong possibility of acquiring at least some of that funding,” said Hughes. “We are open to any non-profit that’s interested.
Members of the committee are in agreement that they would like to see a non-profit organization run a homeless housing operation in the county. Scalera said they will soon come out with a request for proposals for interested non-profits - “to see if any of them are interested in running a homeless shelter, since the county isn’t.”
“Even though they are interacting with DSS, they’re not getting the full wraparound of services they could,” said Keaveney of the homeless population. Keaveney said that using a non-profit is “a model that works. Best practice is what we’re going for. We have a short-term need that needs to fit into a long-term strategy.”
The Charles-Williams school building, which the city recently offered to the county for purchase, has been discussed as a potentially viable option for the location of temporary housing. The committee is currently seeking out non-profits that may be interested in running the facility.
“Charles-Williams seems to fit more for families and possibly women with children,” said Keaveney. “The short-term issue is the Charles-Williams. It all comes down to the management and the financing at this point.”
Baer said he would rather the county use an existing structure than build a new one, but did not mention the Charles-Williams. “I’d like to use an existing structure, renovate it, and bring it back into public use,” he said. “I think we’re at a point now where we want to put it where we think it can get the maximum use from the community. At this point, they’re addressing only a partial solution to the overall issue of temporary housing.”
“When you become homeless, you go to Hudson,” said Scalera. “The services are here.”
The committee started with the basics -- identifying the causes and types of homelessness. “Sometimes I think that dominated an entire meeting. The economic stresses that people have, the other outlining issues, the lack of jobs,” said Scalera. “One of the things that we did learn is that homelessness is becoming more of an issue than it has been in probably a decade.”
“This is where the county needs a comprehensive plan,” to deal with the issue of homelessness, said Mussmann. “It’s a big issue. It’s a big discussion. I think the city of Hudson and other communities need to engage in this discussion as well. However this building functions, the goal is to help people for an interim period of time and then move them on, otherwise the county is not really functioning in their mandate.”
“I’m willing to sit there and talk about the root of it all, but I try to stay focused on the fact that there was a county proposal out there to move the homeless into a hotel,” Scalera said, referencing the June plan to house members of the homeless population in Hudson’s St. Charles Hotel that was subsequently taken off the table.
“Let’s not veer too much from the fact of -- what’s Hudson’s commitment to homelessness? Where do they think that Hudson fits into the picture beyond that location?” said Scalera.
“There’s a lot of people trying to quickly grasp this information. This has been an emergency for a long time,” said Mussmann. “This problem needed to be addressed some time ago. The reality is, now, its very expensive. The price of things does nothing but go up and up, and the county has put off doing certain things for a long time. We’re way behind and now we have to play catch up. Let’s really do something. Let’s do it right. Let’s do it well.”
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