From Sky news this is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour was made with a woman named Lauren on the day she graduated from high school.

On a day usually marked by celebration, Lauren is kicked out of the house by her foster mother.

She walks away from everything she knows, with just the clothing on her back to garbage bags of her things.

Nowhere to go.

Eventually, Lauren finds a homeless encampment and connects with other unhoused people who will become her chosen family.

They include a boy who has left home to escape his family's abuse.

Another is a gambling addict who comes to the camp with his own complicated background.

While the story I am telling you is fictional, it is inspired by true events and it's the focus of a new film called No Address, which hits theaters on Friday.

The filmmakers want audiences to know that anyone can find themselves navigating homelessness.

They hope that we can all approach conversations about homelessness with more empathy, more understanding.

But local nonprofits, person centered housing, housing options and the Housing Council are hosting an event tied to this film.

And representatives from both organizations are here this hour talking about the state of homelessness in the region.

Maybe what we misunderstand about how people become homeless and how they think we should end the crisis.

I also understand we've been hearing from listeners on just about every issue that we've covered in the last month.

Our federal cuts are what's going on the federal government affecting local organizations and local efforts.

We'll talk about that, too.

So a lot to cover.

Let me welcome to the program, Chuck Albanys, who's co-founder and CEO of PCO.

That's person centered housing options.

Welcome to the program.

Thanks for being here.

Thank you.

And sitting next to Chuck is Nick Colter, the co-founder, executive vice president, chief of development and community engagement at PCO.

Nick, welcome back to the program.

Thank you.

And welcome to Mary Leah, who is executive director of the Housing counsel at Pat Stone.

Thank you for being here as well.

Thank you.

The event that we talked about, it is a sold out screening tomorrow starting.

The event starts at 5:00.

So, it's, it's happening at AMC in Webster, and I'm Empire Boulevard, but already a lot of interest in this, so I don't want you to show up there and cause a fire hazard.

It's a lot going on.

but we will also make sure that, you know, if you want to have a chance to see this film and you can't go tomorrow.

you ought to have a chance to do it, because I know, it's something that really matters to all three of our guests here.

I mean, Nick, the fact that it's sold out, people are concerned about this issue, Yeah, very much so.

well, we have a lot of, support in the community, both from donors and, folks that are in other organizations that are really trying to share that this is a big issue that we need.

Everybody deserves a home and that we all need to, take it seriously.

I mean, this is a film that has a pretty high wattage cast.

People like Ashanti, Beverly D'Angelo, Ty Pennington, those are some of the names that pop to me.

and you know, Chuck, I guess I just curious to know if you feel like this is an indication that maybe at this moment, this community's a little more engaged than we typically are about homelessness.

What are you seeing?

Yeah, I really hope so.

the scenarios that the film depicts really encompasses the folks that we see.

you know, the different examples, there's always some trauma behind, the person situation.

And this film really, I think, brings that to light.

And, you know, a lot of people have different views on on homelessness.

But, hopefully this will give folks a different perspective.

Mary, what is the what is at top of mind for you at the Housing Council at Pat Stone?

I know your organization is a little different here.

but you partner with organizations like PCO.

What are you seeing in our community right now?

Well, for the Housing council, we're a HUD certified, 500 and C3.

We provide HUD certified housing counselors to the community.

we provide that in terms of workshops.

So we saw just over 600 families attend either a tenant education workshop where we go over rights and responsibilities and, best practices to maintain positive tenancy.

How to find a great apartment.

a lot of that course revolves around how to select an affordable and high quality apartment that's becoming a bigger and bigger challenge for families.

Harder to find, just harder to find it.

And then, conversely, we also offer a first time homebuyer program because a lot of people are feeling that pinch in the rental market.

And they assume because Rochester has had a wonderful reputation of being an affordable place to live for a long time, that they would rather get into homeownership than be paying these high rents.

And that, goalpost is moving on families.

So are our folks seeing us totals about, 1200 families a year, either in a workshop or a one on one situation, are really struggling to just find something of quality that they can afford.

So the distance between being housed and being unhoused is, is shrinking for a lot of our families in our community.

I this is not at all my expertise.

So I want to ask you a little bit about something that comes to mind for me when you describe, that pinch and the challenge of finding something affordable, something that's available.

This is a community that in my 20, 23 years here in Rochester, I've seen a lot of, you know, market rate apartment complexes, a lot of higher end luxury apartments, maybe less so at, lower levels of price and income.

And, and when I look at other communities, we often talk about stories like Austin, Texas and different communities that have really kind of taken away any barriers to build more.

I'm starting to hear more people on all sides of the aisle, starting with President Obama at the DNC last year saying, we need to just we need to build more.

We need to find ways in every city, in every community, to stop anything that inhibits building more so we can have higher supply, lower prices, more availability.

