Publisher
Sean Cononie
Vendor and client Michael White | Photo by Miranda Schumes
The Homeless Voice is owned by the COSAC Foundation, a multi-faceted non-profit agency that feeds, shelters, and arranges access to social and medical services to every homeless person that enters its shelters. We aim to enable them to return to a self-reliant lifestyle, but for the small percentage of people incapable, we provide a caring and supportive environment for long-term residency.
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Originally made by a team tasked to raise money from the streets for the shelter, the Homeless Voice was born from the knowledge that freedom of press was a way to raise awareness. We started as a flyer, then a 4-page newsprint, then finally becoming the voice of the homeless with the Homeless Voice newspaper and website in 1999. In this newspaper we hope to present the problems that the homeless population faces day-to-day, the problems these people personally face, and the ways that laws can help and hinder them. Visit us at to read past issues, see online-only content, and a full map of where you can find this paper.
Many of our vendors are clients of our shelters, brought to different major cities to vend this paper in return for a donation. Based out of Lake City — where our Veterans Inn shelter and Motel 8 is located — or Davie, they are always brought out in groups of four to help each other stay motivated and keep each other company. They’re given plenty of food and water for the day and don bright shirts to distinguish them as our vendors. Depending on their specific job in vending this newspaper, all vendors take in about 75% of donations that day, with the remaining 25% put back into the paper. We distribute in all major cities throughout Florida, including Tallahassee, Lake City, Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando, Daytona, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, and now Gainesville.
Oct. 2023
Editor-in-Chief Andrew Fraieli
Executive Editor Mark Targett
Contributers
Mary Stewart Robert Davis McKenna Harford
COSAC Foundation PO Box 292-577 Davie, FL 33329 954-924-3571 Cover design and photo illustration by Andrew Fraieli
COVER
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Lack of Mental Healthcare Mental healthcare access for the homeless is few and far between.
Check out our previous issues and other stories at
V O L . 2 4 I S S U E 4 , O C T. 2 0 2 3
Homelessvoice.org
By Mary Stewart NEWS
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Florida AntiFeeding Ordinance Florida towns try to stop organizations from feeding the homeless.
By Robert Davis
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Florida State of Homelessness
Florida leads the country in homelessness with a 20% increase from last year.
By McKenna Harford FIRST-PERSON
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Homeless, Not Hopeless Housing is possible.
By Mary Stewart
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If You Can't Say Anything Nice... ...don't say anything at all.
By Mary Stewart
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Lack of Affordable Housing The unhoused who are disabled have few choices
By Mary Stewart
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Homelessness in Winter Even in Florida the cold weather can bring challenges
By Mary Stewart THE HOMELESS VOICE
Have a journalistic or photography background, and looking for freelancing?
Looking for fun and friendly newspaper vendors interested in becoming their own boss.
Email us:
Contact Ginny:
andrew@homelessvoice.org
386-758-8080
Oct. 2023
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NEWS
People experiencing homelessness in West Palm Beach being fed by We Care About People. | Photo courtesy of We Care About People
Florida Anti-Feeding Ordinances Won’t Deter Good Samaritans West Palm Beach, among other towns and cities across the state, have been trying to stop organizations from feeding the homeless
By Robert Davis
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spate of laws in Florida that are designed to prevent people from feeding the unhoused won’t deter good Samaritans from helping those in need, advocates say. Cities ranging from West Palm Beach to Lakeland have ordinances on the books that limit the number of people that service organizations can feed. These ordinances also seek to limit where service organizations can feed people and levy fines and threaten jail time against those who continue feeding people after receiving a written warning. While some courts have said that similar ordinances are unconstitutional, advocates say cities continue to put these ordinances in place to hide visible poverty from tourists in the state. We Care About People, an organization that has been feeding local homeless people for several years, is one group that recently sparred with the City of West Palm Beach over its anti-feeding ordinance. In May, Canta Chestnut, the group’s organizer, was given a formal warning by West Palm Beach police officers for feeding
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local homeless people. Chestnut told the Homeless Voice that she suspects West Palm Beach is really trying to force homeless people away from parks and other places where tourists gather. The latest point in time count found more than 1,800 people experiencing homelessness in Palm Beach County, which is the highest total the county has recorded since 2011. Among those people, only 650 were in some sort of shelter while more than 1,100 were living unsheltered. “The waterfront is West Palm Beach’s creme-de-lacreme, and so they don’t want tourists and the elite to see the visible blight of homelessness,” Chestnut said. “But the city doesn’t provide any services to help them get off the street. We don’t even have a shelter in West Palm Beach.” Feeding the homeless has been a controversial topic since at least 2007 when the National Coalition for the Homeless published a report that found several of the largest cities in the U.S. have ordinances that
