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Giving Voice: Housing people during COVID-19

May 14, 2020 By Rota Knott Leave a Comment

Giving Voice

The following article was published in The Times Record on 5/8/20 and written by Jennifer Iacovelli, Tedford Housing’s director of development.

A week into our second monthlong stay-at-home order, and it’s hard to get away from the news stories about COVID-19. It has affected our everyday life, personally and professionally, in a way that I’m not sure any of us were ever prepared. The articles from our Giving Voice column have illustrated how Tedford Housing, The Gathering Place, Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program and Oasis Free Clinics have reacted to and adjusted services to meet the needs of our community’s most vulnerable neighbors.

While we have all had to make changes in the way in which we work with our clients, we continue to offer much-needed programs and services. Even while practicing extreme social distancing, Tedford Housing’s overarching goal continues to be to find our clients safe, permanent housing. This feat can be challenging enough without a global pandemic, as our clients have many barriers to break through in the process of finding that pathway from homelessness to home.

We have shared that Tedford Housing’s buildings are closed to the public and staff are working from home as much as possible. Case managers are meeting with clients mostly via phone, email or text. Zoom is used from time to time, but only if the client has the capability of using such an application.

So how does this new, different way of working affect finding housing? For one thing, it slows the already slow process down. Tedford Housing staff aren’t the only ones working remotely. Landlords and property managers may not be in their offices and only checking their email or messages once/day or even once/week. Same thing with the offices that manage housing vouchers. In-person tours of a potential apartment are no longer happening during COVID-19, so everything is done via a camera, including inspections that are required by specific housing vouchers once an apartment is found. Vetting is much more difficult for both landlord and tenant when you lose the ability to be in the same room with a person.

As far as the case managers at our adult and family shelters go, it’s business as usual. They may not be in the office every day during the week, but they continue to work with clients to find apartments, fill out applications and guide our shelter guests through the many steps it takes to get to the point of signing a lease. One of our families moved into an apartment without seeing it first. Though it made the mom a bit uncomfortable, she talked with her case manager about how she could always look at other options in a year if she wasn’t happy with the apartment. The main goal was to move out of the shelter into permanent housing.

Two of what we call long term stayers in our adult shelter and one family in our family shelter have found housing during this difficult time. Being in the shelter for over 300 days, these individuals overcame some big obstacles to sign their leases with the help of their case manager. Moving has become particularly difficult because most of our clients rely on help from friends. With social distancing and restrictions on travel with people other than your household become a challenge. Our partners at Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity’s Restore are temporarily closed, which limits our ability to help clients access the household items they need to furnish their new apartment. We have to take extra precautions with volunteers who help sort and gather donations to fulfill clients’ moving checklists. Once in an apartment, our case managers then “follow” clients for up to 12 months to help ensure a smooth transition. Losing the personal touch of on-site meetings can be tough because you lose the cues that body language can give you if a person is having a hard time. Many of our clients are struggling with isolation, financial stresses and addiction, making it harder to keep people stable and supported via the telephone.

Tedford Housing is making it work during this pandemic, especially our case managers. We are happy to report that people are still being housed even if it takes a bit more time.

Filed Under: Giving, News & Events Tagged With: Brunswick, case management, COVID-19, Giving Voice, homelessness, housing, Jennifer Iacovelli, Maine, Tedford Housing

Giving Voice: It takes a community effort to get through difficult times

April 15, 2020 By Rota Knott Leave a Comment

Giving Voice

The following article was published in The Times Record on 4/10/20 and written by Jennifer Iacovelli, Tedford Housing’s director of development.

I am working from home as I write this article, typing away on my laptop in my office. One of my sons is chatting away with his 5th grade “lunch crew” buddies via Zoom, while my other son, a freshman, finishes up baking some sugar cookies. He chose sugar cookies because that’s what could be made with the ingredients available to him right now.

Earlier I drafted a grant proposal, spoke with some shelter meal donors by phone and helped my 5th grader with some math. Soon I’ll take a break to walk the dog and eat a late lunch, which will consist of whatever I have in the kitchen. I guess this is our new normal for the time being.

COVID-19 has changed the way we all work and live. In Tedford Housing’s case, we’ve had to expand our hours rather than decrease our operations. With safe community spaces like The Gathering Place and Curtis Memorial Library closed during the day, it’s essential for our adult shelter to be open 24 hours / day. Because we normally close between 8 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. during the week, this change means a lot of new logistics and expenses that weren’t in our plans. At the very least, it means we need staffing 24 hours at our adult shelter, and we need to feed our shelters guests three meals per day.

