Where: 1890 Powell Street (at Frontage Road)

Why: We have an amazing fundraising opportunity on Thursday, February 16^th at Chevys in Emeryville. They will give EOCP 15% of all profits made on that day for anyone who possesses the fundraiser flyer. Please invite your friends and attend yourselves. Thanks, and we hope to see you all there!

In order to receive credit, please print the flyer and give it to your server when closing out your check.

For information, please call 510-746-3604.

Featured Speaker: Alex Briscoe, Director, Alameda County Healthcare Services Agency

Also Featuring: music, spoken word/poetry, light food and refreshments

Where: 7515 International Boulevard at Crossroads

Tickets @ $50 per person

For information, please call 510-746-3604.  RSVP by September 19, 2011

The net result of the cuts will have a devastating impact on the poor. General Assistance, which currently provides $336 per client per month for up to a year, will be capped at three months, and further reduced by $40 if the recipient does not have medical coverage, and in an even more unjust outcome, the cuts will include a shared housing reduction. If a GA recipient tries to save money by entering a shared-living situation, they are as a result penalized by reduction percentages based on the number of roommates.

A UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy study showed that cutting General Assistance in 1997 was a grossly ineffective form of cost shifting. Before the GA cuts in 1997, 95% of those surveyed on GA had stable housing, which declined to 63% after the cuts. 57% of those surveyed lost food stamp benefits. Hospitals and other emergency services saw a rise in usage, and there was an increased reliance on shelters and community-based organizations(1). Based on this study as well as an analysis of GA cuts in LA County, the real and lasting cost to Alameda County – taking into account the shifting to emergency services – could be as great as 24 million per year(2). The proposed cuts are also a civil rights issue: 85% of those facing the three-month time limit are people of color, primarily African Americans.

Homeless Action Center (HAC) has proposed an alternate proposal to the GA cuts, based on a pilot study in Los Angeles County, in which 3% of the most expensive users were targeted for supportive housing. By targeting the frequent users, Alameda County could potentially save millions while still making an effort to combat homelessness and preserve the only social safety net available for the neediest population.

At its most basic level, General Assistance keeps people alive long enough to find stable permanent housing. These cuts seek to balance budget shortfalls on the backs of our most vulnerable population. If GA cuts go through, the ripple effect it will have on our homeless population will be a legacy of poverty and permanent indigence, after which reinstating General Assistance will have a negligible effect.

Notes:

1. Chimara, Ndubuisi, Alastair Fitzpayne, and Amy Lemley. The Impact of General Assistance Time Limits in Alameda County. University of California Berkeley, Goldman School of Public Policy, Graduate School of Social Welfare. December 4, 1997.

2. Daniel Flaming, Patrick Burns, Michael Matsunaga. Where We Sleep. Economic Roundtable, LA Housing Services Authority. (2009).

Homeless Youths Adapt

At Our House, Linda Fuentes, Case Manager and Program Coordinator, sees the difficulties homeless youths face on a daily basis. Two of her clients are looking for work. “The process is very difficult,” she said. “One of my clients put in over thirty applications but [found] nothing.” The credit crunch has also affected tuition disbursements, so the best path out of homelessness—education—has become a more difficult goal for clients.

There is, however, a silver lining. “Sometimes employers are more likely to hire people that are homeless, to help them out,” Linda explained. She is often able to get free medical care for her clients since providers can write off the expenses as charitable donations. These opportunities are welcome, but are stopgap measures at best. Most youths do not attain the type of employment they would need to become indepen- dent. “One of my girls is working part time,” said Linda, “and she just got health insurance, but she has to pay over $200 a month for it! I just don’t know how she’s going to make it.”

Homeless Adults Face Competition

Dee Hoyle, Case Manager at EOCP’s Crossroads Emergency Shelter, has been seeing more of the same. “Some of our residents are ex-felons,” Dee explained, “or have substance abuse issues, which makes it that much harder for them to compete in the job market.” Due to higher rates of unemployment, the lower pay- ing jobs for which a homeless person would normally be able to compete are being taken by more qualified applicants.

Partial employment or “involuntary part-time work” is another problem impacting EOCP’s residents. “Many of our clients who had no problem getting up to 35 hours of part time work a week now have trouble getting 20 or 25 hours a week,” Dee said. In fact, Crossroads recently saw an increase in underem- ployed clients who could not pay their rent, and thus ended up homeless. In such troubling economic times, good news is scarce. Dee summed up by describing how “one of my clients, was not only able to maintain his employ- ment but actually got a salary increase. But he’s the only one, the only one.”

Staff Refuses to Settle for Less

The situation is similar at Matilda Cleveland, EOCP’s transitional hous- ing program for single mothers, says Patricia Ramirez, the site’s Client Em- powerment Specialist. Here, most of the women are seeking employment while trying to get their high school diplomas or complete job training programs.

In spite of the tough times, Patricia stays resolute about EOCP’s goals for cli- ents. She knows that without the right kind of employment, and perhaps more importantly, the right attitude, clients cannot succeed once they leave the program. “The women are definitely in a better position while they are here,” Patricia asserted, “because once their basic needs are met, they are able to focus on obtaining employment or education, and work on living a more balanced life, which gives them a better chance at finding permanent housing and achieving sustainable financial success.”

President Obama declared in his inaugural address: “Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real, they are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this America: they will be met.” And here at EOCP, where the challenges are as real, as serious, and as numerous as anywhere in the country, clients are meeting their obstacles with the help and care of staff and the peace of mind that comes from knowing that every night they will have food on the table and a warm place to sleep.