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criminalize sharing food. For example, an ordinance in Orlando prohibited people from serving groups of 25 people or more without a permit. However, the city only issued two permits per year. People who violated the ordinance could be punished by a fine of up to $500 or 60 days in jail. Cities ranging from Atlanta, Georgia to Portland, Oregon have similar ordinances on their books. While advocates have sued to have these ordinances overturned, the courts have not been consistent in their rulings on the ordinances. A federal judge in 2008 ruled that Orlando’s anti-feeding ordinance was unconstitutional, but an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals panel overturned the ruling three years later. In August, a group called Food Not Bombs, which provides meals for the homeless four times per week, convinced a Houston judge that the city was using the ordinance to target charitable organizations. The law was originally passed in 2012, but the city didn’t enforce the law until it targeted a Food Not Bombs distribution, an organizer named Nick Cooper told the Associated Press. “This law that the city has passed is absurd. It criminalizes the Samaritan for giving,” lawyer Paul Kubosh, who represented Food Not Bombs, told local news station KPRC 2 after the verdict. Some legal scholars trace the roots of the controversy over feeding the homeless to a 9th Circuit ruling in United States v. Millis. In the case, a man named Daniel Millis was arrested for leaving full gallon-sized water bottles in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge to prevent migrants from dying of dehydration while they tried to cross the border into the U.S. The court ruled in 2010 that Millis’ actions were protected because the federal anti-littering statute that he was charged under was too broad. However, this ruling left avenues for cities to restrict charitable giving to homeless and indigent populations, according to an article in the Boston College Third World Law Review. It is difficult to gauge how Florida’s anti-feeding ordinance enforcement compares with other states. Even so, Chestnut said she has been fighting back against West Palm Beach officials who say the ordinance is needed to protect public health and safety. Chestnut has spoken at several city council meetings since the May encounter and told local officials that she doesn’t plan to stop feeding the homeless any time soon. “It’s getting ridiculous with all the hoops the city wants us to jump through just to give food to homeless people,” Chestnut said. “Each time I talk to them, I say the law infringes upon my sincerely held religious beliefs as a Christian woman.” Despite the legal hurdles, Chestnut said there are ways for service organizations to continue feeding the homeless. For instance, she said she will bring a roll of 22 tickets with her to feeding events. Once she runs out of tickets, Chestnut said she will get in her car and drive around the block before coming back to distribute the rest of the meals she prepared. She also said that service organizations should prepackage the food they are distributing because of the way the ordinances are written. This allows service organizations to distribute fresh and nutritious food as well. “Everyone of these politicians put their hand on the bible before taking their oath of office,” Chestnut said. “But it seems like none of them have actually cracked the book open and read the word of God.”
FIRST-PERSON
Homeless, Not Hopeless A life after homelessness is possible.
Mary Stewart (left) at a camp in West Palm Beach with friend Kitty (right). | Photo courtesy of Mary Stewart
By Mary Stewart
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've been chronically homeless on and off for many years, and sometimes it feels as though there is no light at the end of the tunnel when I’ve repeatedly tried to obtain and maintain housing without any long-term success. However, I have celebrated many smaller successes along the way. Often, homeless people eventually give up on their hopes and dreams. Given the increasing cost of living and the housing and employment barriers that many of us face, it's easy to succumb to the street life and accept that things will never change. While housing and employment are the obvious goals for most homeless people, there are still tiny victories that we can celebrate each day in the midst of our struggles. When you look at the big picture and the ultimate goal of a home, it's only natural to get overwhelmed. Housing is possible. So is employment, sobriety, and even family reconciliation. But these things don't always happen overnight. It may take many baby steps in the right direction to eventually reach your goals. Although I haven't yet been successful at keeping a roof over my head or holding down a job, I did accomplish something that is by all means amazing, especially as a
THE HOMELESS VOICE
homeless woman — I graduated. In May 2016, I received my Associates of Arts degree, while living in a tent in West Boca. I had always dreamt of graduating college and figured that if I had a college degree, then I could get a good paying job and afford a home. It wasn't easy. It took dedication, hard work, and perseverance. I'd often panhandle in the morning for bus fare and would take advantage of the campus food pantry. At the time, my husband was doing work for a pressure cleaning contractor, so I didn't need to panhandle all day long. I had more time to focus on my studies. I maintained good hygiene, thanks to the showers at the campus fitness center. At first I was self-conscious about being an older homeless student, but after I opened up about my housing status, I was flooded with support. One classmate would always bring a whole Publix sub for lunch and give me half. Another classmate paid me to tutor her in pre-calc. I needed money, she needed better grades — it worked out. My professors insisted that my term papers be on topics pertaining to homelessness. I wowed one professor with my essay on homeless hate crime
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legislation and left my entire class speechless after my PowerPoint virtual tour of a homeless camp. Many times I'd miss class, though. My laptops were stolen several times, and my textbooks were weatherdamaged. I had to repeat a few classes due to my struggles. My therapist at the counseling center told me that I couldn't focus on school without my basic needs being met first. But she was wrong. Not only did I graduate, but I did so with honors. However, an AA degree was little to no help in my job search, and I only made it halfway to my Bachelor's degree. I ended up drowning in student loan debt while still homeless and unemployed. But I accomplished something, and that gave me hope. Even though I didn't launch some high-powered career, nor did I overcome homelessness, I was able to start earning some extra money working as a freelance writer. Instead of panhandling, I spent my time at the Glades Rd. library branch creating a portfolio and pitching to publications. I landed contracts with two content mills and the Homeless Voice. I didn't need to panhandle during my last homeless episode because I could write to eat. So here I am, back on the street