NORWICH – The colder winter weather has pushed more people out of their temporary, if not unheated, living situations to the doors of the county’s Social Services Department, Director Bette Osborne told lawmakers last week.
The numbers of homeless have surged from a low of four per month in 2005 to a high of 25. Osborne said many are discharged mental patients and prisoners freed from incarceration. Others were forced to leave their flood-damaged homes.
“Many have been forced to finally leave homes that were never repaired properly or heated,” she said.
Officials from several county agencies are meeting monthly to coordinate services and discuss housing alternatives. A statistical report is due out shortly from the Chenango Housing Council. According to Osborne, the homeless would traditionally be placed in local motels and/or shelters in other municipalities, but most of those are full.
The DSS director told members of the Health & Human Services Committee that state funding and/or grant money could be available for creating a not-for-profit homeless shelter locally. Such a shelter would serve a myriad of purposes, from offering people short-term, transitional or long term housing.
“DSS would have to program for this. There’s a lot of management involved in operating a shelter. We already have to reprogram our staff to provide homeless services at the front door,” she said.
Osborne said emergency safety net dollars were being spent on housing the homeless because most don’t qualify for other programs.
Committee supervisors asked Osborne to report back about what alternatives already exist in surrounding areas. “What other counties are having this same problem?” Town of Smyrna James Bays asked. “Let’s see what exists on the periphery or in combo with another county.”
Osborne said DSS was working with a local taxi company to provide 24-hour transportation services when needed.