Is it that simple?

I mean, like, how do you see the issue?

I think we're in a perfect storm.

So ever since, 2009, 2008, the recession, we've we've been in a steady decline of building.

So we have not been keeping up with the demand for over 20 years.

That is meeting a point in our community where we're forming more households, but fewer people are in each household.

So we have more people living either on their own or maybe just as a couple.

And we're not forming as many households as we used to.

So we have more people living differently than we had when our housing stock was developed.

Our housing stock is aging, so there's a lot of competing factors.

We also have our largest population.

Our largest two populations are our boomers or our seniors who want to stay in their homes for a lot longer.

And they're competing with millennials and Gen X who want to get into homeownership for the first time.

And those are two by population, largest demographic.

So we have more people competing for less properties.

And, we haven't been building to keep up with those demand.

So there's a lot of kind of perfect storm factors happening right now, making this a very difficult issue.

So what what's one either policy or government action step that you would love to see taken?

Yeah, I do think I know that our city of Rochester is going through, relooking at rezoning.

I would encourage the other towns and, and villages to do the same, to be more inclusive.

we need to be more creative and build to the way people want to live now and not just build what we've always had.

It's very expensive.

Just the hard cost of, building apartments like multifamily or single family homes are not keeping up with people's affordability and what they're bringing home.

So it's just not a smart way.

We can't keep doing what we've been doing and expect a new outcome.

So it really hope to see more creative solutions in terms of how we house people, what we offer to the community.

and to go back to your original point around what is being built, I think people are also confused that some of the new construction they are seeing is affordable.

It just looks better than it had before.

So some of the things that we're seeing go up in our city are mixed.

mixed income or affordable housing.

It just looks fancy.

So I think people have judgments about what's going on in the city and make assumptions, but there is a lot of positivity.

Well, you heard Chuck mention that if you want to really understand what's going on with homelessness, it's important to understand that, in the vast majority of cases, there's some kind of trauma that has happened.

I'm looking at some data from pictures of from your 2024 Street Outreach report.

You served 431 people, 94 were kids.

70% of people experienced a disability of some kind.

And that's a wide, wide range.

But 70% have a disability of some kind and 30% experienced domestic violence in that group, 83% obtained housing of some kind.

Nick, is that right?

That's correct.

our outreach team does an amazing job out on the street, engaging people from people living out of their cars, working jobs to families with their kids in their cars, to folks living in encampments.

it says 70% of people are expressing that they have a disability.

That means that there's a portion of that population that can also work, that may be currently working when we find them and can't put together the finances to find an apartment like Mary described.

So, we work really closely with folks.

We engage them quickly, and then we really just focus on housing.

Yes, health services are important.

You know, Chuck can talk more about the need for that.

But, at the end of the day, if we don't get a roof over someone's house or somebody had and and we really don't focus on helping them to survive and stay safe, we're not going to be as successful.

So 83% of everybody we serve will get housing.

a portion of that very small portion of that will go into shelter.

People, struggle with the idea of going into shelter and living in a congregate setting.

So most of the time, people will live in their cars until they can get into housing.

They'll, stay, from place to place and so we just walk that line with them.

But Nick and Chuck, looking at your report here, so we just talked about the street outreach component in the Housing Data report.

There's an interesting number as well that I want to understand better.

I think there's an idea that skeptics have that okay.

You worked with 431 people on street outreach.

83% obtained housing.

But the skeptics say they're not going to keep it.

You know, either they end up in a shelter or they end up back on the street or they're dealing with substance abuse.

They don't get the help they need.

They end up back on the street, or they get some kind of short term housing.

They can't afford it.

They end up back on the street.

I'm looking at your 2024 housing data report, and it says 90 to 95% of people you served here stay housed.

Yeah, I mean, that's a very high number.

And it's real.

Yeah.

So I'm not trying to be cynical here.

It's okay.

It's real.

So, the majority of our funding comes from HUD, which is another topic, at some point.

But, we get out it by HUD, and HUD comes out and looks at, our stick rate.

So, according to hard, the sticker rate is a person that's house for a year or more.

Stick rate, stick rate, housing sticks.

That's their term.

Not okay.

Yeah, but the person stays housed for a year or more.

So our current stick rate, our, has spent 90 to 95%, as the time goes on, it might decrease a little at the two year mark.

Three year mark for your mark.

But we really have a high success rate of folks staying in our in our housing.

Why?

well, when we first create a pico, an important part of, of, of the construction of PCO was really to provide that support services component.

you know, when we first started formulating Pico back between 2010 and 2013, 14, there were housing programs out there.

One was shelter plus care.

Shelter plus care provided a rental subsidy for the person, but not the case management component.

And, you know, Nick and I knew that these these folks were traumatized.

