Times Record | Tedford Housing

Giving Voice: The realities of family homelessness

July 31, 2019 By Jennifer Leave a Comment

The following article was published in The Times Record on 7/26/19 and written by Annie Rose, a Denning Fellow and rising senior at Bowdoin College.

Imagine, for a moment, you and your children become homeless. There’s no space at the local family shelter. With no other options, you are forced to sleep in your car or in a tent at a local campsite. Add to that situation a heat wave with temperatures reaching and consistently staying in the 90s for several days. How will you and your family survive the heat? How will you stay cool and hydrated?

On top of managing survival in harsh weather conditions, homeless families face consistent difficulties trying to get their basic needs met. First, think of the quality of sleep parents in crisis get while in their van or in a tent, unsure if where they’ve landed for the night is safe. With a better sense of their level of exhaustion, where would it leave your energy level during the day to address the immediate needs of your family?

Homeless families expend enormous amounts of energy every day trying to take care of basic needs that people who aren’t homeless easily take for granted. How will you stay clean and handle regular sanitary needs? Where can you access water to drink or brush your teeth? Where will you shower? How will you make sure you and your children have adequate food and nutrition?

Beyond meeting basic needs, families experiencing homelessness face challenges externally in the greater world. What will the start of the school year look like for your school-aged children? How will you navigate enrollment processes without a household address? How will you make sure your kids get to school every day and are ready to learn?

Many homeless families choose to not disclose their living status. For some families living in vans, cars or in tents, disclosing their living status presents certain risks. They wish not to “stand out” in society as being homeless, worried that it will invite scorn or judgment from others. Additional challenges include keeping up appearances to maintain employment. Caring for children while homeless presents additional challenges for maintaining their safety and wellbeing. Some parents choose to try and find other family members to assist during the time they are homeless, but this is not always an option. Many families choose to keep their homelessness hidden from certain people out of concern the authorities may find out and take their children away from them.

According to MaineHousing’s annual point-in-time count, which tracks trends for people experiencing homelessness in our state, there was a slight increase in homelessness in general from 2018 to 2019. Of the households counted as homeless on Jan. 22, a third were families with children. Specifically, 448 people who responded to the count were in households with at least one child, 66 more than in 2018, showing an increase in homeless families by 17%. In 2018, Maine agencies served 6,454 unique clients experiencing homelessness, a slight increase of 1% from the prior fiscal year. Roughly 10% of these clients were homeless families.

Tedford Housing has been serving more unsheltered folks in the southern Midcoast area overall. By unsheltered, we mean individuals living in places unfit for human habitation, such as vans, campsites, sidewalks, abandoned buildings and other unsafe situations. Currently, we are serving a notably higher number of families in unsheltered conditions.

Local unsheltered families live in their vehicles at large retail store parking lots, or tent in nearby camp sites with the threat of remaining homeless as cold weather hits. Occasionally, families may find temporary respite in a motel through area churches, but often funds run out and they are forced to return to homelessness.

Tedford Housing operates a family shelter on Federal Street. However, Tedford must turn away roughly 20 families a month due to lack of available space at our shelter. As of July 24, we have already turned away 26 total families in July so far, with 22 of those families calling Tedford Housing for the first time.

Tedford Housing has the capacity to house only six families at a time. Typically, families remain at the shelter for three to six months prior to their exit into permanent housing. Families must wait to obtain widely coveted housing vouchers, due to limited affordable housing in our area. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s 2019 Out of Reach report, in order to afford a 2-bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent, a household must earn $19.91/hour in the state of Maine. However, the average renter wage is $11.82 per hour, as the state minimum wage is $11 per hour.

Many factors play a role in the onset and continuation of homelessness. Catastrophe, illness, fleeing domestic violence, divorce and family separation or any similar circumstance can contribute to a family becoming homeless. But family homelessness is not an unsolvable issue. With the right supports and availability of affordable housing resources, families will restore stability to their lives and provide a better opportunity for their children to not just survive, but to succeed and thrive.

Annie Rose is a Denning Fellow and rising senior at Bowdoin College. Giving Voice is a weekly collaboration among four local non-profit service agencies to share information and stories about their work in the community.

Giving voice: Creating pathways with opportunities to become involved with Tedford’s mission

July 23, 2019 By Jennifer Leave a Comment

The following article was published in The Times Record on 6/28/19 and written by Elise Hocking, the Maine Community Fellow at Tedford Housing and a rising sophomore at Bowdoin College.

