No place to call home

We are approaching the holiday season when images of smiling families, glowing fireplaces and food-laden tables are everywhere. At this time of year, we give thanks for our blessings of home and family and friendship.

Amidst the holiday cheer, we must remember that there are residents of Nassau County for whom there is no place called home. For these vulnerable individuals, the alternative to being out on the street or huddled in a car is the county’s system of shelters. According to the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless, the numbers of persons in shelters has increased by 72 percent since 2009, with the largest number being women and children.

Some of the shelters are professionally operated and provide a home-like environment, including meals and support services designed to facilitate the move into permanent housing. Others, which have proliferated in recent years, provide no meals, social services or any other amenities. The growth of these bed-only facilities ignores the research that demonstrates that the most effective approach to reduce homelessness is to integrate services such as job search, counseling, homework help and computer training both before and after permanent housing is found.

Beyond this disturbing situation, a policy promulgated by Nassau County almost immediately after Hurricane Sandy introduced a dimension of punishment to the lives of those already struggling. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with shelter providers, which went into effect Nov. 1, 2012, imposed a harsh edict: all shelter occupants had to leave — no matter age, physical condition or weather conditions — by 9 a.m., and were not permitted to return until 6 p.m. The county warned it would withdraw funding from those resisting this policy and threatened spot checks to make sure there was compliance.