By: Jeff Shields
Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer
Published on: July 30, 2008

Dedicating 700 housing units to Mayor Nutter's fight against homelessness will mean an even longer wait for low-income people already on the Philadelphia Housing Authority's massive waiting list, a necessary act of triage in addressing the neediest homeless cases, officials said yesterday.
Nutter announced in May that the city would spend $8.3 million to create 200 "housing opportunities" for the most difficult-to-reach individuals, combined with 500 units to be offered by PHA to low-income families and individuals.

The 200 units funded by the city represent new housing for the hardest cases, while many of the 500 PHA units would otherwise be dedicated to knocking some of the 53,000 names off the waiting list for public housing and Section 8 vouchers. The people on the list generally have roofs over their heads and are not classified as homeless.

"You're talking about one very needy population vs. another very needy population with even a greater need," PHA spokesman Kirk Dorn said yesterday. "The housing units are going to very low-income people - whether they're going through this program or our traditional waiting list."

Dorn said certain populations, including the elderly and physically disabled, have been targeted similarly in the past, with the same effect on the waiting list.

Nutter chose to focus on people whose needs go beyond housing, said the mayor's spokesman, Doug Oliver.

"This administration has made a decision to give a priority to individuals with behavioral health and disability issues," Oliver said. "We are doing our best to balance priorities between" two groups of people with serious needs.

Of the 700 units to be used, 400 are earmarked for the toughest-to-reach individuals, Oliver added.

Advocates for affordable housing and the homeless have roundly applauded Nutter for taking the initiative on homelessness. One of the city's leading voices for the poor, however, chided city and PHA officials for describing the 500 PHA "housing opportunities" as "new."

"This is simply shifting one priority to another priority," said George Gould, managing attorney for the Housing and Energy Units at Community Legal Services. "It's not a program that is producing new housing units for the city, which is in desperate need for housing for low-income families."

In a letter to the editor sent to The Inquirer, Gould and Community Legal Services General Counsel Jonathan Stein urged the city and PHA "to address the huge need for very-low-income housing in the City by providing a significant and real increase in available units."

The new Nutter-PHA partnership should go a long way toward that goal, supporters said.

"To see [PHA executive director] Carl Greene come to the table with 500 units, for us, is huge," said Laura Weinbaum, a director of public policy for Project HOME. "Of course I would love for it to be 5,000, but we'll start here, and see where it can go."

Weinbaum said successful programs work "because there's been total leadership and total commitment."

Other advocates praised Nutter's leadership and warned against counting places on the waiting list as a zero-sum game.

"We're at least impressed that they are talking about our issues - we think he's got in [deputy mayor] Don Schwarz perhaps one of the best guys around to work with us in addressing homelessness," said Joe Willard, vice president of policy for the People's Emergency Center.

Dorn said PHA was already in talks with the Nutter administration to speed up the production of affordable housing, which would help those on the waiting list.

Here's the breakdown of the 700 "housing opportunities" announced by Nutter in May:

300 public housing units this year for homeless families. This expands an existing, successful PHA program that has placed 400 families over the last five years at nearly half the eviction rate of other programs. Dorn noted that a decision was made that these families would not be eligible for new housing - the highly sought-after new units would be reserved for those on the traditional waiting list. The first 26 families under this program are now being processed.

200 PHA Section 8 vouchers for homeless individuals. These will be used by the city to fund buildings of multiple units where intensive services are available for the formerly homeless residents, Dorn said.

125 city-funded units for "individuals experiencing chronic homelessness and needing support," according to the mayor's original news release.

75 "safe haven" and residential treatment beds - catering to the hard-core homeless.