Supportive Housing

So what exactly am I doing on Capitol Hill? I'm at a congressional briefing, which wouldn't be entirely out of the ordinary, except that I'm not taking notes and not planning to beat up on anyone. I've been asked here to share what I've learned since meeting Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, a former Juilliard student who has taught me about this nation's triumphs and failures in helping those who battle mental illness and end up homeless. I was invited by officials from the Corporation for Supportive Housing, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, and other agencies.

In an attempt to get a more complete picture of homelessness in Philadelphia, more than 50 volunteers fanned out to all corners of the city Wednesday night and counted 583 people living on the streets. Usually, the city only includes Center City, Philadelphia International Airport, and a few select neighborhoods in its quarterly count of unsheltered homeless people. But this time, more people were enlisted to reach more areas of the city. "We moved into every zip code," said Debbie Plotnick, an advocate for the Mental Health Association for Southeastern Pennsylvania.

In a large room at the Ridge Avenue men's shelter in North Philadelphia, metal beds and mattresses are stacked in a corner. Lockers along a wall are open and empty. A year ago, the city announced it was closing Ridge. Big shelters are criticized for warehousing people - a point made by homeless people among the Occupy Philadelphia protesters, who preferred pitching tents at City Hall to staying in shelters. But the plan to close Ridge has recently changed. The shelter, which houses about 120 men, less than half the number of a year ago, will remain open at least through the spring, said Dainette Mintz, director of the city's Office of Supportive Housing, which funds shelters.

By Farah Jimenez One of the many tragedies that unfolded after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were the historic levels of homeless children and families in 2006. A man-made disaster made the situation worse. The Great Recession has left one in 45 American children homeless, an increase of 38 percent from 2007 to 2010. These figures come from Dr. Ellen L. Bassuk, president of the National Center for Family Homelessness, which released this month its annual America's Youngest Outcasts report.

In his opening-day speech to Congress, Speaker Newt Gingrich said that nothing, not even a balanced budget, had "the moral urgency of coming to grips with what's happening to the poorest Americans. " Yet the House Appropriations Committee voted to slash rental assistance in this year's budget for the disabled homeless, including the mentally ill, and to eliminate federal housing assistance for homeless people with AIDS. While this isn't Congress' final word on how it intends to care for "the poorest Americans," it sends a grim signal.

Inside the waiting room of the Appletree Family Center at 15th and Cherry Streets, women and children, plus a few men, fill the seats. A young mother nurses a tiny baby. A little girl sleeps on a woman's lap. Fidgety toddlers color in notebooks. They are waiting for the city to place them in shelters. All but a few will leave disappointed. James Sanders, 49, has gone to the intake center with his wife and five children every day for the last four weeks - some mornings walking four miles just to get there.

Sister Mary Scullion is a cofounder and executive director of Project H.O.M.E. It all sounds distressingly familiar: growing numbers of homeless people on the streets, Center City residents and businesses increasingly frustrated. Meanwhile, opposition from neighbors squashes planned housing and services for homeless individuals and families. These could be headlines from the mid-1990s, when the problem of homelessness - which already had plagued Philadelphia for more than a decade - seemed intractable.

City Council's "sidewalk behavior" bill has generated passionate debate about civil liberties, community safety and economic viability. Weeks of meetings with Council representatives, neighborhood groups, homeless people and business owners have produced three key themes: First, living on the streets is unacceptable - for the homeless and for the community. Second, it is inhumane to punish people because they are homeless. And finally, the homeless must have viable alternatives to the street.

Announced seven weeks ago, Mayor Nutter's much-anticipated blueprint for reducing homelessness has been slow going. With a goal of dedicating 700 new housing units to homeless individuals and families, to date just 50 beds have been filled, all by chronically homeless people with severe substance abuse or mental issues. But even a dent of that size has an impact, said Deputy Mayor Don Schwarz, who oversees the city departments of health, human services and homelessness. The latest quarterly count of Center City's street population, completed in late May, suggests there are half as many homeless living on Philadelphia's streets than a year ago at that time.

