Posted on February 22, 2011
This week’s blog was written by VSH’s spring PR intern, Jonathan Glomb.
Having moved to Richmond from the suburbs of Northern Virginia in order to attend university, the last few years have given me the opportunity to explore this city and get to know its positive as well as negative aspects. While Richmond boasts many beautiful characteristics that I have come to love, I have also become accustomed to the city’s misfortunes as well. While listening to the 6 o’clock news, I’m no longer surprised to hear of a shooting in South side, a home invasion in Church hill, or an armed robbery in the Fan. These events seem every bit as commonplace as its many festivals and community events. Likewise, the homeless men and women that stand at street corners throughout the city seem as basic to the landscape as the street lights and fire hydrants.
I feel guilty to say that this is how I saw – or didn’t see – these homeless individuals, though I had never realized it until recently. One morning as I was sitting at a traffic light on my way to class, I was startled by a homeless man when he abruptly knocked on my driver’s side window to get my attention. At first I was a little angry at being taken by surprise. I opened my window, gave him a dollar, and headed on to class. The rest of the morning in class, I couldn’t help but wonder how many countless times I must have stopped at that exact street corner without ever noticing him. Or how many other people must’ve done exactly the same thing. It really bothered me. This was a Human Being standing on the corner toughing the weather, not some inanimate object.
Since starting my internship with Virginia Supportive Housing, I have come to understand the beauty of simply paying attention and listening. I have seen how VSH clients are known by their names and recognized. After going unnoticed by people just like me for so long, something as simple as a brief conversation can mean the world to them.
In the short time that I have been with VSH, I have come to realize how easy it is to judge someone when that person has no identity in your eyes. All you know about them is what a card board sign might say. But when you take the time to get to know the details of their lives and listen to their concerns and opinions, you give them a voice and a face. You give their life identity and meaning. And it is the least that they deserve. I have no doubt that this internship will benefit me professionally. But for me, I’ve already learned one of the most important things I will ever learn: that opening your eyes and ears can lead to beautiful things.
Posted on February 15, 2011
As the rhetoric in Washington heats up over the annual budget, it seems as if most lawmakers are still applying the same old equations to the problem of reducing the deficit. While it may be appropriate in some ways to cut spending by cutting services, many of us know that short-term savings now very often translate into long-term spending increases later. This is especially true for services that benefit vulnerable populations. When very low-income individuals lose access to fundamental programs that they can’t otherwise afford, the overall financial burden to the community actually increases. This is just an economic reality that we desperately need to face.
As the budget conversation moves forward (or not), it is important to remember that there is more than one way to save money. In January of 2011, Virginia Supportive Housing skillfully demonstrated this fact when it released a report on the success of one of its programs, A Place To Start.
A Place To Start is an innovative program that serves chronically homeless individuals who have serious mental illness. By providing permanent housing and support services for these individuals, the report clearly shows that a substantial amount of money can be saved. Given the report’s outcomes, only one conclusion makes sense. When it comes to homelessness, the solution is cheaper than the problem. We need to invest in – not cut – services that get the job done right.
The APTS report specifically tracks the costs associated with four “events” common to chronically homeless individuals: emergency room visits, hospitalizations, arrests, and incarcerations. The occurrences of these events were documented among the program’s fifty-two participants during a forty-month period (twenty months prior to entry into the program and twenty months following entry into the program). A comparison of the two time periods reveals an astonishing $320,000 in savings to the community.
According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, more than 112,000 individuals experienced chronic homelessness in the US in 2009. It’s easy to extrapolate this local data to conclude that if fifty chronically homeless individuals cost the community $320,000 over a twenty-month period, then 112,000 chronically homeless individuals must cost taxpayers at least $716,000,000 just in terms of those four common events. This is real money being spent right now without much to show for it. On the flip side, if these individuals had access to permanent supportive housing, the country could and would save at least that much within less than two years. Although that doesn’t completely solve our deficit woes, it does go a very long way AND it addresses a problem that our country has been struggling with unsuccessfully for decades.
So yes, lawmakers, let’s exercise fiscal responsibility by reigning in spending. But let’s do it in a way that won’t backfire on us three or five years down the road. There is a way, right now, for us to reduce the enormous cost of homelessness. Do the math. Invest in permanent supportive housing.
Posted on February 8, 2011
This week’s blog was written by VSH’s volunteer program coordinator, Alison Jones-Nassar.
The morning of Thursday, January 27 was very cold. Snow, slush, and ice crusted the ground and you really had to keep moving to stay warm. By the time I arrived at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church to check in as a volunteer, a line had started to form outside. People with bags and backpacks shuffled in place and blew into their hands, waiting for the doors to open.
