Thank you very much. Thank you for all that you do.
Madam Chair before Bia leaves, let me just say that the prime 188 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 initiative that they spoke so well about would not have been possible -- and the public needs to know this -- without your direct involvement and support.
We're able to do a couple of these demonstration projects in West Philadelphia solely because of your leadership and reaching out to developers to work with us, and we appreciate it so much. (Applause.)
In speaking of great development. I'd like to invite Nora Lichtash to the witness table, along with Sue Sierra and Judith Robinson. And as they're making their way, let me just say to anyone that hasn't been up in Nora's area of North Philadelphia, they need to make that trip because the work that's going on up there by the Women's Community Revitalization Project in terms of community revitalization and development and housing 189 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 development and development of affordable housing is just outstanding and a tribute to her leadership and that of her staff.
Thank you. We do agree. Thank you. We'll ask you to identify yourself for the record and begin, and thank you for your patience.
My name is Nora Lichtash, and I work with the Women's Community Revitalization Project that's also known as WCRP. At WCRP, we understand the City has limited resources and that sometimes it's really hard making decisions about how to divide up those resources. But I'm here today to offer our support to you because you know that it's not in anyone's interest to cut the funding that goes to homeless families and children. I want to do three things in my testimony: Frame the issue and let you know what we see everyday in the neighborhood day in and day out; describe the costs to our City 190 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 and to all of us if we don't provide the needed resources to help families get permanent housing, permanent affordable housing; and also talk to you about our experience, what we think needs to be done to continue to build a momentum to address the problem of family homelessness. In terms of the issue, out of every households in the City lives on incomes of less than $20,000. I know you know that. Many of those families are in shelter, but there are also families that aren't in the shelter system. They find temporary housing with family or friends; they move from one situation to the next; they are afraid that they might be wearing out their welcome, so they just move on. As of the year 2000, in that census, there were 31,000 households in Philadelphia that were living in overcrowded conditions, and that was up 20 percent from the 1990 census. In that same period, 25,000 were doubled or tripled up households. We also know that many households 191 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 are on the verge of homelessness. 130,000 households, greater than 1 out of every households in Philadelphia pays more than they can afford for their housing costs. Many families are living in housing, whether they're renters or homeowners, that are falling down around them. In 2002, there were more than 64,000 houses with open City Code violations. So that's the issue. The costs. We think the costs are great. We all know the costs are great in terms of human beings and in terms of money. But the cost of managing and not solving homelessness seem to be really great. Spending on temporary shelter and emergency services, although they're important, without investing substantially in permanent affordable housing doesn't get to the root program. The cost of breaking up families -- almost everyone who's testified talked about families breaking up or family instability. The strain on families who can't find affordable housing means lots of times DHS has to come in, and that costs a lot to us in the 192 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 City, those services. The cost of chronic health and education problems in kids, I mean, what we know is that families who can't find permanent housing -- there's a whole litany -- they are more likely to lack good healthcare, suffer chronic illness, visit emergency rooms, go hungry, suffer emotional and psychological problems and have serious learning and discipline problems in school. All of these costs are really too much for us, even those of us who are well housed. So now in speaking about what needs to be done, based on a recent study that was completed by the University of Pennsylvania, they've estimated that about 57,000 more affordable units of housing are needed in Philly, and it's clear that we need to act now to ensure that a substantial portion of our resources are used to create permanent and affordable housing for low income families. One mechanism to do this and increase the pool as well -- I know you know about -- has been developed jointly in conjunction with you through the Philadelphia 193 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 Affordable Coalition and the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations and it has a lot of support from others. It's the Low Income Housing Trust Fund voted on and passed by Council this year.
In closing, I wanted to take the opportunity to read the testimony of someone who couldn't be here today but who understands firsthand the need for resources for affordable housing. Her name is Stacy Moore and she's my boss, she's the Co-Chair of WCRP's Board of Directors. In her words, "I'm a mother who raises my 15-year-old son on my own. I work for the State as a seasonal energy assistance worker under the LIHEAP Program, and I'm formerly homeless. I'm a Section 8 voucher recipient who is very grateful for the stability that is provided by having a roof over my head, the head of myself and son. You'd think that I would be satisfied and just keep quiet, but I realize that there are many, many other folks like me going through their own housing crises. They 194 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 may be in a shelter waiting for a Section 8 to come through for them like I did. They may be staying with relatives or friends, perhaps in an already overcrowded house until they can afford their own home. They may not even be that fortunate, maybe totally homeless with nowhere to go. "I'm writing this testimony because the City cannot afford to cut back on services to homeless families and must go further in its efforts to create permanent, safe, affordable housing that all of us deserve. "
Good afternoon, Madam Chair, and thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Sue Sierra. I'm the Policy Coordinator for the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations. There's been a lot of testimony before mine drawing the link between homelessness and the staggering shortage of affordable housing in the City. And I know 195 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 it's an issue that you're extremely aware of yourself, Councilwoman. So I don't want to take a lot of time reiterating what other people have said. Let me just point out two facts: One is an article that appeared in the Inquirer last summer pointing out that families were staying in transitional housing for years, in some cases, because of a lack of permanent, affordable housing for those families to move to. And I know that you saw that article. And secondly, that in our area, the housing wage, the amount of money that a renter needs to earn in order to be able to afford a basic two-bedroom apartment is currently more than $17 an hour. So that's more than 3 times the minimum wage. And we can see why we have such a drastic shortage of affordable housing here in Philadelphia. The members of PACDC deal with this every day. We develop affordable housing. Many of our members directly serve homeless families. Others serve low income families in 196 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 general, whether or not they have been homeless. And we're aware of the huge need for affordable housing, the desire on the part of the City's leaders to do more to create affordable housing, and the lack of resources that is making it difficult to solve this problem. So that's why PACDC developed the proposal to create a housing trust fund in the City of Philadelphia. We're very glad to have support of more than a hundred organizations in the City that are joining us, like WCRP, like the Philadelphia Affordable Housing Coalition, like many of the folks here, to call for the affordable housing trust fund. And we're very glad, Councilwoman, to have your support and the support of the City's leaders in making it happen. It's an idea, I think, whose time has come. If we had a housing trust fund in this City, we could create 400 more units of affordable housing every year. We could repair more than 1200 occupied homes every year. And we could prevent 1300 families from 197 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 becoming homeless every year. This is something we need to do. I think there are only a few details that are still being worked out between advocates and Members of Council and the City. I would like to close by quoting from an editorial that the Philadelphia Inquirer published this summer supporting the housing trust fund. The last sentence of the editorial said that "If the City of Philadelphia does not have a housing trust fund, homelessness is a feared possibility for many." Too many folks in our City are already facing homelessness. We need to create more housing for those people, and I urge Council and the Administration to continue working with advocates to iron out the last few issues. Let's make the housing trust fund part of the City's plan to end homelessness. Let's start building the affordable housing we need so badly in the City. Thank you very much for your 198 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 support.
Councilwoman, one of the biggest benefits of today, personally, may be the hearing from so many great folks on very important subjects with such great ideas. It is very inspiring as we do the planning necessary to move forward in a very positive way. So again, we thank you for your leadership to make the day possible.
At this time, tragically and unfortunately, Reverend Wells will not be able to join us. He's delayed in a hospital, and so our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family and we'll pray for his speedy recovery. Linda Hicks, however, is here and I think will join us at the witness table.
, and I am speaking for Reverend Wells who is 199 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 unable to be here. However, I do have my personal experiences with the homelessness services in this City and have been working, as you know, with the homeless for almost 6 years now. 7 I don't have a prepared speech. I 8 don't want to make it long. I just want to be 9 real brief and concise in saying that having 10 migrated to this City, having lived in a 11 number of other cities, coming here from our nation's capital, I have long been impressed with the dedication of the folks here in this City, including yourself, to making sure that people have a place to sleep, that people have a roof over their head and just the bare necessities that I'm sure God wants all of us to have. I've always been impressed. And once I got the blessing I received in this City, and thanks to Reverend Wells and his program, was never in danger of being homeless because he's a person that is dedicated to making sure that people keep a roof over their head. But as we try to continue our work, 200 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 we realize we can't do it alone. We can't do it like in the old days, just take an abandoned house. You know there are a lot of danger, there are a lot of things. We have to have money to provide safe, affordable housing, and that's something we've learned over the years. And as far as the shelter services are concerned -- and we refer to them as havens. In all the years that I've been working with OESS and COODAP and the provisional services, our beds have never been empty. And having personally been able to talk with and spend time with a lot of those people, it's not because they just love being there, even though we have some pretty nice places, for most of them it's because there are other services that they need and they need the help that we work so hard in this City to provide. But, of course, that means funding. It means having funds to do it. And while I admire and believe that there's a good effort in this City to have funding available to 201 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 provide services for the homelessness, of course there could be more; of course we need more. One of the areas that continues to be a concern to myself and the One Day At a Time organization is that when we look at our drug and alcohol recovery program -- and, Jannie, you know, a lot of you know the good work that Reverend Wells has done there. Those aren't shelters, but we keep people off the street. But the thing is, after we get them off drugs, they do need the system because the housing market in this City is out of reach for someone who is receiving assistance or who's getting minimum wage. It's just very hard to find affordable housing. And often what we have to do is find rooms for these people. And I know that they fair better in staying clean and sober when they are in a structured environment even after they leave our environment. So transitional housing and programs like Ready Willing and Able are programs that we need because most often it's not just 202 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. " So the housing services are needed. The programs are needed. All of these supportive services are needed, not just for the person who is immediately homeless, but for folks who have already progressed through the system. It needs to be continue funding available for continuum of care. I don't know how many people survive who make less than $10 an hour when you look at what the housing costs are. I have personally now taken care of a family that I personally moved out of an apartment where they had no running water and there were five children. There was, thanks to the City, somewhere for them. But I was in a position to do something for them and so I did. And I'm looking at all the other services available.
So I took care of their immediate homeless situation, but now that they have a roof over their head, which is temporary, I'm depending upon the City and services that we provide through OESS to find them a 203 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 transitional apartment and some affordable housing. Otherwise, they'll be right back where they started. We do need to keep the funding in place for our shelter service and for transitional housing. And we are proponents of funding added that would provide and expand the transitional housing services in the City so that you're able to keep more people ending right back at square 1, needing emergency housing. We haven't provided the services that are needed in the continuum of care to give them affordable housing and a structured environment they need for an extended period of time. Thank you. )
Thank you very much. Certainly, I'm sure that Mr. Hess will work with you with that family and any other. And let me also say that we visited Reverend Wells on Thursday. We were at his house Thursday at about 5 o'clock, and we talk 204 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 about two homes. I've spoken to Mr. Hess about them, the two homes in North Philadelphia where he wants to do dialysis homes. So we're already talking about that. Mr. Hess has agreed to work with him on that. And let Rev know we'll be in touch with him, but we're on the case. We're trying to do our part to make life better for those who are on dialysis in spite of other issues they may have like homelessness or AIDS, et cetera. So we know that's the new move, and we're on the case. Thank you, Ms. Hicks. Mr. Hess.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The next group we'll invite to the table, with your permission, are representatives from SELF, Incorporated, led by Nate Robinson. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. Many of you might not know, but they help us every week. You know, we have a 205 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 program at Malcolm X Park. And Malcolm X Park is at 52nd and Pine Streets in my district. And we fought really, really hard. I don't allow my colleagues to brag about other things they have because then I make sure my area has it. (Applause.)
Certainly, we have worked hard to have a wonderful -- we have a jazz program there from Memorial Day until after Labor Day and every other week. We have had it every other week for the last several years. And they're there. They help us. They support us. They help us maintain the park. They help us support the community in every way they can. And let me say thank you. (Applause.)
You're quite welcome. Good afternoon, Councilwoman. It is always a pleasure to see you.
On behalf of SELF, Incorporated, and Dr. Sylvester Outley, we'd 206 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 like to thank you for this opportunity to testify and give you some brief testimony about what we're doing. Also, we'd like to give special thanks to Mr. Rob Hess and Ms. Letty Hinton -- (Applause.)
-- for their current efforts in what they're doing in addressing homelessness in the City of Philadelphia. For more than any other city, we are, I believe, ahead of any other city or nation in addressing this population of people. Recently, I had the opportunity to go to Washington, D.C., for a conference. And what I'd seen was worst than what we ever could have imagined. But then it also reminds me, Councilwoman, how things were back in 1990, early '90s, when we were suffering with the blight of homelessness in our concourses in subway stations and around the libraries and throughout the City Council area of Philadelphia. And it's a point where we need to keep in mind that if we do not continue to 207 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 provide resources to help us in addressing the homeless population -- you know, we don't want to go backwards; we want to move forward, and I think we are doing exactly that. Currently right now what we're doing, we're working with individuals in four shelters that we are contracted by the Office of Emergency Shelter and Services. And our largest site is the Outley House located at 6901 Woodland Avenue. We recently, about a year ago, was awarded a contract by the City to provide service to females. And I think that is one of the populations that kind of like have been left in the dark. Recently, through the funds of OESS, we recently received a contract to provide scatter site housing for single females at the TJ Properties, and we are very excited and know that this is going to be a model that is going to take us towards ending homelessness within the next 10 years. What I brought today is two of our current clients to talk to you about their experience in homelessness. 208 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796
Hello. My name is April Saunders, and, like he said, I'm a client of SELF, Incorporated. I'm also a candidate for the TJ Reynolds Project for transition, I guess you would call it. I appreciate what SELF, Incorporated, has done for me personally, teaching me how to manage my money and make a commitment to myself. I'm looking forward to this because I've never lived alone. I've always had to take care of either my children or somebody else. So when I do get there, it will be the first time I even had a place of my own. I need to say I'm very grateful for that and I'm glad. (Applause.)
