| Show CAN’T ?M! continued gram that best serves the homeless and all the taxpayers” Sen William L Armstrong (R Colo) opposed the measure because he says “This bill skews housing-ai- d resources away from the truly needy and toward yuppie condos and other well-to-d- o subsidies” He says he is drafting “a more responsible cheaper and races Many women are on fixed incomes and the market of affordable housing for them is just empty” One young woman Martha holding her baby girl said she had been forced to leave the building in which she used to live when it was sold for conversion into condominiums For 18 months she and her three children had stayed with relatives “My two older kids are still there” she says adding that her family would reunite once she finds a apartment Till then she and her baby must search for shelter There are 17000 Bostonians now on waiting lists for subsidized housing “I don’t think In November 1984 Snyder and his agency won a referendum that forced the city to give overnight shelter to all homeless persons who asked for it The month before Snyder began a hunger strike to force the Reagan adshelministration to renovate an 800-be- d alternative” ter that the government had planned for Sen Alan Cranston (D Calif) a only temporary use It is now the Federal City Shelter and offers 1700 beds for major sponsor of the bill disagrees men and for women But hundreds more saying “This is a financially conservative housekeeping bill fashioned to alstill are without shelter there Last low states and cities to do the things that November Snyder went on another fast are necessary if they are to manage It this time to increase public awareness of the nation’s housing crisis In the interim dozens of families — again mostly single women with children — wait at the Pitts Hotel each evening for emergency overnight shelter A private hotel the Pitts has been under contract with the District of Columbia to provide rooms and to act as an “intake center” for the overflow For those families who are turned away buses arrive to take them to other hotels that will give them shelter Among the women staying at the Pitts was Jennifer 22 with her daughter and a similar story “My mother kicked me out during my pregnancy” Jennifer said “and from then on I was jumping from house to house Finally I came here because I couldn’t think of anything else to do” At the end of the summer in the nation’s capital there were nearly 900 homeless families but only 400 rooms in designated shelters Until additional hotels could be made avail- able many families had to sleep The Solis family: Jacquin 52 Adina 42 and their 10children He fled Cuba by boat in 1970 A in a school gymnasium before carpenterplumber he’s in search of work refuses welfare Salvation Army in Los Angeles took them in that they slept outdoors President Reagan has called federal was hammered out with great care both many people have grasped the enormity subsidies for housing “budget busters ” by Republicans and Democrats The opof the problem” Ms Orion says Gary Bauer his assistant for policy deposition had since last spring to amend it— and made no effort to do so At the “You could say that we're seeing a velopment suggested that the practice of rent control has “contributed greatlast minute they tried using largely new social class” notes Carol Witthoff misstated and misleading information director of the Salvation Army’s family ly” to homelessness in large cities by encouraging landlords to abandon their from the Office of Management and services for Los Angeles “Many families have been struggling to keep a roof buildings Budget to defeat it because they dislike In New York City a spokesman for over their heads and food on the table having government involved in housBut then a crisis — an illness or a job Mayor Edward I Koch calls Bauer’s ing at any level This bill is not a spendstatement “totally unrealistic " He adds thrift measure — it is $600 million belayoff or an eviction — knocked them “The problem will never be solved if low the level at which it was originally right to the ground” In Los Angeles the Salvation Army Washington continues to walk away from budgeted We have made new refinethis housing crisis The cities can’t solve ments to persuade those who opposed it runs a shelter — the first to be this alone” to pass this bill without further delay” built specifically for families includSen Robert Dole (R Kan) miing fathers “Families can stay here up In Boston at Rosie’s Place the first to eight weeks” Ms Witthoff says nority leader of the Senate says “I have supported legislation and funds shelter for single women in the state “provided they work toward stabilizfor the homeless and am committed to increasing numbers of mothers with chiling We take those we feel will benefit solution to their dren are arriving for help “We’re seeing from the help we give” The families finding a a lot more younger women ” says Tamsin get a chance to build a small nest egg — housing problems But with a national debt of $24 trillion Republicans and Orion a member of the staff at Rosie’s ideally enough for a month’s rent and a Democrats together must develop a pro- Place “and a much larger range of ages security deposit Included are services 51-d- low-inco- cost-effecti- such as and help with and saving apartmenthunting This shelter is always full Eight weeks Ms Witthoff adds is the “bare minimum of time” needed by most families to begin to get back on their feet “Kids from homeless families tend to be much more depressed than others” says Ms Witthoff “and they exhibit many more psychological problems They tend to do worse in school Because they’re shuffled around so much and haven’t a core group of friends they miss out socially Later without the kind of education they need they can’t get jobs It’s a vicious cycle” Over the past several years I in our cities hundreds of thou- sands of low-redwellings 3 have been replaced by buildings of luxury apartments or offices With the $1 billion emergency bill Maria Foscarinis adds “Congress for the first time has acknowledged homelessness as a national problem but it’s still only a first step toward forming a national housing policy and building more low-co- st job-seeki- nt housing” “Let me give you an example of what’s going to happen more and more in the future” Mitch Snyder says “In Alexandria there are some that traditionally have been affordable for up to 10000 people These are families most not receiving any government benefits a large percentage hold two Va housing complexes low-inco- low-payi- jobs “Now that those buildings have been bought and are being upgraded” asserts Snyder “the rents will go from $300 and $400 to $600 and $900 a month So where are the majority of those people going to go? Over the next year or two thousands of people will come out of there with no place to live “Some will leave looking for greener pastures but most will probably try to survive in the DC area They’ll hang on by splitting up their families and moving in with friends or relatives but ultimately they’re going to be on the street applying for emergency assistance They are the families that we’ll read about being put into hotel rooms that rent for $3000 a month” And those rents will be paid by taxH payers until a solution is found For further information write: The National Coalition for the Homeless 1439 Rhode Island AveNW Dept P Washington DC 20005 Orwriteyour own Senator and Congressman on your views about the need for legislation for housing aid to the homeless I PAGE 6 JANUARY 10 1988 PARADE MAGAZINE I |
