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Helping The Homeless: What Can We Do? Pt. 2 of 3 · Inside West Palm Beach

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  Welcome to the City Center podcast from the City of West Palm Beach,
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  Florida.
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  I'm Jerry Marcelo.
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  The problems and challenges faced by the homeless are complex,
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  daunting and can be found in nearly every community in the United States.
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  In this the second installment of our discussion on homelessness,
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  we will look at what can be done to help the situation,
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  give relief to those who live on the street and give residents an action plan to possibly make things better with me.
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  Today is homeless services coordinator for the city of West Palm Beach,
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  Ali Severino Ali.
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  Welcome.
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  Hi Jerry Le.
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  Let's quick go over what we talked about in the prior episode when we talked a little bit about how this is a problem that is truly nationwide.
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  Is that the case?
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  Oh,
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  very much so,
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  obviously,
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  West Palm Beach is dealing with the problem.
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  What sort of folks do we see here and who are we trying to help?
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  So,
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  my main categories of unhoused is a chronic,
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  which we went over in the last episode,
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  which is basically people who are experiencing long bouts of homelessness over a year or multiple uh bouts of homelessness within a couple year period,
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  they have a hard time staying stably housed.
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  Um The second would be our families.
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  We have many families out there who are struggling very hard to keep up on their rent and to keep a roof over their heads.
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  So we have many families are youth.
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  So,
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  um people,
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  what we consider youth is ages 18 to 25 many of them are aging out of foster care and stuff like that.
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  Um Youth and then our vets and our situational homelessness,
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  our veteran homelessness has really dropped a lot.
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  Um I think that has been a huge improvement that we've made.
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  We really don't have too many vets outside and when they are,
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  they are not there very long.
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  Um And then the situational homeless or is the individuals?
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  And I heard this a lot in the past couple of years,
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  this is probably the most common situation.
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  I hear I've been living in this place for 10 years.
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  My landlord sold the property,
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  the new people came in and we all have to leave and that has happened so much since all everyone's property values have gone so high.
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  It's the best time to sell.
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  So I totally get it.
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  I get it.
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  Um But with that,
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  you know,
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  came a wave of,
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  of people experiencing situational homelessness.
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  So one of the points that we talked about as well was that the folks who live here,
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  the,
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  the,
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  the the residents who are a part of the solution that we're going to be talking about a little bit.
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  We talked about how they view homelessness and wrap that up for us.
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  How,
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  how do people view,
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  um,
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  the folks who are on the street?
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  So I think they view them sometimes as dangerous or sometimes as lazy or as mentally ill and drug addicted.
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  And,
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  um,
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  you know,
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  and sometimes they,
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  that's true.
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  You know,
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  we have a lot,
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  there's the same kind of people that are your neighbors who live inside.
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  I'd like to add,
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  ok,
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  these people are just not inside right now.
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  So,
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  yes,
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  those things can be true sometimes.
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  But,
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  you know,
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  it's not that I don't think that,
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  um,
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  properly,
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  if they took the time to get to know some of the individuals outside,
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  I think they would really change their mind on the brilliant minds and the kindness of these individuals who are currently on house that we get the privilege.
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  I get the privilege of hanging out with them every day.
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  It's a matter of perspective and really understanding who these individuals that we're talking about.
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  Very much.
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  So.
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  And I think,
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  and I think the community feels for them,
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  I think they genuinely feel for them and I think it hurts them,
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  you know,
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  makes them sad to see them struggling outside.
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  But I think a lot of people also don't know how to help,
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  but we've talked a little bit about the folks we talked a little bit about a very little bit about the complexity,
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  the huge complexity of the problem.
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  But let's talk a little bit about some of the solutions.
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  Um First of all,
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  there is obviously no magic answer to this problem now.
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  So,
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  but there are steps that we can take to put things,
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  to make things right,
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  to make things better.
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  Um Let's talk a little bit about the programs that the city of West Palm Beach is putting in place and has put into place.
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  Tell us about what,
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  what you do happily.
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  So one of the first things the city did was they brought their homeless outreach team in house,
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  which I think is awesome.
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  The outreach team has made such a big impact on our own house population.
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  Last year,
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  we got sheltered or house like hundreds of people,
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  hundreds of people.
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  OK,
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  which is really impressive for our little team.
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  Um So that and the different programs that we offer.
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  So we have our housing stabilization program.
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  We,
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  our acronym is HSP.
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  And so what we do with that is we're able to help individuals with some of their moving costs.
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  So we're allotted $3000 per individual to help them move into an apartment and we also will help them look for that apartment.
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  So that's one option.
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  Another one that we have is called rapid rehousing.
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  So individuals that meet the criteria,
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  they're able to uh we're able to also pay their moving costs and pay part of their rent while they're starting to also.
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  So,
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  you know,
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  it kind of goes like,
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  uh we'll pay 100% 75 50 25 and then the client is solely,
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  you know,
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  paying the whole thing on their own.
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  So that's a great program.
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  Um Permanent supportive housing.
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  We don't have our own permanent supportive housing beds,
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  but we utilize this program through the county and this is for our chronically uh homeless or very uh disabled individuals for it to help them get uh like it sounds permanent supportive housing.
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  Uh wrap around case management services and all that good stuff.
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  Uh We help people get into the shelter.
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  We also have our Homeward Bound program,
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  which is awesome.