They don't, you know, just because you find, an apartment for the person and put them in there doesn't mean that they're going to be successful.

They have a lot of challenges that they're dealing with.

So as we built Pico, we built the support services component into the HUD grant that we we applied for.

So not only does the HUD, program provide rental subsidy for the individual or families, it provides a dedicated case manager who will work with that person at a minimum on a monthly basis.

And whatever challenges that they have.

So, that has proven to be very successful.

In addition to that, we also created a health home program for folks that are eligible to provide that extra support component to that.

So, I think our focus on the trauma piece and really treating individuals as individuals, you know, it's, you know, just because, this person might be the same age and, and gender as this other person doesn't mean the approach is going to stay the same.

so it's very important not to have a cookie cutter approach, but more of an individual approach, which takes time.

So, but really, I think it's paid off for us in the long run and the individuals.

So let me ask all three of our guests then, if what's happening in Washington affects you right now or you expect it to affect you, affect you in the near future.

So I'll start with you.

Nick.

what do you see in Washington?

Yeah, it's definitely affecting us.

In what way?

We are part of, national groups.

that navigate these issues.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness, the national institution, of homelessness law.

and these groups are reporting to us, hard cuts that they are seeing come down.

Let me give you an example of how that's going to impact us.

So right now, yes, we we can continue to have our funding.

There was the federal pause for, we were unable to pay landlords for a few days timely at the beginning of February.

So, that really affects our relationships with landlords that are expecting us to pay subsidies when those landlords are unsure about whether or not we're going to be able to draw money down from HUD on a monthly basis, to pay those rents, to pay our staff, to pay health care.

They start thinking about ways to get their meet, their needs met in different ways.

That means that landlords may back out of contracts.

They may decide they don't want to work with HUD funded programs, and that puts us directly at risk.

So that's one example.

When we lose HUD, HUD staff, which is at the federal level, our Buffalo office at our HUD Buffalo office now has to scramble to find people to execute our contracts.

And if those contracts are delayed and we end up delaying payments and they can't audit us properly, ordered us properly, and they can't make sure that we do our job properly, the data gets suffers, the financial process suffers, our drawdowns suffer, our community suffers, and we have to navigate all of that as agencies that are HUD funded.

So it's really important for the listeners to understand that, you know, some of these sweeping decisions, while some people may be good or may be okay with, efficiencies, we want efficient work.

I can tell you 100% that we spend down our money, and we do it diligently.

It's important to understand that when we cut staff at the federal level, it affects how we do our job and how we pay our staff and how those families maintain housing.

So when that landlord is now feeling the uncertainty, someone who had been homeless, who maybe with your help and with some federal help, has a place is now possibly facing homelessness again.

True, true.

So let's say a lease.

They don't want to continue that lease.

We have to find another landlord to continue that lease.

And we have to we have to work with that client to move them.

As Mary so eloquently described, the housing market is becoming tighter and tighter.

So where do we find that nice apartment for that person that lived in Webster or Penfield or Brighton or the city?

We have housing units all over Monroe County, from Brockport to Pittsford.

So when they start tightening that, those rents, we have to resort to less and less options.

Are you already seeing anybody who, as a result of what's happening at the federal level, has lost housing?

No.

Not yet.

No.

Do you think that's something that could happen soon?

We have to prepare for it.

If this if these delays.

continue.

Okay.

Chuck, do you want to describe what you're seeing from Washington?

Possible impacts?

Yeah.

I don't want to repeat what next slide, but it's it's definitely, you know, those three days where our, our funding was frozen.

It was very stressful, obviously.

and it's important to, to really understand that the funding that comes to us not only, obviously assists hundreds of homeless individuals, on an annual basis, but we employ people like Nick said.

you know, we're not a huge employer, but we we do employ folks, but also the landlord relationship, which Nick kind of referenced, you know, a lot of the funding that comes in our community through our program goes right back into the community.

So if you know, through the infinite wisdom of, the current administration decides to cut our federal funding, you know, that's $2.5 million that not only impacts individuals that are housed that will now become homeless, it impacts the staff that we have that impacts our community, the landlords are going to lose that revenue.

It just it really does not make any sense, literally.

But hopefully it won't come to that.

But it's, it's a we're in an unknown time.

Mary.

Leo, do you want to add to that?

Yeah.

I think the original question was, is what is happening at Washington affecting the three of us?

And I would say it's affecting everybody because money, one's weakness, I think, of nonprofits in general, is that we're so busy doing the work and making sure we're adhering to the federal requirements and all of the other, due diligence that we have to be good stewards of the investment our community is graciously putting into us, that we don't get the opportunity to tell the story effectively of how an investment in us is improving the quality of life of everybody.

