End Homelessness
in
Monroe County

End Homelessness in Monroe CountyEnd Homelessness in Monroe CountyEnd Homelessness in Monroe County

End Homelessness
in
Monroe County

End Homelessness in Monroe CountyEnd Homelessness in Monroe CountyEnd Homelessness in Monroe County
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Homelessness is a policy choice. Through an annual investment of $47,000,000 we could drastically reduce, if not eliminate, the number of unsheltered individuals and families in Rochester and Monroe County. Local leaders, housing advocates and people with lived experience offer an Action Plan to End Homelessness in Monroe County.

The status quo isn’t working.

  • Housing instability impacts a significant portion of our community. Despite hundreds of millions of dollars in government and philanthropic spending,  Census data indicates the City of Rochester's poverty rate remains stuck at around one-third of all people and half of all children. Forty-percent of families have incomes below the poverty level. Nearly one-half of city households pay more than a third of their incomes in rent, which is considered rent-burdened.


  • Monroe County has the fourth highest rate of evictions in the state, with 7.6% of renters facing evictions in 2022. That’s more than 8,500 evictions. 


  • The emergency shelter system is broken. Monroe County approves shelter stays for only a few days a time, creating barriers for people in crisis.
    • The quality of emergency shelters varies greatly, with some units having sanitation issues and lacking access to food facilities.


  • Monroe County continues to “sanction” large numbers of individuals, preventing them from accessing public assistance and emergency shelter. This depresses the amount of spending and prevents a full picture of the need for services in our community.

We need better policies and more resources for housing.

Action Plan to End Homelessness

  • Implement Housing Vouchers - We must bridge the gap between what people can pay and what apartments cost. (Read more here.)


  • Increase the Shelter Needs Allowance - In shelters, emergency housing rental assistance often goes to the shelter for operations costs. This is called a Shelter Needs Allowance. The Shelter Needs Allowance at shelters is $30 to $47 per person per night. It is so low that shelters do not have funds to pay Peer Navigators to assist others to get out of shelter quickly and obtain apartments. They do not have success moving people out of shelter. And, they end up warehousing too many people to pay for operations. Increasing the Shelter Needs Allowance while people are in emergency or transitional shelters could be used to increase Peer Staff and support operations.


  • Hire Paid Peer Brokers & Peer Advocates - Brokers and Advocates are needed to make a rent-gap subsidy (housing vouchers) successful. They would help people obtain apartments and strengthen housing retention. Using peers with lived experience to help others who are unhoused navigate the housing market and bureaucracy, while teaching housing retention skills allows those who have been unhoused the means to achieve stability. The program should include training for the positions.


  • Create a Housing Task Force with a majority of members people impacted by homelessness to address the following:
    • Adding standing (the right to bring a case) to source-of-income discrimination law in the City Code
    • Providing oversight of the administration of rent-gap subsidy
    • Creating an unlivable housing stock list
    • Review code enforcement to ensure habitable housing
    • Create a SWOT analysis of current homelessness provider system
    • Oversee and advise the implementation of the Action Plan to End Homelessness

Supporters of This Approach

Rochester Accountability Housing Alliance

New York Recovery Alliance

Citywide Tenant Union of Rochester

Person Centered Housing Options, Inc.

Recovery All Ways

Homes4theHomeless

Vocal NY

House of Mercy

Bethlehem Family Shelter

Family Promise of Greater Rochester

Center for Community Alternatives (CCA)

National Lawyers Guild, Rochester

Rochester Mutual Aid Network

Being Black in the Burbs

The Interfaith Alliance of Rochester

Democratic Socialists of America, Rochester Chapter

Free the People ROC

H.O.U.S.E Rochester, NY 

Hart Homes, LLC

Vice-President of City Council Mary Lupien

City Councilmember Stanley Martin

City Councilmember Kim Smith

Monroe County Legislator Mercedes Vazquez-Simmons

Monroe County Legislator Rachel Barnhart

Brighton Town Board Member Robin Wilt

Sister Grace Miller

Sister Rita Lewis

Tammy Butler, Ed.D, Exec. Director, House of Mercy

Michael Boucher, LCSW-R

Gary Harding

Michael Motchnik 

Jane Bleeg

Daniel Q. Moore

Add Your Name/Organization

Contact Us

We want your feedback! This Action Plan to End Homelessness is a dynamic document, an ambitious plan to house everyone in Monroe County. Do you have an idea that should be added? Let us know!

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