Creating Policies to End Childhood Homelessness Marys Story Mary - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Creating Policies to End Childhood Homelessness

Mary’s Story  Mary has four children  The father of the children left the household six months ago  Mary has a job but was unable to sustain the current housing  Eviction proceedings  Sheriff locked the doors  Mary has her oldest son with her and he is obviously affected

What does it look like?  When we think of the homeless population a specific picture comes to mind and it generally does not include children  Many diverse stories of homelessness with many different family structures including children  Single parent with children  Two parent households  Grandparent(s) with custody of grandchildren  Teenagers on their own – 20 – 40% homeless youth identify as LGBTQ 1

How do we create positive change to social policy?  If we are going to help the children we must help their parents and guardians  Knowing current policies  Education on current issues in homelessness  Scarcity of affordable housing  Scarcity of jobs providing a living wage  Collaborative efforts between individuals, organizations and government agencies

Statistics  Division of State Government accountability 2442 children under age of eighteen were homeless at some  time in 2015 Of those children, 253 were individually homeless without a  parent or guardian  Monroe County Schools report  A different category of homelessness  Doubled up or “couch surfing”  2197 students during the 2014-2015 school year 2

McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act  A child is guaranteed a public education regardless of homeless situation  Prevents a child from having to change schools multiple times during a homeless situation  Bussed to school district of last permanent residency  Will not be denied entry into new school district without appropriate paperwork if they do have to change schools  HUD does not consider being doubled up a homeless situation - not eligible for funds to help them out of the situation 3

Doubling Up Review  Not counted in homeless counts  Counted by schools as a homeless category  Protected educationally  No funding to help permanently house  Serious risk for potential abusive environment  Can be told to leave at a moments notice

A Basic Review of State Policy and Process  Family goes to a shelter or Department of Social Services  Determined homeless  Sent to a shelter, transitional housing or a motel  If parents are sanctioned by DSS  Must house below 32 degrees per executive order  Must house parent of child if they have custody of child

The Five Whys  Six Sigma concept to help determine root cause of problems 4  I use when interviewing during intake process  Consists of five “why” questions  Cannot help someone out of their situation if we do not know why they are there  Cannot create new policy if we do not know the root cause of the many cases of situational poverty

Mary’s Five “Whys” Mary, why are you homeless?  I cannot afford my rent   Why can’t you afford your rent?  My husband left us. I have no idea where he is at. My job does not support the house and family. Mary, I know this is personal but why did your husband leave?   He developed a drug and alcohol addiction. He chose that over us. Why did he turn to drugs and alcohol? Was it always a problem?  No, it was not always a problem. He couldn’t handle the grief  anymore.

Mary’s Five Whys  Why was he grieving? Our son, the identical twin of my 11 year old passed away last  year.  Mary and her husband did not receive counseling  Now there is more insight to the emotions of the eleven year old son  Family was immediately set up with counseling and other services in addition to housing assistance

Making Change Happen  Finding the root cause of homelessness is the beginning of creating change in policy  There is no one single root cause  Change cannot occur by fixing a symptom  Change must occur at the root cause of homelessness to produce any lasting results  Change occurs at an individual, organizational and governmental agency level

As Individuals  Servant or Savior? Servant helps marginalized people find solutions to complex  problems “Savior” complex is a god -like mentality of being better, knowing  more and coming up with answers to problems no one else can answer  “Savior” complex is damaging to collaborative efforts of many 5 Being informed about the community  Geographically-where are the organizations   Socially-what these organizations do Politically-attend a city council meeting   Finding your voice and knowing its power

As an Organization  An organization cannot change policy unless they get involved politically  Will not lose nonprofit status over raising issues  Make sure your advocacy aligns with the mission of the organization  Do not fear making the voices of the served communities heard on all levels  Welcome and invite people who are in a homeless situation to the conversation

As a Community  Working together as individuals, organizations and government agencies  Collaborative effort exponentially more effective  The people making policy in the local and state government levels may not know what the true issue is until they hear the collective voice  Homelessness is hidden  Homelessness is invisible

In Review  There are homeless families walking around and interacting with community members in Rochester  Know the state and local policies and procedures concerning homeless families in order to give better direction  Getting to the root cause of situational poverty is important Do not stop at one or two “why” questions  Five is the magic number   You are a servant not a savior  The individual voice is important and powerful

In Review  The voice of the homeless population is equally as important. Listen clearly  Organizations should not be afraid to get political or encourage members to do so in support of their mission  The government doe not know the problems with a policy or the negative impact unless we tell them  Collectively working together in community produces the best and longest lasting results

Bibliography 1 N. Ray, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth: An Epidemic of Homelessness . (Washington DC: National Coalition for the Homeless, 2006). 2 Thomas P. DiNapoli, Office of the State Comptroller, Homeless Shelters and Homelessness in New York State , (Division of State Government Accountability, 2016) 47-53. 3 United States Department of Education, Homeless Education, 2004, https://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg116.html accessed April 10, 2017. 4 iSixSigma, Determining the Root Cause: 5 Whys, 2017, https://www.isixsigma.com/tools- templates/cause-effect/determine-root-cause-5-whys/, accessed April 10, 2017. 5 Sarah S. Benton, Psychology Today, “The Savior Complex: Why Good Intentions May have Negative Outcomes ,” February 6, 2017, https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-high-functioning- alcoholic/201702/the-savior-complex, accessed April 10, 2017.