Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton says the city has done a lot for the homeless, but former Mayoral Candidate Lynn Taborsak says not enough.
Mark Nolan, chairman of the Danbury Housing Partnership and developer of the Palace View elderly apartments and Harrison Square, both on Main Street, defended Danbury's record on helping people who are homeless.
"People are more aware of housing and homelessness and Danbury has done more to help the homeless than any community in the Housatonic Valley region," Nolan said. He said the city's 10-year plan to end homeless, an idea he chuckled about when he first heard about it six years ago, has led to more than $1 million in investment in housing for veterans in Danbury, plus it helped the city to house 374 people in a two-year period.
"I disagree with all the criticisms being leveled against the city," Nolan said.
And Al Robinson of Danbury, who runs the HatCity Blog, now reminds us via email that going to the source document, in this case the Mayor's Task Force to End Homelessness, is sometimes an excellent way to challenge what people say. He disagrees with Nolan. Here are Robinson's comments, "All one would need to do is go to PAGE 7 of the plan where is CLEARLY spells out that PRIORITY NUMBER ONE of the four part plan is: "INCREASE THE SUPPLY OF PERMANENT HOUSING UNITS TO MEET THE PROJECTED NEED OF HOMELESS PERSONS."
. oh yeah, PRIORITY NUMBER TWO (a follow-up to priority one) is named: "KEEP PEOPLE HOUSED AND REDUCE THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE BECOMING HOMELESS AND SPECIFICALLY REDUCE THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE BEING DISCHARGED INTO HOMELESSNESS BY STATE AND LOCAL INSTITUTIONS AND AGENCIES."
You can read the entire plan at the following link:
Thanks Al for keeping it real.
The state Department of Economic and Community Development has ruled Danbury has 3,046 affordable housing units or 10.68 percent of the total number of housing units in the city. That 10 percent figure makes Danbury complaint with the state's goals for affordable housing. Danbury is the only town in the Housatonic Valley region that is complaint with this goal.
A town that isn't compliant with the minimum affordble housing goal can have its zoning regulations overruled in court if a developer proposes affordable housing and the city denies the application.
Nolan said because Danbury took the time and effort to create a plan, it has a better idea today of who is homeless in Danbury. When the federal and state governments said they had money to help homeless veterans, Danbury knew it could apply for the money. Danbury can document its needs quickly, and that led the city to win federal stimulus money of $230,000, plus it led to the city receiving more than $1 million to house homeless veterans. Because it knew its needs immediately and helped house 174 families with the first sum of money, Nolan said the city then qualified for an additional $80,000 on top of the $230,000.
Danbury has nearly enough beds during the winter to house its homeless, Taborsak said, but come April 15, only one shelter remains open. That means with only 22 beds for the summer months and a citywide homeless population estimated at 150 people, about 130 people have become "lawn ornaments," Taborsak said. Her goal is to meet the city's plan for ending homelessness by 2016.
"We've all but abandoned the heart of the city's 10-year plan," Taborsak said.
Nolan disagreed, saying the "heart" of the plan isn't to build housing. That's a developer's job. The plan is designed to identify who is homeless and figure out who can help that person move into a home, if they so desire.
The city started its clock on ending homelessness in 2006. Did the problem get worse in the last six years, which are the years since the city adopted its plan?
"It's worse. Are there more homeless people today than there was in 2006? Yes," Boughton said. "Do you think the economy had any part in that? Was the economy booming when we were working on the plan?"
Since 2006, the city, state and federal governments have less money, and the same is true for developers, non-profit agencies and families, Boughton said. The plan called for a partnership between those groups to work together on the homeless problem.
Nolan said the plan also helped the city identify new groups of people who were beoming homeless during the last six years, including veterans and people ages 18-24, another national trend.
Boughton said one goal of the 10-year plan to end homelessness is to change the way people think about it.
"It isn't just about handing out blankets any more," Boughton said. The city created a single "point of entry," system where anyone who is homeless is directed, so all the information about homeless people in Danbury is kept in one location. That helps direct services to the right people.
"We can track the people we find and make sure they're getting the help they need and want," Boughton said.
The needing and wanting part of that goal is a problem, said Shawn Stillman, coordinator of the Unified Neighborhood Inspection Team, UNIT, in Danbury. The UNIT works with homeless people as it fights blight around the city.
Stillman said the unit and the city's Social Services department worked on and off for two years to get one couple living under a bridge into an apartment. Stillman said Tuesday that when the apartment opened up, the couple refused to move into it.
"Some people don't want to live in an apartment or in a house. You'd think they do. You'd think they want hot running water and heat, but sometimes they don't," Stillman said. "Some people won't stay in a shelter no matter what because they don't want to live by someone's rules."
Taborsak said her goal in raising this issue is to make sure Danbury follows through on the goal of the 10-year plan. End homelessness in Danbury.
She conceded the city does well housing people in the winter. She said the city is doing well at helping people who lost their housing due to the economy. If they're short on a security deposit or they're behind on the rent, the city's Dream Homes project assists people.
She said in the summer, when a storm is coming and people would bring their pet dog inside, they do nothing for the homeless. She said the Dorothy Day House of Hospitality will close for two weeks in early July for its annual cleaning, and that will leave more people on the street.
It is during those two weeks Taborsak plans to build five tents on City Hall's lawn to remind people that others are homeless.
"They're cleaning Dorothy Day. Where will these people go?" Taborsak asked.
Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said this summer, just like last summer, the Jericho Partnership will open one of its shelters during the weeks when Dorothy Day is closed to give people a place to sleep.
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