and occasionally panhandling again, but I'm not a total failure. I haven't reached my ultimate goals of a home, a steady job, or reuniting with my kids. But I did make steps forward. Maybe a college degree feels even further out of reach for you than a home and job. But you could sign up for a free GED class at the public library, and look into the homeless tuition exemption should you decide to continue school. Or your steps could be smaller, yet still significant. You could set a goal to get your ID this week or attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting or go to the health department for a check up. Maybe you could strive to put in ten online applications each week or go to day labor twice a week. My late friend Cowboy wanted to get in shape, so he began a daily routine of going to McDonald's for a coffee before walking laps around the plaza. He called it his walk around, and he felt a sense of pride in reaching such a tiny goal. Although he was perfectly content with homelessness, he still recognized the benefits of goal-setting. If you attend self-help meetings or go to the Compassionate Care ministry in Boca on a Saturday, you will hear countless stories of hope and life beyond homelessness and addiction. But the reality is that we each have individual stories and barriers that we must overcome. I've accepted that I'll probably never be able to afford to live in South Florida, and that substance abuse treatment is inaccessible to me in the Sunshine State. But that doesn't mean that I'll never get sober or have a place to live — I just may need to eventually relocate. In the meantime, there are other goals that I can work on such as landing more writing jobs, building credit, and restoring my license. I'm taking free classes on Hubspot and have downloaded a free app to improve my Spanish. Homelessness and hopelessness are two different things. Even if you have accepted life outdoors, setting and reaching goals can still make you feel productive and improve your self- esteem. Just keep your head up and continue to move forward in life in whatever way that you can.
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FIRST-PERSON
If You Can't Say Anything Nice...
...don't say anything at all.
#%@ &*@
! $ * @#
!# $ @ %
$%* &@
By Mary Stewart
R
ecently, I was panhandling near Glades Road and the turnpike when a woman who was one lane over rolled down her window. Instead of offering change from her center console, she adamantly started screaming that I need to get a job. She continued her rantings even as the light turned green and she pulled onto the turnpike. I had to get off the median for a few minutes as tears had begun to flow down my face. Since having returned to homelessness, that woman has not been the first person to chastise me about being an unemployed panhandler. Just a few days earlier, another woman had told me that she had two jobs and that I needed to go to work, too. For a moment, I hated myself and wondered why I was even born. I have a disability, and my benefits are not enough to afford rent or live on through the month. I actually tried to get a job a couple months ago and couldn't handle it with my emotional and physical health conditions, then my benefits had been cut back due to my failed attempt at employment. That was a big part of the reason that I was out there with my sign in the first place. I don't know what people hope to accomplish by telling the homeless to get a job. I've never met a fellow homeless person who has sought employment because someone told them that they need a job. It's not like we
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are hit with an epiphany when people advise us to find work. We already know that we need a job. While I have known a few homeless people who were just plain lazy, the majority of us face barriers to employment and self-sufficiency. Some people seem to understand this and inform us of local resources. That can be helpful at times as some of us don't know where to turn to for help. However, it's a common misconception in Palm Beach County that there are homeless shelters that will feed and house us. And most homeless people in Boca Raton are aware of Boca Helping Hands, but may still panhandle for bus fare to get there or to meet other needs besides food. I've been told many times that I'm just making excuses and that I need to help myself. But doing so has not brought an end to the hurtful comments. While I was attending Palm Beach State College, a man in a car told me that I didn't look like a college student, rather that I was a pathetic excuse for a human being. I ran back to the edge of the highway, collapsed on the ground, and began to rock back and forth and punch myself. I have a long history of self-injury, including a prior suicide attempt. When people say things like that to a homeless person, it could very well drive them deeper into the bottle, or worse, to the brink of suicide. Sometimes the rejection doesn't come from individual
Graphic by Andrew Fraieli
people, but from businesses instead. One local eatery told my friends and I that they didn't want our business because we were homeless. Once, a gas station employee told a friend of mine that they didn't want “his kind” in there. Too often, I have allowed comments such as these to dictate my own sense of self-worth. I've questioned why I'm even on this planet if I have a limited capacity to make money and buy material possessions. But when did self-worth and net worth become the same thing? Occasionally, people's words have given me hope and motivation, though I doubt that was the intended outcome. An older man once told me that he still works full-time despite his age and failing health and that I'm too young to be disabled. Many people don't understand that high-functioning autism is a childhood disability or that onset of mental illness often occurs in the teens or early 20s. These are both disabling conditions. You don't necessarily need to be elderly in order to be disabled. While the man was clearly misinformed, his comment first made me wonder why I had never been able to hold down a job when there was this man in his 60s who was still breaking his back to earn a living. I felt like a failure. Then I looked at it from another perspective: if he can do it, so can I. But getting a job involves two parties: the applicant and the employer. I like it when people tell me which places are currently hiring as I hope to eventually find a job that I can handle. However, even if I put in hundreds of job applications, it's still up to the employer to give me a job. The worst comment I ever heard was when I was in line at a taco stand, and I noted the