Just because you may not have needed to interact with or their team, or the wonderful outreach that's happening, your life has improved and is better because that outreach team is out there because there's somebody for it, for the folks on the streets to engage with and get those services.

Because I don't think anybody enjoys feeling unsafe in their neighborhood, witnessing injustices or people being treated unfairly or or the harm that comes in, the trauma that comes with being unhoused.

Conversely, what we do at the Housing Council, we are a direct recipient of HUD funds.

we use that money to help make sure that everybody is aware of their rights and responsibilities, both as a tenant and as a housing provider, because there's a lot of frustration interacting with the court system.

And how do I properly evict a person?

How do I know if I'm being discriminated against?

How do I know?

if if my neighbor could be doing x, Y, and Z so investing in us so we could quite frankly, quite, cheaply share that information with the community, is a cost reduction to the outcomes of the community not having that information.

So efficiency isn't just about cutting costs.

It's about calculating what the impact would be if those services go away.

So I hope we don't experience with the costs.

Could be because I don't think anybody at this table can truly calculate what those costs would be, but it would be a quick civics lesson in what DC provides and the federal government provides.

So it's locally if we all get the lights turned off immediately.

for us, you know, one of our biggest programs is our foreclosure prevention program for free.

I can assist anybody in Monroe County and even beyond, to, to deal with their, their lender or their property tax issues to make sure we keep them in their home so they don't become, you know, lose their home to foreclosure, lose that equity, lose that property, tax that's going into our community.

And you as their neighbor, you don't lose property value.

So by giving us a few thousand dollars a year to make sure that a trained advocate is assisting that homeowner, your property value is staying intact.

So it's it's not just a cost of saying, let's X out some budgets completely to save the federal government money.

There's going to be costs to taking those investments out of our community.

listeners have some questions related to some of the themes that are being discussed here by our guest.

You're hearing Mary Leo, executive director of the Housing council at Stone.

Chuck Albanys is co-founder and CEO of Person Centered Housing Options.

And Nick Colter is co-founder and executive vice president, chief of development and community engagement at Picacho.

Alex emails to say the new health equity reform Medicaid waiver provides, in theory, huge opportunities to help protect the most at risk from homelessness and further institutionalization such as incarceration, cycling through emergency room stays, or involuntary inpatient, per Governor Hochul.

New provisions.

But it's only a demonstration waiver, and we've got a cut happy federal administration, barring any surprise changes, how our community based organizations using this time to futureproof their budgets and demonstrate the overwhelmingly net good aspects of person first housing programs.

That is from Alex.

Chuck, do you want to start on that one?

the big one that.

Yeah.

That that's a that's a loaded question.

to safeguard.

I'm not sure.

I mean, I'm not sure there's a real, real safeguard in the environment that we're in.

you know, we certainly, on a daily basis, are exploring different options.

as far as different funding sources.

you know, as Mary talked about, you know, we are, you know, we we count our pennies, to make sure a, we spend them correctly, but also we have enough to go around.

so, yeah, I mean, I'm going to toss us the neck because.

Yeah, from a development standpoint and sustainability standpoint, my job is that all day long is is to think about strategies and ways to, futureproof, as the emailer said, our work.

So if federal funds are, are, slowly stripped away, we are looking at ways to advocate with our, our state senators and legislators to, build into the New York state budget alternatives to, funding these needs.

that means that, you know, we need to look at our taxes.

If we if it comes to that, it also means that, we are building relationships with foundations, both both on a national and local level.

and that, we are advocating, for those foundations to see housing as a priority.

oftentimes, historically speaking, housing wasn't a priority.

housing was affordable.

it was easy to obtain.

Maybe food insecurity was a priority or health was a priority, but without a roof over our heads, another those can work.

So we really need to think about how we advocate to reprioritize housing as our major priority.

Mary, what do you think?

Alex sounds way smarter than me on that topic.

So, I leave that to, to check in to neck.

That's but in terms of how how any of us can work to mitigate problems going forward, I, I'm very encouraged by how much activists and advocacy I've seen among my, my colleagues, my community.

It's really great to to hear from people who I didn't really think knew what the Housing Council do and just, expressed their appreciation and, just activate folks in, in engaging with the work.

And this has been high profile news that people are starting to ask questions and get more involved in understanding how their community is run, which I think is is a silver lining in a positive.

So happy to share more information about how our federal funds are used, how we work to be good stewards.

Anybody can reach out to our organization, to ask questions about who we are, what we do.

we file a, a 990.

We're on the Charities Bureau.

I mean, there's a lot of transparency in our organization, and I'm happy to, share more information about how we do what we do.

Yeah.

And let me also say to Alex, you know, this is a conversation this hour about what these organizations are doing about homelessness when you bring up possible federal cuts.

it's we've been talking about all week because we're in the middle of a winter pledge campaign for WXXI.

