“Alex Santos didn’t expect to be homeless before he was 30. Then, in the past few years, the 28-year-old lost his job, his wife and his home all in a row — the pillars of his life falling like dominoes.

He’s one of hundreds who have found help at the Interactive Resource Center, a homeless day shelter in downtown Greensboro partially funded by Guilford County.

But under a suggested $4.1 million in cuts to the county’s Human Services budget, Guilford would end funding for the center…”

I contacted IRC director Liz Seymour to ask what percentage of the center’s funding comes from the County, and how losing funding will affect the day center. Here’s Liz’s response:

The article was not entirely accurate–the County isn’t cutting existing funding, but it is cutting a funding request out of the proposed budget. There are some real and important issues at stake and we would love to have your help and support. The Commissioners will hold a series of budget hearings starting tonight and finishing with a county-wide hearing on Thursday, May 3 at 5:30 at the Commissioners Meeting Room in the Old Courthouse. It’s not just about the IRC, it’s all the groups out there who are helping more and more people with less and less support.

Our total budget is about $400,000 of which roughly half comes from individual gifts; the rest is largely from foundations, churches and a little bit from civic groups and businesses. (And honestly, although our budget is $400,000 we’re operating on an austerity budget that comes in a lot closer to $300,000–not sustainable, but necessary at the moment).

In 2009 the County allocated $275,000 for renovation of the building we are now in but we have never received any operating funds from the County. We put in a request last year through the CBO (Community Based Organization) process and were denied; we have applied again this year as a CBO with a request for $25,000 but once again are not in the budget. We do not receive regular funding from the City either, though this year we will be eligible to apply for a slice of Community Development Block Grant money, a federal pass-through that the City administers (it’s worth noting that the CDBG is a very small pie and everyone’s slice comes out pretty thin)

Because government funding at every level (local, state and federal) is in such jeopardy these days we have not built our long-range strategy around it. Our greatest growth at the moment is in individual gifts–this year fully half of our giving has come from first-time donors, which indicates to me that when people understand what we are doing they want to support it. The rule of thumb for philanthropy is that 70-80 percent of giving comes from individual donors; at the moment for us it’s a little under 50 percent. One of our biggest needs is simply to get the word out!

That said, anything we can do to persuade the County Commissioners to allocate funds to the IRC would be huge. At the most practical level the funds we have requested would pay for almost a month of operations. On a civic level Paul Gibson is absolutely right: ‘They’re doing the work the county’s not doing.’ And we’re saving the entire county a lot of money too…

>> Have a look at Guilford County’s Human Services FY 2012-2013 Recommended Budget Info here. Dates of budget meetings, work sessions and the public hearing; as well as links to all parts of the recommended budget, here.

>> Learn more about the great work that the Interactive Resource Center is doing to help the homeless! Make a donation online. Connect with the IRC on Facebook and Twitter. And help spread the word! The IRC provides much-needed services to people who are homeless, formerly homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Get involved!

From a press release dated 02/27/2012:

Mary’s House owns and operates a shelter and transitional living facility on Guilford Avenue in Greensboro. The Mary’s House shelter provides housing and services to homeless women recovering from substance abuse and their children. Between 2005 and 2010, Mary’s House applied for and received federal Emergency Shelter Grants Program funds from the State. In 2010 and again in 2011, however, the State denied Mary’s House’s application for Emergency Shelter Grants funds.

The lawsuit asserts the State’s decision to stop funding Mary’s House is discriminatory and illegal under federal law, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, and the Fair Housing Act, all of which prohibit the State from denying federal funds, housing, or services on the basis of disability. It alleges the State has targeted one disability – recovery from substance abuse – and has decided that shelters that serve homeless persons who have that particular disability are ineligible to apply for federal funds. The lawsuit also alleges that the State’s decision violates the Constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process. Mary’s House and its residents are asking the Federal District Court to award them damages and to prohibit the State from continuing to deny funding to Mary’s House because of the disability of the Mary’s House residents.

>> Read Press Release, 02/27/2012
>> Read Lawsuit, filed 02/17/2012

Guilford County HUD funding recipients:

• Alcohol and Drug Services of Guilford, Inc.; High Point; Project Home Front; SHP; $34,996
• City of High Point; High Point; Housing First; S+C; $77,352
• Family Service of the Piedmont, Inc.; Jamestown; Clara House; SHP; $70,218
• Greensboro Housing Authority; Greensboro; Grace Homes; S+C; $427,536
• Greensboro Housing Authority; Greensboro; Supportive Housing; SHP; $477,369
• Greensboro Housing Authority; Greensboro; Supportive Housing; SHP; $43,730
• Greensboro Urban Ministry; Greensboro; Partnership Village I; SHP; $59,850
• Mary’s House, Inc.; Greensboro; SHP; $135,982
• Open Door Ministries of High Point, Inc.; High Point; Arthur Cassell Transitional Housing Program; SHP; $48,919
• Open Door Ministries of High Point, Inc.; High Point; HMIS – High Point; SHP; $13,750
• Open Door Ministries of High Point, Inc.; High Point; ODM Permanent Supportive Housing Project; SHP; $62,159
• The Salvation Army; Case Management/After Care; High Point; SHP; $19,274
• The Servant Center, Inc.; Greensboro; Servant House; SHP; $47,586
• Youth Focus Inc.; Greensboro; Youth Focus Transitional Living Program; SHP; $51,700

TOTAL $1,570,421.00

SHP = The Supportive Housing Program is designed to develop supportive housing and services that will allow homeless persons to live as independently as possible.
S+C = The Shelter Plus Care Program provides rental assistance for hard-to-serve homeless persons with disabilities in connection with supportive services funded from sources outside the program.

image credit: Matt from London on Flickr

Each year since 1990, on December 21st, which is on or near the first day of winter and the longest night of the year, the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) has sponsored National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day. This is a time to remember our homeless friends who have died while experiencing homelessness and an opportunity to bring attention to the ongoing reality and tragedy of homelessness in our nation.

