Wagner College sits atop Grymes Hill and commands one of the
most spectacular views in the city - perhaps even, dare I say it,
in the country. The vista from this Staten Island private college
includes the Statue of Liberty, the Manhattan skyline, the
Verrazano Narrows Bridge, and, to its far right, waters that lead
to the ocean. At dusk, the lights gleaming on the water are a
photographer's dream. Oh, and on the front lawn there's now a
shantytown.
Not a real one, of course. The 40 students who've erected the ad
hoc homeless community are making a point about the nation's
housing crisis. Their grassroots effort that is certainly
attracting attention. The pseudo-homeless denizens of the
shantytown are members of a recently formed chapter of Habitat
for Humanity, the nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing
ministry that builds homes for the needy.
These earnest students are pretending to be homeless to make a
point that truly needs to be addressed, especially here. New York
City is no. 1 when it comes to homeless families. No, that title
does not belong to San Francisco, which has been so overrun by
militant homeless people harassing pedestrians and local
businesses that many have come to believe New York is in better
control of the situation.
The president of Homes for the Homeless, Ralph Nunez, says the
homeless we are accustomed to seeing on the streets and in
shantytowns are 1185 2174 1287 21851135 1685 1302 1697
the single homeless - usually individuals that have substance
abuse problems or mental disorders.
In New York City, though, there are more than 1,500 families,
many including small children, that come into the system every
week. These are the invisible homeless that Mr. Nunez and his
nonprofit, which has been in existence for nearly 20 years, are
committed to helping.
Mr. Nunez is the only advocate for the homeless who is willing to
attack the root cause of this situation: the breakdown of the
traditional family. Most families that end up in shelters include
single, teenage mothers or women who are victims of violence.
These are the people who, after welfare reform, have fallen
through the safety net.
Mr. Nunez says they need education, counseling, and the
availability of day care while undergoing job training. Simply
getting them into subsidized government housing is not the
answer, he says, because the elements that created their
homelessness are recreated in such housing, and the cycle
continues.
Homes for the Homeless was founded by Leonard Stern in 1985 to
provide clean, safe, and humane transitional housing for
families. This organization presently has five shelters - entire
buildings with tight security and strict guidelines. The shelters
are de facto communities where residents can pursue their GED and
get day care and counseling in one place until they are ready for
permanent housing. This is a great program, and one has to wonder
why we are still paying a fortune in tax dollars to house
families in seedy motels when that money should be going toward
expanding the shelters that work. The city should be donating
properties seized in tax liens to Homes for the Homeless. Its Web
site iswww.homesforthehomeless.com.
One question naturally arises: After these families are ready,
where do they go? If what is happening in my borough is happening
in the other four, then New York City is rapidly becoming a city
of the very rich and the lucky poor. The lower- and upper-middle
working class and the unsavvy poor are being chased out of town.
What used to be the seedy part of Staten Island is no longer
affordable. Every square inch of my community is being converted
into expensive townhouses. What was once the most affordable
borough is now in the same price league as the others. Staten
Island used to be the forgotten island, but once Wall Streeters
discovered that St. George and Stapleton is just a short ferry
ride commute to inexpensive coops and rentals, gentrification
began and developers swooped in to capitalize on the housing
boom.
The city initiated a program that would give qualified first-time
homebuyers up to $10,000 as a down payment. That would have been
a godsend five years ago, but it's inadequate when the lowest
available house is $300,000. Working families can't qualify for
the mortgages. If you're rich, housing is no problem. If you're
poor, there are resources to help. If you are middle class with a
family, you're probably thinking of leaving New York City ... or
camping out on Grymes Hill.