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Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless 160 Broad Street Providence, RI 02903 Phone 401.421.6458 Fax 401.421.6426
See staff page for contact information.
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Protesters
upset at cuts in affordable housing
01:00
AM EST on Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Bob Pangborn, Chuck Powers
and Jose Veliz, all of
Bearing
that message, hundreds of Rhode Island's homeless and their advocates flooded
the State House yesterday in protest of the governor's proposed cuts to
affordable housing: scooping $26 million from Rhode Island Housing, the
independent state agency that finances affordable-housing projects, and
eliminating all $7.5 million for the Neighborhood Opportunities Program, the
state fund that helps create low-rent housing for those making less than $30,000
a year. Safe,
affordable homes are the building blocks of both a solid economy and of stable,
successful lives, advocates such as Jim Ryczek of the Rhode Island Coalition for
the Homeless told the crowd at a morning rally. Without homes, those foundations
start to crumble. "I've
been trying to get off the streets for three years," said Steven Farias,
48. “But when you're struggling to make ends meet, cobbling together a
security deposit and the first month's rent is a challenge.” "If I had a
place to live I could go back to work," he said. Farias'
was one of dozens of stories heard yesterday. Tales of people whose dreams hinge
on a front door. Their own. State
officials say they didn't intend to target affordable housing per se, but as
they try to close a $150-million budget deficit this year and face an even
bigger shortfall next year, no pot of money is off limits. "The
budget office was looking under pretty much any rock available," State
Budget Officer Rosemary Booth Gallogly told the Housing Finance Committee in a
hearing to address the governor's proposed cuts yesterday afternoon. When
it discovered what appeared to be $31 million in unrestricted funds in Rhode
Island Housing's own financial statements, Gallogly said her office requested
that the agency turn over $26 million of it to the state -- one of several
attempts in the governor's budget-cutting bill to dig funds out of the state's
quasi-public agencies. Yesterday,
state officials backed off! that pl an slightly after Rhode Island Housing
Executive Director Richard Godfrey testified that the money his organization has
in hand is actually millions less. Of the agency's $17-million programmatic
budget, just $4 million remains this far into the fiscal year and much of that
money has already been earmarked for services. On
any given day Rhode Island Housing has about $10 million in its general
accounts, but that money is neither free nor unrestricted, he testified. It
serves as the agency's day-to-day operating fund, used to cover salaries and
other expenses that would go unpaid if the state stepped in and demanded the
cash. By
mid-afternoon, committee and state officials agreed it appeared unlikely they
could scoop the full $26 million from Rhode Island Housing without doing serious
harm to its operations and programs. "I'm
going to have to get my staff, Senate staff and [Rhode Island Housing] staff --
everybody -- to sit down in a room and figure out what the real number is,"
House Finance Committee Chairman Steven M. Costantino said afterward. Gallogly
agreed it was time to sit down and nail down an exact figure that the agency
could hand over to help close the state's deficit. If
it can't pull the money from Rhode Island Housing, the House Finance Committee
will need to cut the remaining millions from elsewhere in the state budget in
order to balance Meanwhile,
the Neighborhood Opportunities Program, which stands to lose its entire $7.5
million funding by July 1, may have seen a bit of a break yesterday. Gallogly
said the state might be able to use about $3 million in capital funds to help
cover the $5 million that's already been promised to local projects. The
assistance may be short-lived. The governor's proposed 2009 budget, announced
last week, again calls for zeroing out funding for the seven-year-old program
that has helped create more than 1,000 affordable-housing units and kept them
affordable. State officials say they hope eventually Rhode Island Housing will
take over the financing and implementation of that program. Before
the program's inception in 2001, Carcieri
spokesman Jeff Neal noted that "the amount of state money devoted to
affordable housing has increased dramatically during the Carcieri
administration" between its support of the Neighborhood Opportunities
Program and the affordable-housing bond. "Given
the investment that the state has provided in recent years, the governor does
believe it is appropriate to take a hiatus for a short period…," Neal
said. "It would be the governor's intention to resume state support [of
both programs] once the state's budget problems are resolved." PRESS RELEASE November 8, 2008 For
more information contact Karen Jeffreys at the Rhode Island Coalition for the
Homeless Phone: 421-6458 Cell:
954-1510 Contact: Karen Rhode
Island in Top 5 for Housing Burden for Homeless Veterans New
National Research Shows Providence–A new national report released
today puts Rhode Island in a dubious category, that of being in the top 5 states
with the highest percentage of veterans experiencing severe housing cost burden,
paying more than 50% of their income for rent, which puts them at a high risk
for homelessness. Rhode Island comes in at number five behind the District of
Columbia, Hawaii, Nevada and California. The report, Vital Mission: Ending Homelessness Among Veterans, is the first to
provide data on the number of homeless veterans and the number of at-risk
veterans experiencing severe housing cost burden in every state in the country.