In an effort to practice social distancing and to comply with Gov. Janet Mills’ executive order to shelter safely at home, we are spreading staff out as much as possible. Some, like me, are working from home if and when we can. Our supportive housing and outreach case managers are checking in with people via phone, text and email. Tedford Housing’s buildings are closed to the public. Only staff and guests are allowed into our shelters.

Yesterday was my morning to be in the admin office and to deliver lunch to shelter guests. I’ll be back tomorrow in the afternoon. We’ve spread out our staff to cover our “headquarters” so people can still drop off needed donations outside our door on Middle Street during business hours. (Though at this point we are only accepting essential donations that we need right now such as cleaning supplies and paper products.)

Our adult shelter staff are the ones on the frontlines day in and day out. Not only is our shelter open 24 hours, but we also have some guests staying in local hotel rooms so that we can properly practice social distancing. The distance means that food needs to be delivered to two places every day.

Basic needs like food and shelter are absolutely essential right now. Sheltering safely at home only works if you have a home (and one that’s safe). When neighbors need help in times like this, it truly takes a community to provide the basics.

We are thankful to so many donors, volunteers and partners who are helping us to keep operating during this time. Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program is providing lunches Monday – Saturday, while a neighbor is delivering lunch on Sunday. Our regular Meal-A-Month volunteers continue to prepare and deliver dinner every night, leaving the food outside the shelter and ringing the bell to alert staff. The Brunswick School Department has been providing breakfast and lunches during the week for school-aged children and working on technology access for those who may have difficulty with remote learning. A local donor provided handmade masks for Tedford Housing staff who are working at the shelter or delivering meals. Pathway Vineyard Church is continuing its Tuesday night community meal on a take-out basis and bringing some over to the shelter at the end of the night. The Bath YMCA, right down the road from one of our family supportive housing units, is providing free meals for kids. Mid Coast Hospital provided thermometers for guests to track their temperature each day. Supporters have stopped by to drop off cleaning supplies, toilet paper and other essentials outside our admin office door. We appreciate the well wishes through the glass storm door! And we are thankful for the monetary donations coming in from neighbors, local organizations, funders and other supporters to help us with the many unexpected expenses we are incurring during this pandemic.

These are difficult and challenging times for many of us, regardless of socioeconomic background. If this pandemic teaches us anything, it’s that it truly takes a community effort to get through difficult times.

Filed Under: Giving, News & Events Tagged With: Brunswick, community support, COVID-19, Giving Voice, Jennifer Iacovelli, Maine, Tedford Housing

Giving Voice: Homeless the longest

January 22, 2020 By Rota Knott Leave a Comment

Giving Voice

The following article was published in The Times Record on 1/17/20 and written by Giff Jamison, Tedford Housing’s director of operations.

Last year, in the Giving Voice article “Addressing the needs of long-term shelter guests” (Jan. 11, 2019), we recognized the one year anniversary of the Long Term Stayers Initiative Southern Midcoast. Partnering with Rita De Fio, housing program manager at Sweetser, this effort increases focus on housing people who have experienced homelessness the longest in our region.

The Statewide Homeless Council first adopted the Long Term Stayers Initiative as a strategy for reducing homelessness in 2014. “Long Term Stayers” are defined as people staying over 180 cumulative days in shelters (or outdoors) within a 365-day period (not necessarily consecutive). The definition includes people in shelters or unsheltered who have been homeless for the longest period of time.

Using a Housing First approach, the initiative focuses housing resources and services on the group of people who have had the largest number of barriers to successful housing placements. Because those in this group are often frequent users of shelters, they tend to occupy shelter beds for longer periods of time and also use a disproportionate amount of publicly funded services like emergency rooms, ambulance services, detox facilities, etc. Since the effort began to track people experiencing long term homelessness, with a focus on connecting with housing and services, 243 people have been housed in Portland. Adam F Cohen reported an average cost savings of $5,853 per person for long term stayers housed in supportive housing in Portland in a study for Community Housing of Maine.

As our initiative here in the southern Midcoast completes its second successful year, the results have been encouraging. Going into 2020, 29 individuals and families experiencing long term homelessness have been housed. Instead of languishing in shelters, these households have the opportunity to move forward in their lives.

Previously, we have described homelessness as an interruption in the trajectory of a person’s life. As these scenarios illustrate, securing housing is the catalyst to jump-start forward progress:

One man in his 70s lives in a supportive housing apartment near downtown Brunswick, within walking distance of the library and Hannaford. After he was unable to remain with a family member and then living at the shelter for over six months, he has maintained his apartment for over a year.

Another, after losing his housing, camping outside for almost a year and spending a further hundred days in Tedford’s adult shelter, now lives in his own apartment in Bath.

One mother and her children, who spent over 200 days in Tedford’s family shelter, transitioned to an apartment in September. She recently resumed working full time.