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  I love our Homeward Bound program because there's a lot of people who find themselves in Florida on accident and they're stranded and either they're gonna become residents and they're gonna take a bed at the shelter or they can go home and be reunited with their family.
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  And so we're actually able,
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  if we can confirm with the individual on the other line that they're able to stay with them and they have a safe place to go,
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  we can actually buy their plane or train ticket back home.
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  Wow,
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  that's really neat.
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  I know.
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  I love it.
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  So we got that.
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  And then of course,
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  you know,
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  we help people get into rehab and transitional housing and uh and uh oh,
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  we have our saving our seniors program or serving our seniors.
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  So,
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  for individuals over the age of 62 if they need help paying like a light bill or a water bill,
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  we can assist with that as well.
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  So there's a lot of things going on,
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  a lot of things to make the situation better.
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  What about private organizations?
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  Is,
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  is there a lot of action on that here in the city?
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  Um I guess what we use our private organizations the most for is we get a lot of donations from them and they're also very helpful with employment because I think that's one of the main things that private citizens and private companies can help with is being open to employing some of our unhoused individuals and working with them even though they might have some circumstantial issues going on.
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  So I think that's how they've definitely and they donate and food and all that stuff as well.
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  And then finally,
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  we have an army of individuals that are compassionate that live here in West Palm Beach that want to truly help,
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  what can they do?
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  So I always say,
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  advocate,
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  advocate,
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  advocate,
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  but educate yourself as well.
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  You know,
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  one of the things that we talk about all the time in our office is how I don't know when exact,
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  I think it was the Reagan administration.
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  I'm not positive though when they closed the mental health institutions.
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  I'm not saying that everyone should be locked up,
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  but there are individuals who are in dire need of mental health care.
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  Um That is,
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  you know,
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  like an inpatient type of setting.
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  And so we definitely need to change some laws when it comes to that.
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  And so if people were to educate and advocate on their behalf to the state of Florida,
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  you know,
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  that's very helpful.
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  If they're willing to rent a room or they know anyone who or they have any property that they're willing to work with us.
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  We are looking for landlords every day.
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  We case manage these individuals.
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  Once they move in,
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  we're going to be around.
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  So that would be very helpful.
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  How would save and wants to become involved?
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  Is there someone they can talk to?
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  Is there a number to call?
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  Yeah,
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  they could reach out to the vicar's house.
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  Talk a little bit about the vicar's house.
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  Tell us what goes on there,
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  what the focus is.
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  Sure.
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  So the vicar's house,
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  which will soon be the Eva Mac community hub because we'll be moving to our new building off of Australian and Palm Beach Lake soon.
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  Right now,
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  we're on division in Palm Beach Lakes,
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  but the vicar's house,
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  it's basically we do all the homeless outreach.
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  We do the housing and we do,
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  we have like a computer room there.
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  Um We used to do GED stuff.
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  We did a lot more before COVID.
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  And so when we move into our new building,
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  we'll have different nonprofits that are also with us every day that can offer different services,
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  food stamps,
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  disability services.
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  We do taxes there every year through vita tax.
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  Um So we try to do little things like that for the community beyond just the homeless individuals.
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  Got you.
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  So getting back to the to the residents who are an important part of the solution,
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  you're saying that becoming educated,
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  becoming and becoming an advocate both to Tallahassee and beyond is,
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  is one of the best things they can do.
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  Is there anything else that they can be doing here on the ground?
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  Well,
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  they're uh more than free to come out with us to do outreach one day to see what it's like out there because until you,
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  you see it,
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  it's hard to help,
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  you know,
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  but once you start learning the needs,
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  like,
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  hey,
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  people need help,
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  paying for I DS,
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  right?
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  Maybe you could donate to Saint Anne Place or donate to an organization that works with us that can help us utilize the,
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  the your money,
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  you know.
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  Um But one thing you don't want to do is necessarily hand money too,
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  right?
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  Don't give it to the individual you see outside and I know it can be hard sometimes.
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  But if you bring those dollars to an organization,
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  we will use it in a way that we,
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  at least we think is proper getting documentation,
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  getting housing,
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  making real changes in this person's life that's going to impact where they are a year from now,
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  like in a major way.
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  Got you.
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  And once again,
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  you know,
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  we did this in the last podcast.
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  Here is your magic megaphone.
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  You want to talk a little bit about,
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  is there anything about the solutions and the things that are happening here in the city?
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  You would really love to tell people at home.
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  I think that as a city,
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  we do an unbelievable job with the homeless situation.
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  We are leagues above areas around us,
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  counties around us.
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  We do so well compared to other areas.
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  And um we're working really,
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  really hard and we're constantly brainstorming out of the box ideas to try to make a difference.
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  You know,
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  we don't try to just stay in the box.
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  We're constantly brainstorming.
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  And so I just think,
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  I hope everyone knows that we really are doing a great job.
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  The mayor has our back,
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  um which is,
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  it feels so good to be supported by him.
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  And um yeah,
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  so we can always do better things are,
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  you know,
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  it's a hard situation,
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  but we do a great job.
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  You have fantastic enthusiasm.
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  Thank you.
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  Thanks again.
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  Next time on the City Center podcast,
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  we're going to be looking at the top five misconceptions about homelessness.
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  We're going to bust the myths and talk about some real truths that will surprise our listeners.
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  The City Center podcast is produced by the city of West Palm Beach.
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  If you have any questions or comments,
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  please write us at podcast at W pb.org.
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  We wanna thank you for listening.
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  We'll be back again soon.