Home About Us Media Kit Subscriptions Links Forum
APPEARED IN


View All Articles

Download PDF

DIRECTORIES:

Job Opportunities

Tutors

Workshops

Events

Sections:

Books

Camps & Sports

Careers

Children’s Corner

Collected Features

Colleges

Cover Stories

Distance Learning

Editorials

Medical Update

Metro Beat

Movies & Theater

Museums

Music, Art & Dance

Special Education

Spotlight On Schools

Teachers of the Month

Technology

Archives:

1995-2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

OCTOBER 2004

Homeless Prevention Programs for At-Risk Families
by Matilda  Raffa Cuomo and Tom Hameline, Ph.D.

New York City spends millions of dollars every year to provide transitional housing and supportive services to thousands of homeless families and individual adults. Each month, the city shelters almost 9,000 families (including 15,000 children) and over 8,000 single adults. In response to this high demand for shelter services, the City’s Department of Homeless Services is implementing a pilot program that will seek to prevent homelessness by providing supportive services and short-term financial assistance to families and adults at-risk of losing their housing and entering a homeless shelter.

HomeBase, the City’s new homeless prevention program was announced by Mayor Bloomberg at a news conference at HELP USA’s Bronx-Crotona service facility. The Mayor described HomeBase as an innovative program that will establish Homeless Prevention Community Resource Centers in six Community Districts throughout NYC.

Residents of these six Community Districts will be eligible for HomeBase services if their household income does not exceed 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Income Standard ($36,800 for a family of four), and they are experiencing a significant threat to their housing stability. Examples of potential clients include a family facing eviction through legal action, a young adult struggling to make it on his own after aging out of foster care, an ex-offender trying to stabilize themselves in the community, and a young mother living doubled-up with her relatives in an overcrowded apartment.

Clients who come to a HomeBase will receive a housing stability assessment, case management services, benefits counseling, family mediation, legal assistance, and other services that will help them remain stably housed. HELP’s program is co-located with the agency’s Bronx Employment Center, and through this program HELP’s clients will receive assistance with employment counseling, vocational training, and job placement.

The Department of Homeless Services will also utilize HomeBase as a research project on homelessness. Each of the six programs will collect data on family composition, work history, education level, housing history, and other factors that are associated with housing loss. This information will form a citywide database that will be utilized by researchers to better understand the causes of homelessness and the interventions that are effective in preventing its occurrence.

The staff at my program, Mentoring USA, which is affiliated with HELP USA, has worked with homeless children for many years, and knows that preventing homelessness is important for these young children and their families. In addition to providing mentors to the general at-risk children and foster care children in New York City’s public schools, currently, Mentoring USA serves the homeless children with a mentor one to one at HELP’s Genesis homes in Brooklyn and HELP’s Genesis Apartments in Manhattan. Research shows that homelessness can have a very negative impact on child development, educational outcomes, and overall family functioning. Compared with housed poor children, homeless children have more health problems, developmental delays, and emotional behavioral problems.

School-age homeless children also suffer from significant educational impairments. Studies show that they have poorer school attendance, repeat grades more often, and score lower on achievement tests. They frequently have difficulty maintaining continuity in their education, and may lose access to specialized educational services as they move from school to school.

Adults that lose their housing and have to enter the homeless system may also lose confidence in their competence as caregivers, and the increased stress they experience often weakens their resilience and decreases their ability to help their children cope with the challenges of homelessness. In addition, research conducted by the Urban Institute shows that having been homeless as a child predicts being homeless as an adult, so programs that prevent homelessness in one generation can improve the life outcomes for the next generation. Education and after-school programs that serve at-risk children can help keep them out of the homeless system by identifying those families that are facing imminent housing loss. These families can be referred to HomeBase centers in their neighborhoods or other programs that serve poor families. Information about these programs can be accessed by calling DHS’ Advocacy Department at 212-361-8000 and Mentoring USA at 212-400-8294.#

Matilda Raffa Cuomo is the Founder and Chair of Mentoring USA. Tom Hameline, Ph.D. is the Vice-President of Program Development at HELP USA.

COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE

Name:

Email:
Show email
City:
State:

 


 

 

Education Update, Inc.
All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express consent of the publisher. © 2005.