rising taco prices. The man behind me replied that the migrants work hard and deserve higher pay. When I responded that I was homeless and disabled and that I struggled to afford those tacos, he told me that if that's the case, I don't deserve a good meal, that I deserve to be in the bushes somewhere eating ramen noodles. I'm not sure why so many people seem to hate the homeless. Maybe it's the issue of tourism and property values. Once, a cop told my husband and I that we were an “eyesore.” Another officer said that people don't pay to live in an upper class neighborhood just to see homeless people on the medians. But it could also be due to aggressive panhandling and littering. Many homeless people are clean and respectful, others aren't. And as the saying goes: “One bad apple spoils the bunch.” Unfortunately, some homeless people conform to the stereotypes and make it hard on the rest of us. People don't have to like us, but they could at least have enough decency to not spew out insults. Those comments do not serve any purpose besides driving us into self- loathing and depression. When we are told to get a job or that we are worthless or that our situation is our own fault, it just makes us feel angry and hurt. If you don't want to give us money, fine. But either say something nice or don't say anything at all. And if you are homeless and someone says something hurtful to you, try to look at it from another perspective, or simply dismiss it. In the end, a loving, compassionate heart is worth more than all the money in the world. In that respect, many homeless people are richer than you think.
NEWS
Florida's Homelessness Increases Again Florida has once again found itself leading the country in homelessness with an almost 20% increase from last year
A tent city in John Prince Park, Palm Beach County | Photo by Miranda Schumes for the Homeless Voice
By McKenna Harford
H
omelessness in Florida is up 19% in 2023 compared to last year, with more than 30,000 unhoused people across the state. According to the annual report from Florida’s Council on Homelessness, the 2023 Point in Time count found 30,809 unhoused people, with more than half of them being unsheltered. The Point in Time count provides an estimation for the number of people, both sheltered and unsheltered, in the state based on a count during one night in January. The report found that Charlotte, Collier and Lee counties, where Hurricane Ian caused significant damage, saw homelessness go up 70% from 2022. Additionally, rising rents and a lack of housing supply during a time of increasing population continue to contribute significantly to increasing homelessness. “Supply and demand being fundamental market factors, this is causing housing costs to increase at extraordinary rates,” council chairperson Shannon Nazworth said in a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis. “That factor, coupled with population growth, has significantly increased pressure on the rental housing market.” Despite already having the highest percentage of rent-burdened residents in the country, Florida rents went up an average of $170 between January 2022
THE HOMELESS VOICE
"Supply and demand being fundamental market factors, this is causing housing costs to increase at extraordinary rates."
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and January 2023. Of the people experiencing homelessness, 51% are unsheltered, 24% are families, 28% are older than 55, 15% are 18 or younger and 20% are chronically homeless. Florida’s numbers follow a national trend of increasing homelessness year over year since 2017, per the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Other contributing factors the report names include a decline over the last five years in available shelter beds, the return of evictions following the pause during the pandemic and community aversion to dense housing projects, known as a “Not in My Backyard” mentality. To tackle homelessness in Florida, the report recommends four actions: promote collaboration between services; leverage federal funding for developing housing and expanding supportive services; continue to support Housing First programs; and encourage and incentivize local government to build affordable housing. “Housing First is an evidence-based best practice helping households move into stable permanent housing as quickly as possible,” the report says. “This approach is guided by the belief that people need basic necessities like food and a place to live before attending to anything less critical, such as getting a job, budgeting properly, or attending to substance use issues.” Earlier this year, DeSantis signed into law the Live Local Act, which dedicates $700 million to affordable housing solutions. The state legislature also approved $16.8 million in grants for rental assistance and permanent supportive housing. The council’s report thanks the state for the investments, which it says will be crucial to addressing the housing crisis, and encouraged further state support, citing a 2021 needs assessment that estimates it would cost over $36 billion to build the number of supportive and affordable housing units needed in the state. “The Council recognizes the achievements of Florida in affordable housing funding and acknowledges the importance of continuing to build upon these successes,” the report says. “However, it is imperative the State of Florida dedicate sufficient resources to address the pressing issue of housing affordability for extremely low-income households, those experiencing homelessness, and persons with special needs. The lack of housing affordable to those households not only poses a significant challenge for vulnerable populations but also impacts the overall well-being of communities.” The report is also hopeful that the Live Local Act will remove some of the zoning and land use regulation barriers that existed for building affordable housing by allowing mixed-use residential and multi-family housing in commercial, industrial and some mixed-use areas, so long as 40% of the units are income-restricted for at least 30 years. Threading through the report’s recommendations is the theme of collaboration between government on all levels and nonprofit resources working on housing and homelessness solutions. “A person should not have to solely rely on the homelessness system of care to address their housing stability needs; instead housing instability and risk of homelessness should be discovered and addressed upon entry into many systems of care, so that appropriate resources can be paired with the household needing assistance immediately, decreasing their likelihood of falling into longterm homelessness,” it says.
