Outreach staff work tirelessly to help homeless

Homeless advocates have painted a picture of Rochester as a place that does not care about homelessness. That is not true. The shelter and service providers here work tirelessly to assist this vulnerable population.

Outreach workers from Monroe County DHS, Monroe County OMH, Catholic Family Center, and Salvation Army have visited the tent encampment called Sanctuary Village and offered shelter beds to the people staying there. Shelter beds were also offered from the Volunteers of America and other agencies.

It was so cold Wednesday when I visited the tent encampment. One man chatted with me about the weather, casually smoking a joint as we spoke. He was willing to go to a shelter that night, and outreach workers were not barring him from doing so. He said his tent mate might go, too.

His tent-mate said he had a job, and got off work at 2 a.m. Would the shelter let him in? The worker with me from Catholic Family Center asked if the man had ever been disruptive in the past. The man laughed and admitted that very outreach person had scolded him once at his shelter, but that he had cooled off and been allowed to stay. The outreach worker laughed too, and took his name, and agreed to allow him indoors in the middle of the night.

Another man I met was elderly and frail. His blue jeans were soaked and stiff with urine in the 20 degree wind. I asked him to please accept a shelter stay. He refused. Then two outreach workers talked to him. Still, he refused help. Finally, a worker from House of Mercy talked to him. He finally said yes. Catholic Family Center paid the bill this time. Sometimes it is Salvation Army, or another agency, that pays, or DHS.

There is a huge effort underway in our community to help all of our homeless. Last year the homeless shelters who that receive HUD funds committed to prioritizing the chronically homeless, and many agencies are taking up the Housing First model (housing first, then case management services, with no entrance requirements). A “front door” of Coordinated Assessment/Access is being created in the community.

It is an affront to hear people say the homeless are being marginalized, or that the community doesn’t care. The shelter providers might protest the commentary if they weren’t so busy trying to help.

Amy D’Amico, Esq., is the coordinator of the Rochester/Monroe County Homeless Continuum of Care.