I've been here for 11 years.

It's never felt like this.

primarily because there's a couple things that are true at the same time.

Number one, if the the most draconian, the most extreme federal cuts come, whether it's to organizations that, do the kind of work that you all do, whether it's a corporation for public broadcasting, whatever it is.

there's probably not just a way to safeguard against that.

There's not a way to fully just plan for that and say, well, just it didn't matter.

It's going to matter what we are feeling the urgency of is trying to convince anybody who's ever thought about, you know, writing a check, making a phone call, making a pledge to say if you're if you're ever thinking about it, now's the time.

If that was the time.

And I'm sure that is true for pasta, and I'm sure that is true for PCO, that is certainly true for Sky and and NPR and public media.

that's the reality.

So I would say to Alex, I appreciate the question.

I can empathize with the guests who say they're absolutely doing everything they can to plan for it, to not be caught off guard by it to some degree.

There's not really a world that exists where it's like, well, the rug got pulled, but we had a second rug, you know, like, yeah, I mean, like, the rug is gone.

The rug is gone.

It doesn't mean everything's gone, but it's going to hurt and there's going to be a lot of pain.

And so, sometimes relying on individual generosity or foundations, as you say, now's the time.

Alex, thank you for that.

Let me get an email from Deb, who says, I live in Monroe County.

My question is not is why not change the zoning to make all these empty buildings and the living quarters, for example, the old tops on Ridge Road West?

So, Deb, Deb's wondering like, does that happen?

Like, is that an option?

Well excuse me.

Well, we actually did that.

we and I'll let Nick, because this is Nick's baby.

But, it's cool to see this place.

We we took an old, abandoned building on Central Park, and turned it into 14, unit building.

it's.

We started this in 2018 and got multiple funding sources.

Multiple partners.

it sounds like a really, really easy thing to do.

but it's very complicated.

with this building, we had a historic tax credit, so that had to play into it.

and then product.

It's beautiful.

but it took literally seven years for it to come to fruition.

Not that every project will will take this long.

but that's definitely something on our radar.

And we actually accomplished that.

and, you know, maybe down the road, but, I don't know if you want to add to that now.

Yeah.

to take an old building that's not being used, it takes a lot of effort.

It requires the city to be okay with where that building is.

It will likely be zoned in a certain district or have certain requirements in that zoning that you have to adapt to or change the way you build that, renovate that property in order for that to be okay.

So let's talk about really quickly about what goes into that.

The neighborhood has to be okay with it.

The city council might need to be okay with it.

The zoning board needs to review it.

the planning board needs to review it.

If it doesn't have enough parking that's currently required under zoning or code, and you're going to put 15 people on a property, but you only have 3 or 4 parking spots, you have to get that okayed so that you can also use street parking.

Right?

So when you're really thinking about taking an old building and going through all that processes, we have to build those costs of doing all that work into the project, which adds more cost to the project and and so that's where the problem lies when people complain about the cost of a project.

remember that the zoning and code dictates some of those costs by requiring some of these rules and putting us through processes that the neighborhood is watching and sometimes stopping in that entire process.

Most neighborhoods love the work we do, and they want us to change the community.

But there's always those few detractors that are going to come to those meetings, and it can really cost a lot of work time, money.

So anything to add, Mary?

Yeah, I'll say that.

the Housing Council is part of personnel.

We have a real estate development, a very large and successful real estate department, program.

And I don't want to speak on their behalf, but they're.

I can only echo what Chuck and Nick have said it.

It is a very obvious solution, but it is a very costly solution.

And and I love the question.

And I would invite you to stay on top of what's happening in your town.

Share that feedback you have.

If there's a property in your community that you think should have a new life, or would be served better by becoming housing, please be vocal and loud and talk about that as often and as in many places as you can.

Because so many of us with these great ideas are so busy and kept out of the meetings that we need to take our opportunities to share our feedback.

on on developing because, a few voices detractors may have good reasons.

They may outweigh what the community actually wants.

So I love that you're asking.

And I think if you have a property in your community you'd like to see turn into Housing Express that.

Yeah.

Deb.

Good question.

One more question before we take our only break of the hour, a different Alex asked, if good cause eviction legislation in Rochester is affecting what our guests are doing there.

so that's a story you want to.

Not yet.

Yeah.

okay.

And it's funny, some of our property manager, because it's so new.

Nick.

Yeah.

Because it's it's so new.

It hasn't quite gone through the process.

and frankly, the way we do housing First and the way we partner with our landlords, I don't see it impacting us as much as it'll impact, private renters.

the reason is, is that our, case managers, housing stability coordinators, we call them, are out there partnering with those landlords.