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Y
ou may have seen her. I do not know her name, I just call her the umbrella woman. She lives at bus stops or on benches in shopping plazas, and hides behind her giant umbrella. I tried to talk to her a few times, only for her to chase me away while swinging the umbrella at me. She has called me the devil for wearing shorts and has told me that she does not want me in her area because I smoke cigarettes. Once, I called the police officers to do a welfare check on her as she was obviously battling mental illness, but there was nothing that they could do because she was not a danger to herself or others. Sadly, she is not alone. Since the closure of the Jerome Golden Center for Behavioral Health in West Palm Beach in late 2019, I have noticed a steady increase in mentally ill homeless people in southern Palm Beach County. I am not being judgmental. On the contrary, I feel nothing but compassion and empathy as I have a mental illness myself. I am also overwhelmingly frustrated with the system and the lack of mental health care for lowincome Palm Beach County residents. South County Mental Health Center in Delray Beach is currently the only non-profit community mental health center in the area. I have been a client there myself and must say that I was satisfied with the outpatient psychiatric care that they offered. They also have an in-patient crisis stabilization unit. Their website claims that they offer additional services, such as residential housing and a day treatment program with a “robust” substance abuse component, but I was never offered
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Oct. 2023
any of those services despite my extensive mental health and substance abuse history. Overall, I have nothing bad to say about South County except for the fact that we need more than one community mental health center. I still have not figured out where the former Jerome Golden clients went. I suspect that many are now South County clients — though South County hadn’t responded before publishing time as to whether this was true — whereas some may have moved down to Broward County and others are sleeping on benches like the umbrella woman. There are a handful of outpatient psychiatrists and individual therapists who accept Medicaid, including Multilingual Psychotherapy and Community Partners, but those providers do not offer the comprehensive services needed by the severely mentally ill. It should also be noted that most homeless people are uninsured and need sliding scale care — a form of payment that adjusts to the ability of someone to pay, possibly down to no pay at all. Found Care, a low-income health center based in Palm Springs, has begun offering sliding scale behavioral health services, but many people are unaware of this resource. Although Found Care has been my primary care physician for many years, they only recently gave me an internal behavioral health referral. The closure of Jerome Golden has resulted in a major loss to the community. Patients of their hospital — the only nonprofit psychiatric hospital in the county that accepted low-income or uninsured patients — as well
FIRST-PERSON
as those living in their residential facilities had to leave with only a few months' notice. As a former client, I was displeased with some of their common practices, but I will admit that Jerome Golden provided affordable housing, case management, day treatment, dual diagnosis care, and even contingency funds when there was dire financial need. With regards to mental illness, some clients can suffice with just periodic medication clinic visits while others need comprehensive care. Additionally, many mental health clients struggle to survive on Supplemental Security Income and need affordable independent living. But right now, I think the need is greater than the services currently available. Dual diagnosis, which is the presence of both a mental health and substance abuse disorder, is even harder to treat and the services are almost non-existent in Palm Beach County. Even if you only have a substance abuse disorder, treatment options for the low-income and uninsured are dwindling in the county. A few of the major non-profit substance abuse treatment centers, such as Gratitude House, PANDA, and CARP also closed their doors around the same time as Jerome Golden. Currently, the Drug Abuse Foundation is the only county-funded treatment center in the area. While they do not refuse services due to the inability to pay, they have refused to accept me, during my last pregnancy, due to my mental health history. Once, they even refused to accept me with a civil court order. Twice, they did accept me with a family court order, only to medically discharge me. The only place that welcomed me despite my mental health issues was Village for Change, but they have an insanely long waiting list and will only accept people who are already clean and sober. That misses the entire point of treatment. If you do not have a funding source, you will be waiting a long time for a bed. Even the handful of non-profit treatment centers left in Palm Beach County refuse dually diagnosed clients. Faith Farm and the Salvation Army Center of
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Dual diagnosis, w hich is the presence of both a mental health and substance ab use disorder, is even harder to t reat and the services are almo st nonexistent in Palm Beach Count y.
