‘Homelessness is not funny’: Advocates decry alleged DHS worker’s post
Monroe County Department of Human Services workers are under fire for a Facebook post that some say is disrespectful to Rochester’s unhoused population.
On a chilly Tuesday afternoon near the Liberty Pole, advocates showed empathy for what it feels like to experience homelessness with an impending windstorm.
The Rochester Alliance for Housing Accountability and elected officials voiced outrage at a press conference regarding Jennifer Martinez, a DHS supervisor in the emergency housing unit, reportedly posting a meme on Facebook last week stating, “I basically have 3 hairstyles. Straight, wavy, and homeless.”
Another individual commented, “I’d be living in the homeless status because it’s a chore for me to just brush my hair.”
In response, Martinez reportedly replied, “I do live in homeless status more than not, hahaha. Life is hard.”
“That made me feel like you really don’t care about me, that it’s a big joke,” Angela Mines, an unhoused person in Rochester, said regarding the post in a statement released by RAHA on Tuesday.
The post has been removed, but screenshots have been circulating on social media for days. We have reached out to the office to speak with Martinez for comment but haven’t received a response.
The Monroe County Department of Human Services was contacted for a comment but has yet to respond.
“As public servants, it shows terrible judgment to talk about people we serve in such a demeaning fashion,” City Council member Kim Smith said. “We need the county to take this incident seriously, and we need everyone involved to repair the damage caused by these individuals.”
Advocates want action
RAHA is asking for the following:
● A meeting between RAHA advocates and County Executive Adam Bello.
● Martinez and another person publicly apologize for the meme.
● The county takes appropriate disciplinary action per the county’s antidiscrimination and other human resources policies.
● The county creates a Housing Task Force with a majority of unhoused people.
● The county hires peer navigators (people with lived experience) to assist unhoused people in transitioning to permanent housing and change the culture surrounding homelessness.
‘Homelessness is not funny’
“These are the people who have discretion as to who gets a housing placement and who gets sanctioned,” Amy D’Amico, an advocate for the unhoused, said about the Facebook post. “Homelessness is not funny.”