County has the power to help homeless

LOCK HAVEN - How many people are homeless or facing eviction in Clinton County?

The number "four" has been heard recently. It appears to be based on a point-in-time survey conducted by two staff members of a social service agency on just one day - in a January snowstorm.

If there really are only "four," then why even apply for the new federal housing funding counties may receive?

But, "Four" is not a real answer, according to the Clinton County Housing Coalition.

A better number would be based on the annual total of individuals and families the local ministerium has managed to keep in their homes or relocate to a new dwelling. That number is about 150.

And, that represents just those helped by the Southern Clinton County Association of Christian Churches, which covers one section of the county and simply cannot help everyone.

A closer total would be 250, according to Rev. Zelma Lang who chairs the housing coalition.

If the count includes children, she said, the county is looking at more than 1,200 people who could be out on the street in any given year, or living in their car, or staying in a place without heating or lights, or moving from relative to friend to relative because they are without a home... in other words, homeless.

Agencies and others who deal with these families will say it is good economic policy to do more for the homeless and near homeless than simply provide stop-gap funding. Many can benefit from a hand up in other ways as well, such as financial counseling, job search training, better parenting skills, perhaps even rehabilitation and intervention.

All of that can be provided locally as agencies band together to cooperate. The housing coalition is just one example of a working group of social service professionals whose hallmark is cooperation.

"This group is making a collaborative effort," said Taryn Sprague, director of the Clinton County United Way. "We are willing to work together."

The magic number the group is aiming at right now doesn't represent people, it represents federal funding - $178,000, to be exact -which is available to Clinton County, if the county commissioners agree to apply for it.

The housing coalition members are urging them to do so. The deadline is July 31.

At a meeting Wednesday morning, the consensus seemed to be that a full-time caseworker dealing with the homeless or those at risk of losing their homes would be a real boon.

Many agencies have clients that fit this description, some of whom are in a hail storm of troubles.

This area is fortunate to already have an established "umbrella" organization in STEP (Success Through Engagement in Partnership), a professional, nonprofit community action agency that administers federal and state funding provided through county governments.

STEP can administer this federal funding, which would come through the new Homelessness Prevention and Rapic Rehousing Program (HPRP). A very small portion of the $178,000 may be used for administration, which could help pay a caseworker.

Individual agencies with clients who could benefit from HPRP help could direct them and the appropriate information about their case to STEP, suggested Janet Alling, STEP executive director. Those individual agencies would then follow up on how well the HPRP help worked out, she added.

STEP itself may manage some of these cases, she said, if needed.

Its partners in this endeavor include American Rescue Workers, the United Way which has taken on the task of administering housing monies locally, Lycoming-Clinton Mental Health/Mental Retardation Agency, Center for Independent Living of Central Pennsylvania (CILCP), Clinton County Housing Authority, West Branch Drug and Alcohol Agency, the ministerium, Christian Community Services which helps released prisoners and addicts transition into a more normal life, and the housing coalition itself.

The HPRP money can be used to:

- Provide or stabilize housing for individual situations.

- Help participants develop a plan to prevent future housing problems.

- Provide short-term help.

It does come back to management. It's "what's missing in this equation," according to David Drezner of CILCCP. One caseworker could look at a family's entire situation and help them get it in hand, he said.

Mary Lou White of STEP, who was in Washington, D.C. Wednesday for training, may not be able to fulfill that ideal, but she would become the point person for HPRP cases from Clinton County.

She and Sprague will go to Harrisburg tomorrow to obtain the final version of how counties must apply for HPRP money - and the applications have to be in exactly two weeks after these regulations are issued.

The housing coalition will meet again to help prepare for that deadline at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. (Pizza, strawberries and ice cream were promised for the professionals who would miss their lunch to attend.)

The goal is to have the application ready to present at the commissioners' work session on Monday, July 20.

Part of that preparation will be the dollar figures the agencies place on their services to people eligible for HPRP. Those figures could make up the "local match" of in-kind services needed to receive this funding.

People and households eligible for this help would be:

- At or below 50 percent of the area's median income. This is roughly $40,000 for a family of four in Clinton County, according to Lang, who added that around 30 percent of the county's population meets this criteria.

- Homeless or at risk of losing housing with no appropriate options, financial resources or support network.

- Willingness to sit down with a professional and try to work things out.

The HPRP funds have no down side, Lang said.

"This will be trickle UP help. We're helping those in the communities on the edge. We're going to help them pay the rents, they're going to be able to spend money in the community, the landlords will be able to pay their taxes," she said.

"As long as we meet the qualifications, we get the funding, as I understand it," she added. "The thing is, we've got 30 percent of the population at or below poverty level and we could sure use this money."