Broward slashing food for homeless

By LISA J. HURIASH
     June 2, 1999
A lawyer who walks the streets to get homeless people signed up for Social Security benefits could be out of work.
   Apartment leases to keep 200 mentally ill men and women off the streets might expire.
   Daily meals for poor and homeless people may take a hit.
   These are three of many services for homeless people that will feel the pinch when Broward County clamps down on agencies that duplicate services -- especially feeding programs -- already provided by its Homeless Assistance Center in Fort Lauderdale, which opened earlier this year.
   This new policy also applies to programs near the county's homeless center in Hollywood. And after a shelter in Pompano Beach is built within a few years, feeding programs in that area can expect to be cut as well, officials said.
   Although a vote on how to spend $1.9 million on these service programs has yet to come from the County Commission, the county staff is notifying several social service groups that their requests for money are being denied. Several of the applications are now being heard on appeal. Action by the County Commission could come this month.
   County officials say providing money to the feeding agencies makes it too easy for people to stay homeless. While they say they want programs such as the Cooperative Feeding Program to exist, they want those agencies to get their money elsewhere.
   "People who are on the street need to be fed if they can't access shelter," said Steve Werthman, the coordinator of the county's homeless programs. "However, there's ongoing discussion whether feeding programs enable people to stay out of shelters who otherwise might (find shelter). Some could argue that. And there probably have been people in the community (of whom) that has been true. We're making a decision -- where there is a homeless assistance center, the use of our limited funding is better used" elsewhere, Werthman said.
   Homeless advocates, however, said the county is making a dire mistake.
    "Decisions are being made perhaps without all the facts," said Laura Carey, executive director for the Broward Coalition for the Homeless. "This is a detriment to the homeless person on the street. Because we have to remember and be realistic and understand that a lot of our homeless, like 30 percent, are chronic homeless. They cannot lift themselves by their bootstraps and become the kind of people we think they should be."
   Agencies that tentatively were denied funding for next year, although they receive public money from the county now, include Henderson Mental Health Center for emergency food and shelter and the Miami Rescue Mission for case management. The Daily Bread Food Bank expects its funding to be cut in half, to $15,000.

On the other hand, some social service agencies that received no county money this year will get some next year. They include United Cerebral Palsy, earmarked for $10,000 toward building repairs, and Mount Bethel, whose $31,000 funding will go to $250,000 nest year for programs that include employment training.
   Other agencies tentatively are scheduled to receive the same amounts as this year, including the American Red Cross for $40,290 for emergency assistance and the Alzheimer 's Family Center for $35,640 for counseling, according to draft county documents.
   Those who serve the homeless say it will be impossible to keep the same level of care if the cuts for their programs are finalized by the County Commission.
   Sharon Saunders, executive director of the Broward Community Development Corporation, which receives $34,000 now and nothing for next year, said local grants are needed for the agency to qualify for a matching state gift.

  The money is used to provide apartment rent subsidies to 200 men and women. Not only could those people with mental illness lose their apartments, but the program would not be able to expand, she said.
   "We're stressed out," Saunders said. "It will critically impact the agency and more importantly, the people in the community."
   Legal Aid, which received more than $54,000 this year, said it uses the county grant to hire an attorney to scour the streets looking for those in need.
   "Without their funding we won't provide the same level of services," said Tony Karrat, executive director. "The key with the homeless is you have to be where they are."
   One lawyer helped 362 homeless people this past year with issues such as wrongful tenant eviction, Social Security benefits, obtaining food stamps and unemployment payments.
   "Right now I am frankly panicked," said Marti Forman, executive director of the Cooperative Feeding Program. She said it would be difficult operating on a $350,000 budget without some help from the county. Its most recent county grant was for $45,000; it now is recommended for nothing.
   "It really came as a big shock," she said. "The county has taken a stand not to fund programs that feed. But the truth of the matter is if we're providing the service ... and if we go away, we don't see anybody picking up the slack. There are six different families sitting in our lobby right now. There are days where we may see 20 families, days where we may see 50.
   "It's a shift in philosophy," she said. "As early as a year ago, the county was saying they need the help of small churches and charities. Now all of a sudden ... they want to take it back."
   Later this month, the Homeless Initiative Partnership is expected to approve a program to print brochures and erect signs encouraging people not to give to panhandlers.
    "We're getting serious about successes with the homeless," said Phyllis Scott, county grants director.
   "We're saying we know a model that works and if you want to be self-sufficient and if we're going to spend any of our dollars, then we're going to get tough on ourselves how we spend those dollars to get rid of homelessness."
   "This is not a very popular process as you might imagine," said Angelo Castillo, the county Human Services Department director. "The continuum of care," Castillo said, referring to the county's plans of moving the homeless into shelters where they receive job training, substance abuse counseling and education and then housing, "has shown to be more effective. We can't afford to do (fund) both.
   "The continuum of care vastly outperforms them. It does not just provide food to people so they can stay living on the streets. We are already investing in programs that feed people who made the commitment to get off the streets. As a result, we are moving away from programs who have not made that commitment."


Sun-SentinelCopyright 1999, Sun-Sentinel Co. and South Florida Interactive, Inc.

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