Oct. 2023
Hope are suitable places for local homeless addicts to seek treatment, but both facilities turned me away because I was on psychotropic medications, though their policies may have changed since then. Wayside House is a private women’s treatment center with a few indigent beds, but they medically discharged me as well, claiming they lack the mental health capacity to care for the dually diagnosed. If you are low-income and mentally ill in Palm Beach County, you will need to make do with whatever services South County has available unless you have Medicaid or get hooked up with Found Care. And if you have a co-occurring substance abuse disorder, you are screwed unless you can get sober through twelve-step meeting attendance alone. I gave up on receiving dual diagnosis treatment a long time ago. Fortunately, I do have Medicaid and have been able to continue to see a psychiatrist every three months for medication refills. I have been medically discharged from both DAF and Wayside House due to my mental health issues. Last year, South County refused to prescribe my medication until I sought help for my binge drinking, but nowhere would accept me for treatment. That policy must have changed as I went back to South County this year and had no problem getting my medication. Many homeless programs throughout the nation have started using the Housing First model which prioritizes getting the homeless off the streets over referring them to services needed to address the underlying causes of homelessness. Contrary to widespread belief, not all homeless people are addicts or mentally ill, however, those issues are common amongst the homeless population. I am currently in the Rapid Rehousing transitional program. Overall, I am doing well in my apartment, but I started to hit the bottle hard after I lost my job at my favorite fast-food joint and found out that my SSI benefits were being drastically reduced because I was employed for a month. I admit that I partied harder than I ever did before as I faced losing my home over my
THE HOMELESS VOICE
Oct. 2023
life-long disability and failed attempt at employment. One homeless friend of mine — who is not dually diagnosed, but does struggle with substance abuse — has expressed his frustrations to me: “Everyone should have access to quality substance abuse treatment regardless of their ability to pay.” Unfortunately, in Palm Beach County, recovery is one more privilege of the elite. If you have money and private insurance, you will have no issue with getting the help that you need. But if you are homeless and broke, you will be lucky to make it onto a long waiting list. I am grateful for the Housing First model. If I had been required to get mental health and substance abuse counseling prior to being placed in an apartment, I would have never made it off the streets. Then again, here I am in my apartment being pushed to focus on employment and paying rent with a total disregard for the underlying issues that have contributed to my chronic homelessness. The help is still out there in Palm Beach County, but there are fewer options available, and you will need to jump through hoops and wait a long time for a bed. If you are homeless with a mental illness, South County will at least get you stabilized on the right medication, if nothing else. I have heard that CARP has re-opened as a twelve-step focused halfway house. Fern House is another option for men. I do not know much about their program, but I have met a few men that have gotten clean there. The Family Center for Recovery in Lantana now accepts Medicaid clients and specializes in dual diagnosis. I went there once but was creeped out by the techs in white lab coats. It is a good comprehensive program for dually diagnosed Medicaid recipients, though. We still need more mental health and substance abuse services in Palm Beach County. Mentally ill residents should not need to be sleeping on benches hiding behind umbrellas, nor should anyone be denied substance abuse services because of a mental illness, lack of private insurance, or the amount of money in their pocket.
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FIRST-PERSON
Lack of Affordable Housing for the Disabled Homeless Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, is not enough to pay for rent, let alone other expenses for the disabled homeless.
By Mary Stewart 12
Photo illustration by Andrew Fraieli
W
hen I first saw my new apartment, I fell in love. It was everything I wanted. Even the appliances were brand new. I was so excited. But there was a catch. In order to keep my beautiful apartment, I had to overcome a lifelong disability and go to work, so I could eventually afford the full rent of $1300 per month. Oddly, my disability was part of the reason that I was bumped to the top of the list for the Rapid Rehousing program, but I was required to seek employment as a condition of remaining in the program. That doesn't make much sense to me at all. Don't get me wrong. I definitely want to go to work, but I have a developmental and emotional disability that limits my capacity to work. I personally don't think it's realistic to expect a disabled person to be able to afford $1300 each month for rent when the current maximum benefit for Supplemental Security Income recipients is only $914 per month. But that is the going rate for an apartment — even in Belle Glade, far from West Palm Beach, just south of Lake Okeechobee. My former caseworker and I looked at rooms for rent, but even those are going for $800 to $1000 per month. Once in a while, you may get lucky and find something cheaper, but affordable rentals are few and far between. Actually, $1300 per month is considered reasonable in South Florida. While embarking on my apartment hunt, I noticed that most one-bedroom units are going for $1600 to $1800 per month or more. Even halfway houses have begun charging $225 to $250 a week — and you don't even get your own bedroom! This has become a problem for homeless SSI recipients in South Florida. While it's always been a struggle to make it on government benefits, the increased cost of living makes it virtually impossible. I'm still trying to figure out how my disability made me a priority for housing assistance, given the fact that my health conditions would inhibit compliance with program requirements. However, Palm Beach County has never seemed too interested in helping disabled homeless people. Prior to The Senator Philip D. Lewis Center, a homeless resource center, the only homeless services offered here was the Homeless Outreach Team, which placed people in halfway houses for 90 days — provided they were willing and able to work. I've gone through that program. In order to qualify for homeless services, I had to obtain a note from my doctor saying I was capable of part-time low stress employment. So, where is the help for homeless people with disabilities? We certainly can't afford to pay rent on an SSI check. According to the Social Security website, SSI recipients qualify for subsidized housing. However, the waiting list for Section 8 is insanely long, and there are very few one-bedroom public housing units in PBC. The vast majority of local public housing complexes only offer two and three bedroom units to house lowincome — mostly able-bodied — single women with children. A few of these complexes have a minimal number of one-bedroom apartments. In other states, including South Carolina and Kentucky, there are several public housing complexes with only one-bedroom units specifically designed for elderly and disabled Social Security recipients. But you can't find that in PBC, and I doubt you ever will. Palm Beach County is a desirable location for wealthy
THE HOMELESS VOICE
I personally don't think it's realistic to expect a disabled person to be able to afford $1300 each month for rent when the current maximum benefit for Supplemental Security Income recipients is only $914 per month.
