NORWICH – More than one year after the Chenango Housing Council pitched an idea for a homeless shelter in Chenango County, the organization is coming closer to making a similar idea a reality.
The Chenango Housing Council (CHC), an agency developed to address substandard housing and homelessness in the county, is pursuing plans of establishing a transitional and permanent supportive housing in Norwich. Like a homeless shelter, the facility would address emergency needs of homeless and at risk families, but also provide intervention services and subsidized housing for those who qualify.
The purpose, explained CHC grant developer Gary Quarella, is to help rural homeless individuals and families get back on their feet and become self-sufficient through the availability of support programs and case management. The CHC plans to submit a proposal for an intervention grant available through the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. CHC is currently working with a consultant out of Albany to have a concept submitted to OTDA by the fall with a goal of having an completed application in by spring, 2015.
“The biggest issue the (CHC) is dealing with right now is homelessness and obtaining the funds to create a transitional housing facility,” Quarella said. “The challenge is getting the funding for a good site that's accessible to people with disabilities and also good for people transportation wise.”
The CHC is comprised of partnering Chenango County housing agencies, including the Department of Social Services; the American Red Cross; Catholic Charities; Area Agency on Aging; Chenango County Code Enforcement; Chenango Housing Improvement Program; the United Way; City of Norwich; Cornell Cooperative Extension; Habitat for Humanity; Norwich Housing Authority; and Opportunities for Chenango. CHC plans to use staff from multiple agencies to provide human services at the transitional and supportive housing facility.
“Our main goal is to get (homeless) services in one place so people who are in that predicament can get all the help they need to establish permanent housing,” said Norwich Housing Authority Executive Director Judy Wingate-Wade. “Our barriers right now are funding and siting.”
While the proposition of a homeless shelter in Chenango has been discussed by the CHC in previous years, the coalition is using numbers of the state funded Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing Program (HPRP) that was administered through Catholic Charities in 2010. The CHC found that through the program, 564 families were served in 2010, and 76 families that had lost their home were served through re-housing services. Those numbers climbed in 2011, with 663 families served through homelessness prevention and 76 families served through re-housing programs.
“We used a lot of information to develop what we feel we need in a center,” Wingate-Wade said, also noting the CHC’s partnership with the Southern Tier Continuum of Care which may help obtain state and federal funding.
While CHC pursues a goal of transitional housing in Chenango County, it’s also eyeing a state-funded homeless intervention grant. Similar to HPRP, the Solutions to End Homelessness Program (STEHP) would allow CHC to help homeless and at risk families and individuals get needed support. However, STEHP comes at a fraction of HPRP, Quarella said. If awarded, STEHP would come at a maximum of $400,000 (as opposed to the $750,000 awarded through HPRP that was administered in Chenango County over three years).
“We would be happy with any funding we can get,” Quarella said, adding that CHC is presently relying on individual donations as well as financial support through the United Way, Catholic Charities, fundraising, and corporate donors.
An application for the STEHP grant has been submitted by the CHC, said Quarella, and hopes are to hear if the organization will be awarded funding in the coming weeks.