And when there's a need for eviction, we're working really closely with, with the landlord to try to move the person versus end up with, an eviction situation.

so it's, it's it's a great relationship to have anything to add there.

Jack.

Mary.

Yeah, it has affect the Housing Council.

We are educators primarily.

So we have a hotline.

We receive about 4000 calls a year.

We're getting calls from both, tenants and landlords asking just to understand it.

So you're welcome to call.

We have answers to most of your questions.

Some things have to still be worked through, in the courts.

but yes, it is impacting our the Housing Council in terms of coming up to speed and being able to provide good, solid information.

But over 80% of evictions in the city of Rochester, are nonpayment.

So there's not as many people affected by, what what had been, bad caused evictions previously.

So not in practice quite yet, but, we are gearing up to be able to be a good educator on the topic as we talk about homelessness, the part of what sparked this conversation on this particular day is the fact that there is a tomorrow, an event with a sold out screening now of a film called No Address, and it depicts it, albeit in a fictional way, really real life stories that people experience with homelessness all the time.

If so, if you are not going tomorrow, we'll come back after this break.

I'll ask our guests if they, they think that there might be ways for you to see this film in the future.

That I'm sure they would love for you to be thinking about these issues.

And we're going to talk a little bit more.

take some of your feedback.

We're going to talk about, what this winter has been like.

People have questions about if Code Blue is effective, you might see those signs around town, things like that.

We'll talk about Peace Village and a lot more with our guests from the Housing Council at past Stone and person centered housing options.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Thursday on the next connections, new York State Senator Jeremy Cooney is the chair of the transportation committee for the state, and he's talking to us about big ideas for transportation in the future, for our region, for our state, starting with air travel and more.

Then in our second hour, a philosophy professor has some different ideas about how we measure success and how we describe it.

And we'll talk about that and connections.

Support for your public radio station comes from our members and from Green Spark Solar, serving the greater Rochester and Finger Lakes regions for over 20 years.

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This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson, so if you don't have a ticket to go see no address tomorrow.

Nick, culture was kind enough to look up some of the.

There's some other screenings.

You can still see this film.

Yeah, yeah.

So it comes in.

It comes to theaters on the 28th.

nationwide, it will be at AMC theater.

It will be at Tinsel Town.

Cinemark.

so, check it out on Fandango or whatever website you go to to check out movies.

I believe there's 4:00 showings, throughout the weekend and, evening showings as well.

So, yeah.

so let's talk a little bit about, the way this winter is sort of played out.

And I was just talking to a neighbor mine recently about how different this winter feels.

And last winter, this winter, a ton of snow and ice.

Very, very cold.

we've kind of feel like we're starting to come out of it a little bit here, but, you know, just a lot tougher, I think, than than last winter, which was pretty mild.

So I'm going to go around the table.

I'll start with you, Nick.

When people see Code Blue and you see those signs about temperatures dropping below 32, is it effective?

What have you seen with that?

Yeah.

Code blue is effective.

well, you know, numbers are rising and shelters have shortage of space.

The the way we do things, really keeps it at the forefront of people's minds when they're on the street.

Our outreach team goes out, offers people shelter, tries to get them into cold blue.

if you're needing to access code blue, and you want a ride to a shelter, RTA has the shelters listed at the bus terminal, as well as if you get on the bus and you asked to be taken to a shelter.

RTA will provide a free ride.

So we've worked really hard, with the county.

The county, has a code Blue meeting every week to review this process with shelters, with outreach, and our housing programs to make sure that, these processes work.

nothing's perfect, but I can tell you that, our team has has helped people access shelter, throughout the process.

I just want to mention, though, that this winter has been really, really, really cold and consistently cold.

Yeah.

it open door reported that there were several people that have been discharged from the hospital due to loss of limbs.

and then discharged to open door just for their own safety.

This is a really brutal winter for the people outside.

So if you see somebody that's out there and you have concern for them, tell them about the Code Blue process.

You don't have to, Russell.

But, you know, if you see somebody out there, please share with them that they can go to a shelter.

And how to do it.

I know there's occasionally controversy if the city decides to sweep an encampment or, you know, try to encourage people to take the call.

Code blue off or and sometimes people don't take that.

do you think the city's handled it?

Well, from what you've seen?

Yeah, that's a tough question.

in, in, I think it's been, that the city has been out there with outreach as much as possible to inform people where the city has felt has been a high risk.

I feel as though it's it's a butt up against the person's rights and the city's ability to try to mitigate death.

that's a really challenging place to be in.

and frankly, our team has really struggled with it.

each person that's out there has rights, and they make choices, and they need to be supported in those so that as we engage them, they can access housing when their stuff is taken.

They are maybe struggle with, their, the location that they're in.

It can really set us back.

so we try to work really closely with the teams, both the county and the city to make sure that doesn't happen.

