Governor level funds the state's homeless response system - advocates are cautiosly optimistic
"...we've been doing this over and over again and it is never changing," said Eileen Hayes of Amos House. "Until we get out of this loop, we are not going to solve homelessness.”
Last week advocates and people experiencing homelessness stood outside the offices of Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee and demanded that he declare a State of Emergency due to the state’s Unsheltered and Unhoused Crisis. A press conference scheduled for Tuesday at the State House was initially going to highlight the need for $30 million to fund Rhode Island’s homeless response system at the current level. Governor McKee had initially proposed cuts that would have created a catastrophic scenario that would have eliminated approximately 1,000 shelter beds, exacerbating the current, record-high, levels of unsheltered homelessness.
Recent data collected by the state’s Homeless Management Information System estimates that 529 Rhode Islanders experienced unsheltered homelessness at the beginning of April 2024, a 645% increase in unsheltered homelessness since January 2019.
But all that changed when on Monday, Governor McKee submitted an amendment to his FY2025 budget proposal to support housing stability and tackle homelessness in Rhode Island. The amendment also proposes the creation of a permanent funding stream to address these areas in future years.
“The Governor’s budget amendment proposes important resources aimed at continuing support for Rhode Islanders experiencing homelessness,” said Secretary of Housing Stefan Pryor. “We look forward to working with the General Assembly, homeless service providers, municipal leaders, and others regarding this proposal.”
The amendment includes the following:
Homelessness Assistance Program: Allocates $16.6 million in one-time State Fiscal Recovery Funds to extend housing navigation, behavioral health, and stabilization services to help address the increase in homelessness in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Permanent Funding Stream for Housing Stability and Homelessness: Creates a permanent funding stream for housing stability and homelessness by extending the 5% hotel tax to the short-term rental of whole homes. This closes a longstanding loophole whereby partial home short-term rentals are currently taxed at a significantly higher rate (13%) than whole-home short-term rentals (8%) without any policy justification for the distinction.
Housing Production and Stabilization Fund Flexibility: Expands the eligible uses of the State’s existing Housing Production Fund to include housing stabilization, housing problem solving, housing subsidies, and homelessness prevention, in addition to housing production.
Governor McKee, it seems, was responding to the pressure of advocates in issuing his budget amendment, though the money is not assured. The final budget is shaped by the House of Representatives, approved by the Senate, and ultimately signed by the Governor before it becomes official. But it’s a good sign.
As a result of the budget amendment, the State House press conference planned by the Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness shifted gears. It became a rally to support the budget amendment.
“We are happy to hear of Governor McKee’s recently released amendment, which will provide some stability to the State’s homelessness system,” said Kimberly Simmons, executive director of the Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness. “However, we know that increased demand remains from unhoused Rhode Islanders who are not in shelter. We look forward to working with Governor McKee, Secretary Pryor, and General Assembly Leaders as we continue to look at long-term, sustainable funding to support our State’s homelessness system and persons experiencing homelessness.”
Homelessness has increased primarily due to the increasing cost of housing, causing hundreds of the elderly, families with children, and people who are sick and dying to be forced into homelessness for the first time. Supporting homelessness infrastructure and services now will save millions on healthcare, police and prison, unemployment, and homelessness later because homelessness intensifies all other health and social needs.
Stakeholders responded favorably to the Governor’s budget amendment also underscored the need for more funding to support unhoused Rhode Islanders. Eileen Hays, President and CEO of Amos House, spoke about the need for a plan that gets Rhode Island away from constantly treating homelessness as an emergency.
“We're always talking about including people with lived experiences, but we usually talk about having one person rather than the whole community take front and center,” said Eileen Hays, President and CEO of Amos House. “I want to make sure that we acknowledge the daily struggle of folks who are going through this.
“We've been doing this work for a long time. I don't know how many of you have seen the movie 50 First Dates. You have an experience and you immediately forget it. Sometimes I feel like that's what's happened over the past 30 years of my work in the space. We seem to never get through the crisis. We start a calendar year where we are gung ho in July about how we're going to handle winter emergency homelessness and then in the spring we discharge people back to the street and start all over again. That's not solving homelessness. Homelessness is not a single issue problem. It's a public health crisis. And there are many reasons.
“It's not just a public health crisis, it's a crisis of racism and systematic oppression that has been going on long before I was born and is probably going to continue after I'm not here anymore. We have to look at changing the systems that we've created that keep people so stuck. We have a housing crisis. We've watched hundreds of people get evicted from apartments by landlords who have just put them out because they can triple the rents. I know many of those people because they've come to Amos House saying, "Help me, I don't know where to go." Last winter we had an 80-year-old couple come in who had been living in the same home for 30 years and the landlord sold their home. That is more than just a public health crisis. That's a moral crisis. But we have blamed people who are homeless for their situation.