During my first year at Bowdoin College, I ran down Federal Street countless times on my way to the bike path along the river. Going into the summer, I felt confident navigating my way around the town of Brunswick. To my surprise, on my first day at Tedford Housing, I learned that one of the houses that I consistently ran by was Tedford Housing’s family shelter. While the shelter is not marked by a Tedford sign, I was still shocked by my lack of awareness.

This summer, as the Maine Community Fellow at Tedford Housing, my primary job is to evaluate and improve Tedford’s volunteer program. However, in order to do this work, I need to be familiar with the needs of the community of Brunswick and the nonprofits and individuals seeking to address these needs. Over the course of the last several weeks, I have spent much of my time talking to staff at other nonprofits, active community members, and guests at Tedford’s shelters in order to deepen my understanding of the pressing, yet often overlooked, challenges that exist right here in Brunswick.

Although my time at Tedford has just begun, I have come to witness how homelessness intensifies every other struggle an individual faces. Food insecurity, domestic abuse, substance abuse, and mental health issues are all escalated by homelessness. In high school, I spent significant time focused on anti-poverty efforts through the lens of education. My belief in the transformative power of education has certainly not diminished, however, I have quickly adopted the mindset of Housing First.

Without the stability of a place to stay each night, it is unlikely that someone facing homelessness will have the ability to devote sufficient energy to seek out additional resources. Homelessness produces a short-term mindset because an individual has to constantly worry about physical safety and shelter. Before someone can be expected to take the necessary and often complicated steps to improve their situation, they should have access to housing, nutritious food and support.

My role in furthering Tedford’s mission of “creating pathways from homelessness to home by partnering with people and their communities in Midcoast Maine,” is to increase community support through volunteers. In beginning this work, I met with the volunteer coordinators at Midcoast Hunger Prevention Program and The Gathering Place to learn about best practices in recruiting, retaining, and appreciating volunteers. Unlike MCHPP or The Gathering Place, some people do not know that it is possible to volunteer for Tedford. While Tedford’s volunteer program is not as developed as that of our partners, Tedford still relies on the contributions of volunteers to support its services.

Volunteers for Tedford work in the office, the storage unit that houses donations, the gardens, and in their own kitchens. Tedford’s largest volunteer effort is the Meal-A-Month program through which restaurants, churches, neighborhood groups and individuals take turns providing a meal for guests at the adult shelter every single night of the year.

Beyond our Meal-A-Month program, Tedford Housing is currently looking to grow our other volunteer roles. If you are a gardener, you can help maintain our plots at our family shelter and affordable housing units. If you are creative and organized, you can help us connect entering and exiting guests with donated items. If you are already a supporter of Tedford Housing, you can help us relaunch the Friends of Tedford group. These are just a few of the ways you can get involved in Tedford Housing’s mission. If you are interested in volunteering or becoming more involved with Tedford, please email me at volunteer@tedfordhousing.org. We would love to have you join us in Tedford’s many initiatives to end homelessness.

Giving Voice: Thinking Long-term with Supportive Housing

May 20, 2019 By Jennifer Leave a Comment

The following article was published in The Times Record on 5/3/19 and written by Jennifer Iacovelli, Tedford Housing’s director of development.

Between 2005 and 2011, Tedford Housing embarked on a campaign to develop six supportive housing facilities for previously homeless individuals and families. These buildings, located in Brunswick, Bath, Lewiston, Auburn and Augusta, offered permanent housing with key case management services attached to them. Tenants have regular leases and no predetermined or expected length of stay.

Supportive housing provides a vital platform for people to move forward in other areas of their lives like employment, education and improved health. Using a Housing First approach, Tedford Housing’s 37 supportive units provide safe, clean and affordable apartments with on-site case management for previously homeless individuals and families. Many are occupied by adults and families who have experienced disabling conditions like mental illness and/or substance abuse and/or catastrophic events like domestic violence that have resulted in homelessness. Many have had multiple shelter stays.

According to HUD, taking a Housing First approach means that individuals and families experiencing homelessness are quickly connected to permanent housing without preconditions and barriers to entry, such as sobriety, treatment or service participation requirements. While still a relatively new approach, it has seen some promising results in keeping tenants in housing and off the streets and/or out of shelters. Tedford’s supportive housing case management services include assistance with applying to available benefits such as MaineCare and SSI, referrals to job training and employment services, coordination of services with health care providers, crisis prevention, referrals to substance abuse counseling and treatment, assistance with basic living skills and mitigating landlord-tenant issues.