I have no doubt that I'll be able to maintain it because they taught me well. That's all I have to say.
Good afternoon, Councilwoman Blackwell. My name Steven Revis, and I'm also a resident at the Outley House facility, 6901 Woodland Avenue. What I'd like 209 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 to say is that I really appreciate the existence of the SELF, Incorporated, Outley House because through my life-style choices, I had burned or, as a matter of fact, blown up bridges of relations between friends and family. So when I was released from incarceration earlier this year, I had nothing, really no place to go. I would have been homeless again. But while I was incarcerated, I had made up my mind that just as I had done anything and everything to continue abusing different substances, drugs and alcohol, that I was willing to do anything and listen to someone that I had faith in to direct me to get my life back in line with the rest of society. Again, I say I was fortunate because when I was released, I was referred to the Outley House through the Gateway on Ridge Avenue. And I said fortunately because there, they saw something in me while I was being interviewed that they felt that I could benefit from participation in their recovery program on the fourth floor. 210 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 Since participating in that program, I've been able to maintain sobriety for 4 months. As a matter of fact, tomorrow will be 5 the 14th month anniversary day. 6 (Applause.) 7
And I've also clung to 8 the idea that Dr. Outley told us that -- you 9 know, when I first came out, I thought that if 10 I could just get a job and a place to stay for 11 a couple months I'd be all right. I was 12 worried about getting a job and doing my own 13 thing, but I embraced the idea that the best 14 possible thought I ever came up so far to this point in my life ended up with me a bed at Outley House. And my decision-making process, my gain in that area was lacking, so I had to learn to listen and listen to live. I've also -- since that time, I've gotten my medical problems, my high blood pressure addressed through the medical staff that's available at the shelter. But more importantly, I've gotten together all of my identification and I have gotten my self-esteem. I've got a renewed self-image 211 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 because I'm getting ready to go into transition because of what they seen in me. I made that transition from being "I ain't" to an "I am." And that's all the results of listening to the people, to the staff, at Outley House. (Applause.)
Again, Councilwoman I'd just like to thank you. I just wanted to add in closing that, you know, even though we have came a long way, we still have a long way to go. We need to continue to do what we're doing. We need more resources to continue to provide service to address the homelessness in the City of Philadelphia. Again, thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you, too. Thank you all. God bless. We thank you for what you do, to provide services not only to me but to the citizens of West Philadelphia and across the City. SELF has always been there. We've never called on you where you haven't come. We thank you for your services and wish you 212 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 both all the best. Godspeed. (Applause.)
Madam Chair, we continue to hear a number of recurring themes today. The one theme is "we need more." Another theme is that all of our new programs and projects seem to have your stamp on them. As they were talking about the new demonstration project in West Philadelphia, you, of course, also introduced us to Mr. Thomas and made that happen as well. So again, we thank you very much.
The next folks we'll invite to the witness table are Ed Speedling from Project H.O.M.E., Anthony Gindraw from St. Elizabeth's, and Jim Wormer formerly from Ridge Avenue. Let me just say as they're coming up that with respect to Ed Speedling's role as acting director of the outreach teams that are coordinated through Project H.O.M.E., this City is blessed in so many ways, and this is 213 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 one. Literally, the finest outreach teams in America reside here in the City of Philadelphia. (Applause.)
Mayors, councilmembers, the administrators, non-profit executives from all across our great country come here to look at the great work that they are doing. And we are just so very, very proud of that work. (Applause.)
They are the folks that give me the hope and the inspiration to know that not only can we be, but we will be the first City in America to end the need for anyone to sleep on our streets; anyone. (Applause.)
Before I speak, I want to say that -- Rob asked me to speak first, but nothing that I could say would equal the achievements of the people at the 214 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 table with me. So I'm going to let these fellows speak first and then I'll say a few things afterwards.
My name is Anthony Gindraw. I am currently homeless at this time. Sometimes I find myself facing discrimination in society where people try to look down on you. I've been rejected from a lot of jobs due to not having a permanent location to reside. But I'm here today to tell you there is hope for people such as myself and others because at this present time I reside at 1518 Croskey Street, a Project H.O.M.E. facility at St. Elizabeth, a program which will help you build up your self-esteem and will help educate yourself being a responsible and productive member of society. I am here today asking you for your help with funding for programs such as Project 215 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 H.O.M.E. and other programs such as Ready Willing and Able and Blueprint and a lot of other ones. Upon completing these programs, there's transitional and affordable housing for single men, because it's very for single men to get affordable housing due to low wage jobs and also better healthcare programs and also better job skill programs for guys working the 12-step program. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
I'm presently residing at 1850 Croskey Street. I would like to say something about homelessness. Homelessness is a condition of living that sometimes forces a segment of the population to lose contact with taking on life on the real side of that condition. The conditions of depressed socialized functions 216 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 of the times due to loss of employment and communicational regards for neighborhoods and other areas adjacent on the small or large scale of those functions will cause a condition of dissension and disease called homelessness. I have spent on and off years or 9 better being homeless on the streets. I have 10 also been living in conditions that have not been for my betterment because of policies. I have spent two years with the Salvation Army. And it was a very good condition where I learned to have my priorities set in order. But in order to get better help, I had to go to Project H.O.M.E. at St. Elizabeth's. I had a problem with substance abuse and also mental health conditions, and I got the help that I really needed there at St. Elizabeth. So I would like to see the work go on and for something to be done, and in parting, mostly about the homelessness that we see everyday here on the streets in Philadelphia. Thank you very much.
Thank you. 217 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 (Applause.)
Good afternoon, Madam Chairman. My name is James Wormer. And from July of 2002 through April of 2003, I was a resident or consumer at the City of Philadelphia's Ridge Avenue Shelter for Homeless Adult Men. By way of background, I was born in Philadelphia in 1948. Both my parents are deceased. I'm divorced, unmarried, and have no genuine family connections. I was last fully employed in 1995 and money has been a problem since about that time. Additionally, I suffered from high blood pressure, diabetes, and I'm addicted somewhat to nicotine. By December of 2001, I was involuntarily committed through the Hall Mercer facility to the psychiatric ward of Pennsylvania Hospital with a diagnosis of depression. In June of 2002, in the course of being evicted from my apartment, I attempted suicide. Following surgical intervention and a stay in Hahnemann Hospital's psychiatric ward, I was discharged with the instruction simply to proceed to the 218 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 Ridge Avenue Shelter. It is my sincere hope that someone from the Hahnemann University Hospital system or the Tenet Health Corporation will discover the outreach services provide by the City of Philadelphia. The Ridge Avenue Shelter, as you probably know, is one of the largest men's shelter in the City with some 306 beds and 4 distinct groups. The first step has some 31 beds for men with severe mental health problems, dual diagnosis cases, men who are on constant medication and barely able to function outside of a supervised community. It is almost kind of a travesty, but I suppose it's the best we can do for people with serious mental health problems. Clean and sober on the second floor with a hundred beds attempts to rehabilitate men who are suffering from drug or alcohol abuse. And it's my understanding it's one of the more successful programs of its type. However, I was not in that group. The first floor has an additional 75 219 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 beds for short-term men, including some for a program called Connections, in which I was involved, and another 12 for another program, which I eventually wound up, called the Philadelphia Health Management Corporation. We were known as the PHMC 12. Finally, in November 2002, the third floor of Ridge Avenue was opened for something called the Winter Initiative which was an attempt, as I understood it, to reach out to the long-term homeless population who are generally men who will not come into shelters, given the choice. They often are found residing in obscure parts of the City, perhaps north of the International Airport, in the Eastwick section, perhaps a few sections of parks such as Fairmount and Pennypack. It was my understanding that some effort was being made at that time to try to find long-term placement for them. When I entered Ridge back in July of 2002, I was not in particular good shape. Unlike many of the other men who had a good deal of anger and frustration, I was rather 220 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 depressed and having no little difficulty adjusting to some of the antidepressant medications as well as some serious problems with even being able to sleep at night. And I was physically ill. I had developed cellulitis very quickly in both feet. In fact, before leaving Ridge that fall, I managed to suffer from cellulitis, sinusitis bronchitis, pneumonia and by the winter I was back with sinusitis and bronchitis. This is hardly the high point of my residential experience, as you might imagine. However, the medical care provided by the shelter, and in particular Fairmount Health Center, works, along with some support from certain of the hospitals in the area, notably Temple University Hospital and to some extent Hahnemann. When I left in April of 2000, I was able to move into transitional housing where I still am, and that was provided by yet another organization not present today, John F.
Kennedy Community Mental Health and Mental Retardation Center, which has been doing some 221 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 good work in trying to get some of the mentally ill people into transitional homes at least. There is -- and I agree very much with what some of the other witnesses have said -- a very severe shortage of affordable housing. Basically, we're now putting people long-term, at best, into transitional housing. Surviving Ridge wasn't easy. It really drew on my wits and also my experiences in the Army. And there were times when, frankly, I considered the option of not surviving. That having been said, two of the programs were very important in helping me to survive. The first of those was Connections. This is a focus of about 12 men who have been diagnosed with some form of mental problems, the full of extent of which may not be known or apparent when they first wind up at Ridge. There is a mixture of screening, supporting, interviewing with psychiatric workers and case managers. I was fortunate. I found it was fairly helpful for me. I realized I was not alone, that some other people had problems even worse than mine, or at least that was 222 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 their perception. The case manager that I had turned out to be sound. She provided direction, guidance and support. We navigated our way through the state welfare system and then managed to get an application filed for Social Security benefits. That got a little bit complex because when you get older you have a much more complex medical history than when you're or 30 and you're going through the 12 shelter system for the very first time. 13 Beyond that, I was discharged as stable 14 eventually from Connections, which presented a 15 severe problem for the staff because I had 16 been there more than three weeks and they 17 wondered when I was going to be moving on. 18 With a little bit of effort, they 19 placed me in the PHMC 12 program. That's an 20 abbreviation for the Philadelphia Health 21 Management Corporation. And I was fortunate 22 we had an exceptional case worker at Ridge 23 Avenue who was able to do quite a bit with us. 24 One was rather unusual because she was an 25 unusual mix of compassion and experience and 223 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 no little street smarts. She allowed one opportunity to screw up, but not two. Two and you were out of the program. Most of the men were able to handled this, but I would point out it was not an easy program. In 2003, three of the men in that program that I was with died because we are, as a group, a bit older than many of the other shelter residents and the conditions there are fairly severe. One was, I believe, a heart failure; another one had died from sclerosis of the liver; and if I recall correctly, the third one had accumulated respiratory problems that eventually terminated his life. " We needed telephones. We needed things like SEPTA tokens just to get out to keep the medical appointments that have 224 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 been scheduled for us to take care of the health problems. And the program is successful because what they try to do, and they were successful with several of the other men, are placing us in long-term housing. My only recommendation I think I can make at Ridge is when you first come into the program in the shorter term areas -- I think the reason these two other programs worked well is the small number of individuals in them, perhaps a dozen in each program with experienced case workers or case manager staff supervising and being able to follow-up with the people. Unfortunately, in the larger short-term turnover population, the ratio is about two permanent staff members in day-to-day contact with up to 50 men. I think you need to increase that staff by at least one more person. I have no complaints about the two individuals that I worked with in the shelter as men and as individuals.
But they're just on the verge of being constantly overwhelmed by a variety of urgent problems, or more or less urgent problems. 225 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 Since Ridge, I have been living on my own in an apartment on the edge of University City. I'd like to tell you that things have gotten all kinds of rosy, but they really haven't. The physical health problems continue. I've been diagnosed with such wonderful conditions as osteopenia and something called obstructive sleep apnea. I've even had a fracture in the arm. So once you're down, apparently, the idea is you should stay down for a while. I continue with a psychiatrist and a therapist on a regular basis. But I did volunteer this past year after discussing it with a therapist to work with an organization called Vote For Homes. And I had the opportunity to go around and speak to a number of men and women in the shelters in the City of Philadelphia, including such places as Outley House on Woodland Avenue. It was an interesting experience. I'm glad I wasn't running for office when I spoke to the men because they had some very sharp questions at the beginning of our conversation. And I had 226 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 to explain, "No, I'm not doing that. I'm only out here to make sure that you men have the right to vote. " Ready Willing and Able in South Philadelphia was far more receptive earlier and I think we registered a number of people there; and also, by the way, at Outley House eventually. On Election Day, I was active helping some of the residents getting to the polls in and around the City of Philadelphia. Some people think I made a contribution. I'm not really sure yet. Thank you very much for the opportunity, Madam Chair. )
Thank you very much. MR SPEEDLING: Good afternoon, Councilwoman Blackwell. My name is Ed Speedling, and I'm the interim Director of the Outreach Coordination Center at Project H.O.M.E. 227 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 (Applause.)