What we've been saying pre-Covid, is that we need a transitional plan of three to five years where we have enough shelter and a comprehensive continuum of shelter options for folks that are okay being in 125-bed shelter, folks that need a smaller place where they're less afraid and they can put their head down and not worry about what will happen to them, folks that want to be in recovery so that they can be safe, and folks that are actively using with 24-hour supervision so they don't die.
“When Amos House ran the warming center last winter for eight months, we had 200 people a night. We had many people who were using substances. We had Narcan available 24 hours a day and nobody died. Lots of people were given Narcan, but nobody died. We have to be able to look at all of the different kinds of shelter needs that we have.
“We need a temporary solution and we need to build housing. A lot of the housing getting developed is based on tax credits and what's affordable is 60% AMI [Area Median Inome]. That's around $55-60,000 a year. I know a lot of people who cannot afford that. When I ask how many units are for people who can afford 30% AMI, I'm told we don't have them in the budget because tax credits don't support that. We need those kinds of solutions. We need more supportive housing.
“We don't have enough shelter housing vouchers. The last I heard there were about 179 people with vouchers to get a unit that will expire in three months. Three months, and they've been looking for six months. When they lose their voucher it gets assigned to another person and that person starts all over again. This system is insane. And we need a group of people that are not fighting with each other over dollars. We need to work together to find solutions that address every unique person because every single person sitting in this room has different housing needs.
“They have a right to housing that suits them and makes them feel safe for themselves and their families. I am grateful for the dollars that we put back into the budget, but I'm also angry because we've been doing this over and over again and it is never changing. Until we get out of this loop, we are not going to solve homelessness.”
Here’s the video:
Kimberly Simmons, executive director of the Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness: Yesterday afternoon Governor McKee proposed a budget amendment allocating roughly $30 million to support and stabilize our state's homelessness system. We are very excited, but we don't want to let up. It's not gone through yet. We still have to apply the pressure and educate folks on why this is so vital to the State of Rhode Island. We're thankful to Governor McKee and Secretary Pryor for their leadership. More is needed to support unhoused Rhode Islanders who are still on the street.
Recent data collected by the State's Homelessness Management Information system estimates that 529 Rhode Islanders experienced unsheltered homelessness at the beginning of April 2024, a 645% increase since January 2019. Homelessness has increased, primarily due to the lack of affordable housing, causing hundreds of elderly families with children and people who are sick and dying to be forced into homelessness for the very first time. We are asking state leaders to support Governor McKee's proposed amendment. Without this much-needed funding, hundreds more Rhode Islanders will become unsheltered and exacerbate an already burdened homelessness system.
Representative Teresa Tanzi (Democrat, District 34, Narragansett, South Kingstown): Those of you [watching on video] don't know that this room met its capacity three times over so the vast majority of people had to be shuttled out into overflow rooms. It dawned on me that there's an overflow capacity in the shelters and that there is unexamined and unaccounted-for urgency in the need for housing people.
We got the call that the governor is introducing the budget amendment and I cannot help but say thank you again to all of you for your advocacy because that's not something that happens easily in our state. Your voices were heard and we understand, for the first time in a long time. I'm getting goosebumps just saying that your advocacy has worked.
I appreciate this budget amendment. I want to thank Secretary Pryor as well as the Governor for dedicating state funding to respond to the consistently rising rates of homelessness. We need a plan to address this crisis and the action plan being presented today by the Coalition of Shelter Providers is something that we seriously need to consider and continue to push for. With a plan in place, we won't be responding last minute to these crunches like we are now. We need to be proactive and we need to be collaborative.
Our state is already feeling the strain of having so many people unhoused. It's obvious when so many hundreds of applications are received for every apartment that comes up. It's something that any of us who knows someone who is looking for a place to live right now can understand - no matter what income bracket you're in, the pressure is on people and it's continuing to grow. When people are forced to live outside, that creates a burden on services for police, fire, rescue, and hospitals. When we decrease shelter funding, the cost of these services increases. It is important to make these investments now, but it's also the right thing to do. It's a moral obligation that we as a state have and it's the right thing to do.