Graduation was Thursday for the 2011 class of Ready, Willing & Able. This was huge. For many of the 30 men, some in their 40s, smart in their powder-blue gowns and mortarboards, the night marked the first graduation ceremony of their messy, complicated, ultimately fulfilling lives. These are the other men in blue, working by the roadside across the city in cobalt jackets, wielding plastic bags and collecting trash. RWA, celebrating its 10th year in Philadelphia, has helped 400 formerly homeless men (and some women)

In an attempt to get a more complete picture of homelessness in Philadelphia, more than 50 volunteers fanned out to all corners of the city Wednesday night and counted 583 people living on the streets. Usually, the city only includes Center City, Philadelphia International Airport, and a few select neighborhoods in its quarterly count of unsheltered homeless people. But this time, more people were enlisted to reach more areas of the city. "We moved into every zip code," said Debbie Plotnick, an advocate for the Mental Health Association for Southeastern Pennsylvania.

By Farah Jimenez One of the many tragedies that unfolded after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were the historic levels of homeless children and families in 2006. A man-made disaster made the situation worse. The Great Recession has left one in 45 American children homeless, an increase of 38 percent from 2007 to 2010. These figures come from Dr. Ellen L. Bassuk, president of the National Center for Family Homelessness, which released this month its annual America's Youngest Outcasts report.

In a large room at the Ridge Avenue men's shelter in North Philadelphia, metal beds and mattresses are stacked in a corner. Lockers along a wall are open and empty. A year ago, the city announced it was closing Ridge. Big shelters are criticized for warehousing people - a point made by homeless people among the Occupy Philadelphia protesters, who preferred pitching tents at City Hall to staying in shelters. But the plan to close Ridge has recently changed. The shelter, which houses about 120 men, less than half the number of a year ago, will remain open at least through the spring, said Dainette Mintz, director of the city's Office of Supportive Housing, which funds shelters.

THE SMALL community of homeless people who were camped under the Interstate 95 overpass in Port Richmond packed up and left this morning, as ordered to by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Over the past week, their names and faces had become known as they shared their stories. They included Maryanne Omelchuk, 47, who said she expected to go back to sleeping "underground" near 15th Street in Center City. This morning, she planned to board a bus with Occupy Philly and the Fight for Philly coalition to head to Washington to partake in three days of rallying at an Occupy protest, expected to draw thousands from around the country.

THE DUTY of the press is to highlight an issue that is newsworthy and not necessarily to offer direct solutions to a perceived problem. This was clearly displayed in Natalie Pompilio's article "As Barnes rises, homeless along Parkway get new scrutiny. " This article continued the long tradition of many Philadelphia news organizations discussing the obvious issue of concentrated homelessness in Center City as if it had suddenly materialized over the course of the past few days. Chronic homelessness is a substantial problem for Philadelphia, but it is not an insurmountable one. Pompilio's article quotes Philadelphia's director of the Office of Supportive Housing, Dainette Mintz, on several prominent homeless issues: outreach, alternative outdoor space and the severe lack of permanent housing.

WITH the Barnes Foundation set to join the impressive lineup of museums and attractions next spring, Benjamin Franklin Parkway is poised to become one of the city's busiest thoroughfares. "This is going to be a very big deal for Philadelphia," said Alan Greenberger, city commerce director and acting deputy mayor for planning and economic development. "I expect we'll see hundreds of thousands of more visitors to the Parkway in general. . . . It couldn't be a better picture. " But even with the Parkway's rise, a less attractive side of city life has persisted in clear view: Dozens of homeless residents make camp there.

Inside the waiting room of the Appletree Family Center at 15th and Cherry Streets, women and children, plus a few men, fill the seats. A young mother nurses a tiny baby. A little girl sleeps on a woman's lap. Fidgety toddlers color in notebooks. They are waiting for the city to place them in shelters. All but a few will leave disappointed. James Sanders, 49, has gone to the intake center with his wife and five children every day for the last four weeks - some mornings walking four miles just to get there.

Graduation was Thursday for the 2011 class of Ready, Willing & Able. This was huge. For many of the 30 men, some in their 40s, smart in their powder-blue gowns and mortarboards, the night marked the first graduation ceremony of their messy, complicated, ultimately fulfilling lives. These are the other men in blue, working by the roadside across the city in cobalt jackets, wielding plastic bags and collecting trash. RWA, celebrating its 10th year in Philadelphia, has helped 400 formerly homeless men (and some women)

James Speller had already folded up his sleeping pallet and neatly stacked his belongings in a plastic bag when, just before 6 a.m., a voice rang out. "Five more minutes, guys!" On Monday, after 18 months of continuous operation, the Bethesda Cafe at Eighth and Arch Streets, a drop-in center for the homeless, closed. Although it was never intended to serve as a shelter, Misty Sparks, program coordinator, said that for many homeless men and women in Center City, the cafe was the only place they felt comfortable.