It's an honor to be here. It's also a privilege to be at this table with these gentlemen here, because I think that their actions speak louder than a lot of words that one could speak. But I'm thankful for the opportunity to speak for just a few moments about the needs and hopes and aspirations of homeless men and women who are living on the streets of our City. I hope that what I have to say will be helpful. I also hope that they will lend support to the planning process under way to craft the powerful plan to end homelessness in Philadelphia. Sooner, by the way, than the 10-year target date. E. and the City of Philadelphia, is provide leadership as well as logistical support to the street outreach teams that reach out every day and every night of the year to people on our streets, going wherever they are, being present to them in 228 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 whatever their condition, offering them first and foremost a full measure of concern and a hand of friendship but then helping these homeless citizens to make the choice to come off the streets to a better place, to a better place and a chance to change their lives. Five organizations participate in the Outreach Coordination Center. E. These teams respond to calls to our hotline which, of course, as everyone knows is 223-1984. They respond to calls to our hotline from people in the community, hundreds of thousands of people who call us. And then these teams also actively search out and reach out to homeless people constantly wherever they may be. Now, many people in this room recall that after the passage of the sidewalk behavioral ordinance in 1998 or 1999, the Outreach Center was given resources by the 229 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 City that significantly expanded outreach services. The City also provided resources to create what we call safe haven shelters, small user-friendly shelters to accommodate the physical and psychological needs of very vulnerable people. Moreover, through the good graces and wisdom of CBH, Community Behavioral Health, homeless people were afforded more effective access to substance abuse and mental health services. And, Madam Chairwoman, this package deal works. Let me cite just a few illustrative statistics. In Fiscal Year 2004, the outreach team, the five teams that comprise the Outreach Coordination Center made over 20,000 contacts with people, the vast majority, by the way, of whom are Philadelphia residents. They made over 20,000 contacts with people who they either met on the streets or visited for follow-up services at various shelters, programs and therapeutic facilities. We just don't simply drop people off and leave. Outreach workers continue to support and sustain until their consumers are connected to 230 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 the mainstream system. Now, these 20,000 plus contacts, conversations, handshakes, information exchanges, et cetera, resulted in 1600 placements into shelters, programs and therapeutic facilities; 1600 times outreach workers helped someone make a decision to leave the streets. Now, it is true that sometimes we place the same individuals multiple times. But, you know, in our work, we subscribe to the adage of try, try, and try again. Keep hope alive always. This philosophy keeps us going, and when combined with the right set of resources, it leads to success. I mean, how else can one explain the decline of street homeless in Philadelphia over the last five years, from 824 individuals sleeping on the streets on one summer evening prior to the infusion of resources that I mentioned to 356 people on the streets in 2003 to 324 in the summer of 2004? That's a remarkable decline. 's Outreach Coordination Center collects in its quarterly census. 231 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 There have been successes, but let me not minimize the barriers to stabilization faced by homeless people.
Of all the people that the Outreach Coordination Center engaged in Fiscal Year 2004, only percent were free 7 from symptoms of mental illness or substance 8 abuse. Information that we get from our 9 outreach workers lead us to think that at 10 least 20 percent of the folks in the streets 11 are burdened by both substance abuse and 12 mental illness, so we have our work cut out 13 for us. Many homeless people are also 14 burdened by daunting physical ailments as well 15 as social deficits in important life-skill 16 areas. Without a healthy support system, it 17 can be very difficult to overcome these barriers. This is why it is amazing and inspiring to see so much hope on our streets. " Amazing. And we can do -- we in this room, in this planning process, can do no less than meet this expression of hope with continued 232 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 efforts to design and fund the kind of programs that will lift these folks to a higher level of existence. And I believe that the process of the 10-year plan will trigger the kind of energy, the kind of resources that will bring this about. And I'll just mention a few that are high on my list, if you don't mind. First of all, we need to continue to invest in recovery. Let's be realistic; recovery from addiction is hard. Am I right? )
Let's be realistic, let's be honest. Recovery is hard work. Relapse can be part of the process. We have to fund treatment programs that stay with people for the long haul. And we also need to build on the successful safe haven model that we've got here so that there's more opportunity for the most fragile of our homeless population to leave the streets. And believe me, they will only do this if they can feel safe. Let's meet them where they are. 233 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 We have the opportunity to target and help those mentally ill folks on the street, particularly those with very few family supports and who are burdened, not only with mental illness, but with substance abuse. And we need to continue to support programs that provide mental health medication for homeless people without insurance. This is incredibly important that we maintain a level of funding for this. Now, I know that many in this room 13 agree with me that too many people are in prison to begin with. And while this City, the City of Philadelphia, has begun several outstanding initiatives to prevent those coming out of prison from becoming instantly homeless -- we have some good programs that we've begun, but we need to do more. And more work is needed, and the plan that is being developed, I believe, will help with this. And let's not forget that engine of self-esteem; jobs. We need to continue to work on jobs. And let's also continue to stress 234 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 the needs of our youth. We just heard about that this afternoon. Whenever I see a young person on the streets, living on the streets, the words of Nathan McCall hit me home, "It makes me want to holla; it makes me want to holla." We have the energy in this City to make a difference. We can make a difference. In closing, let me say that in the five years that I've been working with homeless people, I've asked the following question over and over again; "What do you need for your life?" I hear the same three words coming back at me over and over again. They are: "I need my own place." That's the bottom line. Housing. Affordable housing. Housing which supports services. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. We went through a lot on that homeless bill. You know I didn't vote for 235 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 that, although it worked out okay. I was really worried about it. But certainly, we thank you for all you're doing and for being such a role model, an example in our nation. Thank you.
Madam Chair, one of the great tragedies of homelessness, an experience of being homeless, as we know, is that all too often young men and women are called to serve our country in the armed forces, and after serving honorably, come home to walk our streets. In fact, the numbers are as high as 30 percent of people that experience homelessness nationally may be veterans. It is a pleasure for me to introduce to you and to invite, with your permission, to provide testimony today, Marsha Four from the Perimeter addresses the needs of this very, very special and important population.
Thank you very much. We are so glad to see here. We see her every year at Stand Down. We absolutely support it a thousand percent. It's a wonderful program. 236 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 And I wish at some point we would get to the point of expanding it a day. Maybe one day we can end up with a whole week where we could provide services. I'd like us to figure out if we could. I think it, what, starts on Thursday to Sunday, right.
I wish we could do like maybe all day Thursday. Maybe one of these days we'll be able to expand it. It's absolutely a wonderful program for our vets. And after serving their country, they absolutely deserve it. It's a program we support, Mr. Hess. We attend every year.
Thank you. When we first started it, when I first brought it to Philadelphia, they thought I was crazy wanting it for three days, but I'll pass that along. Thank you, ma'am. Councilwoman Blackwell, thank you for allowing me to be here today. As Mr. Hess mentioned, my name is Marsha Four, I'm Program Director for Homeless Veterans Services at the Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service and 237 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 Education Center. As Ed Speedling just said, the energy in Philadelphia surrounding this problem is something that is absolutely felt in the air, the energy that's being expended for that. And as someone else mentioned earlier, this work cannot be done on any one plane, in any one direction. It's a very complicated situation that requires input from all facets of our provider systems. We are, in fact, just one small piece of the puzzle, but we are able to access funding that is not available to everyone in the homeless services arena. Today, I'd like to speak to that funding, what it is and how we utilize it in advancing the work in Philadelphia on the issue of homelessness. In these times, of course, when patriotism runs high and palatable, we also think of the veterans of the past, and it's about them that I'd like to speak today; they, who served our country who are now on the streets. Homeless veterans are a reality. 238 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 And as Mr. Hess mentioned, a quarter of a million men and women in this country are homeless on the streets, and they are veterans. And in Philadelphia, that number may, in fact, reach as high as 2,000. And I know certainly you are aware of this issue. Our agency's been around since 1981. But in 1996, we were able to make some dramatic changes to our programs. This was in part due to our realization of the growing number of veterans that were coming into our doors that were homeless and also the availability of funding that was now going to be available for veterans through the VA Homeless Grant per diem program. That year, we did submit three grants, three at one time; two to the VA and one to HUD. They were able to provide us with two transitional homeless veteran-specific programs; one, a transitional program; and one, a day service drop-in program. Later, we augmented that with additional US Department of Labor dollars. The realized unique opportunity provided by the VA and Department of Labor 239 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 awards were grant dollars exclusively for homeless veterans. These awards were able to introduce into local homeless services a new stream of federal funding dollars accessible only to homeless veteran programs. However, it was augmenting the monies available to serve the general homeless population of the City. In actuality, they offset City expenses that homeless veterans would have otherwise expended on the already financially burdened system. The center is proud to have played a role in this contribution along with the increased grant leveraging with these grants and the ability for future Philadelphia grant proposals. I think that the commitment that we bring to this issue is vital to the work that we do because it is our mission not to leave our brother and sister veterans behind. Our commitment is to coordinated programs, which we work hard at every day, that will lead these veterans back to safety to self and to community. And as we said in past testimonies also, no one can do this alone. 240 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 The center's 50-bed transitional residence was expanded to 95 beds. It has admitted 636 total veterans since 1997, average length of stay 281. 6 percent of our total discharges are placed in independent housing. Our day service program, the Perimeter, is located in Center City Philadelphia. Since 2000, we've seen over 50 veterans a day that come into our program that are homeless. We have 2300 unique veterans in our data bank.
During our last HUD contract, 839 veterans utilized our services; 401 were new admissions last year. But with the work we're able to do and to help the City providing services to the homeless, 97 of those veterans were also admitted to Coatesville VA Substance Abuse Program, 52 to its domiciliary, 68 to transitional housing, and 71 independent housing. I believe the overall program efforts in concert with what we have with the VA have dramatically enhanced coordinated 241 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 services for homeless veterans in the City of Philadelphia. I do believe if we could look at the numbers, we can show that the work that we've done with veterans has decreased the length of stay in City shelter systems. As we invested into further opportunities, we also tapped into Department of Labor funds that are only available to homeless veterans also. Last year, 88 veterans utilized our training programs, and 80 of the homeless veterans were placed in jobs. We anticipate December 1st opening a further expansion, which is 30-bed standalone component dedicated exclusively to homeless women veterans, the Mary E. Walker House. According to the VA Center for Women Veterans in Washington, 3 percent or 6,000 nationally, women veterans are homeless. Using these statistics, Philadelphia may have as many as 115 on the streets. And if we look at data from the VA on pilot programs they have, it is very interesting and startling, in fact, that of all US women, those who served in the 242 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 military are overall times more likely to be 3 homeless. Further studies are looking at this investigation. We've invested in a system so that we can help the City in coordinating their knowledge of the tracking of veterans in the system. Partnerships, of course, are very, very important, and the Center has reached into local agencies, the City and the VA. Without coordination of available resources, as you well know, the homeless will never achieve full advantage of the work that we do. Reflecting on the progress of Philadelphia, it has come a long way over the last few years. In 1997 when we first sought a grant, the City of Philadelphia thought they had about 6 percent homeless veterans in their population. And today, that certainly has advanced the cause moving forward to 25 to 30 percent in their recognition and services that they provide. I've spoken to the commitment of our agency in the work that we do in the life situation of homeless veterans. This is in 243 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 part attested to by the 20-year commitment we made when we were awarded our first HUD grant in 1996. As a partner with the City in this work, as with many, many other non-profits, we place great confidence in the City's commitment to us and supporting us in the programs that we have. Our partnership with the City has been enforced over many years, and we look forward to continuing it in active participation in the consolidated effort of pressing forward. Mr. Hess has always been open to us. His doors has always been -- he has always been available for a contribution. And we are prepared to do whatever we need to to help the homeless veterans in this City. On behalf of the Philadelphia Multi-Service Education Center, my executive director, I'd like to thank you for not only having this hearing, but for all the energy and advocacy and the work that you do in the homeless arena in this City which you have done for many, many, many, many years. And we certainly, certainly thank you for the help 244 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 that you have given to us.
Thank you for all you do. Certainly, helping these homeless vets is an absolutely wonderful program. Brenda Cooper Cutz (ph), would you stand up? Brenda Cooper Cutz introduced me to the program, told me about it, and invited us down at the lighthouse location the first year we attended. So we thank Brenda. She's part of Horizon House and was working with many of this client base and she kind of introduced us. And so we say thank you. (Applause.)
Madam Chair, Brenda, if I may take a moment, reminds me of the many people in this City that started working on this issue very, very young. I think she was or years old. And we look forward to ending homelessness before Brenda retires, 245 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 because she's not allowed to retire before that.