Senator Jonathan Acosta (Democrat, District 16, Central Falls): When we have to keep having the same conversations over and over, you realize that there's a fundamental problem that it's addressing - but there's something about the tenor of the conversation we've been having lately that's starting to give me a slight sense of optimism. A few weeks ago I had the honor of participating in the ribbon cutting for a new project in Central Falls called Jenks Park Apartments - transitional housing for single mothers and their young children. At that press conference, my eyes started swelling in tears and I was immediately transported back to 1994 when I was with my mom sitting in a 1984 black Ford Escort with nowhere to go.
My mother parked the car and looked at me and said, "Tonight, we're going to play a game. We're going to have fun tonight. We're going to do something that you don't always get to do. Tonight, we're going to sleep in the car and we'll get to look at the stars and we'll tell each other scary stories."
I was too young to realize the gravity of our situation. We were homeless, we had nowhere. But with time, it grew into a resentment and anger that I spent years trying to navigate. A few weeks ago, after the event, I reached out to Dr. Beata Nelken, [founder of Central Falls Children’s Foundation and Jenks Park Pediatrics.] and I said, "Thank you" because this gave those experiences purpose and gave those experiences meaning.
As I stand here today, just 24 hours really after it was announced that your advocacy has led to the full funding that we were asking for to address homelessness in our state this year, I feel more of that sense of purpose. Something came out of that suffering, something came out of that misery, and that's all that we can do with those experiences. The work is long, tiring, and complex because it's not just about shelter beds, it's about housing construction and transitional housing.
I'm proud that in my brief time in the Senate, we've had the opportunity to start a department that is tasked with addressing this and has to think about this as an ecosystem that is funded so that Rhode Island doesn't continue to be perpetually dead last in housing production.
This is just one piece of the puzzle, but it would be impossible to put this piece down had it not been for the advocacy of the people in this room. Just this morning I received emails from my constituents and it was one of the first times that I was really happy to respond to a concern that they had raised by saying, "Hey, just yesterday it was announced that this is covered, but don't let up because the job is not done."
I want to thank you all for your advocacy, encourage you to continue to fight, recruit more people for this fight, and remember that we have a long way to go.
Jessica, who is experiencing homelessness: In my life, I've done a lot of things. I never thought I'd be a shelter advocate. I know that sounds odd, but when I first encountered my homelessness journey, as I put it, my attitude held me back from finding housing because I thought, “You're only homeless if you don't work hard enough. You're only homeless if you are not educated enough.”
Now I see the fallacy behind a lot of standards that people place upon people who are homeless, I'm educated. It hasn't gotten me housed. I'm kind, most of the time. It hasn't gotten me housed. I was very ignorant of the barriers that are placed. It's more expensive to be homeless than it is to be housed, and I would think "That's ridiculous. People are spending their money on drugs," not because when you don't have a fridge and your wife's diabetic and she needs fresh fruit or juice, you'll spend that $7 - $10 on one juice to make sure that they're okay.
You would never have stopped to think of the expenses. just to look at an apartment. I've given my friends 30 bucks in gas just to get us there because the buses that were coming back after looking at that apartment weren't going to get us to our shelter on time, and if we miss curfew, we're sleeping outside - again.
I'd like to thank the governor's office for the amendment and I hope that it goes through because, without programs and funding, it's not just me with a terminally ill wife and a past bad attitude. There's a lot of us. There are a lot of us who are sick and can't find somewhere to live. We have income. I work, and my wife has income. We're in a whole program that provides our rent for a year. We're on hundreds of lists, and I mean hundreds of lists that have housing receipts that I can show proof of. We're still unhoused. There's a lot of us out there, and we're not all drug addicts. We're not. And even if we were, does that mean that drug addicts deserve to sleep outside? I think not. I think that housing is a basic right. You should have four walls and a roof.
It's disheartening to know that despite the challenges that people like my wife and I have, children are sleeping outside with their parents because there are not enough family shelter beds. That is a problem. All I can say is that people like my wife and I and many of us in this room - appreciate that our voices are finally being heard.
Two days are most important in a person's life - the day you were born and the day that you find out why. If our voices can be used to make a change, nobody should be sleeping outside for any reason at all. So I hope to see the changes keep coming. I appreciate everybody's support for Alicia and me in our journey. It's still not over.
