ESSAY FROM:
Carolyn A. Portanova, President & CEO
Catholic Family Center
May 26, 2010
MAKE PREVENTING HOMELESSNESS AND REDUCING POVERTY A STATE FUNDING PRIORITY
Once again, our State budget crisis threatens too many of our most vulnerable citizens. I recognize how important it is for us all as taxpayers to advocate for our tax dollars to be spent wisely. It is also important to recognize that preventing and reducing poverty is not just about dollars and cents. It’s about human beings. When a child goes hungry, a family loses a home, or a young person ends up in a homeless shelter, collectively we pay a moral price; our humanity is compromised.
Let me share some compelling facts* about poverty in Monroe County:
- Nearly 100,000 people live in poverty;
- Of all families living in poverty, 61.4% are comprised of single women with children;
- Even more disturbing…nearly 30,000 of our community’s children live in poverty. That is not acceptable.
*(Poverty Report 2010 New York State Community Action Association)
Spending that is Fiscally Responsible
At the roots of the violence and family disintegration plaguing our community is the very real fact that too many children, women and men live on the edge of financial disaster. In the last two years, Catholic Family Center has seen a 10% increase in the number of families and individuals entering homeless shelters from “stable housing”, e.g., a single mom and her child living with her parents…Grandpa loses his job…mom and child can’t stay there anymore and are suddenly homeless. In 2009, 427 families received housing support services that prevented homelessness or eviction. The average stay for a family of three in our homeless shelters is 30 days at $88 per night = $2,640.00. By preventing homeslessnes or eviction for 427 families, CFC saved taxpayers approximately $1 million in one year!
Valuable Services Stabilize Lives = A Healthier Community
In Rochester, there is a significant and troubling lack of affordable, safe housing. In this challenging economy, many of our neighbors, friends, co-workers and family members are just a paycheck or two away from losing their homes. As a community, we must come together to ensure that effective programs and services that help families stay together and stable are funding priorities of both the public and private sectors. CFC’s Lafayette Housing Program provides permanent, affordable housing (13 apartment units) with supportive services including case management, life skills education, access & linkage to community services…all of which are designed to break the cycle of homelessness. Results are compelling:
- 88% of clients were able to maintain stable housing for at least six months and later move into their own apartment;
- 93% of clients were able to improve education via GED, Associate Degree, Bachelors Degree, Professional Certificate, OR obtain employment;
Common Sense Dollars & Cents
The cost per child for foster care is more than $46,000 per year. Catholic Family Center’s Kinship Care services have an average cost per child estimated of approximately $500 per year. Children live with grandparents and other relatives for the same reasons that children enter foster care – parental abuse, neglect, mental illness, abandonment, and for other reasons such as military deployment, illness, and temporary relocations. National studies prove conclusively that children who live with grandparents and other relatives achieve more permanency, improved well-being, and better outcomes than children in foster care. If just 45 children leave informal kinship care and enter foster care, the cost to taxpayers will exceed $2 million.
You and I cannot afford either the financial or moral cost of poverty in our community. Together, we must raise our voices and demand that our elected leaders arrive at a state budget that is fiscally and morally responsible.