Madam Chair, one of the first things Mayor Street asked me to do almost four years ago was to take a look at a program that he had seen in New York City called Ready Willing and Able. Ready Willing and Able to work, a program where men could go who had histories of drug abuse or substance abuse, had histories of some criminal violations and have had a tough road to go, a program where those folks could come in, work every day, become proud of the work they're doing, remain clean, and end up with good-paying jobs, living in a community, and becoming tax-paying citizens once again. I looked at that program, and then we decided we wanted to do it. We had to have a similar program here in Philadelphia. So I asked Richard Schaffer, who I'll ask to stand over here for just a moment -- (Applause.)
I asked Richard to figure 246 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 out how to find a building, get renovated and get it open so we could start our own Ready Willing and Able Program and not to take a day longer than six months; and he did it. He deserves a great deal of credit for this program getting up and running, but it's the men in this program that deserve tremendous credit for the great work they do every day, every day at Fairmount Park, every day at Woodstock, every day at Stenton Family Manor to make life a little better for people living within our shelter system and every day again on the Parkway and in the park to make the quality of life in our City a little better for all. And so it is with a great deal of pride that I invite Kate Houston, again, with your permission, and a couple of Ready Willing and Able residents to join us here at the table to provide some testimony. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. I've certainly visited this program, 247 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 too, on several occasions. And it is absolutely an outstanding program. Welcome and thanks for your patience.
Thank you. And thanks for your continued support, Councilwoman and Rob Hess and Richard Schaffer. I always bring a big audience with me everywhere I go, so thanks to you guys, too.
Let's have them stand. Everybody can see you. We welcome you. (Applause.)
Ready Willing and Able, as most of us know, is a residential work training program located at 12th and Bainbridge Streets. That's where Richard Schaffer decided we would be, and it's a beautiful facility. We're changing people's minds everyday about many things, and one thing is what a home should look like. And we take care of our place. It's like nothing you've ever seen. Right now, we're serving 70 men in 248 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 our residential facility. By January of 2005, we hope to be serving more clients through 4 a non-residential component of our program by 5 partnering with a residential clean and sober 6 program. We hope that we can expand our work 7 opportunity and share with more formerly 8 homeless and homeless men in Philadelphia. 9 Clients we serve are mainly from 10 Ridge Avenue Shelter, but also come from Outley House. We are certainly a preferred location for men who are exiting the prison system and criminal justice system. Every meeting I go to for ex-offenders, I hear Ready Willing and Able on the lips of case managers who want the best for their clients. Our community improvement project -- these guys in blue are actually coming in from work. They've had a very long day. And thanks for your patience, guys. They are doing street cleaning and landscaping in North Philadelphia, South Philadelphia, Fairmount Park, across the City, City shelters and, Councilwoman Blackwell, beginning in December also in West 249 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 Philadelphia. What does that mean to the guys? That means that they're giving back often times to the neighborhoods that they came from. They're not cleaning in Center City probably because Center City District's cleaning there. But also because it's a meaningful give-back experience for them. A lot of our guys are from North and West Philadelphia. What does that mean for the rest of the community? It means that these guys in blue are fantastic visibility and draws valuable attention to the homeless community in Philadelphia. I dare say the hard work that they're doing changing people's minds every day about the capacity of a homeless man. The fact of the matter is, when given the opportunity, these men will work hard. (Applause.)
Our founder developed the Ready Willing and Able formula by doing exactly what we are doing today, he listened to the men and women who were experiencing 250 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 homelessness. To this day, the men in our program are our program's ambassadors and they are the best representatives of our program. Carnell Stanley is a graduate of Ready Willing and Able. He's currently working at a shelter here in Philadelphia. He's part of the younger generation of homeless men in Philadelphia. He was born into a lifestyle. And unlike some of the older guys, like some of the vets, he's never been married and had a happy family and a full-time job and nothing to look back on to aim for. So this was all very new to him. And Michael Brooks, he and I sat down on Friday as I was leaving the office and I asked to talk to him for a few minutes about what he wanted to say today. We only had a little while to talk, and he said, "Hey, Kate, if you really want to know what I have to say, here's my book," and he puts down on the table about 300 pages of typed thoughts, theories and reflections on the issue and circumstances surrounding homelessness. And I'm very proud to introduce you 251 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 to both of them today. Ready Willing and Able is an integral and committed partner in the 10-year plan to end homelessness, and we are very pleased to be here today. Carnell, do you want to start?
Good evening. My name is Carnell Stanley. I'm a graduate of Ready Willing and Able. Ms. Blackwell, I'd like to thank you for this opportunity to share my story. I hope it will help you to understand where some formerly homeless men are coming from and how valuable we can be to this important mission of ending homelessness in Philadelphia. I knew the last time that I was in prison I wasn't going straight back to where I was. I went to Ready Willing and Able after prison because I didn't want to go to a shelter and I didn't need to go to a recovery house. After three and a half years clean in prison, I really didn't need anymore recovery. After Recovery House, I would have had four and a half years clean, but nothing else, no 25 savings, no training. Ready Willing and Able 252 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 sounded good because I knew when I left there, I would be secure. Lots of people leaving prison have the best intentions and really want to change. I know how many times I thought I was ready to turn my life around, but I would go back to the neighborhood and think to myself, "I'm a convicted felon, I have no job skills, I have five children to take care of," so I'd hold out for like a week or two, but I still had the problems that I had when I left. And things start building up and you get kicked out from where you're staying and you get comfortable with what you already know. " So I would start dealing again and relieve the pressure and get some money to my kids and their mother. I really wasn't thinking about the family of the guy that was standing next to me and that mother that I just served. I would just get comfortable all over again. And it's not normal, but it used to feel so normal to me. I was born in this 253 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 life-style. Crack was normal. Prison was daily. Dealing was normal. People shooting up around you, all this was normal to me. I never had a full-time to 5 job, a wife, a 6 house. I knew there was something to look 7 forward to, but unlike some older guys, I had 8 never experienced it before. 9 Last year, I had graduated Ready Willing and Able, and I have a full-time job at a homeless shelter. I'm currently on my own, independent living. Reading Willing and Able helped me deal with the issues that I ran from time and time again when I was released for prison. For 10 months I lived at Ready Willing and Able, worked at RWA, and got my life straightened out at RWA. I set goals with my case manager, work 35 hours a week in a park with the Community Improvement Project, and then later as a security guard at a front desk. Convicted felon as a security guard. I gained work experience I never had before. I saved my money. I found a job doing something I'm good at and something I'm 254 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 proud of. When I go home to my neighborhood in South Philly, I tell them I work in a homeless shelter. I'm around homeless people all day, and I love it. Ready Willing and Able is the only shelter I ever lived in, so I'm learning a lot about how people get by in the system and why they stay in the shelter when they do. At my job, everybody can get high. There's little motivation to leave if you can stay there and get high. I know that we need shelters where people can go when they don't want to stop using, but it's hard to help them. I think it's motivating for people who are using to be around other homeless people who are clean. But then that's a double-edged sword because the guy that's clean has to stay strong. The guy that's clean has a hard time staying clean and in that environment. Right now, I'm sponsoring two kids where I'm from in South Philly. They watch me, they see me going to these meetings. See, when you using, you don't consider yourself an addict. It's normal to be smoking all the 255 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 time and taking pills all the time. But they see I'm not doing that.
They start to think maybe it's not normal, and that's the attraction. They knew me. They look up to me because they knew me from when I was out there. For me to come from where I come from and not preach at them and Bible thump them or NA thump them but just ask them, "What's up? " That means a lot. The same way it did to me when I heard some older fellows from my neighborhood say that they were scared in a meeting. To hear some real emotional stuff, to see like it's okay to be you, that's what I give the guys in the shelter. I think I treat the guys different in the shelter than the people who work there who's never been on the streets, who's never used, never been in a situation. In a sense, it's like a sense of knowing. Some of these dudes I know personally. I shared something with them. I heard their stories, and I know where they came from. Some of them are old enough to be my father and grandfather. Like 256 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 it's an older guy who comes in so drunk the night before he can't even walk. I know firsthand at o'clock when it's time to wake 5 him up that he can't sweep a mop without his head pounding. I know firsthand. And it's always amazing when this guy who's old enough to be my grandfather asks me, "How do you do it? How do you stay clean? " There are a few other guys at Ready Willing and Able that graduated and who work at shelters now. It's not only door opening for us, but it keeps us dreaming. One RWA graduate works with me now at the shelter and he remembers spending two years in a shelter like the one we work. He said it didn't matter to him, he didn't care, it was normal. And now, every day when he comes to work, he's grateful to know and be reminded that he's one step away. And I know I'm one step away too. I could light up right now or be where they are just like that. It takes just one step and I'm off, complete switch up, right on cue. And that scares me. 257 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 My job is one of the best things that could happen. I'm doing what I already know how to do. I have knowledge of it. I'm sharing my experience. I feel like I'm doing something positive. But when it's time to move on, I'd like to go school. That's where I'm at right now. Not just for people, but for me. RWA helped me get this far now and I'm getting ready to take another step ahead. Thank you for letting me share my experience. )
Thank you. It was excellent. We thank you. We know it took courage. We appreciate you writing all of that and sharing your life with us. Thank you. And we're always here for you. I'm right down the hall, as I've said, in 408. We're always there for you. And thank all of you for willing to come out west, too. We need you out there, too. Thank you. (Applause.)
I'd just like to point 258 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 out an interesting thing that's going on in the system that we don't always take time to celebrate. But there's this natural mentorship. People are graduating from work training programs and then going back to shelters. Not only is it a natural career path or an opening, like Carnell said, but it feels good to know, to be experienced and to share and to help other people through that. At Ready Willing and Able, we try to hire as many graduates as we can to help the new guys through the program. But it's going on across the City. And I think it should be celebrated and I hope that we consider that component of the system when we look at a 10-year plan. Michael.
That's my maiden name, so we've got to look into that, Mr. Hess. (Laughter.) 259 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796
I want to thank everyone for being here and taking time out to listen to all the concerns. I want everyone to visualize, you're going throughout your day and it's at the end of your day. You're feeling good because you accomplished all the tasks you set out to accomplish that day. You're on your way home. You're walking down the street, then the inevitable happens. A man comes up to you and says, "Do you have any change to spare?" Normally, we just keep walking ignoring that person. Most of us don't realize that person is a confused person. That person don't have any sense of direction. That person don't have any hope. Well, I was that person. My name is Michael Brooks, and I'm currently a trainee at Ready Willing and Able where I plan to graduate within six months with a full-time job, independent housing, and most importantly, I'll be believing in myself again. (Applause.) 260 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796
My story is, me and mother had a rocky relationship. I never had any children, so no one was depending upon me and I wasn't depending upon no one. Towards the end of my mother's life, our relationship got a little better. But throughout that time growing up, I always felt it was me in this world all by myself. So I never really had no 10 sense of belonging, and that created a sense of loneliness and all types of voids that came within me. So I started doing things I wanted to do to try to ease that pain and forget about that pain. I starting drinking. I started hanging out. In doing that, I became frustrated because my life wasn't becoming the way I wanted it to become and I wasn't doing the things I should be doing to make it become the way I wanted it to be. So to try to forget about the frustration, I would start drinking again, I would start doing drugs. And that cycle persisted and it developed into an addiction. Now, the question may be, just because people have issues and people are 261 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 going through things, do that mean they have to become homeless? Maybe, and maybe not. The point is, when you're dealing with issues, some people have a tendency to try to cover up those issues like I did. I didn't want to face them issues. I was in denial about those issues. So those issues persisted and manifested themselves in other ways, and other ways were the drug addictions and there are many other forms. It can be gambling, it can be excessive work, it can be shopping, overeating, and those in a self-destructive behavior. Those are the underlying issues that cause addictions. But before a person becomes homeless, they're not happy with their life for one reason for another. And it doesn't matter, it's just a matter of time before a person end up on the street because he didn't have the coping skills. He didn't have the support system. And when you don't have those things in place, then you tend to act in self-destructive ways. And because of the self-destructive ways and you see your life as 262 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 becoming unmanageable, you have a tendency to think, well, I don't deserve good things. So when good things start happening, you sabotage it. When a homeless man comes to a service provider, the way things are set up now, the first thing we say to him is, "Let's tackle your addiction. " But I believe first you have to get hope into that person. You have to encourage that person to believe in they-self again. You have to figure out -- help that person figure out what they want to do with their life. Then those symptoms, the drug abuse, the alcohol abuse, the violence, the underlying problem, once a person starts believing in himself again, I believe those things will go by themselves. From what I've seen in the shelter system, mostly people just don't have time. They locate you and say, "Here's your bed. Wake-up time is at 5 o'clock. You must leave the building. " Most shelters are filthy. After being depressed, feeling reject, being 263 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 isolated from mainstream society, being isolated from your family, from your friends, going into a place like that really becomes depressing. The filthiness, the odor, people talking rude to you, they don't take time out to talk with you, to encourage you, to find out what's going on. People have a tendency to say, why even try. Being homeless, you have no sense of direction already. Then you're at a place like that and people looking down on you and talking down on you, it's almost "Why even bother? I already have no hope. " Come into a place like this, a place that's supposed to help you, it's even more depressing. The shelter system, as we know it, needs to be abolished. We need to create a place where people can go, leave their belongings, a clean facility, a place where they can get rest, a place where people can come in to encourage them, to talk to them, find out what they want to do with their life.