Inside the church, fellow volunteers sat in the warmth and listened to instructions while waiting for the coffee to brew. As participants in the January 2011 Point in Time Count, our task was to administer surveys to the homeless individuals lining up outside. Their answers would give Homeward, Richmond’s central research & data collection agency, demographic information on how many people are homeless and who they are. More importantly, it would provide insight into why they are homeless. The survey consisted of 70 questions that asked people to classify themselves in terms of a variety of risk factors. Have you ever had a problem with alcohol? Have you ever received treatment for mental illness? Did you ever serve in the military? Were you homeless as a child? Knowing the answers to these questions helps our community to better understand the complicated issues confronting people who are experiencing housing crises and also helps to focus resources.
Within the space of a few hours, I conducted six surveys. I glimpsed six different versions of hell that morning, but they all pointed to one gigantic failure of our society to take care of its most vulnerable citizens. And the biggest question – why? – went unanswered.
Ron, a military veteran with diabetes, had spent the previous night under the Manchester Bridge. As hard as I try, I can’t imagine myself doing that. Alicia had spent the night in a shelter. In her mid-forties, she suffered from severe depression. When she replied to my questions, she returned my gaze and patted my hand, as if to reassure me but I was not reassured. She could be my sister, my daughter, my best friend. She could even be me.
Albert was also in his forties, but he looked much older. Staring straight ahead, he curtly described his extensive criminal history and substance abuse problem. He was doing his best not to care that a complete stranger was chronicling his plunge to rock-bottom. Jake was my age, fifty-one, and had a Master’s degree in public administration. In a soft voice, he spoke to me about his teenagers, his years in Massachusetts, and his struggles with mental illness. He had been living in an encampment for just over a year and did not express much confidence in the possibility that his situation might improve.
Why is it acceptable in this country for people to wander the cold streets with no place to go? Why do they have to sleep under bridges and in parks? Why, as sick as some of them are, can’t they get the treatment they need and the compassion any of us in similar circumstances would want and deserve?
In response to the final question, “What would it take for you to be permanently housed?” the answer was always the same. A job. Income. Money. A way to support myself. A place I can afford. “I don’t want anyone’s charity,” Ron told me. “I don’t need anyone’s help. I just want to be able to take care of myself.” That’s not too much to ask….is it?
Posted on February 3, 2011
South Bay Apartments in Portsmouth
February 2nd was a day of celebration for Virginia Supportive Housing. That morning, about 150 VSH staff, board, donors, sponsors, city officials, and supporters as well as clients gathered in Portsmouth to celebrate the grand opening of its newest supportive apartment building, South Bay.
Phil Smith of Towne Bank, a member of South Bay’s Adopt-A-Room committee, presided over the ceremony which featured remarks by The Honorable Kenneth Wright, mayor of the City of Portsmouth; Neil Walsh, VSH board member; and the Honorable Alan Krasnoff, mayor of the City of Chesapeake.
Left to right: The Honorable Alan Krasnoff, Mayor, City of Chesapeake; The Honorable Kenneth Wright, Mayor, City of Portsmouth; Sarah Paige Fuller, Director, Office to End Homelessness, City of Norfolk; Andrew Friedman, Director of Housing and Neighborhood Preservation, City of Virginia Beach
Dr. Melvin Marriner, senior pastor at Grove Baptist Church, provided the invocation. The program culminated with an announcement from Mayor Krasnoff that Chesapeake hopes to be the site of VSH’s next supportive apartment building in the South Hampton Roads area.
One of the featured speakers was Lisa White, a resident of South Bay, who shared her experience of homelessness. After being diagnosed with colon cancer in 2004, Lisa’s illness and overwhelming medical expenses caused her to lose her job, then her car, and finally her home. “Virginia Supportive Housing gave me a safe, warm, and comfortable place where I could get the treatment I needed, begin the recovery process, and start to get back on my feet.”
South Bay is the third supportive apartment building in the South Hampton Roads area developed through regional collaboration. Gosnold Apartments of Norfolk opened in 2006, and Cloverleaf Apartments in Virginia Beach opened in 2008. The building is EarthCraft certified and features solar panels on the roof that are designed to reduce the overall kilowatt load by at least 20%.
Lisa White, South Bay Apartments Tenant
Thanks to this newest development, 40 formerly homeless individuals are now off the streets and into stable and affordable housing. The remaining 20 units will be occupied as soon as the qualified individuals are screened and identified. The VSH model, which integrates intensive case management services with permanent housing, boasts a 90% success rate and is considered a proven permanent solution to homelessness.
