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Recent News Aritcles
WHAC Leads Voting Effort
Over 200 homeless, formerly homeless, and people in social service programs voted
Local man casting his ballot on election day.
A new group of voters went to the polls in droves this year to have their voice heard as citizens in Worcester. Over 200 homeless, formerly homeless, and people in social service programs voted this past election cycle. The Worcester Homeless Action Committee led the effort, reaching out to dozens of small programs and large shelters across the whole city and helping coordinate their access to the vote, providing transportation, and encouragement from our core team. While not endorsing any candidate for office, WHAC sponsored a forum in October which attracted over 140 people, and asked pointed questions on housing policies that will directly affect the lives of Worcesterites living in programs. WHAC also published a voter's guide listing the candidates' responses in their own words to issues of housing and homelessness. This nonpartisan get-out-the-vote effort will have long lasting effects past the election. New leadership from people in the community who have experienced homelessness, or who have lived in transitional programs, has enriched the steering committee of WHAC, and vastly increased the membership. This newfound leadership and purpose will serve to sustain WHAC and a new direction for housing policy in the region. WHAC intends to maintain and nurture this new base for years to come, and to harness their collective energy to push for sensible and achievable housing policies. WHAC intends to make the effort regional, and will be reaching out to programs county-wide.
Much of the credit for this effort, and for the successful resurgence of the Worcester Homeless Action Committee rests with Steve Freedman, a Main South resident who has emerged from homelessness himself to lead WHAC with an almost-religious fervor. Steve is the former owner of the Blue Diner in South Station, Boston. He himself has bounced around shelters, and struggled to afford an apartment when transitioning from a halfway house to the community. During that time, of "getting well," Steve was denied overnight visits with his son until he established himself in his own place. Steve leads the Worcester Homeless Action Committee. Steve spent countless weeks zig-zagging across the city clutching voter registration forms and speaking to groups small and large at programs and shelters. He was supported by a large and interesting support cast, including students and professors from Clark University and Worcester State College and formerly homeless Worcesterites who joined Steve in the effort, including professors at local colleges, healthcare workers, and shelter workers. Especially notable, was the participation of Clark students Emily Schweitzer, Rachel Gerber, Emily Feigenberg, Sean Morrow, and Miranda Muro. These students provided the backbone to this new effort by WHAC. Emerging from the careful and sustained effort is a cohesive group looking to further pursue housing goals for this traditionally underserved group. Some interesting highlights from the past few months include the near-universal endorsement of the Housing First concept by council candidates (Housing First calls for housing subsidies for people exiting shelter with services brought to the newly housed citizen), 140 plus people showing up at the housing forum for council candidates, and the emergence of a dedicated new group of homeless activists who have actually lived through the massive difficulties of homelessness in our communities.
Local man casting his ballot on election day.
Steve attributes the success of WHAC's drive to the inclusion of formerly homeless people in the decision-making process. He often cites his own experience as the driving force that has ignited his passion to tackle the issue. As he has criss-crossed the city, Steve has found kindred spirits in shelters and programs - people who are engaged in an active struggle for their own lives.
Take Alan Ponte, for example. A resident of Salvation Army on Cambridge Street, Alan spoke to WHAC organizers about his experiences battling addiction, the progress he has made, and his deep-seated concern about the availability of housing when he exits Sally's. He went to the polls looking for political leadership that will help Worcesterites like him transition out of homelessness into stable housing.
Jay Gaudreau is another voter interviewed by WHAC. A resident in one of the city's halfway houses, Jay discussed freely his tough battle against homelessness. He spent much of the 1990s bumping from shelter to street, picking up minimum wage jobs, never saving enough from minimum wage jobs to secure decent housing. He too battled addiction, until a detox saved his life. As someone with a long history of homelessness in Worcester, he views homelessness as a crisis in Worcester, affecting people of all backgrounds, and across the state.
Jay avoided the polls for the past 20 years, but felt encouraged by WHAC: "I give you guys a lot of credit, you are advocating for the little man, for people who don't know how to voice their opinion." Jay paid close attention to the candidates' positions on issues that directly affect his housing options, and has expressed interest in working with WHAC on future campaigns.
People in Worcester are homeless for all sorts of reasons. Despite the simpleton's presentation of homeless people as dangerous and destructive of neighborhoods, the reality is much more complex. People are homeless first and foremost because they lack resources to maintain to housing. Other factors contributing to homelessness include mental health, physical disabilities, spousal abuse, and substance abuse. Alberta Jillson, a resident at the PIP shelter is someone who confounds the "typical" notion of homelessness. Alberta is disabled, on an oxygen tank, a diabetic, with other debilitating health issues. She was working for the past decade when her housing fell through. As her health deteriorates, her SSI check of $500 a month is not nearly enough to move her back into housing. Alberta is severely fatigued, and can't find the rest she needs during the day. Nonetheless, she has sharp mind, and with proper transportation assistance was able to vote. She feels hopeless and despairs her situation, but looks for remedies as a citizen of the community.
Alberta Jilsen, resident of the PIP Shelter, and registered voter.
John Ericson lived through a similar nightmare of homelessness. He says "homelessness in Worcester is sickening." Unlike Alberta, John has been lucky enough to emerge from homelessness, and he is now living in his own apartment in the city. John recognizes that it took a community to help him emerge from homelessness, and he credits the United Way First Call for Help for helping him move from a constantly unstable condition into a Section 8 housing unit in the City. Nonetheless, John maintains that he had "to fight for it." A contributing factor for John is his mental illness. He made the effort to vote, believing that it is an important expression of hope for those still stuck in the system.
Patty, who asked that her last name not be used, has been voting since she was 18.
