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
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
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
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