The services and resources that supportive housing provides are essential for people like Brian. Brian, 44, has lived in our Everett Street supportive housing unit since 2013. He had been in and out of homelessness, with several stays at Tedford’s adult shelter, since 2009. At one point, he had sold two cars and quit a job in Maine with the hope and promise of a job from a friend who was living in South Carolina, only to find out that the job fell through when he arrived. When he came back home to Maine, without a car or a job, his mom drove him to Tedford Housing.

The two biggest barriers to finding housing for Brian were high rents and location. His mother and daughter live in Woolwich so it was important for him to be somewhat close to them. His advice for people who find themselves in and out of homelessness as he did is to be patient. Finding housing can take time when you factor in the paperwork, searching and waiting for vouchers and available units. He was lucky to get the call from Tedford’s shelter alerting him of an open unit becoming available at Everett Street.

Located in the heart of Brunswick, Everett Street offers easy access to the essentials. The location is a quick walk to Hannaford, RiteAid, Curtis Memorial Library and to Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program, where Brian also volunteers. Without transportation, it’s important for Brian and other tenants to be able to walk or take the bus. They can hop on the Brunswick Explorer from Hannaford and get to places like Walmart and Sweetser. Brian is thankful for the support he gets from Tedford and says they are “good people to work with.”

Brian says that the best part about living at Everett Street is the community. There are eight single studio units. People tend to keep to themselves, he says, but they are there for each other if someone needs help. He is appreciative of the support from case management and from the community, especially during the holidays.

The average length of stay for tenants at Everett Street is 4.2 years, and the average length of stay across all of our supportive housing units is 2.7. While evictions still do occur in supportive housing, some tenants also end up moving on to other permanent housing option and pay market rental rates. Many, like Brian, thrive in the supportive housing setting and have no immediate plans to move from their found community.

Giving Voice: Spring cleaning and donations that spark joy

April 22, 2019 By Jennifer Leave a Comment

The following article was published in The Times Record on 5/5/19 and written by Jennifer Iacovelli, Tedford Housing’s director of development.

It may or may not feel like spring when this article publishes. The calendar says April, but we live in Maine. The only thing that’s inevitable right now is the potholes.

Regardless, the sunshine is brightening our days and the snow is slowly melting its way out of our lives, with the exception of those piles of snow in the darkest areas of our yards.

With spring often comes spring cleaning. While Tedford Housing enjoys a steady stream of in-kind donations year round, we tend to see an increase in these donations around spring time. (For those not familiar with the term, in-kind donations are those non-cash donations of goods or services.)

I’ve had to call in some of my trusty volunteers to help sort donations of sheets, towels, baking sheets and other household items more than a few times since January. According to some media reports, nonprofits have seen a spike in in-kind donations due to the popularity of the Netflix show, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. The show is centered on the idea of decluttering one’s space and, to some extent, their lives at the same time.

Kondo encourages her clients to “tidy up” in their houses by category, holding items in their hands to see if they “spark joy” to them. If the items don’t spark joy, then it is time to let them go. While I can’t make a direct correlation between the show and the amount of donations we currently have in the admin office at Tedford Housing, I do know that we are the beneficiary of many of our neighbor’s efforts to declutter.

If more people are getting rid of their unwanted household items, this can be a good thing for nonprofits. As I write this, we have several individuals and families moving out of our shelters and into permanent housing. These donations from decluttering neighbors help give our clients a new start with actual dishes for their kitchens, towels for their bathrooms and sheet sets for their beds.

As a nonprofit professional who handles donations in her organization, I challenge you to use the same method for donating as you would for tidying up with Marie Kondo. You may not want to hold every unwanted item in your house and ask if it sparks joy for a certain organization, but some parameters around donating these items to make the most impact could be helpful to those who find themselves wondering what to do once they have a big pile of joy-less (for you) items.

If you are not a seasoned in-kind donor, the first step you may want to take is to figure out which organization you want to support with your donation and visit their website. If you don’t have an organization in mind, think of a cause you want to support (e.g., housing, food security, animal welfare, environment, etc.) and do a quick google search for organizations near you. Many organizations will list items they will accept – and not accept – as donations. This research can save you a bit of time and ensure you find a good match for your items.

