Providing housing for Phila. homeless is slow going

Announced seven weeks ago, Mayor Nutter's much-anticipated blueprint for reducing homelessness has been slow going.

With a goal of dedicating 700 new housing units to homeless individuals and families, to date just 50 beds have been filled, all by chronically homeless people with severe substance abuse or mental issues.

But even a dent of that size has an impact, said Deputy Mayor Don Schwarz, who oversees the city departments of health, human services and homelessness.

The latest quarterly count of Center City's street population, completed in late May, suggests there are half as many homeless living on Philadelphia's streets than a year ago at that time. According to the city's Office of Supportive Housing, the street count was 291, down from more than 600 last year.

Despite the decline, the homeless problem remains highly visible because of the concentration of homeless people in some of the city's most attractive parks and public places - Rittenhouse Square, Washington Square, JFK Plaza, and along the Ben Franklin Parkway.

"I believe part of the reason for the decline is we have been trying very hard to move people into behavioral-health beds," Schwarz said. "We can get people into a shelter-like situation, but we are pressing our workers like mad to be effective at getting them into care."

He said some of the drop in the number of visible homeless people might also stem from the continuous operations of two "overnight cafes," drop-in centers that offer food and help.

"Providing more services has worked to reduce the numbers," said Paul Levy, president and chief executive officer of the Center City District. His organization's count has shown a decline in the number of homeless visible in Philadelphia's business district, from 66 in April to 38 in May. "But unless we are willing to enforce standards of public behavior and not tolerate public urination and defecation and sleeping in public places, we are not going to make total progress on this issue."

While the street count is down, though, Schwarz conceded the bulk of Nutter's plan - it carries an $8.3 million price tag - has yet to materialize. "In terms of bricks and mortar, not so much has happened," he said.

In an interview yesterday, Dainette Mintz, director of the Office of Supportive Housing, who reports to Schwarz, said she had hoped by this time to have many more people placed in the 700 housing units and beds that Nutter was making available.

"But the reality is we have to ensure we have the right processes in place," she said. That includes inspecting housing units, and determining how to get furniture donated and stored until it is ready for use.

To be sure, Mintz said, "I am not displeased with our progress. . . . But no one is going to stay in an apartment long if it is empty."

One advocate for the homeless, Gloria Guard, president of the People's Emergency Center in West Philadelphia, expressed concern about the slow pace.

"We would really hope to see things move along more quickly," Guard said. Referring to the high number of home foreclosures, she said, "What we now know is there are a lot of people who are going to be losing their homes. . . . We should be moving people out so we can make room for the next group."

By September, 125 units to be subsidized by the city will be ready for occupancy, Mintz said. They will house homeless individuals, and be part of a program to administered by a yet-to-be-named nonprofit.

Under the mayor's plan, though, the bulk of the new housing for the homeless - 500 units - will come from the Philadelphia Housing Authority. That initiative has yet to begin.

"As of today, we have not put the system into gear yet. It's imminent," PHA spokesman Kirk Dorn said.

The authority and the city have nearly completed a memorandum of understanding outlining the roles and responsibilities of each, Dorn said, with the shared goal of 300 PHA apartments going to families, while 200 would be occupied by individuals.

Part of the legal wrangling involved the creation of a referral process. Under the plan, private providers who have close contact with the homeless will refer selected people to the Office of Supportive Housing, which in turn will refer them to the Housing Authority.

Mintz said she expected the first few dozen families to move into PHA units next month, with a few dozen more moving in each successive month.

In some ways, once the PHA portion of the plan does kick in, it is expected to have a domino effect on the amount of housing available. For example, the plan calls for individuals currently living in transitional housing facilities to move into 200 permanent PHA homes. According to the Housing Authority, once they do, space will be freed up at the transitional facilities to accommodate 200 homeless people now living on the street.

Compared with recent years, "things are promising, people are working together," said Rachel Falkove, executive director of the Northwest Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network, which deals primarily with struggling families.

Still, she worries.

"The mayor's initiatives will do something, but the mayor doesn't control gas prices," Falkove said.

"The question," she continued, "is with the economy being what it is, with more and more people not having access to health care, with more families encountering foreclosure, with more people being unemployed, is the mayor doing enough?"