In another unique situation, a mother and her daughter, having moved from another country and without some important visa and citizenship paperwork, found themselves in a number of unsafe, temporary housing situations. Many months were spent by the case manager at the family shelter tracking down the necessary documents to secure housing and employment. Ultimately, calls to Maine’s congressional delegation helped move along some of the immigration paperwork and after a record number of days in the shelter, the family moved into an apartment, and the mother secured full-time work as a CNA.

Monthly progress of our effort to house long term stayers in our area is reviewed at the MISC (Midcoast Interagency Services Collaborative) meeting, a group of service providers that meet at The Gathering Place on the second Tuesday of the month. As we move into the third year of the initiative, our goal is to connect with more people who are unsheltered – e.g. sleeping outside or in their car – and make sure they are added to our Long Term Stayers list. Even if our shelter is full, our case managers can help get people started in the process of applying for critical housing voucher applications and obtaining necessary documents required to move them along in their search for housing.

The number of people experiencing homelessness in Maine actually fell slightly, from 6,454 in 2018 to 5,886 in 2019. Unfortunately, the average length of time people remained in homelessness increased by nine days, most likely due to a tight housing market. Plans at MISC also include sponsoring a number of events, including a landlord networking session and training sessions open to the community through a curriculum called Rent Smart.

Prolonged homelessness is a predictor for poor health outcomes. It contributes to trauma for the individual and family trapped in its cycle and is cost-burdensome for shelters, emergency services and other parts of the public sector that respond to crisis often precipitated by homelessness. Our Long Term Stayers initiative is a targeted effort in reducing homelessness amongst the most vulnerable citizens in the southern Midcoast region.

Filed Under: News & Events Tagged With: Brunswick, Giving Voice, homelessness, long term stayers, Long Term Stayers Initiative Southern Midcoast, Maine, Tedford Housing

Join Us for the Homeless Memorial Service on 12/21/19

December 17, 2019 By Rota Knott Leave a Comment

Tedford Housing will be remembering individuals from our homeless community who passed away during the year at the annual Homeless Memorial Service.

This year’s service will be held at First Parish Church in Brunswick on Saturday, December 21, 2019, the longest night of the year.

We will gather at First Parish Church at 5:00pm for a short service, music and refreshments. Weather permitting, we will light candles and walk to the gazebo where we will hold a candlelight vigil outside.

The service will be led by Danielle Keller of First Parish Church, along with members of Tedford Housing staff, board and Brunswick’s homeless community and supporters.

FMI, call 207-729-1161, #101 or email

Download a flyer

Filed Under: News & Events Tagged With: Brunswick, First Parish Church, homeless memorial service, homelessness, Maine, Tedford Housing

Tedford Housing Announces New Executive Director, Rota Knott

December 12, 2019 By Rota Knott Leave a Comment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jennifer Iacovelli, jennifer@tedfordhousing.org. 207-729-1161, ext. #101

Rota Knott

BRUNSWICK, Maine (December 12, 2019) – After an extensive national search, the board of directors is pleased to announce the hiring of Rota Knott as the next executive director of Tedford Housing. Knott will take over leadership from Craig Phillips, who is retiring, on January 6, 2020.

Knott has more than a decade of experience in nonprofit leadership and administration. She was previously executive director of the Somerset County Local Management Board in Maryland, where she successfully grew the organization’s annual funding support for nonprofits and community partners that address the needs of children, youths, and families. She holds the Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) designation and is certified in Results-Based Accountability and planning for outcomes measurement. Read Rota Knott’s full bio

Roger Brodeur, president of the board of directors, states, “Rota’s knowledge, experience and background in managing and overseeing a 24 bed homeless shelter in Maryland make her an ideal leader to implement Tedford Housing’s plans for the next decade. Those plans include creating a resource center with extensive in-house services for our guests and for the local community.”

“I am elated to have the opportunity to join Tedford Housing, and I appreciate the confidence of the board of directors in selecting me to serve as its new executive director,” says Knott. “I look forward to building on the strong foundation created by Craig Phillips during his tenure as executive director, and to furthering Tedford Housing’s mission by enhancing our ability to serve members of our community who are experiencing or are in danger of homelessness. Tedford Housing has a long history of creating pathways from homelessness to home for residents of the Midcoast, and I am committed to working with the board of directors and staff to create a significant and lasting impact for those in need of safe, stable shelter.”

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Tedford Housing’s mission: Creating pathways from homelessness to home by partnering with people and their communities in Midcoast Maine. For more information, call 207-729-1161 or visit www.tedfordhousing.org.

Filed Under: News & Events Tagged With: Brunswick, Craig Phillips, executive director, leadership, Maine, Rota Knott, Tedford Housing

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