Brown students and members of People to End Homelessness gathered at the Office of Housing and Urban Development yesterday to protest the 44 percent cut to federal homeless funding in Rhode Island.
The state's grant was cut after Rhode Island's annual HUD application was rated by the federal government at 81.5 points, half a point below the threshold score of 82 needed to obtain full funding. Rhode Island's application reportedly lost half a point because one box on the form was left blank rather than marked "Not Applicable."
About 20 Brown students from the on-campus group Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere and about 10 members of People to End Homelessness, an organization of formerly and currently homeless men and women, marched through downtown yesterday afternoon in protest.
The pre-Valentine's Day march began at 2 p.m. as the protesters walked while holding up strings of construction paper hearts made by people at local homeless shelters. The hearts included such messages as "Don't cut the housing," "Houses for all" and "Have a Heart, Support Housing."
The group passed out fliers about the funding cuts along with cell phones and the phone number for the federal HUD office, encouraging Providence citizens to "tell HUD you're worried about homelessness in Rhode Island."
JT Do '07, co-leader of HOPE, said that the group wanted to attract media attention and educate the public about the funding cuts. He also said that one of the goals of the protest was to convince Rhode Island's congressional members to also pressure the federal HUD office to consider the state's appeal.
"We called all four of them, and they responded saying they would personally call HUD," Do said. "So the protest was really a success before it even began."
After marching, the protesters gathered again in front of the Providence HUD office at 121 South Main St. and entered the building at 4:30 p.m. to meet face-to-face with Providence HUD officials. The group spoke with Nancy Smith Greer, field office director for the Providence HUD office.
One member of People to End Homelessness came forward to comment on the decisive half point margin on Rhode Island's application, saying, "It's not right. I'm homeless. And now I can't find a home because of one little mistake."
The protesters demanded that Smith Greer go to the federal office to bring back more information regarding the cuts. Smith Greer refused to commit to a time when she would provide any new information but did say that she would pass on the group's concerns to the federal office.
The group then left the office, ignoring security guards' orders to be quiet and chanting loudly, "Hey, hey, ho, ho! Funding cuts have to go!"
For the past 10 years, Continuum of Care, HUD's primary way of funding home-less projects across the nation, has provided funding to homeless programs in Rhode Island. Continuum of Care grants make up more than 80 percent of federal homeless aid to Rhode Island. For next year, however, HUD has denied full funding to Rhode Island's homeless programs, allocating only $2.8 million of the expected $5 million.
Eric Hirsch, government relations chair for the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, said the coalition was "extremely upset" after learning about the funding cuts. Hirsch said that the coalition's mission is to provide affordable, safe housing to everyone in Rhode Island.
"We want to end homelessness (and) put ourselves out of business," Hirsch said.
According to Hirsch, HUD seemed to be giving Rhode Island lower priority in funding because the state has a high service-dollar to housing-dollar ratio - that is, because the state spends more money providing services for people who are homeless and less money on housing construction. HUD has refused multi-year renewals for support services for the homeless - including mental health counseling, case management and substance abuse treatment - renewing them for a one-year period only.
"HUD is cutting funding saying it's because we don't have enough new permanent housing projects, but in doing so, they're forcing us to shut down two new projects for permanent housing," Hirsch said. "It just doesn't make sense."
Hirsch said that with over 6,000 homeless people in Rhode Island last year and even higher numbers this year, the state cannot afford to lose any funding.
"HUD themselves say that the best way to end homelessness is to create permanent supportive housing. Cutting funding to these new projects undermines their own mission," Hirsch said.
The cut in Rhode Island's homeless budget will cause the closure of two new programs: Amos House's Mawney Street program in Providence, a group of 19 permanent apartments for the homeless; and the Pawtucket Community Development Corporation's Garden Street program in Pawtucket, which offers six permanent apartments for the homeless. Other existing service programs - including shelters for families and individuals, transitional housing as well as permanent supportive housing - will also be affected by the cuts.
Eileen Hayes is the executive director of Amos House, a social services agency in South Providence that serves as a soup kitchen and provides transitional shelter programs to the homeless. She said that with the funding cuts, the Mawney Street program faces a $500,000 shortfall. Amos House is still waiting to find out whether alternate funding is available, but Hayes explained that if funds are unavailable, then the project will have to be shut down, and the 19 apartments for supportive housing will be lost.
Kristine Foye, who handles public affairs for the Providence HUD Office, said that at the time, she could not comment on the closure of the programs. She did confirm, however, that Rhode Island's annual HUD homeless application received a score of 81.5, missing the minimum score of 82 that would have garnered full funding from Continuum of Care.
"HUD is focusing on moving people away from a life on the street into self-sufficiency through the creation of more permanent and transitional housing," Foye said. "Rhode Island's application didn't put enough emphasis on that."
