And So We Begin

I’ve been waiting for the “right time” to start on this but I guess there is no right time, it’s just when I feel like getting into it and tonight I do. My kids and I are in our own home again and, although it’s not in perfect running order as of yet, things are beginning to smooth themselves out and fall into place once again. It’s a great feeling, I must say. What wasn’t a great feeling was coming to the realization a little over a year ago that my kids and I were being forced into a homeless shelter on Long Island.

Yes, I said forced. We had no choice because New York State absolutely refused to help us with any assistance for rent or placement into a home unless we were living in emergency housing. Why? Because according to the state agencies that I contacted we weren’t considered homeless. I was out of my mind because the definition of ‘homeless’ according to the HEARTH Act from HUD said we were homeless. The first two parts of the rule reads: (1) Individuals and families who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence and includes a subset for an individual who resided in an emergency shelter or a place not meant for human habitation and who is exiting an institution where he or she temporarily resided; (2) individuals and families who will imminently lose their primary nighttime residence.

My kids and I were living in a friend’s basement, one room that I divided into separate spaces with the use of bookshelves. We had a toilet and shower in the laundry room but no kitchen; we had to share that with my friend and her kids. The water heater leaked so our belongings were constantly getting wet. Whatever belongings we had downstairs with us that we could use were unpacked but the rest of our belongings were in boxes in her garage. Plus, the living arrangement was only temporary until I could get us a place of our own. I told that to the people I telephoned about assistance but they said that since we’d been there more than 30 days we weren’t considered homeless.

I explained that my kids had been enrolled into school under the McKinney-Vento Act so we were considered homeless according to the federal government but it didn’t do any good. We weren’t considered homeless by NYS standards even though we fell directly into the category in part two of the HEARTH Act – we were going to lose our residence with my friend because she was putting her house on the market so we had to be out. New York State didn’t care. We weren’t considered homeless. Were they fucking kidding me? No they weren’t.

There wasn’t an agency around Long Island that would help me get into a home before I was out on the street; I wasn’t homeless, nor was I disabled and I don’t have HIV. They all referred me to the Department of Social Services (DSS). I’d already called DSS and they told me the only thing they could do for us was put us in emergency housing. I didn’t want that for my kids. I refused to accept that as a final answer. I kept calling places for almost two months. One agency told me they couldn’t help me get a place because my income was less than $3600 a month. I told her that if I made that much I wouldn’t be calling for assistance. What a dumbass!!

I begged and pleaded with anyone who would listen at every agency I called. While they all sympathized, or so they said, they all claimed there was nothing they could do for my family and me. When I finally called the Social Services Commissioner’s office and spoke with him he said there were a couple of programs I qualified for but I’d have to be living in emergency housing to actually be able to benefit from the programs. I thought he couldn’t be serious, but he was. New York State was literally forcing my family into a homeless shelter, sorry, emergency housing. No! Fuck that! It was a homeless shelter. So, on May 31^st, 2011, I took my kids out of school and we drove to the Suffolk County Department of Social Services in Riverhead to be placed in a homeless shelter. That’s when our journey began…sort of.

Until next time…peace to all.