264 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 Because being in that addiction, you lose a part of yourself. You forget your hobbies, you forget your interests, and you have to relearn all of those things again once you start the recovery process. And we also need to be held accountable. Going into a shelter system, a new shelter system, a clean facility, they should be drug tested. They should be guided in doing positive things with their time, taking all those energies and doing positive things with them so they can be held accountable, give them pride. Because it's funny, we think we have to help a homeless man get a job, but we never have to help a homeless man get money for drugs. We don't really have to help a homeless man find work. He knows all of that. Most of the time a homeless man had a family, had a job, had a car, had a house, they had all of those things. They didn't lose the ability to achieve those things again; they lost their ability to believe in themselves. ) 265 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796
What do I think about a 10-year plan to end homelessness in Philadelphia? The only way we will end homelessness is to get the people to believe in themselves. You don't have to teach them how to make money, how to survive, you don't have to teach them any of that. What you do have to teach them is that there's a better way to life, I'm willing to help you see that better way. It doesn't necessarily have to be someone who's already been down that road. It could be someone who just cares, who has empathy for that person, who has compassion for that person, who takes the time to listen to that person. Because, in my opinion, homelessness is not an economic problem. Sure, affordable housing and livable wages would help, but 9 out of 10 times, they already had that. They already the skills to achieve that. We have to get to the part where they believe that they can achieve it, to encourage them, get them thinking about "who are you? What do you do want to do with 266 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 your life? What steps can you do to help make that dream become a reality?" Believing in yourself and thinking positive, showing them how to do constructive things, showing them how to live again; I think that's part of a successful program. The thing that separates Ready Willing and Able from all the other programs I have seen, particularly in Cleveland and Pittsburgh, is that they believe in the guys. They encourage the guys. We have a clean facility, not like a shelter, where you can live and you can feel good about yourself, about working. At the same time, it's teaching you how to structure your time. It's teaching you good habits, going to bed on time, waking up on time, how to deal with other personalities, how to deal with life when it shows up, how to deal with them problems, them unresolved issues of conflict we all experience. I'm learn these skills and coping with them through the help of my case worker, things I need for life. At RWA, you're just 267 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 not dealing with "here's a place to sleep for the night." You're dealing with the a person as an individual. "I'm going to encourage you. I'm going to show you how to manage your time. We're going to develop positive habits that will help you on the outside world in mainstream society." And that's the thing that separates RWA. That's what makes it an excellent program. It allows the man to keep his dignity and have pride in himself. It allows a man to help him achieve his dreams, to get him to dream again. The environment of Ready Willing and Able is a clean facility. It nurtures the possibility that man saying, "Hey, I can do it again. I can start living again." The other thing about RWA is it has a excellent activities program where they take the men to sports games, they take the men to concerts and shows, not because I think it's a waste of money or "How do they go to those places? I'm working 9 to 5, I can't afford to go to them places." Well, they earned that 268 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 right to do those things. It's teaching them that there's a positive way to spend your time other than running the streets and going to bars and hanging out and doing destructive things. I spend a lot of time thinking, writing, and sharing my theories on homelessness, and I look forward to working with you to achieve this ambitious goal for Philadelphia. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. We thank you very much. It comes back to that old poem about love that says, "There's no difficulty that enough love won't conquer, no problem that enough love will not solve." We thank you. And belief in one's self is loving one's self, am I correct? All right, we've got to love one another. We're all we have. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
Let me note 269 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 before Mr. Hess speaks that we have the testimony from Professional Healthcare Institute. The stenographer will record it and it will go into the record as if this testimony was made. (See attached testimony.)
We thank Jean Bumb (ph) and Commissioner Harvey Portner who was here. As many of you know, Jean Bumb does a fantastic job. She's one of my dearest friends. You know, when you're so committed, you interact so much. She and Brenda Cooper Cutz and I have been working together for a very, very long time and are certainly committed to you. Thank you. Mr. Hess.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We want to thank all the men for doing such great work at Ready Willing and Able. We look forward to continuing to hear the wonderful stories of folks that have graduated from that program. We have a number of distinguished federal partners with us here today and also 270 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 Dennis Culhane from Penn, all of which we need to hear from, want to hear from, look forward to hearing from. We have one other group to hear from first. The day has gone long, as you know. We appreciate everyone's patience that's still here. One of the great things about this issue at this time in this City under the leadership of this Mayor and this Majority Leader is that this hearing could go on for a month and we would hear just incredibly inspiring stories from all across this City of great work that's being done. And there's no one right door or one right program for anyone. Ready Willing and Able certainly works for many of our men in this City. Housing First works for many men and women in this City that nothing else ever worked for. And we are just so proud, and I think it's appropriate and I'm pleased that our federal partners are here to hear about our New Keys and Home First Program. And David Dunbeck will make his way to the witness 271 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 table with his folks to briefly review that program with us. But let me just say while our federal partners are here that these Home First programs would not have been possible without new dollars from the federal government. And we appreciate that so very, very much. (Applause.)
Thank you very much for your patience. We're glad you are here and look forward to your testimony. Thank you. These are all my friends with whom I interact regularly.
My name is David Dunbeck, and I'm the Director of Homeless Services at Horizon House. I'm pleased to be here today to speak to you about the importance of continued funding for services 272 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 to homeless men, women, and children in Philadelphia. As you know, Horizon House was founded in 1952 and has grown into one of the largest behavioral health services organizations in Philadelphia. Horizon House uses the principles of psychosocial rehabilitation to provide comprehensive treatment and residential services to adults and families with mental illness, mental retardation, and substance abuse problems, many of those whom are homeless. Each year, the agency's clinical and rehabilitation specialists provide community-based residential, vocational, educational case management, outpatient and partial hospital services to over 3,000 individuals. Horizon House's services are consumer-centered and are designed to assist the individuals served to live as independently as possible within the community. There are many reasons that I am proud to be here today. First, I am proud to 273 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 represent the 70 hard-working and dedicated employees of Horizon Houses Homeless Services Division. (Applause.)
As you may recall, Horizon House has been providing homeless services to homeless individuals since 1984 when we participated in the Center City Project, Philadelphia's first effort to organize the service system for homeless people with mental health needs. Since then, Horizon House has helped thousands of homeless individuals with behavioral health needs regain control over their lives and become contributing members of their communities. Today, Horizon House's nine homeless service programs assist individuals and families to become progressively more self-sufficient. Second, I am also proud to be here as a partner with you, the City of Philadelphia, and other homeless service providers to bring an end to homelessness in Philadelphia. Together, we have made significant strides in reducing homelessness 274 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 in the City in the last to years. A big part of Philadelphia's success lies with the high level of collaboration that has existed among service providers and between providers and funders. We must make sure that this high level of collaboration continues. We cannot tolerate an environment where the public sector is competing against the private sector or family providers are competing against single providers or homeless children are being pitted against the chronically homeless. In an environment of ever-shrinking resources, every dollar that goes toward any part of the homeless problem must be celebrated by all as part of the solution. Only together can we continue toward our ultimate goal of ending homelessness. And this won't be possible without maintaining or increasing the City's strong support for all parts of the homeless system. Of the over $5 million homeless services budget at Horizon House, over 43 percent comes directly from City contracts. In the last year, you have helped us provide 275 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 outreach engagement services in the streets of Center City and West Philadelphia during the day and overnight. This funding brought needed emergency services to hundreds of our vulnerable citizens on the streets. You helped us to start Philadelphia first two Housing First programs which Rob referred to, Home First and New Keys. Working collaboratively with 1260 Housing Development Corporation, the Philadelphia Health Management Corporation, and the Veterans Administration and the City, these programs have provided immediate access to housing and intensive support services to chronically homeless individuals who have lived on our city streets and in our shelters for years. In the last year, over 65 chronically homeless individuals have successfully received housing and regained a place in our society. (Applause.)
You also helped us to provide transitional housing and support services to 80 homeless families with behavioral health needs who had been living in 276 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 the shelter system. This program called Prepare is the largest transitional housing program for families in the City. In the last months, 48 of these families successfully 6 moved into permanent mousing, ending the pain 7 of homelessness for themselves and their 8 children. 9 You also helped us with our other 10 programs, our Homeless Intervention Program 11 and our Support to Achieve Self-sufficiency 12 Transitional Housing Programs and you supported our drug and alcohol support services in the shelter system where we now can provide assessment and access to drug treatment for hundreds of homeless men and women each year. All of these programs work to end homelessness, and they must not be cut. In fact, now is the time to increase the services we provide. Finally and most importantly, I am proud of the hundreds of homeless individuals and families who come through our doors each year with the hope and determination to stabilize their lives and end their personal 277 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 homelessness. Our work as a service provider is to help them make their dreams a reality. They do the really hard work of ending homelessness. Their tenacity and ability to adapt to changing circumstances feed our souls, inspires us, teaches us and guides us. They can clearly articulate to you the importance of funding for homeless programs in Philadelphia than I can. That's why I've asked Anthony Reeves and Patricia Baltimore, two formerly homeless individuals served by Horizon House, to accompany me here today to tell you their personal stories of hope and recovery. In closing, I urge you to maintain or even increase the City's funding for homeless services. With your continued support, there will be many more men and women and children who have success stories like we're about to hear. Thank you very much.
Good afternoon, Madam Chairperson. 278 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796
My name is Anthony Reeves, and I would like to read something to you. My name is Anthony Reeves. I've been homeless for nine years before Home First entered into my life. That's a miracle. I don't know where I would be if it wasn't for a program called Home First. I have slept on the streets. I've slept in abandoned buildings, anywhere else I could lay my head. Since Home First came in my life, my spirits and my dreams have been renewed. Today, I actually laid my head down in my own apartment and said "It's mine." I don't have to worry about anyone waking me up and telling me to go. Home First saved my life. I don't know where I would end up if it wasn't for Home First. I've slept in shelters, but it's not the same as having your own. So please don't cut the budget on our programs for homeless or any other programs that help 279 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 people get on their feet and their own, like me. (Applause.)
I rise first to give honor to God, City Council, and to all who are here. My name is Patricia Baltimore. I am a 48-year-old who was homeless for 2,190 days, for 6 years, to be exact. I was homeless on the streets of Philadelphia, a City in which I was born and raised. My reason for becoming homeless was I went to live with my daughter who is hip hop singer in Germany. I gave up everything and moved to Germany. After a year and a half, I decided not to stay in Germany and came to states. I had to start over. I went into the shelter system and literally into the streets of my city. I rise again today to, hopefully, help you all understand the importance of service to homeless children, women, and men. It is very, very necessary. And I am also here to represent all the homeless people who are still out there and who are too wounded to 280 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 stand up here for themselves in light of the serious budget challenges. I pray that support for homeless services continue. I pray that city funding for the homeless is on the very top of the budget list as to not cut funds away to us. I cry to this City, my City, that public support for the services that are already available to us continues. To have a home is not a privilege, something a person should have to earn. Housing is a right. If you never been homeless and do not know what it's like, take a moment one day and close your eyes. Better yet, if all the lights in this building went out at this very moment, let's see how you could get to Market Street and you would know and feel what it's like to be homeless, crawling through the dark. We need the funding for these services. Homeless people don't have flashlights or maps. We need a sense of direction. We have these services and we honestly need them. Try to put yourself in a place where 281 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 there is no hope or no sense of protection. No one wants to feel like there is no hope for them. There is definitely a growing need for these programs and more. While I was homeless I fainted a thousand times. While I was unconscious in the hot summer, I couldn't get a drink of water. In the winter, I wore frozen tears on my face. Every muscle, tissue, and cell in my body felt paralyzed in fear. Fear, not afraid of dying; it was the dying while I was living that bothered me. And that's what I was doing, dying while I was living, yet still alive in my own city, the City of Brotherly Love. Earlier this year, I got over that fear. I got over the fear that had me paralyzed for so long. And I started seeking out who helps the homeless. I threw all fear in the trash, because you can't do anything as long as you are afraid of what might happen. Fear makes the problem seem bigger than it may be. Fear freezes the mind, making the challenges seem overwhelming. Fear clouds 282 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 opportunities. It erases possibilities and limits the ability to move beyond the place in which the mind is stuck. Last year, I called out the names of those who did not survive homelessness and I decided that I didn't want to die like this. I went to City Council. Ms. Jannie Blackwell, she is the one who helps the homeless. I knocked on her door and it opened. You can feel a person's spirit when you approach them. I felt her spirit, and it was pure and it was genuine. Ms. Blackwell, you already know this: I love you so very much and I'm so very, very even more today proud of you. Ms. Blackwell introduced me to a program called Home First. I do thank God for shelters, but shelters are only temporary relief. Home First is permanent relief. Home First is the solution to homelessness. And to be able to say I'm going home to my own home today is with great gratitude, because I wanted to say I was going home too. 283 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 Thank you, Jesus. With Home First any and all thorns from the past are removed. There is nothing to hinder you, and it is nothing.