Communities across the nation hold events to commemorate National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day. Here are some events in Greensboro on Wednesday, December 21st that you can be involved in:

NHPMD 2009

Flying Signs:

Update: Sign flying is canceled.   This takes a lot of planning, and the forecast still says rain, so we’ve decided to go ahead and call this one off and focus on the later activities instead. Weather permitting*, members of the StreetWatch homeless outreach team and friends will hold informational signs at major intersections in Greensboro during the morning and afternoon on December 21. If you’d like to join us, please contact me here.

Memorial Walk

• Begins at 4:45pm at the Interactive Resource Center at 407 E. Washington St. and continues on to S. Elm St. and then to W. Lee St.
• Ends at Grace Community Church at 643 W. Lee St.

View Route for Homeless Memorial Walk in a larger map

Memorial Service

The memorial service will be held at Grace Community Church, 643 W. Lee St., at 6:15pm. Grace’s weekly Wednesday Community Fellowship Dinner for the homeless and hungry will follow the service.

But there’s the unspoken: mental illness, alcoholism, addiction, trauma, family dysfunction. Obtaining or maintaining a job or housing is difficult (and out of reach for some). A number of folks I’ve seen just this week are newly released from jail or prison. Their chances for jobs and housing seem to rise and fall with the economy.

I think of the words a homeless friend once said to me, “If we could get a job, we’d have one.” And another, referencing Greensboro’s wealth of free meal sites and dearth of affordable housing, “We appreciate the food. But you can’t cover up with a chicken wing.” True word.

>> Related post: “Urgent needs for our ministry to unsheltered homeless people: Please help!”

A ribbon cutting ceremony was held on Wednesday to open “The Journey House”. The “Journey House” is a place for young women to transition from foster care into the world. The facility will provide life-skills programs that will help the women to be successful in their lives.The non-profit agency, I Am Now, Inc, received the donated home from a Greensboro resident who wants to remain anonymous. The home is located on Rocky Knoll Circle in Greensboro. ‘I Am Now’ is an organization devoted to helping homeless youth in the Triad.

via Greensboro Homeowner Donates House To Non-Profit at digtriad.com

“Decisions about the homeless have, for years in Forsyth County, been made mostly by well-meaning people who have never spent a night on the street. Today, a group of homeless and formerly homeless people will try to change that. The Homeless Caucus, a group formed by the community-organizing group CHANGE, called a public meeting tonight to ask for two voting seats on the executive board of the Homeless Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.”

Good for them! The ONLY experts on homelessness are those who’ve experienced it! It makes no sense for never-homeless individuals to create plans and policy for homeless people without the active involvement of currently and/or formerly homeless people at every stage of the process.

>> Read all of Homeless Want Seats on Coalition Board…

Officials trying to curb the number of panhandlers in downtown Greensboro are passing out fliers suggesting what to do if a panhandler approaches.

>> Read all of “Panhandling Fliers Handed Out in Downtown Greensboro” and view video on Fox8.

The story mentions nothing about alcoholism and drug addiction, which are far and away the top reasons people panhandle. But IRC Director Liz Seymour responded to my previous inquiry (following this post) with assurances that the center’s street outreach team will be addressing the addiction issue and providing help to those who’re interested in recovery.

The Greensboro Housing Authority has had its maintenance budget cut for the first time in its history.

Congressional budget cuts have taken $1 million out of the budget, which is 25 percent of the entire maintenance budget, said Don House, chief operating officer for the Greensboro Housing Authority.

The cuts come despite a backlog of repairs that will cost $16 million to fix, House said.

Rent will not increase because that is based on renters’ income and not the authority’s budget, House said.

That puts the authority in the tough position of choosing which projects to fund and which ones to put on hold.

>> Continue reading “Public Housing Maintenance Budget Cut 25 Percent in Greensboro” (with video)

“A new study says that drug treatment courts, which state legislators cut funding for in the recent budget, are effective at reducing crime and drug use.

Drug courts also saved an average of nearly $5,700 per participant, resulting in a net benefit of $2 for every $1 spent, according to the study released Tuesday by the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, D.C. The Center for Court Innovation in New York and RTI International in the Research Triangle Park assisted with the study.

This year, North Carolina legislators cut $2 million in funding for drug treatment courts across the state…”

>> Continue reading “Study: Drug courts effective in reducing” at News-Record.com.

I’ve seen first-hand the effectiveness of Guilford County’s drug court. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to cut programs that save taxpayer dollars and change lives.