Oct. 2023
retirees, and I can only imagine how offering lowincome one bedroom apartments could impact that revenue. There are a few options for local disabled homeless people, though. Some assisted living facilities, or ALFs, do accept SSI recipients. I lived in an ALF once before in a run-down motel in West Palm Beach. I shared a bedroom, meals were provided, and a nurse's assistant gave me my medication twice a day. It wasn't too bad, but I lost my sense of freedom and barely had any money left in my pocket each month. The ALF kept my entire SSI check except for $43 per month, and then applied for Optional State Supplementation. Apparently, my benefits weren't even enough for me to live in that dump. Of course, it was still three square meals and a bed, but homeless people are used to their freedom. Many elderly people are reluctant to move into nursing homes. So, how can you expect a younger, disabled homeless person to live in one? My former case worker also brought up the option of something called Permanent Supportive Housing, but she failed to elaborate on the details. Now, I have heard of Project Succeed through Goodwill Industries, but they also have a very long wait list. Community Partners also has a Supportive Housing Opportunities Program, or SHOP, but I didn't qualify to rent from any of the landlords that they are contracted with. I've known numerous homeless SSI recipients over the years. Most of them are interested in getting a place to live, but simply can't afford housing and want to have some money left over out of their check to live on through the month. If you receive SSI benefits and live in PBC, homelessness is pretty much inevitable unless you move to an ALF, live with a friend or family member, or get hooked up with one of the above named resources. The cost of living is far too high to live independently. In PBC, there's a well-known saying: "Hand up, not hand out." I agree with the concept of helping those who are willing to help themselves, but people who have limitations on their work abilities — or who are unable to work at all due to a physical or mental handicap — should be an exception to this rule. As for me, it broke my heart to withdraw from the Rapid Rehousing program and give my landlord a 30 day notice. Currently, I'm back on the streets. I was unable to handle my fast-food job and my benefits were drastically cut due to my failed attempt at employment. Anyway, I didn't feel safe in Belle Glade after having been victimized five times in a month. I filed a police report, but nothing was done. Now I understand why many of my homeless friends have refused to be housed there. At this point, I'm once again considering relocation as I simply can't afford to live in South Florida on an SSI check. Then again, I think back to my late friend, Jerry, who was a homeless SSI recipient. He was perfectly content with pitching a tent under a palm tree and sipping coconut rum. To him, that was retirement living at its finest. Although there should be more resources for homeless people with disabilities, if you keep your head up and look at the glass as being half full instead of half empty, you may be able to enjoy life outdoors. If not, you probably need to move on towards new horizons to obtain an affordable place to call home.
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FIRST-PERSON
Homelessness in Winter Even the mild winters in Florida can bring challenges of survival with the wind and rain.