Conversely, you could also google the item you have and the word donation in your area (i.e., “clothes donation in Brunswick”). In addition to the organization’s website, you may also check their social media accounts to see if they post their most needed items. (I do so on Tedford’s Facebook page from time to time and see other orgs, like Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program, doing the same. We often share each other’s lists too!)

Once you figure out where you want your donation to go, the next step is to figure out when and where to drop off your donation. Keep in mind that some organizations, like Tedford, have more than one location and some locations may not have the staffing or the space to accept donations. (I accept donations for Tedford at our admin office during business hours and distribute the items to those who need it most from there.)

I love helping donors make the most of their donation. Though I can’t speak for all development directors, I love when people contact me directly about a donation. I can’t tell you how often I hear “I want to make sure my donation helps someone who truly needs it.” Oftentimes a donation, though not needed in their home, does have some sentimental value to the donor. If we don’t take the items in question, I will do my best to steer them to an organization that does need their donation. Even random sheets in questionable condition may be welcomed with open arms at an animal shelter! When in doubt, just ask someone who handles donations on a daily basis. We’re happy to help you “tidy up.”

Giving Voice: What happens when people are turned away from Brunswick’s homeless shelter?

March 13, 2019 By Jennifer Leave a Comment

The following article was published in The Times Record on 3/8/19 and written by Jennifer Iacovelli, Tedford Housing’s director of development.

At a recent town council meeting in Brunswick, Tedford Housing’s director of operations, Giff Jamison, was compelled to speak at the podium during the public comment time related to the council’s vote on extending the current moratorium ordinance on the location of shelters. He was among several other community members who used the time to speak their mind on the moratorium and shelters in our area in general.

Giff shared a story of a couple who walked into Tedford’s administrative office on a particularly cold afternoon. It was in the single digits that day with wind chills expected to dip below zero that night. This couple was sleeping in a tent and considered literally homeless, meaning that they lack a “fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence.” There wasn’t a bed available at our emergency shelter that night. He was quoted in the Times Record the next day saying how the conversation became about hoping these two individuals “would survive the night.”

Tedford Housing’s “turn away” numbers have been shared quite frequently over the past few months. In our fiscal year 2018, we had to turn away 354 adults and 228 families who called upon us to access emergency housing. These numbers represent a significant amount of households who are homeless or on the brink of becoming homeless. Unfortunately, the numbers have held steady over the past few years.

Merriam-Webster defines the term “safety net” as “something that provides security against misfortune or difficulty.” When we talk about the safety net of social services, people often think of public assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps) or general assistance.

Hearing our numbers, you might ask yourself what is the safety net that exists for folks who Tedford Housing cannot immediately house with temporary shelter. For us, the safety net encompasses more than just the traditional public assistance.

When someone calls or walks into our office looking for help, we ask where they slept the night before and if they have a place to sleep that evening to help determine the immediacy of the need. If Tedford’s shelters are full and a person or family is without adequate housing for the night, we may suggest they access a shelter in another area such as Lewiston or Portland. Part of the safety net is working collaboratively with other shelters and providers to cast a wide net of resources. A more official statewide effort to connect people experiencing homelessness with resources, coordinated entry, is set to roll out this year. Families may be put on our waiting list for our family shelter and individuals may be encouraged to call our adult shelter on a regular basis to inquire about open beds.

The person’s ties to the area may compel them to stay in the area, even in an unsafe situation. In that case, we connect the individual to one of Tedford’s case managers. The case manager’s primary job, as we wrote about in our last Giving Voice article, is to identify and address the barriers that are keeping clients from obtaining or maintaining housing. Tedford’s case managers can get people started with a housing search or applying for vouchers, SNAP or general assistance. Oftentimes the first step is helping people obtain necessary documentation, such as birth certificates or social security cards, so they have what they need for the above mentioned applications. Case managers may also help clients connect with medical care providers, setting up appointments with places like Oasis Free Clinics or re-connecting them with a primary care provider. The goal is to make sure the client is in a position to be able to apply for housing.

As I wrote this article, I was interrupted by a visitor to our admin office. He was a young man looking for help with housing. I won’t share his details but he was young enough that I asked him his age so that I could refer him to the most appropriate case manager. I asked questions, made sure he had a place to go, told him about The Gathering Place and gave him the phone numbers he needed to start working on a plan. It was before our regular business hours, so he couldn’t talk directly to a case manager. He didn’t have a phone but said he’d use his friend’s phone to make calls and appointments. The mom in me hopes he makes those phone calls.

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