D. LORNE COYLE  MDiv

When you are facing eviction, where do you turn? When your electric is about to be turned off, what do you do? When you’re late and your landlord is threatening, who can help?

If you are a veteran and find yourself without a job and living in the woods, what’s the best way to get help? If you are mentally ill and life is just so overwhelming that you don’t save your rent money, what’s left to do?

If you are part of a family and living in your car outside Wal-Mart, you have no gas, no job, no stove, and no hope, who will help?

So, who ya gonna call?

Since the year 2000, you’re going to call the Treasure Coast Homeless Services Council (TCHSC), that’s who. It began in 1999, when a group of Indian River County citizens had become alarmed at the lack of resources to aid the homeless. As a result of that lack, the homeless were suffering in the streets and the woods. Law enforcement had no options for sheltering them. The hospital’s emergency room saw more and more admissions from the streets. Comprising Richard Stark, the country commissioners, Community Church, and Dick Van Mele, the concerned citizens group wanted to find a better way. They discovered that in order to get any help from the state or federal government, the county needed to have a Continuum of Care. They formed one and hired Louise Hubbard, a well-respected social service leader and grant writer.

Within a year, Hubbard helped Indian River Homeless Services Council win a government grant in the amount of $293,898. That was just the beginning of hope for the homeless. Since then, Hubbard and her team have brought more than $22 million to the Treasure Coast’s neediest. The Indian River Homeless Services Council grew under Hubbard’s leadership to include St. Lucie and Martin Counties, thereby becoming the Treasure Coast Homeless Services Council. That’s 65 agencies working together.

“Louise Hubbard has created the best true collaboration for the common good,” said Tracey Segal, program director for the Samaritan Center in Indian River County.

A former Congressional aide did call

The recent annual meeting of TCHSC featured what that common good can do. Former Congressional aide Will Harris had become homeless. He found hope at Camp Haven on US1 in Vero Beach. With a bed, meals, and a structured program, Harris is getting back on his feet. Camp Haven Board Chair Lalita Janke encouraged Harris to speak at the TCHSC annual meeting. “I just don’t like the word, ‘homeless,’” he said, “because it conjures up the image of a panhandler who is just hustling and who sleeps in the woods.” He went on to say, “Some of us are temporarily without a place to stay. Camp Haven has become my home for now. But I am getting back on my feet and soon I will be someone with a job and a future. From the bottom of my heart, I thank this Council and all of you for caring.”

Camp Haven would not be there for Harris, or for anyone, if it had not been for the guidance and support of TCHSC.

Are too many calling?

Some complain that helping the homeless just attracts more homeless. They say that all funding is counter-productive; i.e., helping the homeless just creates a bigger problem. Hubbard says they don’t know the facts. Statistics show that over 70% of Indian River County’s homeless have lived here for at least a year. They didn’t come to Indian River County to freeload and soak up the sun. They are friends, neighbors, or family members. The majority of them, 64%, are homeless because they lost a job. And as of last January’s “Point In Time” count, there were 1048 of them in Indian River, including 372 children.

Sadly, that represents an increase of 62% since 2010’s “Point In Time” count. Despite the best efforts of TCHSC and its dozens of member agencies, the number of homeless has increased. True, unemployment has decreased since 2010. But those on the bottom of the jobs ladder often can only find part-time work and that won’t make ends meet. In addition, families will often take in a relative who is homeless. After a while, though, that extra person creates stress in the host family unit and therefore needs to leave.

But the coldest, hardest fact is that even with a full-time job many families cannot afford the rents in Indian River County.

For example, at the recent annual meeting of TCHSC, Hubbard distributed data entitled, “The National Out of Reach Report.” That report is based on rental information supplied by the United States Dept Of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and may be found at http://www.huduser.org/portal/home.html. TCHSC tracks the Out of Reach data for the entire Treasure Coast Continuum of Care. In Indian River County a family of four, seeking a two-bedroom domicile, would need to pay an average of $821 per month. The estimated renter median wage for Indian River is $10.58 an hour. Assuming that rent should use about 30% of one’s income, that average Indian River renter can only afford $550. per month. Therefore, in order for the average family to rent, they will need to have one adult working 1.5 full-time jobs or two adults working, one full-time and the other half time. Assuming those jobs were available, many low-income families have one parent, not two. And if mom were to work 1.5 jobs per week, who would watch the children? Who would pay for daycare? And how much is left over for food, medicine, and transportation?

TCHSC helps. For qualified applicants, TCHSC provides housing counseling and rent and utility assistance to prevent homelessness. For those whose income may be slightly above the federal cut-off for aid, TCHSC has partners which help. Government entities which help include HUD, the Florida Dept of Children and Families, and the counties of Indian River, Martin, and St. Lucie. Private partners such as the United Way of IRC, the Community Church, the John’s Island Community Service League, the Robert F. and Eleonora W. McCabe Foundation, the Indian River Community Foundation, and the Communities Foundation of Texas all help TCHSC bridge the gap for many homeless families and individuals.

Want to see a veteran begging on a street corner?

“We focus on homelessness prevention as much as rehousing the homeless,” said Hubbard at the annual meeting of TCHSC. Recently, with veterans being mustered out of the armed forces, TCHSC has partnered with veterans advocates to create “Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF). The SSVF Program focuses on securing and maintaining housing for honorably-discharged veterans who are currently homeless or who would be homeless without assistance. It provides temporary financial assistance and services to help veterans gain housing stability. The goal is for veterans in the SSVF program to remain stably housed after this temporary assistance ends. TCHSC believes that no veteran should be begging on a street corner.

The deal: Real collaboration works

Coordinating the efforts and services of those 65 member agencies is a key work of TCHSC. Early on, TCHSC saw that the duplication of services to the homeless was counterproductive. It also saw that having a client’s information scattered among several agencies would neither serve the client’s nor the agency’s interest. At about the same time HUD reached the same conclusion. HUD created the Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) and TCHSC was one of the first agencies in the region to apply for and receive funding to implement HMIS. The result was a confidential, digital database which improved the intake and assessment process, shared essential information, and tracked expenditures among those 65 member agencies. The result is that HMIS provides better services for homeless clients with less waste of time and money.

“Louise is the cement that holds us together,” said Dallas Drawdy of New Horizons.

“Even after 30 years of working in the social service field I am still learning from Louise,” said Dr. Anita Cocoves, Health and Human Services Manager for the Board of Commissioners of Martin County.

Even those without Cocoves’ extensive experience appreciate Hubbard. New executive directors quickly discover that Hubbard and her TCHSC staff are authentic partners in finding grant money, using those funds to best serve clients, and maintaining the records so crucial to collaborative caring. “Hubbard taught me what I needed to know and made sure I did it,” said a recent executive director of the Homeless Family Center in Vero Beach. Echoing that, Robin Benjouali, new executive director of The Source in Vero Beach, added, “I see Louise as the voice of the homeless. She is a tireless advocate. She keeps us up to date on changes in the environment in which we serve.”

There is someone who was there at the beginning. One who called Louise Hubbard to Indian River County. One who helped her grow a little agency into the Treasure Coast Homeless Service Council. That one is TCHSC Board Chair, advocate for the poor, patron of the arts, and noted philanthropist Richard A. Stark. He had this to say: “TCHSC is entirely dependent on the skills and expertise of Louise Hubbard, for whom we are very grateful.”