The 10-year plan to end and reduce homelessness in the Cape Fear region has assumed financial backing from New Hanover County, United Way, and several other local entities. But now the plan has to deliver results, ensuring officials that the government’s thinning revenue stream is feeding the right animal.
The plan must also continue its push against the waning public skepticism over its initiative to install yellow, altered parking meters in the downtown Wilmington area as a means to combat panhandling.
As the plan was laid out earlier this year, any effort against panhandling should result in an increase of homeless individuals seeking proper support and permanent housing, and the 10-year plan recently emphasized benchmarks that show how that transition is underway.
A short time ago, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation of North Carolina granted $50,000 to the 10-year plan, money that will support the hiring of a caseworker, said plan project manager Dan Ferrell.
A caseworker position will provide homeless individuals a personal guide to help navigate the complicated maze of Medicaid and Social Security benefits.
Using a national model called SOAR (Social Security/SSI Outreach, Access and Recovery), the caseworker is expected to lower the stress of dealing with the medical evaluation process, decrease the processing time from as long as 7 years to as little as 90 days, and increase the allowance rate from what can be as low as 15 percent to 90 percent, Ferrell said.
SOAR also promises to lead homeless individuals into permanent, subsidized housing, and could tie them to Wilmington Housing Authority vouchers recently made available for the non-elderly homeless, plan administrators said.
Ferrell, in a presentation to the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners on Dec. 7, expressed confidence that 50 Social Security applications would be processed from January, 2010, to June, 2011. Of those, he hopes at least 45 are approved.
During the presentation and comments from county officials, it appeared as though public support for the plan is high.
County Chairman Jason Thompson reported that his telephone rang repeatedly with people complaining that a faulty meter head had denied their quarters.
Although a faulty meter is a minor issue, the phone calls are evidence the meters are being utilized and people are willing to divert their generous giving to a more appropriate agency.
That faulty meter is slated to be replaced, Ferrell said.
Anecdotal accounts, Ferrell said, suggest panhandling has been “substantially reduced in and around the area where those meters have been placed.”
Brandi Tanger, 10-year plan project assistant, said Tuesday, Dec. 15, the meter on the corner in front of Wilmington City Hall had proved most successful, also citing anecdotal accounts from people who regularly work and reside in the area.
Five meters have been placed in the Wilmington area, including in front of the post office and the New Hanover Regional Library; and five more are expected to become operational by the end of the year, Tanger said.
Not every panhandler is homeless. But where do the homeless ones go when their revenue source runs dry?
Ferrell and other plan administrators hope they are seeking assistance from service agencies, which often encourage homeless individuals to seek permanent housing.
What's lacking, however, is a method for linking any increase in services provided to the meter project.
Given the economic downturn, the holidays and the number of service providing agencies in the Cape Fear region, "it's a very difficult, clear connection to make at this time," Tanger said.
But other cities with meter projects have documented proof of the meter's effectiveness.
Tanger pointed to Denver, a reference point for Cape Fear's 10-year plan. By measuring changes in the frequency of certain police complaints and information provided by businesses and residents via a questionnaire, Denver recorded a 92 percent reduction in panhandling in the targeted areas.
While Denver is a much larger city than Wilmington, local 10-year plan administrators are banking on its successful model.
In a show of cooperation that underscores the relationship between the Wilmington and Denver plans to reduce homeless, administrators from both cities are teaming up in January for a “Pajama Party" fundraiser, to remind the community that not everyone has the luxury of sleeping in a bed every night.
Chairman Thompson and Mayor Bill Saffo of Wilmington are supposed to attend the fundraiser on Thursday, Jan. 28 at the Balcony on Dock Street in the downtown area. Both officials are expected to wear their pajamas, as will most others who attend.
The following day, Friday, Jan. 29, local 10-year plan administrators are exhorting businesses to permit employees to wear pajamas at work for a cost to each pajama-sporting employee of $5.
