Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Long road between survival, stability for suburban homeless
WILLOW GROVE >> The building under construction is hard to miss from Wawa in Upper Moreland, where Richard Valier stood smoking a Marlboro and gesturing toward the 250 condominiums slated to rise near the intersection of York and Easton roads.
“There are plenty of homes out there, but I can’t afford any and I’ve stopped looking,” said Valier, flicking his butt in the trash. “Life isn’t fair; never has been.”
At 70 years old, Valier isn’t looking for fairness. His needs are much more imminent.
That day, he was looking for water at Burger King, so he could take his Ginseng and vitamins. Then, he was looking for a place to shave, and was headed to a bathroom at Walmart to do just that. Most necessities were packed in a trash bag, tucked in the woods not far from a commercial highway in Warminster. On top of the bag is a blow dryer, which he plugs into an outside outlet to keep warm on cold nights.
He’s always looking for money, and he’ll ask for it throughout the day, which is planned according to where he can sleep, sip free coffee, and rest his head before he’s nudged to move along to the next stop.
Homelessness, advocates say, is a complex issue to address — and even more so in suburban counties like Bucks, advocates say.
“Homelessness in Bucks County is not always as visible as the homelessness that you will see in larger cities like Philadelphia or New York City,” said Jeffrey Fields, director of housing services in Bucks County. “A large amount of homeless persons are living in their cars, in the woods, in abandoned buildings, or staying in motels paid for by charitable organizations.”
The total number of homeless is tough to measure, but area housing and human service officials get a snapshot of the crisis through an annual point-intime count, conducted once a year on a winter night. In Bucks County, volunteers located 359 homeless people the night of Jan. 29. Some were living in emergency shelters, transitional housing or outdoors. Though the figure marks a 9.6-percent dip from 2018, crisis calls for help soared by 19 percent in the past year.
Partnering with nonprofits and other agencies, Bucks County is working to get people off the streets and into homes more quickly through rapid rehousing and other community outreach services. Fields said the county has increased its focus on Housing First, which aims to get a household quickly into safe, affordable housing, and then, once they are housed, to work on other needs such as employment, transportation, and medical or mental health.
Yet the county still needs more funding sources that are “flexible in nature to help remedy unique issues that can potentially cause or increase duration of homelessness,” Fields said. In the last two years, the county also has bolstered the number of people doing street outreach and hired more people to connect with landlords and properties to track down affordable housing options.
“One of our greatest challenges is the lack of affordable housing and the low vacancy rate in Bucks County,” said Erin Lukoss, executive director of the Bucks County Opportunity Council, a nonprofit that provides a variety of housing emergency and human services. “It’s less than 2 percent, so even when support is available, it’s difficult finding a place that is willing to rent.” The council is always looking for landlords and property owners in the community to step in and give needy families a chance.
“Many people don’t want to go into a shelter or feel they can’t,” said Lukoss, adding that some have a pet they don’t want to leave or a job they don’t want to lose. “There are resources available but they are not always what the individual wants.” In those cases, the council’s outreach team provides food, supplies and repeated offers to help.
From Anne Bishop’s perspective, lack of affordable housing is just part of the problem. “You can’t narrow it down to one thing,” said Bishop, who is on the board of Buck County’s Coalition to Shelter and Support the Homeless, also known as CSSH.
“We have a lot of people who are working; they have jobs,” she said. “Even with jobs, some live from tents. They are in the woods or under the bridge abutments, under the alcove of a building or in the doorway to protect themselves from rain.”
Along with the burden of finding shelter, many lack education, paperwork or a driver’s license needed to secure a job. Deborah Neidhardt, CSSH board president, said housing challenges can be triggered by a break up, job loss, car trouble and dozens of other reasons. There also are those who are too proud to take help.
One woman who comes to the shelter in the winter has been homeless for three years and remains reluctant to accept services. “She’s a proud woman and it’s difficult,” said Neidhardt, who said the woman lost her home after her husband, the primary income provider, died. “She’s on my mind; she’s determined to find her way on her own. We can only support her and make suggestions, hoping she’ll one day take help.”
Lack of emergency housing
One 58-year-old did accept help from the shelter volunteers, who did the legwork to get him personal documents he needed for a job. He became homeless a year ago after a DUI charge. He lost his car, then his job and was unable to pay rent. He said homelessness is a “vicious cycle” that he never expected to experience.
“People don’t realize that one mistake like a DUI destroys your entire life,” he said. Occasionally, his employer will let him sleep in a work shed. He said he’s just happy he has a job, “even if it means starting over again, cleaning and setting up rooms” for a catering business.
Shouldering a job and homelessness is exhausting. It’s the lack of regular sleep that leaves him feeling most deprived. He’s on a waiting list for housing, but wishes that some of the county’s abandoned buildings could be opened for people needing shelter — during all seasons. “We are homeless in the summer, too ... all around there are people living in tents and have nowhere to go.”
But emergency housing is in short supply in many pockets of the county. In Bucks County, there are four emergency homeless shelters, including a 75bed facility in Lower Bucks that serves individuals and families with children who are homeless; Valley Youth House Shelter, which serves runaway and homeless youth; and A Woman’s Place Domestic Violence Shelter in Central Bucks, which offers shelter for individuals and families fleeing domestic violence. Family Promise of Lower Bucks recently announced plans to operate a 24-hour shelter service in Middletown for homeless parents with children and