Active efforts by our Diocese help homeless

During November, as we observe Homeless Awareness month, I am mindful of the marvelous service our Catholic Charities Housing Office (CCHO) renders.

The office was established in 1986 to coordinate efforts to develop and manage low-income housing for poor and homeless families and individuals. In addition to dealing with poverty, this population experiences a much higher rate of mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence and involvement with the criminal justice system.

CCHO's housing programs are specifically designed to address those special needs by providing low-cost housing with support services.

Locations

CCHO manages four SRO (single room occupancy) projects (St. Peter's in Troy , and DePaul, Waldorf and Swyer Residences in Albany ), as well as 21 scattered-site apartments for homeless families.

In addition, CCHO operates two emergency homeless shelters: Mercy House for Women and St. Charles Lwanga Center for men. Mercy House also serves as an overflow shelter for families and operates a transitional apartment for homeless women in need of specialized services.

Both shelters provide 24-hour services that are focused on helping the homeless stabilize and re-enter the community with the appropriate skills, knowledge and resources to move them towards self-sufficiency.

Growing needs

Unfortunately, homelessness is a growing problem:

* In 2000, CCHO did not have a waiting list for housing; in 2005, the list was less than 30 days. Today, there is a waiting period of no less than four months;

* in January, February and March of this year, CCHO received 176 applications for permanent housing. It had only nine openings.

CCHO serves 21 families at any given time via the Homeless Families Apartment program.

Needy families

All families come to CCHO from a homeless situation, usually with little more than they can carry.

For the most part, the households have no income (with the exception of public assistance) and no means of transportation. The children are not enrolled in school or daycare. The families have no furniture or household goods, and even items of clothing and adequate food are challenges at first.

CCHO's first task is to stabilize the families in housing and provide a safe, decent place they can call home while addressing their challenges.

Successes

Some examples of CCHO's success are:

* In the past year, three more households have incomes from full-time employment, and four households have part-time employment income;

* two families have relocated to better housing; and

* three families are now proud owners of "Wheels for Work" vehicles.

Examples

Let me share in more depth the success story of two families who have overcome the challenges life has thrown them.

Shelly (not her real name) first came to CCHO in December 2001. She and her children had been residing in a domestic violence shelter. Shelly had nothing with which to start a home and even less to help her children celebrate the holidays.

The CCHO staff immediately went to work on furnishing the unit, and making sure there was food to eat and warm clothes for all. Shelly and her children did celebrate Christmas, and thanked the staff for all they had done.

Paying back

Shelly told the staff she would someday repay her debt, but the staff told her that success in life for her and her family would be more than payment enough.

Through hard work and sacrifice, she worked towards meeting her goal of providing a quality life for herself and her children. Shelly became a certified nursing aide and works full-time for an area hospital. Currently, she is applying for nursing school.

Shelly is also working closely with CCHO staff and the staff of Community Land Trust because she is interested in home ownership. Finally, Shelly was able to take her family on vacation this summer to visit relatives -- a family first!

Moving on

Andrea (again, not her real name) and her twins moved into CCHO housing in November 2004 after their housing had been condemned by the city.

Although she was able to bring some household goods with her, it was more than apparent to CCHO staff that the furniture was not worth the effort to move. Again, the staff began the arduous task of procuring all the necessary items to turn an apartment into a home.

Andrea was also suffering from mental illness, but she was afraid to seek help because she was certain the system would take her children away from her. Over the next six months, CCHO staff worked with Andrea to gain her trust. She finally let a psychiatric nurse practitioner make a home visit.

After several visits, Andrea agreed to begin treatment. Today, she is working full-time, and has been stable in housing, employment and treatment for over two years -- a true milestone for the family.

Days of RATH

CCHO has a unique program known as "Rapid Access to Transitional Housing" -- RATH -- that helps mental health clients who are in a housing crisis, usually due to behaviors that cannot be tolerated by mental health housing providers or private landlords.

CCHO houses these individuals at the DePaul Residence SRO, where the individuals get a private room, a low-demand community environment, meals, hygiene supplies, linens and a friendly staffperson to talk to.

Since its inception in 2005, RATH has never been empty for longer than the few days it takes to spruce up the unit between clients.

Success stories

RATH has served 14 clients in a little over two years, and nine have become permanent residents of DePaul Residence.

Of the remaining five, two relocated out of state, one was admitted to residential care through the VA and only two were unable to live at this level of supervision and asked to leave.

That's approximately an 85-percent success rate for individuals who were unsuccessful in the professional mental health provider's programs.

Thanksgiving

Those stories, and so many others that could be cited, are a tribute to the triumph of the human spirit, and to the dedicated, personalized and caring service of all the staff at CCHO.

The people of our Diocese should be proud of the ministry that is being exercised through their generosity, and in partnership with government and sister social service agencies throughout our 14 counties.

As we prepare for Thanksgiving, in the name of the homeless, I thank you.

(Annually, CCHO serves more than 1,000 men, women and children.)

(11/22/07)