"We're losing ground," says Nellie M. Gorbea, executive director of HousingWorksRI. There is "a lot of concern" about losing Neighborhood Opportunities in particular, she says, and it's bad public policy, not only because that population is at high risk of homelessness, but because building housing generates economic activity. In fact, the issue brief shows, the $41.5 million from the state has leveraged an estimated $375.4 million in economic activity, or $9 per state dollar invested.
There is a bill in the House, H-5987, that would restore the program, and there are also bills — similar to legislation that all failed last year — to protect renters in properties that are foreclosed on, Ryczek says. At the federal level, US Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) last week unveiled a bipartisan bill to provide $2.2 billion for targeted homelessness assistance grant programs nationwide.
But the biggest source of hope at the moment, Ryczek says, is the federal economic stimulus package, which is going to pump nearly $7 million into the state just for homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing programs — "that's almost three times what we sink into our homeless shelter system yearly, and this is coming down pretty much by the middle of July, beginning of the fall."
That money should make it possible to put a lot of people back into stable homes, Ryczek says, but they'll still need income to cover their rent when the subsidies end, so the Coalition for the Homeless is pushing to use some of the money on job development programs with the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training.
And looking at the big picture, Ryczek, Gorbea, and their allies are pressing state leaders to support housing programs, not drop them as homelessness grows.
"We're dealing with a lot of folks at risk," says Ryczek, "and we know what to do. We need the political will to do it."