Patricia Corbett, Director of the Northern Region Family Care Community Partnership (FCCP): The FCCP is a primary prevention program for families with children that's funded by DCYF. I'm employed by the Northern Region Lead Agency, which is Community Care Alliance and we're one of five FCCP regions that serve the state. I'm a licensed independent clinical social worker and I've spent the last 31 years working in Rhode Island with children and families and child welfare programs. The families that we serve in FCCP are referred by DCYF and community agencies such as mental health agencies, schools coordinated entry, and medical providers. Families can also self-refer. The situation that families present very widely. Housing instability has become a common issue. The issues impacting families that lead to homelessness vary widely and are complex. They can be personal tragedies, loss of income, or a choice made by a landlord. No matter where the fault lies or why families are experiencing homelessness, it's not a child's fault. We often have families in the office so that we can conduct an intake and assess their situation and resources. The children range in age from days old to 17. We meet with them and discuss what kind of resources they have and how we can be of assistance.
Unhoused families are spending more on food than those with a kitchen, storage, or a means to cook. They sometimes pay for hotels and spend more than they can afford. They can't afford gas for the car, they lose their job, they struggle to do laundry, go to a doctor, keep hold of belongings, entertain their kids, get to school, do homework, find daycare, keep relationships or friendships, and try not to have to rely on unsafe people. They do all that they can do every day and when we meet them, we ask them to do more.
Our housing navigator is a person with lived experience and knows what it takes to get out of this hole. We have had families be successful in finding housing and shelter, but it's effort, luck, and grit - and it takes too long a time. The Northern Rhode Island FCCP is part of the member agency of the Rhode Island Coalition for Children and Families. Join today's organizers to call on the state to do more to prevent and end homelessness for children and families. Homelessness may be brief or long-term, but the ill effects will last a lifetime on the health of a child.
Kyle Bennett, Senior Director, Policy and Equity for United Way of Rhode Island: It is sad to be here today for this cause. While there are some things to celebrate, we know there's so much more work to be done. My name's Kyle Bennett and as the Senior Director of Policy and Equity for United Way, I believe that our primary mission is to eradicate homelessness. When housing is unstable, everything else in life is challenging. To the members of the press, elected officials, and most of all the people who were most significantly impacted by homelessness, I just want to say thank you for being here today.
Today our commitment to eradicating homelessness is in jeopardy and facing formidable challenges. The budget cuts have devastated us and present significant impacts on the progress that we've made to date. We're four years into a global pandemic and we recognize that the challenges we face today are not new. They've only been exacerbated by the pandemic. The cuts jeopardize vital programs and services that provide support to individuals and families experiencing homelessness. Behind every budget cut, there's a human impact.
Last week, I received a call from our helpline 211. Not surprisingly, it was someone I knew, a single person who had taken her daughter and grandchildren in after their time at the shelter had expired. She brought her daughter and five grandchildren to live in her one-bedroom apartment. When I think about the call to stay home, wash your hands, keep your social distance - and then I think of the reality of a single-bedroom apartment with seven people living in it - when something as simple as a common cold comes up, it spreads through the household like wildfire, nevermind Covid and other communicable diseases.
Addressing homelessness requires a collaborative approach. It necessitates the involvement of community organizations and advocates. The most important piece is for people with lived experience. Together we can leverage our collective resources and expertise to develop comprehensive solutions that tackle the root causes of homelessness and provide pathways to stable housing. I urge all the policymakers to reconsider the budget cuts and investments and prioritize investing, in improving strategies that prevent homelessness. By prioritizing Housing First and Supportive Services second, we can create a more equitable and inclusive Rhode Island where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
At United Way, our vision extends beyond just mitigating the immediate crisis of homelessness. We aim to create lasting change that ensures housing stability for all Rhode Islanders. This requires sustained investment. United Way is investing over a million dollars in housing solutions every year. We raise the dollars and invest them back in the local community. That doesn't solve the problem by itself, but it gives us access to data. It gives us access to some of the community partners who are represented here today. United Way stands ready to continue our work alongside our partners to advocate for policies and funding that support housing stability, promote economic opportunity, and advance racial and social justice.
Kimberly Simmons: Eileen asked for those who have lived the experience to stand and I stood because I have lived experience. I've gone through much of what Jessica described many years ago, with babies. So I get it. It is hard to explain to somebody who's never had that experience - who's never understood how this impacts every one of us through our healthcare system, insurance, and emergency departments. All of these services are strapped when we have unsheltered folks and kids with trauma. It's no easy task. We need everybody to educate people who don't have a clue and let them know that this has a bearing on every neighbor, unhoused or housed.
Working together to tackle one of the most challenging crises in our lifetimes is what we have to do to end or reduce homelessness in our state. We look forward to our continued partnerships to secure the funding necessary to support unhoused Rhode Islanders and bring affordable housing options online for our lowest-income residents. Together we can end homelessness.