The County Seat Without a Chair to be Found
by Shay Lipshitz
From The Housing Journal, published by the membership of the Delaware Housing Coalition, Spring 2004
Shay Lipshitz is the newest member of the Board of Directors of the Delaware Housing Coalition. She is the Director of Brandywine Counseling's Project Renewal in Sussex County.
Not a chair to be found, or a bed, or a room. The housing situation in Georgetown leaves many without a place to sit, lay down, or to live. This winter was particularly harsh and Brandywine Counseling's Project Renewal saw just what that meant.
This new program opened and admitted the first clients in September 2003. This is a federally funded three-year program that targets homeless persons with substance abuse problems in Sussex County.
Outpatient substance abuse counseling is provided along with case management. The goals are to help 30 homeless persons a year to stop using alcohol and other drugs and to become employed and housed. The program design was to have outreach workers go out and find the homeless. But we didn't have to. They found us!
The problem was far more pervasive than anticipated. From the very start, right after an open house in September 2003 homeless men and women were coming to us. They were calling and walking in the door looking for help. Not everyone had a drug or alcohol problem. Some people came to us just looking for emergency housing. Sussex County has limited and inadequate resources for emergency placement. All we were able to do was to provide a phone and list of area shelters. The persons meeting our criteria are evaluated and admitted to the program, but this still does not guarantee we can find them housing. Currently in Sussex County there are less than 40 beds available for emergency shelter. The majority of these beds are for women. Single men are at an even greater risk for homelessness.
This past January, when the temperatures were below freezing, the homeless were knocking on the front door. The target number for the grant year was 30 clients. In the beginning of December we already had 21 clients. The phone kept ringing and intake appointments were being scheduled daily. As the temperatures decreased, the persons seeking our help increased.
Four blocks from the Georgetown "Circle," a group of men were living in a boarded up abandoned house. One came to us for help. We learned he had huddled together with the others to sleep and keep warm. Another man came to us burned from a fire he had made outdoors to cook his food. The men smelt of kerosene, urine, and alcohol. The blood alcohol levels were staggering, one was as high as .424 (this is four times greater than the legal limit).
When it is freezing, drinking numbs the body to the effects of the cold temperature; still alcohol does not stop the damage, just the ability to feel. People living on the street drink to forget they are cold, they drink to forget they are starving, and they drink because they have nothing.
Why do people let this happen to them? Why do they wait to seek out treatment? People need hope to take action. The men who came to us saw hope when their friend returned sober and clean after entering our program. They come to us because they want warmth, food, and shelter. They come to us reaching out for help. The hand of help must be there when a person reaches out. At Project Renewal we are trying desperately to do just that, HELP. What we are able to do on any given day is provide something to eat, a place to do laundry, or even take a shower, but there is no housing and people need a roof over their heads in order to recover. One program goal is to find affordable housing for our clients.
The supply problem for affordable housing in Sussex County worsens daily as property values increase. Persons with an income, even our middle class, can no longer find homes or rentals. So for persons just beginning to build back their lives there is nothing. This group has many needs, especially supportive housing, and transitional housing, which are vital pieces of the solution to homelessness in this country. Supportive housing and transitional housing should not be created at the expense of other necessary interventions; they can only succeed as part of a well-funded continuum of care that prevents homelessness, offers shelter and emergency care to everyone in need, and provides affordable housing to all.
Substance abuse disorders are public health challenges that can be managed effectively when the entire community supports people who suffer from these treatable diseases. Housing is crucial to the success of treatment.
At Project Renewal we offer services, such as support groups, individual therapy, and life skill classes. We provide psychiatric services and primary health care. We can set people up for entitlements if they are eligible or GED classes and vocational training, for some we can even find jobs. With just six months into the project that was targeted to serve 30 persons a year, we have admitted 37 individuals. Over half of these clients are remaining drug and alcohol free.
We have exceeded our target number and most likely will double the amount we had expected to serve. All these supports are important, and they help, but nothing matters if there is no place for people to live. It is hard to participate in treatment when you do not know where you will spend the night. Without sober housing for ongoing recovery people remain at risk for relapse.