" And they send you off with very good wings to fly with, and that's the truth. If you bothered, they won't bother you unless you want to be bothered. They let anybody else bother you either. So I call them my pitbull angels. So, Mr. Hess, I thank God that I could thank you personally. )
When you are homeless, you don't trust people and people don't trust the homeless too much either. Mr. Hess was trying to help me, but I didn't trust Mr. Hess. I took an army of people up into Mr. Hess' office. He wasn't there. But I thank God because I'm a warrior. I came through it and I thank God. One thing about it, I reach back to try to give it back. I try to give it back. 284 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 I want to thank Marchella who they thought was crazy when she come up here, Dr. Marchella. I'd like to thank Jenny from Project H.O.M.E. who gave me the opportunity to read the names of those who did not survive homelessness. And do remember the homeless during this holiday season. I thank Ms. Letty here from OSHA. Where ever I went for different things with them, I would not clap for OSHA. I didn't like OSHA. I thought they was out to hurt me. And she knew it. But you know what I thank God for? Everybody that knows me knows that Ms. Baltimore kept fighting with intelligence. You know, they throw that mental health on me, but whatever. I'm like okay. But you know what I'm saying, I knew how to maintain some calmness, you know what I'm saying, present myself. And I thank God. But I like you today. We made up today. It's been a lot of people that has been a stairstep getting to where, you know. And if I had any dream -- like I am in my apartment eight months, eight months. (Applause.) 285 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796
If I had any dream, I wish I could give an honor party, but it's just so many people to honor I don't have it like that. But, Ms. Blackwell, I thank you so very, very much. You really gave me -- like I used to say, I just need a chance, just a chance, just a chance. Because a hundred people, a hundred ways. Everything is not for everybody. And they want to get everybody under the same umbrellas or whatever. You have to hear the person because they really speak. I notice with some of these programs -- I want the funding to be there because we need it, we need it. We're going to need it more with the way the economy is going this minute, because some people could go home today and find out they're homeless now. You understand? I'm just so very -- I don't have anything, but I'm going to draw you a picture out of some construction paper because it's going to be special from my heart. But I want to thank very much, Ms. Blackwell. 286 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 (Applause.)
Madam Chair, we have heard all day from local providers and people that have experienced homelessness in our community. We have now one of the, I think, true national experts with respect to homeless data and understanding that data, making sense of it to make policy recommendations, one of our local scholars from the University of Pennsylvania, Dennis Culhane.
Thank you. You're a true hero to the people of Philadelphia and we're very grateful that you're our representative from West Philadelphia also.
I'm going to be brief, but I do want to make a general statement of support for the City of Philadelphia and its 287 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 programs that have proven so vital to the lives of so many people. As a researcher, I'm grateful that the City has made its data available to us at the University of Pennsylvania to try to understand the problem and to inform a national discussion, in part, based on that information. And what we have learned is that about 1 percent of Philadelphia goes to the shelter system each year; 5 percent of the poor people in this City, 10 percent of the poor African-American children in this City, and about 20 percent of the poor African-American men in their 30s and 40s are homeless and use the shelter system each year. So the numbers are pretty staggering in terms of their impact. Fortunately, most people do not stay homeless forever. They are assisted by these programs and the vast majority of them leave the public shelter system and they don't come back. They leave assisted by the very programs that the City funds, along with state and other federal resources. 288 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 However, there is a group of people who are homeless for long periods of time and for whom emergency assistance and shelter is not enough. About percent of our single 6 adult homeless in Philadelphia are chronically 7 homeless. Research that we did here has, in 8 fact, helped to inform a national discussion 9 with federal leadership which you're going to 10 hear from in a moment, about creating a priority for ending chronic homelessness. We know that these folks are using about half of the emergency shelter system resources in the single adult system and that they're also using a lot of emergency room 16 resources. They end up hospitalized and they end up in our jails and prisons at very high rates. And all total, when we did a study a few years ago, we found that they used about an average of $40,000 a year in these kinds of services, making it imminently more wise to place these folks in permanent housing. Housing programs -- I saw one of the materials that was provided for Council today showing that the per diem for a place like Project 289 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. E. would run at a cost of about 12,000 or $11,000 a year as opposed $40,000 a year which we spend just to have someone remain homeless. I know the City is facing a big problem, particularly in the last few years, with regard homeless families. The demand has been going up in the shelter system. Once again, research we were able to do using Philadelphia's data found that, in fact, if you look over the last 12 years, when unemployment goes up, shelter admissions go up. When housing costs go up, shelter admissions go up. And we happen to be in a time in the last three years where both of those things have been occurring at the same time, a real a double whammy for poor families, all the more pointing out how critical it is to have these City programs and services. I do look forward to a future. I've had a wonderful relationship with Rob Hess. I think you're blessed with very, very good leadership here in the City, someone who's 290 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 brought a lot of vision to the system, some great management skills, and appreciates the fact that good data is going to drive even better policy in the future. And I think with regard to the homeless families, I look forward to opportunities in the future to do more prevention with these homeless families, to get resources to them so that they can avoid evictions, or if they do lose their housing that they can get relocated immediately without having to go through a costly stay in the shelter system. I know the City's embarked on a 10-year plan to end homelessness. I'm very hopeful about that plan.
Like all of these plans, it is ambitious, but I believe that with the right kind of local leadership like yours and with the Mayor and others that the opportunity is there to achieve some very significant gains and to reduce homelessness in the City of Philadelphia. This is one of the few cities that folks in the federal government and elsewhere 291 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 can go around and applaud and say, if you do focus your resources on the street homeless, you can have an impact. You can have sustained impact over time, but it takes housing and it takes that kind of commitment. And I think our City deserves to be credited and lauded for those accomplishments. Thank you very much. )
Thank you also for your research over the years. You're known city-wide as an authority in this area, and I'm glad that you're from my district and we're proud of the work that you do. Thank you.
Madam Chair, with all due respect, I have seen you all over this City in every district. I'm not sure which district is really yours. With that said, Madam Chair, the last year and a half or so I have had the distinct honor and privilege of, at the invitation of the man I'm going to introduce next, visiting cities all across this country. 292 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 And I have to tell you that I have never seen before the kind of energy around ending the disgrace of homelessness in the state houses and city halls that I see today all across this country. And it's largely because, I believe, of the man I'm going to introduce. He is a true visionary and I think hero to people who experience homelessness across this country. Now, there are some that will try to pit family populations against folks that meet the federal definition of chronic homelessness. I suggest that we really shouldn't go down that path, because the man I'm going to introduced I've come to know, I've come to call a friend, I've come to understand how passionate and intelligent and reasoned he is in this area and he cares about all people. He could have been anywhere else in America today, and he knew it was going to be late in the day and that we were going to run long and the gallery would draw thin by this time in the day, but although he could have been anywhere else in this great country, 293 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 he chose to be here at this place at this time; and I think we owe him our thanks for that. Madam Chair, it's my privilege and honor to introduce to you the United States Interagency Council Executive Director and the Presidents's point person on homelessness in this country, Phillip Mangano. (Applause.)
Welcome, and thank you so much for your patience. Thank you for staying. I saw you when you came in, and we know it's been a while and we appreciate your commitment, your visit to our City and testifying at this hearing. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Councilperson Blackwell for being the initiator of this hearing. And after hearing Rob, I want to say, I accept the nomination, whatever it was to, I accept that nomination. (Laughter.)
I want to begin by saying that for the past three years of my 294 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 appointment, I've been bragging on Philadelphia all across this country. And I'll tell you I've been bragging about you across the Atlantic as well. I've sent delegations from the West Coast from San Diego and from the middle of our country in Dallas and back to the West Coast, San Francisco and other cities in our country. And recently you had a delegation from London who came to visit to learn what you're doing here in Philadelphia. So let me begin by congratulating your City, your Mayor, you, Madam Chairperson, your Council, Mr. Hess and his outstanding staff for the work that you're doing here in Philadelphia. It's unparalleled in our country. I want you to know that. You should be proud. (Applause.)
And I want you to know in Washington, we think of ourselves as being in a partnership with you and we're putting out resources where our rhetoric is. In the 295 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 last five years, we've sent over a hundred million dollars to Philadelphia specifically targeted to homeless people. Last year, we sent over $20 million. And you'll hear more about that from the federal partners who will be testifying in a few moments. Investment, we believe in a visible mensurable quantifiable change that's happening here in your city. We do see the number of chronic homeless people on your streets long term in your shelters. Philadelphia has become the national model to which cities across our country are looking because of the demonstrated results achieved on its streets in the innovative and cost-effective strategies implemented in its planning. Just in new revenues that Philadelphia has received and officials from other cities pilgrimaging here to Philadelphia, I think you've earned enough money to sponsor all of these homeless activities. There have always been many reasons to come to this great city; history, art, 296 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 music, sports. And I want you to know off the record I'm a New England Patriots fan and those Pittsburgh Steelers did to our undefeated team what they did to your undefeated team, so we're in solidarity, I want you to know, this week. We're going to get them back; I can tell you that. Nobody here is from Pittsburgh, I trust. (Laughter.)
Well, they used to come for your history, your art, your music, your sports. Now pilgrims come here to your city to see how you've made a change on your streets, to learn how your strategies have worked. You deserve to be proud of this effort. In Washington, we're proud of the investment that we've made in the Philadelphia response. Twenty federal agencies partner together, HUD, HSA, VA, SSA, and 16 others, your investment, like our federal one, in the homeless efforts in Philadelphia makes sense, common sense. The resulting quality of life 297 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 improvement in your City for everyone, both homeless and housed people, is envied by other communities. Your investment, like ours, is in a management process which has the confidence of political will and the confidence of provider agencies. Your investment, like ours, anticipates a return on investment that is tangible and gets the job done, not only in changed lives but in cost savings in the expensive mainstream health systems. We've long understood the moral and spiritual and quality of life issues related to homelessness. But only recently in the last few years have we understood the economic impact and consequences of homelessness. Dr. Culhane is an initiator of that. But other cities have done their own cost benefits analysis. And one of the best studies in our country is a city that's about the same size as Philadelphia, and I want to briefly summarize their study to indicate the impact, the economic impact; and that City is San Diego. 298 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 We all know San Diego. They constantly brag about their 330 days of sunshine a year. They've become a Mecca for tourists, retirees, vacationers, homeless people. And as the numbers increased in the 1980s and 1990s, there was a certain assumption in San Diego that they could accommodate that rise in numbers and that, though the numbers rose, it didn't cost the public purse anything. After all, they slept on the beaches, the slept in the parks, they slept on the streets and they begged for their food and drink. The common perception among the public and the public policymakers was this population didn't cost very much. As the number increased, unlike in Philadelphia, as the numbers increased in San Diego, they decided they would test that hypothesis. They engaged the University of California in San Diego to do the study. They followed just 15 chronic street people on the streets of San Diego for 18 months. And what they discovered was the complete opposite of their hypothesis. They learned in that study 299 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 that these folk were some of the most expensive people to the public purse in San Diego. They discovered, for example, that those people had nearly 300 entrances into 6 the emergency rooms of the hospitals, taken by 7 ambulance, accompanied by EMTs for 8 multiple-day stays. They noted and researched 9 the random ricocheting of those 15 people into 10 the expensive acute side of the substance 11 abuse and mental health system. They 12 aggregated how much law enforcement 13 interventions were on the street for those 15 14 people and how much it cost for the temporary 15 periods of incarceration. And rather than leaving all those numbers silo-ed, which happens so often, they aggregated all of those numbers. And what they discovered was that those 15 people in the 18 months cost the city and county of San Diego $3 million, an average of $200,000 per person. And of course, what the public in San Diego thought was, "We could have rented penthouse condominiums, given servants, and it would have been a less expensive 300 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. " So, of course, what they learned was that the old status quo of ad hoc silo-ed crisis interventions was the most expensive and least effective intervention that could be made.