And that they have access to shelter.

And I've been reading, trying to make sure I understand, what's going on with Peace Village, which is the city's only sanctioned homeless encampment.

on Loomis Street.

It was raised in September, I think.

and it used to include a collection of sheds, homes to the homeless who were served by different nonprofit outreach workers.

Peace Village was often described as a place for those who struggled in the shelter system, sometimes because of active addiction or mental illness or other issues.

And so the site gets raised in September, and it's a question of is it going to come back?

City Council President Miguel Melendez has said, quote, it's something I've expressed to the administration that I don't want to go another winter without the site being figured out.

End quote.

so I don't know if, if our guests from, you know, is the city restoring the nonprofit status of Peace Village, will legislation fill in any funding gaps?

Do you do you know anything about what's going on with this?

Yeah, we've worked closely with the city, for the last couple of years on this.

And, you know, the best way to describe this is it's a it was a heavy lift or it is a heavy lift.

our communities never, tried something like this.

the shelters are called pallet shelter, so it's not going to be anything makeshift.

They're they're actually very sturdy.

They're they have heat, they have cooling.

it's going to be a structured transitional housing environment.

there's been some funding challenges to work through.

you know, the hope is that the spring will bring, you know, more news on on Peace Village.

but we are certainly committed to provide support services to this village.

And we have even though the site was raised, and fenced off, there there are folks, that were staying outside of the fence area that our outreach team continue to outreach to.

So, hopefully more news to come.

Okay.

And, you know, Nick, I know you, you and your colleagues, sometimes you get to know people pretty well.

I mean, like the sometimes there's familiar faces you really feel for people who, you know, who maybe are looking for a different kind of solution.

Or sometimes they're, they're saying, I want to be here for now.

I mean, it's complicated and every person is different.

You say, as you said, they have rights.

I don't want to pull in any sort of controversy.

I'm just curious to know if you think this one was handled.

Well.

Which one?

The situation with the raising of Peace Village and how it's been handled.

Oh, in the past, I wasn't really involved with, Loomis Street, so to speak, the raising of Peace Village when we ended it so that we could begin construction on, industrial, I think was handled really well.

Okay.

we, partnered with our other organizations to provide shelter to some of the people.

most of the people were housed.

And then as we, slowly closed down over the course of, I think, 3 to 4 months, we, we're able to, continue to move people across the street while we continue to work with them.

Yes.

Some people did not want to leave, Peace Village, and that's okay.

but we needed to start construction in order for this project to move forward, we had to bring in, our.

And we had to run lines.

We had to begin, water work.

We had to do, put down slabs for the pallets.

So all that stuff needed to be done on that property, and we couldn't have people living there that wouldn't be safe.

So our number one is safety in this situation, but also that people get housed.

and throughout that process it worked really well.

All right.

Let me get a phone call from Jerry.

Go ahead.

Jerry.

Oh.

Hi there.

I didn't know it was going to be on live.

so.

I'm sorry.

I'm calling about the good cause, bill.

my understanding is that, it's being passed or it's in the works.

It's not official, but, we were successful in finally getting it to cover Rochester.

however, my understanding also is that it's not going to cover folks who live in the suburbs or in the towns, if you will.

and if that's accurate, I'm just wondering, what would it take for, people who do live in the suburbs and the towns to be covered or protected by the good cause?

Bill.

Jerry, it's a good it's a good question.

I mean, my first understanding maybe Mary can correct me is that, I mean, I think it's up to each individual municipality.

And so we've seen different municipalities around the state pursue good cause and others not.

Is that right?

That's correct.

Yep.

So the city of Rochester had opted into it, your municipality.

So whoever you would go to eviction court for, whatever that entity is, would have to pass pass that as well.

So I guess what it comes down to, Jerry, is wherever you live, if you don't have it, you want it.

But probably start lobbying.

start talking to your lawmakers and see where they are.

Fair enough.

Yep.

Okay.

Yep.

So that's and again, Jerry, the other municipalities in different parts of the state, sort of have their own flavors of it.

there's a lot more you can read up on it.

Well, what Rochester is doing, it might not look exactly the same elsewhere, but I would talk to your lawmakers about that.

so, Tess wants to know so that I missed part of the show, but wanted to know if if these, if these organizations have provisions for people who have animals because Tesla is saying people's pets are often a big part of what their decision making is, and, yeah, I mean, absolutely.

Pets are family members there.

You're not.

No of there guys.

Yeah.

Yeah yeah.

That's that's that's a great question.

I have two dogs myself.

but no, actually, on different levels.

So our outreach team definitely encounters folks that have pets and, you know, folks that are living in cars or on the street and are reluctant to go into a shelter or to housing in general because of their pets.

So we work strong.