By Mary Stewart
F
lorida is notorious for its stifling heat and mild winters, with some homeless people moving to the state for this year round warm weather. But these mild winters can still get cold enough to cause hypothermia, the flu and pneumonia for the homeless. Last year, the temperature dropped to 23 degrees on Christmas Eve in Central Florida — low enough to potentially cause hypothermia in those who lack a heat source. Although hypothermia — the malfunctioning of the heart, brain, and kidneys due to dropping bodytemperature — is more common when temperatures drop below freezing, this life threatening condition can claim victims when the weather is just above 40 degrees due to wind-chill or rain. And in Florida, nighttime winter temperatures can consistently be in that range. I have never personally known a fellow homeless person that has been impacted by hypothermia, but that doesn’t take away the possibility for the homeless to die of cold in the Sunshine State. I’ve more commonly seen homeless Floridians fall ill with the flu or pneumonia in the winter, having had the flu once myself while homeless in December, and despite being vaccinated. Fortunately, my Medicaid paid for Tami-flu and my symptoms were short lived. But most homeless people are uninsured and have no choice but to let the virus take its course. I've also had pneumonia twice. Once in January, and I had to be hospitalized for a week. My other bout oddly occurred during the month of July. Kitty, who was homeless for many years, also seemed to get sick in the summer. She recalls her fight to stay warm in the winter. "Lots of blankets and lots of hot chocolate — that's how I stayed warm and cozy. I actually liked the winters because I had the opportunity to help others stay warm, too. Many of my friends didn't have a tent or blanket or even a jacket. I was able to share mine with them. I even
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helped the animals in the winter," she told me. I'm more of a coffee person and was always a frequent Dunkin Donuts customer in the winter. In retrospect, my cardboard sign should've said 'Need a hot cup of coffee' instead of 'Hungry' during the winter because that's what much of my panhandling money went to. Hot chocolate and tea are more cost-efficient hot beverages to keep the homeless warm throughout winter, though. Instant hot cocoa packets and tea bags can be bought with food stamps, and many convenient stores offer free hot water. Another friend, Allen, was homeless on and off since the age of 18. Before moving to Florida, he struggled to survive below freezing temperatures in Kentucky and the Carolinas. "I'd usually try to find a large cardboard box — like one of those refrigerator boxes — and fill it with blankets. I'd also layer my clothing. I would wear a smaller jacket with a thick jacket or hoodie over it. Sometimes, if it was too cold, I'd sleep in my buddy's car or in his basement." When it came to wintertime, homelessness in Florida was a much needed relief for Allen. "I didn't come to Florida because of the weather,” he said. “My wife is from Florida. But winters weren't an issue anymore. I'd just build a campfire and cover up with blankets in my tent when it got cold. But the summers were way too hot." Allen and Kitty bring up some important points. Blankets and jackets are a must for homeless people in the winter — even in Florida. Sadly, much of our local unhoused population is lacking those items. Often, blankets and clothing are stolen by other homeless people out of need. Other times, they are discarded by property maintenance. But one of the biggest issues with holding onto those necessities is the rain. The spring and summer months are more known as the Florida rainy season, with the winter being dryer. I've usually had a tent where I'd store my blankets and extra clothes. I'm very good at stashing my belongings and only dealt with my stash spots and camps being
Oct. 2023
discovered a few times. Even so, I would often get caught in the rain during the winter leaving my socks, jeans, and sweater soaking wet. Imagine wearing soaked clothing outdoors when the temperature drops between 40 and 60 degrees. I was shivering and freezing cold. Sometimes my stuff would be stored in trash bags and also become damp or my tent would leak, leaving my extra items almost as wet as what I was wearing. There were times when I had nothing dry to change into, nor did I have a dry blanket to cover up. Trust me, I was miserable. I recall one time when this happened, and a church group happened to bring out socks and blankets — I had never been so grateful. Campfires are a common heat source for the homeless when the weather gets cold. But it can also present a fire hazard for surrounding homes. One time, my friend Rooster lit a candle in his makeshift tent, and the woods caught on fire. Thankfully, I was there with my phone and was able to call the fire department. If a tiny candle could cause a fire, building a bonfire at one's camp for warmth is even more dangerous. It should also be noted that fires create smoke, and smoke draws attention to your camp. Now, I have used small charcoal grills for cooking and warmth while homeless. The fire was more contained at least. I'd keep the grill a few feet from my tent and away from the brush to prevent a fire. But it didn't stop nearby homeowners from calling the authorities and complaining. Since then, I started cooking with a single burner propane stove that doesn't create smoke. It's been easier to stay under the radar but does nothing for warmth. In the end, I guess winter survival does boil down to hot cocoa, blankets, and jackets. As far as winter illness, emergency rooms will treat you if you are uninsured and can perform nose swab tests for the flu and pneumonia. Sometimes, they'll admit you if you have pneumonia but will usually recommend over the counter remedies for the flu if you are uninsured. Publix no longer offers free antibiotics, but you can often purchase some prescription drugs at a relatively affordable price at Walmart or with a GoodRx coupon. If you live in Palm Beach County, you can apply for Healthcare District or visit Foundcare, which is a local low-income health center. Although hypothermia doesn't seem to be prevalent in Florida, it's still a very real and very dangerous health risk for homeless Floridians. During the winter, homeless people should try to stay informed on approaching cold fronts and arrange to go to a Red Cross cold shelter when the temperature drops too low. Florida does have milder winters than most states, but that doesn't mean that homeless people get a free pass when it comes to winter illnesses. We desperately need jackets, blankets, and sock donations. Wintertime is also a season in which tents suffice better for shelter than a shopping plaza or bus stop. Red Cross cold shelters are a godsend should the temperature drop below freezing, however, homeless people still need to be careful even if the temperature is only down to the 40s. All that aside, homeless Floridians still have the upper hand when it comes to winter survival compared to our northern counterparts. Just stock up on that hot cocoa and start gathering those blankets to prepare for the cooler temperatures. And always be ready to help a fellow homeless friend stay warm. Who knows? Doing so may save their life.
NEWS
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