Creating Policies to End

Childhood Homelessness

Mary’s Story

Mary has four children

The father of the children left the household six months ago

Mary has a job but was unable to sustain the current housing

Eviction proceedings

Sheriff locked the doors

Mary has her oldest son with her and he is obviously affected

What does it look like?

When we think of the homeless population a specific picture

comes to mind and it generally does not include children

Many diverse stories of homelessness with many different

family structures including children

Single parent with children

Two parent households

Grandparent(s) with custody of grandchildren

Teenagers on their own – 20 – 40% homeless youth identify

as LGBTQ1

How do we create positive

change to social policy?

If we are going to help the children we must help their

parents and guardians

Knowing current policies

Education on current issues in homelessness

Scarcity of affordable housing

Scarcity of jobs providing a living wage

Collaborative efforts between individuals, organizations and

government agencies

Statistics

Division of State Government accountability

2442 children under age of eighteen were homeless at some

time in 2015

Of those children, 253 were individually homeless without a

parent or guardian

Monroe County Schools report

A different category of homelessness

Doubled up or “couch surfing”

2197 students during the 2014-2015 school year 2

McKinney-Vento Homeless

Assistance Act

A child is guaranteed a public education regardless of

homeless situation

Prevents a child from having to change schools multiple times

during a homeless situation

Bussed to school district of last permanent residency

Will not be denied entry into new school district without

appropriate paperwork if they do have to change schools

HUD does not consider being doubled up a homeless

situation - not eligible for funds to help them out of the

situation 3

Doubling Up Review

Not counted in homeless counts

Counted by schools as a homeless category

Protected educationally

No funding to help permanently house

Serious risk for potential abusive environment

Can be told to leave at a moments notice

A Basic Review of State Policy

and Process

Family goes to a shelter or Department of Social Services

Determined homeless

Sent to a shelter, transitional housing or a motel

If parents are sanctioned by DSS

Must house below 32 degrees per executive order

Must house parent of child if they have custody of child

The Five Whys

Six Sigma concept to help determine root cause of problems4

I use when interviewing during intake process

Consists of five “why” questions

Cannot help someone out of their situation if we do not

know why they are there

Cannot create new policy if we do not know the root cause

of the many cases of situational poverty

Mary’s Five “Whys”

Mary, why are you homeless?

I cannot afford my rent

Why can’t you afford your rent?

My husband left us. I have no idea where he is at. My job does not

support the house and family.

Mary, I know this is personal but why did your husband leave?

He developed a drug and alcohol addiction. He chose that over us.

Why did he turn to drugs and alcohol? Was it always a problem?

No, it was not always a problem. He couldn’t handle the grief

anymore.

Mary’s Five Whys

Why was he grieving?

Our son, the identical twin of my 11 year old passed away last

year.

Mary and her husband did not receive counseling

Now there is more insight to the emotions of the eleven year

old son

Family was immediately set up with counseling and other

services in addition to housing assistance

Making Change Happen

Finding the root cause of homelessness is the beginning of

creating change in policy

There is no one single root cause

Change cannot occur by fixing a symptom

Change must occur at the root cause of homelessness to

produce any lasting results

Change occurs at an individual, organizational and

governmental agency level

As Individuals

Servant or Savior?

Servant helps marginalized people find solutions to complex problems

“Savior” complex is a god-like mentality of being better, knowing more and coming up with answers to problems no one else can answer

“Savior” complex is damaging to collaborative efforts of many 5

Being informed about the community

Geographically-where are the organizations

Socially-what these organizations do

Politically-attend a city council meeting

Finding your voice and knowing its power

As an Organization

An organization cannot change policy unless they get

involved politically

Will not lose nonprofit status over raising issues

Make sure your advocacy aligns with the mission of the

organization

Do not fear making the voices of the served communities

heard on all levels

Welcome and invite people who are in a homeless situation

to the conversation

As a Community

Working together as individuals, organizations and

government agencies

Collaborative effort exponentially more effective

The people making policy in the local and state government

levels may not know what the true issue is until they hear the

collective voice

Homelessness is hidden

Homelessness is invisible

In Review

There are homeless families walking around and interacting

with community members in Rochester

Know the state and local policies and procedures concerning

homeless families in order to give better direction

Getting to the root cause of situational poverty is important

Do not stop at one or two “why” questions

Five is the magic number

You are a servant not a savior

The individual voice is important and powerful

In Review

The voice of the homeless population is equally as

important. Listen clearly

Organizations should not be afraid to get political or

encourage members to do so in support of their mission

The government doe not know the problems with a policy or

the negative impact unless we tell them

Collectively working together in community produces the

best and longest lasting results

Bibliography 1 N. Ray, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth: An Epidemic of Homelessness. (Washington

DC: National Coalition for the Homeless, 2006).

2 Thomas P. DiNapoli, Office of the State Comptroller, Homeless Shelters and Homelessness in New

York State, (Division of State Government Accountability, 2016) 47-53.

3 United States Department of Education, Homeless Education, 2004,

https://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg116.html accessed April 10, 2017.

4 iSixSigma, Determining the Root Cause: 5 Whys, 2017, https://www.isixsigma.com/tools-

templates/cause-effect/determine-root-cause-5-whys/, accessed April 10, 2017.

5 Sarah S. Benton, Psychology Today, “The Savior Complex: Why Good Intentions May have

Negative Outcomes,” February 6, 2017, https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-high-functioning-

alcoholic/201702/the-savior-complex, accessed April 10, 2017.