We work, you know, with Lollipop Farm, actually, one of our staff person, belongs to a not for profit that that, provides, you know, short term sheltering for, for animals.

So we definitely use that as a priority or have that as a priority.

And then when folks are that are housed, we certainly try to advocate for them as much as possible because we do understand that's, that's part of their family.

and that's kind of looking at the person holistically, not just, you know, as a person in front of you.

Fair enough.

Yeah, I think that's.

Well, so anything you want to add over there, Mary?

No, I'd also just, let people know that we have a lot of great, FAQ and tenants rights information.

And there is, the information on the definitions between a service animal, an emotional support animal and a pet.

And so understanding your rights and what category your family member falls into would be helpful in your housing search.

Tess.

Thank you.

Before we lose the our I want to close with this and give all three guests a chance to talk a little bit of their perspective on maybe what, the average person maybe gets wrong, either about homelessness or about housing options, and that comes in a lot of different directions.

Sometimes there's assumptions about what it means to be homeless or why people are homeless.

or how they could end up in a different situation.

What is available, what is not.

Sometimes it's just knowing what housing supports are available for people who might be in a low income category, but would like to find, a different place, a place at all and don't know.

Is there local support?

Is there state support?

Is there federal support?

we sometimes we get questions by email about vouchers and programs like that.

So what what is it that you want to make sure the listeners understand about what you do?

And maybe what would you want to dispel or clear up any confusion about?

I'll start with Mary.

Great question.

so the Housing Council serves the entire spectrum of people using the housing system from people who may be experiencing homelessness all the way to housing providers.

We have people from very large property management companies calling us on our hotline to access this information.

So I'd say the number one problem I see, or where tension exists, is where people generalize their personal experience as the communities experience or the facts of the situation for the community.

broadly speaking.

So I would say come to if you have a housing concern, or you're facing a housing challenge, approach resources with curiosity and an open mind so you can get accurate information.

And we make assumptions about people on the other side, whether it is your housing provider or your tenant that you're frustrated with.

and that we as service providers are very protective about people's privacy.

And so we can't always disclose a full situation to give people, every nuance of everyone's situation.

So what happens to your neighbor might you might not fully understand all the dynamics, when someone's housing is in jeopardy, there's a lot of things happening in their lives.

so every every situation is complex.

And that's why I'm so dedicated to the mission of, in the Housing Council for, for creating individualized service plans for, for people that take all those things into effect.

So, I'd say do your research, please visit our website or reach out to us to understand rights and responsibilities and the truth of of real estate law.

explore your options.

And what's going to solve one person's housing crisis is not going to be a great solution for for somebody else, you know, so I'd say avoid generalizations.

and what's the answer on this question?

If I don't get it now, I'll never talk because.

Nicole talk.

I'm okay.

I'm just sure it's just true.

He knows that we've been together for so long.

I'll give you 30s.

Nick gets the rest.

Okay, so that's fine.

No, I guess the most important thing from my perspective is that for folks to try to appreciate that there's always an underlying trauma that has been experienced by the person, whatever that is.

And through maybe not the most healthy coping mechanisms they might have led, led them down to the path that they're at.

And, you know, when Nick and I started picture, we wanted to make sure that we as well as our staff, we looked at the person as a person and just treat him like that.

I mean, they're not a scary person.

Just approach them and respectfully and treat him like a human being.

So Nick, yeah, Chuck said it great.

when someone is about to experience homelessness, that they have the resources and that they know where to go, it's in our name options.

And we want them to be person centered.

So that means that, you know, we with all of our effort and with all of our relationships throughout the community, that we reduce the time that somebody experiences homelessness, because if we can reduce the time that they're experiencing, that we can reduce the trauma that they're experiencing.

You know, like the movie shows no address, just depicts people who are domestic, are experiencing domestic violence, are being beaten up on the streets that are being taken advantage of, that are, kicked out of their homes, that are struggling with addiction, that and all of these different kinds of people just need a place to live and the opportunities to work with professionals to stay, in their homes.

If we can reduce the time that they experience, that we can reduce trauma overall in our communities.

So that's that's really what we do.

That's what's important to us, and that's why it's so important for us to share.

listeners, I hope you already have tickets to the sold out screening of No Address tomorrow at 5:00.

The event starts at 5:00.

But as as Nick mentioned, that is a film that you can see it and a number of different screenings, around town if you want to not only take in a film, but learn a little bit more about the issue of homelessness, I am grateful.

Grateful for the time from our guests this hour.

Nick culture and Chuck Albany's joining us from PCO.

That's person centered housing options.

Gentlemen, thank you for making time for the program today.

Of course, Mary Leo, executive director of the Housing Council, passed on.

Thank you for your expertise.

Thank you.

And from all of us.

Thank you, listeners.

It is day three of our winter membership campaign.

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