And what they further learned, which caused them the most chagrin was this: That after the expenditure of that $3 million over those months, averaging $200,000 per 11 person, at the end of the 18 months those 12 people were in the same condition and same 13 situation as they were at the beginning of the 14 18 months. It just didn't work. The results 15 weren't there. 16 So if there's one thing we've 17 learned in the last few years, there's an 18 economic consequence and an economic impact of homelessness. And the work that's been done here in Philadelphia has cost savings probably still uncalculated in terms of the people have been taken off the streets here. So that's to be applauded as well. Across the country, new partnerships have been created. A recognition that no one 301 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 level of government can get it done alone, no 3 one sector can get the mission accomplished. We now have 20 federal agencies partnered. Fifty governors have created state interagency councils to mirror the work that we're doing in Washington with the United States Interagency Council to make the resources of the federal government more available and more accessible to homeless people. States are doing that, including your Governor, Governor Rendell. But even that partnership isn't enough. The federal and state government, because on the front lines of these issues is Mayor Menino. He's an old friend of mine, Mayor Menino of Boston. He constantly reminds us that there's no such thing as a national street or a state street, there are only community streets and that's where the issues are. And it's mayors and councils that get their doors knocked on with these issues. So we understood that we needed to involve cities. There are now 168 mayors, county 302 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 executives and city managers who have partnered with us in the creation of 10-year plans to end chronic homelessness in their cities. And those 10-year plans are conciliating the private sector. Whether business, non-profit or faith-based, all of them have been re-invigorated in a performance-based, research and data driven plan to get the job done for people experiencing chronic homelessness. And central to those plans, and I trust central to the plan that you're going to develop here in Philadelphia, will be cost benefits analysis and the resultant reinvestment strategies that go with cost benefits analysis. So Philadelphia is working in a partnership, and it's a broad partnership and it's a partnership with the federal government in focussing on chronic homelessness in providing your great staff here in Philadelphia to be part of our national faculty for other cities in a management agenda that prioritizes results in importing and exporting best practices. 303 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 Our good friend Rob Hess talks about larceny, the stealing of best ideas from around the country, around the world, and bringing them here to Philadelphia. That's true. He is a larcenist, but he's also a exporter. He exports the good ideas, the innovative solutions that have been developed here in Philadelphia, and that's an exciting prospect for your City. And we appreciate the collaborative style that's been developed in this City to work in league with the federal government to get the job done. I have to say that when I began my job three years ago, I couldn't have picked Rob Hess out of a police lineup, Madam Chairperson. Now he's one of the most influential people in our country on the issue of homelessness. You should be very proud of the work that he and his incomparable staff has done. )
Now, you know on this issue you have a trinity of national influences here, Dennis Culhane, Rob Hess, and 304 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 Mary Scullion, who I believe is still on her way here, and many more as you've seen from the testimony. Philadelphia is blessed, blessed many times. Now I would be remiss if I didn't mention another opportunity for Philadelphia and our country. In the President's '05 budget, he created a new program called the Samaritan Initiative. And anyone who's familiar with that old story knows what it's about. There are some people in our country who are on the side of the road who are on the street. Some pass by because of indifference, some pass by because they're ignorant, some pass by because they're insulated from the plight of those people. What we're saying with Samaritan Initiative is that we, with our state and local partners, are going to stop on the side of that road to make sure that that person is moved from the side of the road to housing and the services that they need. That initiative is now in Congress. We have 31 cosponsors in the House, and it's just been introduced in the Senate. 305 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 Things are happening rapidly in Washington with regard to the budget now, and I'm forbidden by the ethical procedures that I've had to encourage you to talk to any Congress people. I can only educate you about the fact that this Samaritan Initiative is there and it would mean more resources targeted to people experiencing chronic homelessness. And given the record that Philadelphia has in drawing down federal resources, I wouldn't be surprised. Finally, across this country there is a new standard of expectation regarding homelessness, and Philadelphia is a key part of establishing that new standard. We can no 17 longer tolerate shuffling homeless people from one city to another, from one side of town to the other, from one homeless program to another, from the street to treatment and back to the streets. We now expect visible, measurable, quantifiable change on the streets of our communities, in our neighborhoods and especially in the lives of homeless people. The new technologies and new research point to 306 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 that change and affirm its possibility. Philadelphia is leading the way in achieving these changes. Some city in our country is going to be the first to end chronic homelessness on its street. Why not? Why not? Why not? (Applause.)
I'm pleased today to be followed in testimony by a regional expression of the partnerships that we're developing. Not only agencies in 13 Washington, 50 governors and 168 mayors, but 14 regional federal agencies have been brought 15 together in partnership on homelessness by the 16 Council's regional coordinators across the 17 country. Here in the Mid-Atlantic, the 18 Council's coordinator is the very talented and 19 gifted Debbie Jackson. And she has assembled 20 key regional federal agencies to address you this afternoon. It's another example of interagency collaboration in the federal government. No one federal agency can do it alone. So they're partnered in Washington, led by VA Secretary Principi and partnered in 307 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 the federal regions across the country. The exceptional talents of these regional federal officials only adds to the assets to get the job done. That job is that every citizen in our communities will be known by a single name; neighbor, and be treated as one. Thank you very much. I'm proud to be here in Philadelphia. (Applause.)
Thank you very, very much for that excellent testimony. We got the message and we will respond accordingly. And thank you. We want to be No. 1. (Applause.)
We definitely want to be No. 1 to be rid of homelessness.
I think, Madam Chair, there's no question with the continued support of this Mayor, this Majority Leader, this Managing Director, there is no question with the community you've heard from today and a couple of our federal partners you're still to 308 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 hear from, there is no question but that Philadelphia must become the first city in this country to end chronic homelessness.
I'd like to invite, again with your permission, Madam Chair, Dainette Mintz, our colleague and partner in this homeless crime of larceny from OHCD to introduce our next speaker.
I'd like to take this opportunity to also indicate OHCD's support of the City's 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness and thank Rob Hess for the opportunity to be here this afternoon and to be a participant in this hearing. I've been asked to introduce the next speaker who is indeed a friend to Philadelphia. He is someone who is a supporter of Philadelphia's housing programs 309 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 and homeless programs. He has been in the trenches with us developing housing, affordable housing, homeless housing across the board. And we are very fortunate that he is now representing us on a national level. He is the Secretary's Representative for the Mid-Atlantic Region representing the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. And I introduce to you Milton Pratt. (Applause.)
Welcome and thank you for your patience. It's a pleasure to be with you again, Mr. Pratt.
Good evening. Well, I thought we were going to have a big crowd, so I had this long testimony. (Laughter.)
But I think in the interest of my other cohorts here from the federal government, I will consolidated my testimony, if that's okay with you guys. But let me know if it's not. (Laughter.)
First, I want to express 310 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 my support for being here today and participation in acknowledging your 10-year plan is certainly to be complimented on. I get to travel throughout my region, which includes about six states, and I'm always proud of my home, the City of Philadelphia, and telling people how progressive we are when it comes to dealing with homeless populations. And I've hosted many of those delegations that Executive Director Mangano has spoken about, and so we're certainly pleased to be a partner to Philadelphia, to the City, to the leadership that is exhibited here because that kind of leadership is not exhibited everyplace I go.
It really is not. I don't go to towns and hear that there's one councilperson, specifically one councilwoman who is the councilwoman of the homeless. And so I want to make sure that you know that your vision and your thoughts are certainly important.
But on any given night, approximately 5,000 people in Philadelphia are without a home. Of that group, 2300 people spend a night in a shelter and 960 are children. Over the course of the year, more than 25,000 men and women across the Philadelphia community experience a night of homelessness. The real story, however, is found not in the statistics but in the people that they represent. It is a tragedy that so many individuals, patriots that have defended our nation's freedom, families that are down on their luck, victims of domestic violence and substance abuse, addicted individuals that are in dire need of treatment spend their nights without homes, without hope, many of them huddle under roads such as I-95, on Girard Avenue, on Broad Street, on South Street all over this city in SEPTA subway stations. We see them. We know them. Many of them are our families. In the richest city, in one of the richest cities, certainly in the richest country, the most compassionate country in the world, it is unacceptable that 312 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 so many people can fall through the cracks, fall through the safety nets that are being provided. I want all of you to know that President Bush is committed to making sure that there is a change in this country when it comes to dealing with homelessness. Through an innovative approach that combines new resources with an unprecedented level of intergovernmental cooperation, and you heard Mr. Mangano speak about that, but I'm a part of that cooperation. And today, the other members of the federal government that are here are also a part of it. This Administration is aspiring dramatic progress in the battle to defeat homeless. My department -- I'm so proud to be at HUD because all my career I've spent knocking on the door of HUD and now I'm inside of HUD, so that's sort of a good thing and a bad thing. But Dainette is probably laughing because I think sometimes we went to HUD trying to get things done over the years. But I'm proud to be a part of HUD and serve on the 313 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 frontlines here in Pennsylvania and certainly in the City of Brotherly Love in the fight. A little known fact that of the 600,000 Americans of this country that are homeless every night, 200,000 of them are experiencing chronic homelessness. And I think you've heard everyone describe what chronic homelessness is, but it's certainly a person that suffers from a disabilitating, developmental, physical or mental condition or substance abuse or addiction. They have been homeless more than a year or more or they have repeated periods of extended homelessness, as you heard described in San Diego. They may occasionally get help and they leave the streets, but they soon fall back in the streets. I think I heard the gentleman DWA talk about how they would come and go and leave the streets. So what have we done here in Philadelphia? And that's what I want to talk about. For the past eight years, we've invested $53 million in funding to provide temporary housing for homelessness through 314 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 emergency shelter grants, programs for rental assistance and supportive services through housing opportunities for persons with AIDS. Some of these funds have gone to fund projects such as Calcutta House where they used their funds to develop a facility that I happened to actually see this week when I was up in that area and where they're providing medical assistance for homeless individuals as well. Through McKinney Program we got 36 grants totaling almost $23 million and we've awarded the 2003 competition. The 2004 competition is underway. So hopefully there will be more funds available to the City of Philadelphia to continue to support training and assistance for formerly homeless individuals and families. 8 million called the Collaborative Initiative to End Chronic Homelessness, and this was awarded to Philadelphia.
And again, this is something for the City to be very, very proud of. It's a recognition that the City providing the kind 315 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 of leadership that is so important. I'm going to paraphrase some of the my testimony in the interest of time and just remind you that on the federal level we've tried to coordinate our services and our programs through our Interagency Council. I serve as the Vice Chair of the Interagency Council and HUD provides the staff, namely, Debbie Jackson. Where is Debbie at? I want to make sure Debbie is pointed out. Debbie is on my staff. She's been a resource throughout the entire region, to cities and counties that are trying to develop 10-year plans. As we are trying to coordinate our efforts on a reasonable level, I want to encourage you here in Philadelphia to continue to do the same thing. I know that there are three distinct agencies that provide different levels of support for homeless families, certainly OESS, Rob's office and his entire staff does a great job and we continue to have a great relationship there; and then Kevin Hanna's office through the Office of Housing 316 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 and Neighborhood Preservation, and we provide the bulk of our funds through those doors and OHCD; and finally, the Housing Authority where I know you're a member of the board. We want to courage you to make sure that there is spirit of collaboration between those three agencies because homeless families in this City need to know that they can count on transitional housing, permanent housing, temporary housing. And I think right now the climate is such that they know they can count on at least two components there and they want to continue to find that the Section 8 Program, more specifically, is a resource for homeless families here in the City of Philadelphia because it is a very, very vital resource. You heard many individuals today talk about that Home First or that Housing First model. That model doesn't work unless we know that a family has a way to pay that rent. And the way that they pay that rent is clearly through the Section 8 voucher program. So I want to encourage you to make sure there 317 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 is a spirit of cooperation here in the City and let you know that as a department, we at HUD are committed to supporting the City of Philadelphia in its innovative efforts here to end chronic homelessness. And I want to thank you for your time and attention and patience, and I look forward to testimony from my other colleagues.
We thank you for your continued leadership. My understanding is that it's at the federal level that -- not project-based, but that the scattered site Section 8 vouchers have been cut. That's what my understanding is. So we need them. In fact, my understanding is that when PHA is asked to make decisions about who gets the voucher program, it's put in competition with itself in terms of the Section 8 voucher program. But I understand that it's at the federal level that that the individual scattered sites 318 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 have been cut. Maybe you can find out. Obviously, I have no way of checking myself.
With respect to your comments, they are certainly appreciated. And we have been trying to reform the Section 8 Program. And the reason that we have tried to reform that program is because essentially that program consumes more than 50 percent of our annual budget, and that number continues to escalate. Of the $33 billion that's appropriated every year by Congress, we appropriate half of it to the Section 8 Program. So across the country when you look at that program, it's a very, very successful program. I started my career here in Philadelphia running a component of it and I ran the program also in Chester City, so I'm more than just a fan and a friend to the program. I understand the program operations very, very well. And I don't think that was the point I was trying to make. I know the point that I was trying to make was just that with three 319 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 distinct agencies here, it's important that they continue to collaborate. I know that they do. I'm not suggesting that they don't. I know that they do, but that collaboration at the highest level and certainly provided by your leadership and the Mayor's leadership serving on the Housing Authority Board and obviously being the Chief Executive and the Majority Leader, that collaboration I know exists here, and we just want to make sure that we're a part of extending it and make sure that the City of Philadelphia knows that we're partner. And we are going to reform this program because if we don't reform this program long-term, and that's the Section 8 program, it will continue to consume more and more of our resources. And if it does that, other federal programs, other programs funded by HUD may, in fact, be at jeopardy, and we don't want that to happen. So this is a way to make sure that our 33-billion-dollar pie gets spread as far as it possibly can.
I don't 320 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 know all the other HUD programs, but I do know that Section 8 is worth every dollar because it is the only way that people can get an opportunity to live in neighborhoods, and it is the incentive for developers to build. So I have no idea what it's in competition with. I only know that it is a wonderful program. It is sorely needed. And I hope that you will take back that -- I don't know what else has to be cut, but we need it. And if something is in jeopardy, it sure shouldn't be the Section 8 Program because I don't know how we survive without it. (Applause.)