When asked about feelings on candidates and their stand on homelessness she said: "I always said if I had enough money I'd help the homeless…why don't they
She went to DTA to find a shelter for her and her 3 children over the past summer and was placed in Holyoke (although she's from Worcester), and found the shelter was degrading, demeaning, and not healthy for her kids, - the new placement in Holyoke was 56 miles away from Worcester and all things familiar, she had no way to commute, no connections, no way to find resources to help her in getting out of the situation, her kids go to school in Worcester but she was sent to Holyoke. She counts herself lucky it was over the summer, because what would she had done if it was during the school year?
Patty describes the whole experience as having a detrimental effect on her kids too.
She has been in a shelter since May 26.
Patty also describes the emotional effects: constantly horrified, scared of the gang activity around her kids in Holyoke, she feels she can't walk on the street, she's heartbroken , extremely self-conscious, and depressed. Her kids having an extremely hard time with all of the radical changes and moves. Patty says its getting better now because now back in her own neighborhood, in a family shelter, but it is still different.
To solve homelessness, Patty maintains that "you really need your own space." The work and childcare issue vexes her because she wants to be working: "this kills me, this really bothers me. I've been working since 13, not working is just not like me." Patty, a lifelong Worcesterite, follows politics closely and says she is keenly aware of who is supportive of housing options for the homeless.
Many other voters were interviewed during the course of this story, and their stories have familiar themes. A lack of resources to find decent housing was the most common thread uniting the lives of very different people, including a woman who lost a $60,000 a year job. Broken marriages, spousal abuse, drug addiction - the face of homelessness is very complex in Worcester. We interviewed a group of people at the PIP shelter who all had jobs. We interviewed a homeless woman named Jolane at the Friendly House who expressed incredible empathy for other people suffering homelessness. As Jolane said, "we come from all walks of life," and she wishes people would "withhold judgement" and help folks instead.
Interestingly, Professor Corey Dolgon, the Chair of the Sociology Department at Worcester State College is on the cusp of completing a report that details the barriers to voting after exhaustively exploring the issue of political disenfranchisement among the homeless and program residents in Worcester. After speaking with Dr. Dolgon, it became clear that people's misconceptions about the level of attachment that homeless people have to their community of Worcester is widespread. Many shelter/program residents are keenly aware of the local political situation and how housing policy affects their lives. According to a draft of the report, "Dolgon, his students and their partners realized that the only way to significantly impact local policies would be to have poor and disenfranchised people act on their own behalf. Thus, in the Spring of 2007, Dolgon's Worcester State students, along with a class of graduate students from Clark University's IDCE program began a project to study the obstacles impacting Worcester's homeless and poor population from voting. In addition to Dismas and Jeremiah's, the team added the PIP Shelter, Abby's House, and Community Health Link as partners. Each agency has been playing a vital role in addressing the community's increasing problem with homelessness and poverty. But the controversies over housing programs and the work of the city's task force remain serious. While the genuine desire to understand and uncover the potential for homeless peoples' political participation became a catalyst for this research, the team also hopes this report can help policy makers and politicians understand the need to expand local democracy." An ambitious agenda. Distressing, the new Dolgon/Worcester State student report also cites data on voting from the National Coalition for the Homeless: "…each election, low income and homeless individuals vote at a lower rate than people with higher incomes, despite that fact that many policy decisions directly impact people who are economically disadvantaged." The Dolgon report will be a critical new resource in understanding not only why homeless/program participating Worcesterites avoid the polls, but also how to maintain the surge in voting that is apparent with WHAC's organizational effort this past cycle.
There is an interesting convergence of events affecting the lives of homeless and people in programs right now in the city and region. The City Manager's Task Force on Homelessness is due to release a blueprint on addressing the city's homelessness problem in the next few months. The CHAIN Initiative (of which the author is a member) is drafting a proposal to the Health Foundation to address and prevent chronic homelessness. And further, Governor Deval Patrick has empowered a statewide commission on homelessness, due to release a new plan shortly. The time is ripe for a change from the failed warehousing of homeless persons to a more humane system of service-enriched housing, housing vouchers, treatment on demand, and transitional programs. Much as Phliadelphia, Denver, San Francisco and others have shown, a change is in order to achieve housing for the nation's homelessness. Aware of these developments, WHAC will spend the next year outlining and advocating for sensible policies, such as better treatment options, a discharge planning initiative similar to Boston's and other initiatives crucial to health and well being of this population. Most importantly, WHAC is encouraged by the political participation of homeless Worcesterites themselves, and intends to make this voting bloc a permanent feature of community participation for every election in the future.
Worcester Telegram and Gazette
Sunday, July 29, 2007
All share responsibility to help the homeless
LETTER OF THE WEEK
A recent article, "PIP misses target - lower census seems elusive" (Sunday Telegram, July 15), might have been more accurately titled, "The community misses the target." While the PIP shelter does its best to serve the ebb and flow of homeless people who arrive at its doorstep daily, we, the community as a whole, should also acknowledge our responsibility to the homeless community.
It's critical that we embrace approaches to replace outmoded shelter models with housing opportunities. As we work together to achieve that goal, it's important that the human right to housing be our first concern, as emergency shelters, which continue to offer responses to individual need, must be maintained to fill the gaps.
The fact that the PIP census has fallen at all is an achievement that should be commended. I hope that the city, the city manager's Task Force on Homelessness and the CHAIN Initiative can continue to build this momentum to create more adequate housing for all of the city's residents. Worcester's mission statement calls for "the welfare of all citizens," which should extend, without question, to our homeless citizens.
SHERYL-ANN SIMPSON
WHAC Community Organizer
Worcester