The report also examines the impact of high housing costs on low-income veteran
renters, and makes recommendations on how to prevent and end homelessness. The
report was released by The Homelessness Research Institute, the research and
education arm of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. U.S.
Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), a former Army officer, helped unveil the report today
at an event at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, saying: "This
Sunday is Veterans Day – a time to honor all of our nation’s veterans.
Unfortunately, this report makes it clear that we are not meeting our national
commitment to hundreds of thousands of men and women who served our nation
honorably, but are now struggling with homelessness. We have got to do
better. No family, no vet returning from Iraq, no mentally ill person should
have to fall into homelessness in order to get help. Only by working in
cross-sector alliances are we going to address the root causes of homelessness
-- a shortage of affordable housing, insufficient income, and inadequate social
services -- and develop realistic, practical, and community-based solutions to
homelessness.” To
help prevent and reduce homelessness, Senator Reed, authored the bipartisan
Community Partnership to End Homelessness Act (S. 1518). This bill would
increase current levels of funding for homelessness assistance grants up to $2.2
billion, with up to $440 million going for homelessness prevention initiatives.
The bill was approved unanimously by the Senate Banking Committee in September
and the Conference Report was filed in the U.S. Senate late last week. The key findings from the
report include:
A
number of factors contribute to homelessness among veterans—lack of income,
physical health and disability, mental health and trauma, substance abuse, and
weak social networks—but a lack of affordable housing in Rhode Island and
across the nation is the primary driver. Al
Signorelli, Executive Director of Operation Stand Down, a Rhode Island
non-profit that works with homeless veterans, sees first hand the homeless
veterans the report highlighted. “We are finding that for many veterans the
benefits that they receive don’t come close to meeting their housing costs,”
he states. “Additionally, we fear that as more and more veterans return from Afghanistan
and Iraq, the need for services will outweigh the resources available to assist
them.” The report calculates that
in order to reduce chronic homelessness among veterans by half, permanent
supportive housing (housing linked with supportive services) needs to be
increased by 25,000 units and the number of housing vouchers targeted to
veterans needs to be expanded to 20,000. Jim Ryczek, Executive
Director of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless added, “This report validates
our push for additional permanent supportive housing here in Rhode Island. The
recent evaluation of the Housing First program shows that supportive housing not
only better serves homeless citizens, it saves the state money. This report
highlights another population, homeless veterans, who would be greatly served by
permanent supportive housing and we urge the state and federal government to
support programs that support our country’s veterans” In addition to increasing
federal funding for affordable housing, the report recommends that the federal
government establish a risk assessment process during the first 30 days of
discharge and pilot a homelessness prevention program that includes eviction
prevention and one-time assistance for veterans who fall behind on their rent.
These programs would help prevent homelessness among the many Iraq and Afghanistan
veterans who are returning from the current conflict. Fannie Mae also released a
new Gallup poll today that found nearly a quarter (24 percent) of veterans
indicate they have been concerned they may not have a place to live, and 86
percent of veterans think that homelessness among veterans is increasing or
staying the same. The
survey also reveals that veterans understand the impact war has on those who
return from conflicts and attempt to build a sustainable living situation.
With the ongoing conflicts top of mind for most veterans, 61% think
veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are at least as likely to become homeless as
veterans of previous wars. When
asked about the primary causes of homelessness among veterans, 41% of veterans
say mental illnesses – such as post-traumatic stress disorder – is the
primary cause (at least 15 percentage points more than any other factor). Ryczek concludes, “It is
tragic, and sadly ironic, that we ask veterans to make the ultimate sacrifice
for their country and home, yet when they return home many become homeless
themselves.” The full report is
available at www.endhomelessness.org About
the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless The Rhode Island Coalition
for the Homeless (RICH) was founded in 1988 with the mission to promote and
preserve the dignity and quality of life for men, women and children, by
pursuing comprehensive and cooperative solutions to the problems of housing and
homelessness. RICH accomplishes its mission through advocacy, education,
collaboration, technical assistance and direct services provided to homeless
individuals and families. ### Recent Releases Housing First Rhode Island Report - Ex Summary Housing First Rhode Island Report - Full Report |