Thank you for all your leadership and commitment. I see Mr. Pratt everywhere in Philadelphia. We've been to more dedications and more ribbon cuttings than either of us can remember. But thank you very much.
Madam Chair, as the hour grows late, the dignitaries keep rolling in, in support of this great issue. I'm more convinced than ever that with the support we've seen here today that we will, in fact, become the first city in this nation to end chronic homelessness. And so it is with that framework that invite Debbie Jackson, which, again, with your permission, to join us at the testimony table to introduce our other federal partners that are here today that would like to say a few words in support of our effort here. Debbie, as you know, is our representative on the Regional Interagency Council, and we're just so pleased to have her with us today as well.
Thank you very much, and welcome. Thank you for your patience. (Applause.)
Thank you, Mr. Hess, for including me in this opportunity. Madam Chairwoman, thank you again 322 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 for having us.
We thought it not robbery to include our federal partners. I called them and said, this is what was happening in the city in which we have investment. And each of our federal partners here today volunteered, offered, insisted that they be allowed to give testimony. We have one agency, however, Social Security that said "We think it's important. We don't want to take away from the day, but we're here and we're present." And so representing the Social Security Administration today, we have Ms. Karen Martin, the Regional Communications Director.
And now without ado, I'd like to bring forth my partners in the Federal Interagency Council to present. I'd like to ask Mr. Michael Hall from the US Department of Census, I'd like to invite Mr. Vincent Kane from the Department of Veterans 323 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 Affairs, and I'd like to invite Mr. Frank Holland from the Department of Health and Human Services to share their interest, their concern, their support for this initiative here in Philadelphia.
Thank you very much. Welcome all of you, and thank you all for your patience. We realize it's been a long afternoon, and we appreciate you for spending so much time and for being willing to make your testimony. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilwoman, for allowing us to speak today. My name is Michael Hall and I'm representative of the US Census Bureau. As the goal of the US Census Bureau is to be the preeminent collector and provider of timely, relevant, and quality data about the people and economy of the United States, the US Constitution mandates that we conduct a complete count of the population in the United States every 10 years. The Census Bureau does not produce a count of the homeless population because it's been very 324 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 difficult for us to adequately do that, but we do provide counts for certain components of the homeless population. But we have partnered with US Interagency Council on homelessness, serving on the Regional Interagency Council on Homelessness in the Philadelphia area. Statistics show that our homeless population has a huge impact upon the local economies. The staggering cost of hospital stays, emergency room visits, detoxification programs, rehabilitation treatment centers and psychiatric hospital care as well as emergency shelter operations all drain the local economy's limited resources. At the US Census Bureau, we're developing strategic plans to improve coverage of the difficult-to-enumerate populations with special emphasis on including people without conventional housing as well as people experiencing homelessness. Therefore, we are partnering with the providers of services for individuals and families experiencing homelessness. We hope our plans will enable 325 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 us to find solutions and meet the challenges encountered enumerating the homeless population in our 2010 census. As you well know, the more people we count in the City of Philadelphia, the more federal dollars that come into the City of Philadelphia. So we strongly feel that developing such relationships will be a win/win for all involved. And I will end it there because I know it's late in the evening and will let everybody continue on. Thank you.
Good evening. I'm Frank Holland with the US Department of Health and Human Services in Philadelphia. I'm representing Secretary Tommy Thompson, a regional director of Robert Zimmerman. When President George W. Bush declared that by 2012 we would end chronic homelessness in America, the US Department of Health and Human Services stepped up to the plate immediately. Secretary Thompson became the first non-HUD Chair of the US Interagency on Homelessness. Under Secretary Thompson's 326 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 leadership, 50 governors were encouraged to establish state Interagency Councils on Homelessness. As the immediate past Chair of the Federal Interagency Council on Homelessness, Secretary Thompson remains vigilant in his commitment to end homelessness. In conjunction with the Department of Veteran Affairs, Housing and Urban Development and Labor, HHS sponsors a series of homeless policies academies to assist states to explore new policies and collaborations across multiple programs that improve access to housing and treatment resources. HHS also published the Blueprint for Change, a Strategic Plan to End Homelessness. HHS offers a multitude of programs, grants and services. First Step is a Web-based tool designed to assist providers and persons experiencing homelessness. Healthcare for Homeless provides medical services to one of our most vulnerable population, the homeless and the kids that are out there. And locally, the Mary Howard Clinic receives funds under 327 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 the Healthcare for Homeless Program. In this region, the Mid-Atlantic region, Robert Zimmerman, our Regional Director, served as the first Chair of the Interagency Council on Homelessness. And under his leadership, the Council was established in Philadelphia. Since it's inception, the Regional Interagency Council on Homelessness has participated as a federal partner in training sessions for homeless providers and hosted visitors from the United Kingdom on their tour of Philadelphia's homeless service providers. Philadelphia is 1 of 11 cities to receive funding from the first collaborative supported by HUD, HHS, and the VA. HHS fully supports the efforts here in Philadelphia to develop and implement a plan to end homelessness among the citizens of the City of Brotherly Love. Thanks. I tried to make it quick. Everybody wants to leave.
Good evening. I'm Vince Kane from the Veterans Administration here in 328 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 Network 4. Thank you, Madam Chairperson, for inviting us. I have to tell you, it's really a pleasure as well as a privilege to be here. And I'm here in two capacities: One, representing the VA; and second, representing the Interagency Council. I'm going to sort of put of this aside and just submit it and kind of try to echo what I learned here today and what I've learned over the course of the year. At the VA here in Philadelphia, we would not have the source that we currently have if it wasn't for our relationship with the City. Mr. Mangano spoke about how the federal partners are going to resources where there's partnerships and strong partnerships. Philadelphia and the Philadelphia VA is the beneficiary of that, and that's because of our relationship with you in trying to meet the needs of homeless veterans here on the streets of Philadelphia. At this time of the year, particularly on the eve of Veterans Day, it's ever more important to remember the veterans, those who have served, the men and women that have served our country that need our services 329 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 now. And I can't thank Philadelphia enough for your leadership in meeting their needs and partnering with us so that we could bring resources here to our community and be part of the process when we become the first city to end homelessness in this country. And I think we will because of our relationship and the partnerships that you value. And we're here as members of the Interagency Council to support you and your team, Rob Hess, and others in whatever way you need us to make sure that we are the first to end homelessness. We're delighted that you have involved us in the process. We're appreciative of how you've included us, how you've taken care of our veterans and enabled us and supported us in stepping up to make sure that we're there for our veterans and for the other homeless in our community. So we want to continue to thank you, to support and please let you know that we're available as a resource to help you in your 10-year plan as well as to help you on a daily 330 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 basis in meeting the unmet needs of the homeless in our community. So thank you.
Thank you all very much for your excellent statements and for your commitment because it's what you do and it's what we all do collectively when we care and care about this client base that makes a difference. Thank you. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
We're grateful for all the positive statements we've heard tonight. And in all things we give God the glory for the privilege of serving other people in need. That's what it's all about. We have to love one another. He is the essence of love, and we thank Him for the privilege and opportunity to serve.
Madam Chair, we're so pleased for the presence and support and continued support of our federal partners. 331 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 I noticed that the Managing Director has entered the Chamber. Of course, he has two jobs -- probably more than that, but at least two. One is just the small job of being Managing Director of this great City. The second and I think more serious job, although that's a very serious job, not to make light of it, is that of Co-Chair of the Mayor's Task Force on Homelessness. And so I recognize Phil Goldsmith in both roles. (Applause.)
Welcome, Mr. Managing Director. We're glad you're here.
My pleasure. I wish I could have gotten here earlier. I just wanted to stop by and thank you, Councilwoman Blackwell, for keeping the focus, keeping the focus on this very important issue. And I know you've been at it a long, long time. I know a lot of people would like the homeless to go away; out of sight, out of mind. And we only wish it was so easy, but it's not. And as I said to people, they're 332 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 not pieces of litter that we just throw away. And we have to balance the dignity that they deserve with our desire to find them homes that they can restore themselves to a productive life. One of my best friends was a homeless person. He was a businessman and he got involved in drugs and alcohol, found himself in bad shape. And he was fortunate because a police officer reached out to him and took him to a shelter. My friend eventually became the head of that shelter and ran the shelter. I also knew he was an artist, but that hobby and that skill sort of went by the wayside when his luck turned against him. So I commissioned him to paint me a drawing, which very proudly is in my house on my wall. And it keeps on reminding me each day that these people are human beings, they deserve our respect and they deserve dignity. I'm please that the White House is here and other people have come here, and I thank Rob Hess and his staff for the wonderful 333 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 job that they do. But I do want to thank you for continuing to shed light on this issue. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Managing Director Goldsmith. Thank you very, very much. You know when we were all in school, we read, many of you will remember, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Anybody go back that far? The theme of that was -- as you know, the albatross didn't fall until he remembered that he loveth best who loveth best all things both great and small. For the dear Lord who loveth us, he made and loveth all. So that's what it comes down to. And as you know, when he realized that love was the answer and God loves all, then he was freed from that burden. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you, Madam Chair. We have one more individual to testify tonight. She was actually here earlier in the 334 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 day, had to leave briefly and has returned. So we invite, again, with your permission Deborah Russel from Disabled in Action to the testimony table.
Thank you. She's been here awhile. I saw her earlier. Certainly, she's absolutely welcome, and we're happy to hear her testimony. Good evening. Welcome, and thank you for your patience.
Good evening. Thank you, Madam Chair. My name Deborah Russel. And I am a member of Disabled in Action. Disabled in Action is a civil rights group of disabled people who are constantly pursuing our rights to live in the community and be a part of the community. I wanted to speak today because it is important for this City and the world to know that disabled people don't want to be left out. When you're talking about housing, remember disabled people. When you're talking about neighborhood development, remember disabled people. When you're talking about 335 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 homelessness, you have to remember disabled people. I thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I thank Bob Hess who has worked with Disabled in Action and also Liberty Resources in pursuit of our rights to be a part of the community and be involved in housing. I think it's also important for everyone to know and understand and realize that right here in Philadelphia, about 13 percent of our population is made up of 14 disabled people, whether it be physical, 15 sensory, mental illness, mental retardation, 16 whatever, there's 25 percent of us in this 17 City that are disabled. That's a large 18 number; in fact, I believe the largest number 19 across the United States comparatively. 20 What's important for us to express 21 today is that many disabled people are 22 homeless. If they're not literally on the 23 streets, which some are, there are many, many 24 more that are in intuitional settings, not 25 because it's where they choose to be but 336 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 because of the fact that they didn't have resources and options to develop accessible homes or have funds for modifications. Families have been split up because there weren't those resources available to them. What I also want to say is that I commend this City for its programs and support services to those who are homeless, but we must remember not only to keep those successful programs going but also to continue to develop the innovative and progressive movement towards transitional and permanent, affordable and accessible housing. Thank you very much again for the opportunity to speak.
Madam Chair, as we close this evening's proceedings, I think I will leave this place, without question, energized from the last seven hours and thankful for 337 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 your leadership that led to the testimony that we've heard throughout the day and absolutely convinced that as Council looks at future tax cuts and other things along that nature that they couldn't help be touched by what they heard today. These programs are incredibly successful because of the people you heard from today and others and have to be continued. In order to do that, the Mayor, the Managing Director will need the resources necessary to allow that to happen. And so with your leadership and that of your colleagues, I'm confident that that will happen. But I hope today has helped in some small way to let everyone see how important these issues are, how important these resources are, how important these programs are. Thank you again for your leadership, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Hess. Thank you, too, Roberta and your entire team and Ms. Hinton, just everyone. I suppose our next step is some 338 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 benchmarks that we can use to help get us where we need to go and hope we don't have a downturn on the economy that makes it even harder to go where we need to go, because we have had a 10-year plan before. We believe that we can achieve it if we have the will to do it and that we make a commitment and stick by it no matter what. We can always scale back or move it up, but if we keep moving in that direction, I'm sure that with God's help we will be successful, because in the richest country in the world, no one should have to live on the streets. And certainly, we know where they are. It has been said over and over, we know where they are. We know where they are still in the subway and under bridges and in abandoned homes. We know where they are. And because we know where they are, it means that we can help them and we can take them to places where they can get the help they need. So we know that we would not be this far were it not for your vision. You've been a visionary leader. We are grateful for your 339 11/09/04 - HOUSING - RES. 040796 leadership and know that across the country, people are talking about us and we are breaking records because of your commitment and vision. And we say thank you to Rob Hess. Thank you, Managing Director. And thank you all. (Applause.)
This hearing will stand recessed subject to the call of the Chair. Thank you all very much. (Council adjourned at 6:10 p.m.) - - - - 340 C E R T I F I C A T I O N I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Tuesday, November 9, 2004, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. RE: COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT AND THE HOMELESS _________________________ Lisa C. Bradley, RPR