Strycker’s Bay’s Eviction Prevention Program and Helpline Overwhelmed with Requests for Help

Did you know?

New York City's Homeless Shelter Population 1990-2010 has steadily increased over the past twenty years:

Total number of homeless people in municipal shelters: October 1990 19,877

Total number of homeless people in municipal shelters: October 2000 24,537

Total number of homeless people in municipal shelters: October 2010 37,987

and

According to Testimony given at the Rent Guidelines Board Hearing by Community Service Society’s Victor Bach and Tom Waters in April 2010: 

…“The RGB 2010 Income and Affordability Study does a thorough job of updating some of the key indicators of economic stress and housing hardship in New York City from 2008 to 2009. It presents an unmitigated picture of mounting stresses for New Yorkers across the city:

·         NYC jobs lost 106,800 (2.8% decrease since 2008)

·         Average Unemployment Rate 9.4% in 2009, compared to 5.4 % in 2008

·         Inflation-Adjusted Wages Decrease of 3.4 % since 2008

·         Homeless Shelter Census Average 35,915, 7% increase since 2008.

·         First-Time Homeless Clients 17.0 increase since 2008

·         Non-Payment Housing Court Filings 2.3 increase since 2008

·         Evictions 7.5 % increase since 2008 .”..

Even at a time when our state funding has been cut by $30,000, our Eviction Prevention Program and Helpline has experienced an overwhelming increase in requests for assistance. During the last 30 days we have received more than 70 requests for assistance and are now managing more than 30 eviction cases. We work with each tenant until there is no longer a threat of eviction. Cases can take anywhere between two weeks to two months to resolve.

Janice Bethea, our lead Eviction Prevention Counselor and Gerry Peralta a Housing Intern from Hunter College have been diligently working with families and individuals to stop their eviction. The people they are working with have found themselves in a position that has upset the stability of their households and has placed them in a frightening situation. Janice and Gerry do all they can to connect them to the resources that will help bring stability back in to their lives.

But I will admit here that we struggle to keep up with the request as we find ourselves having to relocate our office space that will cost more than twice the rent we pay now in addition to moving and repair expenses. More about our move in a later post

It’s a tough time for all right now, but with support from volunteers, contributors and our strategic partners we will get through this difficult period.

If you, your friends and family are considering year end contributions, please consider giving to Strycker’s Bay. We are also in need of some immediate in-kind contributions of items such as:

Paint
Primer

Paint Rollers, Brushes and Pan
Cleaning Supplies

Volunteers to Help Clean, Paint and Move

Also please look out for other opportunities to contribute and get involved with Strycker’s Bay through individual and corporate sponsorship of our upcoming fundraising “New York City: Through My Eyes” a photographic exhibit by neighborhood and NYC photographers scheduled to take place in April 2011 and an event – Community Matters -- we have planned for January 20, 2011 I will share more about the both next week.

Until the next post….

Kelley

Do We Tell Them To Move?

Economic self-sufficiency, according to the Executive Summary of The Self Sufficiency Standard for New York City 2010 report is “… a detailed measure of what it takes to make ends meet in New York City without public or private assistance. The Self-Sufficiency Standard is calculated based on the costs of six basic needs for working families: housing, child care, food, health care, transportation, and miscellaneous items as well as the cost of taxes and the impact of tax credits.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful? If everyone was able to carry their own weight what a wonderful world it would be. No need for food stamps, Section #8, ACS Child Care Vouchers or Medicaid. Everyone would be “self-sufficient” economically and benefit from eligible tax credits just like the corporations. Right?

According to the Self-Sufficiency Standard report for New York City, released June 2010, the wage standard for the community that Strycker’s Bay services is 21.85- $37.16 dollars an hour or $46,141 - $78,476  per year. Well, that certainly leaves every employee of Strycker’s Bay Neighborhood Council out of that category as well as many hard working West Siders who are Janitors, Home Health Aides, Executive Secretaries and Office Clerks who cannot make ends meet on their own and may not even be eligible for “work supports” to lessen the financial gap between what they earn and what it costs to live in their community.

The West Siders that come to Strycker’s Bay’s office on West 87^th Street, are either on a fixed income or earn far less than the Self Sufficiency Standard for this part of New York City. This leaves a majority of them in unstable situations when it comes to maintaining their housing. Unless they are living  in subsidized housing that adjusts rent levels according to income, most are likely to be living in severely overcrowded conditions (renting a room form someone,  living in doubled/ tripled up situations with others), or constantly falling behind on rent payments facing eviction on a regular basis.

We, at Strycker’s Bay face the enormous task of not only assisting people to stay in their housing but helping them remain in their community. Many have lived on the Upper West Side all their lives (this includes me) and don’t have the income to keep up with the increasing costs of their housing. Here on the West Side your housing cost determines your ability to support yourself.

housing costs and not your efforts to earn a decent honest living determine your quality of life

Lifelong West Siders, many of them seniors, face the stress of worrying about how they will pay next month’s rent. Do we tell them to move? And if we do tell them to move, where do we tell them to go? Monthly housing costs in this city are just plain out of reach for too many.

Strycker’s Bay Neighborhood Council is in no position to overhaul the City’s affordable housing development and distribution plan for affordable housing. Instead we are a triage center with professional strategists for families struggling to survive in a city where housing costs and not your efforts to earn a decent honest living determine your quality of life.

Next post – What Strycker's Bay's "triage center" and "professional strategists" are doing to help the “housing poor” on the Upper West Side. 

Until the next post,

Kelley