From left: Scott McNeilly, attorney
with the Washington Legal Clinic for
the Homeless; Father Joe Hacala, S.J.,
special assistant to Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development
Andrew Cuomo; AU chaplain Joe
Eldridge; and Susan Bennett, director
of the Community and Economic
Development Law Clinic in the
Washington College of Law, at the
panel discussion on homelessness.
Looking for solutions to end homelessness
By MIKHAILINA KARINA
Homelessness is a problem that perplexes all of us and weighs heavily on our conscience, said AU chaplain Joe Eldridge as he opened a lunchtime Table Talk discussion on homelessness last Tuesday. Thousands of homeless individuals and families stand in stark contrast to the economic boom and affluence enjoyed by the rest of the society.
A priest working for the government, an advocacy lawyer, and a law professor presented their perspectives on the causes, consequences, and possible solutions for homelessness.
Father Joe Hacala, S.J., special assistant to Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Andrew Cuomo, said that faith-based and nonprofit organizations have a long-standing tradition and success record for empowering communities for change. One of his tasks is to oversee HUD's Center for Community and Interfaith Partnerships, which organizes community groups at the grassroots level to deal with homelessness. The center's current budget is $108,000, but President Clinton's recent budget proposal allotted the center $20 million.
Hacala estimated that between 600,000 and 800,000 individuals in the United States sleep in the streets at night. He sees the solution to homelessness not in isolated activities, such as soup kitchens, but in holistic approaches that teach life skills and eventually lead to permanent housing.
On any given night, approximately 10,000 people sleep in the streets of Washington, D.C., said Scott McNeilly, attorney with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. Anyone's life can take a turn for the worse-he's had clients with doctoral and medical degrees, as well as working people with little education.
The biggest cause of homelessness is economics, McNeilly said. If an average one-bedroom apartment in the District rents for $700, it is unaffordable for people with disabilities whose monthly in-come is $512 or for those who support a family on a minimum wage job.
In addition, a number of public institutions have failed District residents. He specifically cited agencies in court-ordered re-ceiverships whose lack of services have direct impact on the homeless: the D.C. Public Housing Authority, which is considered the worst in the nation, and Child and Family Services, which was questioned in an investigation of a toddler's death.
"We have a six-month waiting list to get into emergency shelters," McNeilly said. "We have 360 families on this list."
In addition to recruiting and training volunteer attorneys to work with the homeless, McNeilly's legal clinic is also in litigation with public benefits programs. One current class action suit involves a private partnership arrangement with the District, in which the contractor allegedly embezzled the government funds and clients' money and used the moneys for luxury trips and dinners.
The final speaker was Washington College of Law professor Susan Bennett, who also directs the Community and Economic Development Law Clinic. She was dismayed at the continual shrinkage of affordable, decent units to house low-income people in the District. Over the past two decades, affordable housing in the District decreased by 25 percent, she said.
Washington, D.C., is like a tale of two cities, said Bennett. On the one hand, the low 4.5 percent vacancy rate is a testament to regentrification of neighborhoods and people pouring back into the city. However, with a minimum wage of $6.15 an hour (one dollar more than the federal rate), it is difficult to make rent each month and low-income people are often one paycheck away from being on the streets. At this rate, she said, an individual would have to work 122 hours a week to cover rent, utilities, food, and other expenses.
Why do we have homelessness? In addition to the failure of
local and federal agencies, Bennett said underemployment, domestic
violence, mental health problems, and physical disabilities drive
people out of their homes.
Although the panelists painted a bleak picture of homelessness in Washington, the fact that the situation has not gotten worse is a testament to the work done by nonprofit and faith-based agencies.
