At Odds Over Degrees of Assistance

At Odds Over Degrees of Assistance

Joyce Dopkeen/The New York Times
Residents in the dining area at the Jan Peek House, a 19-bed homeless shelter in Peekskill.
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By JULI S. CHARKES
Published: November 25, 2007
WARMING centers began operating this month in Peekskill, New Rochelle and Mount Vernon as part of a campaign by the county to help get the chronically or “hard-to-place” homeless off the streets and into a shelter. Noticeably absent from the list, however, was White Plains, where local clergy members, homeless advocates and government officials are grappling with what constitutes fair treatment for those unable — or unwilling — to enter the county’s shelter system.

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Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times
Demonstrators from the Westchester Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless protesting a plan to provide chairs instead of cots at warming centers that serve homeless people ineligible for conventional shelters like the Peek House. The rally was held Tuesday outside the county executive’s office in White Plains.
“What you’re seeing is the eye of the storm right now,” said Paul Anderson-Winchell, executive director of the Grace Church Community Center, a nonsectarian social service agency that provides shelter services in the city.

At issue is a proposal by Westchester’s county executive, Andrew J. Spano, to provide chairs instead of cots at the warming centers, a decision his chief adviser, Susan Tolchin, called a “humane solution to a difficult problem.”

The warming centers are intended to serve homeless people who are ineligible for the county’s conventional shelter system, because of drug problems or mental illness, or because they refuse to adhere to shelter requirements. Those in the system receive counseling and job training as well as guaranteed shelter, but in return, they must agree to be drug-free and contribute a portion of their income or benefits. Many resist, choosing to remain outside instead.

“There are a hundred different stories,” said John H. Rubin, director of Open Arms, a homeless shelter for men in White Plains.

The centers are intended to provide a safety net during the winter months and help eliminate a disturbing sight: About 50 men and women in and around the White Plains area pass the nights in parking lots, stairwells and other hideaways because they have nowhere else to go. The county’s Department of Social Services is conducting an outreach program to help locate the street homeless and persuade them to come inside.

“We want to try and eradicate this problem,” said Diane Atkins, the department’s deputy commissioner.

But in White Plains, local clergy members and advocates for the homeless have held two rallies downtown in the last several weeks to protest Mr. Spano’s proposal, saying that providing only chairs was a senseless way to treat less fortunate members of the community who are already compromised when it comes to health and basic quality of life issues.

“We have a deeply held conviction that warming seats are not the answer to the problem,” said the Rev. C. Carter Via, pastor of White Plains Presbyterian Church, after addressing a crowd of about 70 participants at the first rally last month.

In response, Mr. Spano said the centers could use cots instead of chairs, if the local municipality agreed. “This isn’t about chairs or cots,” he said. “It’s about getting people off of the street.”

White Plains has struggled with how to handle the homeless for years. Two incidents in 2005 crystallized the issue for many: a homeless sex offender fatally stabbed a woman in a White Plains parking garage, and the county closed an overnight shelter for homeless men at the county airport and opened a 43-bed “drop-in” center on Court Street in White Plains. After complaints from the city, including criticism that the drop-in shelter was close to City Center, the county closed it in August.

“This particular group of nonconforming sector of the homeless is very difficult to handle,” said Joseph M. Delfino, the mayor of White Plains.

According to Mr. Spano, at least 20 men from the Court Street drop-in shelter have been persuaded to enter the county system. “Our ultimate goal is to get them the counseling to lead productive lives,” he said.

According to Mr. Delfino, White Plains provides 500 beds in four conventional shelter systems. “We’re managing,” he said. “We’re doing our share.”

He called helping the street homeless a “humane responsibility,’’ one that needs to be shared by all 44 communities in the county. In addition to the new warming centers, the City of Yonkers is also home to a full-time drop-in shelter.

Mr. Anderson-Winchell said that he and other homeless advocates would pursue negotiations with the city and the county to reach common ground, a goal he said was attainable, given the good intentions on all sides. “I think a solution will be found,” Mr. Anderson-Winchell said.

That might include using local churches as drop-in shelters over the winter months. White Plains Presbyterian Church, for example, has offered to provide up to 19 beds for the chronically homeless, Pastor Via said. He said that he and at least two other church leaders who are also willing to provide space for the homeless plan to meet with Mayor Delfino and the Common Council next week to gain support, if not outright approval.

But as the debate rages, homeless people like Joseph Braun were left with few options for where to spend the night, particularly as temperatures drop. Mr. Braun, 45, a day laborer from Florida, drifted to New York a couple of years ago and was unable to find work. When his money ran out, he said, he tried securing a place in a Westchester shelter but was denied because of his Florida residency. With nowhere else to turn, he began using the drop-in shelter in Court Street until it closed.

“That’s when everything got messed up,” he said. Since then, he said, he has “made do” finding refuge on the streets. He declined to be more specific.

Mr. Rubin, of Open Arms in White Plains, describes the street homeless in and around White Plains as the “most at-risk members” of the homeless community — men and women struggling with mental health issues, drug dependency or illness. As examples, he cited case studies of individuals he has counseled, including an undocumented woman with leukemia and a man with bipolar disorder who abuses his medication.

As different as they may be from each other, Mr. Rubin said, they have one thing in common. “These are people who are suffering,” he said.

NYT-At Odds Over Degrees of Assistance

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/25shelterwe.html?scp=1&sq=At%20Odds%20Over%20Degrees%20of%20Assistance&st=cse