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The Syracuse City Common Council held a joint committee meeting regarding strategies to address homelessness in the city Tuesday afternoon.

During the meeting, co-hosted by the council’s Public Safety and Neighborhood Preservation (Homeless & Housing Vulnerable) committees, councilors and representatives from local organizations discussed several ongoing housing strategies and social program improvements.

Representatives from local housing assistance and crisis support organizations — including HELIO, Liberty Resources, In My Father’s Kitchen, Catholic Charities of Onondaga County and others — explained their ongoing initiatives to address housing issues in the Syracuse area to committee members, specifically emphasizing concerns of mental health and drug abuse in unhoused populations.

Mark Rusin, deputy chief of the Syracuse Police Department, started the meeting by explaining his progress toward implementing the Friendly Faces Program, an initiative that began last year. He said he designed the program to identify and assess unhoused community members who have been repeatedly flagged for drug abuse, violent behavior, littering and other low-priority incidents.

Once individuals are identified, Rusin said their department sends the list to service organizations, such as In My Father’s Kitchen, which provides a follow-up visit and assesses the condition and future needs of each individual.

“As part of the police reform, one of the goals was to find alternative responses … to substance abuse, mental health and homelessness,” Rusin said. “We’ve seen significant progress, but we know we certainly have much more to do.”

SPD meets weekly to assess the potential risk these individuals pose to themselves and the broader community, Rusin said. There are currently 25 people registered on the list, with new individuals added on a day-to-day basis.

John Tumino, co-founder and executive director of In My Father’s Kitchen, said his agency is dedicated to offering crucial support to people in these situations by making sure they are on proper medication, receiving needed medical care and offering temporary housing options.

Tumino said that since its inception, In My Father’s Kitchen has helped 371 people get back on their feet. Despite this, 80 individuals involved in the program have also died over the past 13 years, primarily due to relapse, he said.

He said his organization continues to face obstacles, including increases in the area’s homeless population, lack of funds for service programs and above all, people’s willingness to make a change.

“You can’t supersede someone’s free will choice to make those decisions,” Tumino said.

Other community leaders similarly expressed funding concerns for their respective organizations. Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens, who helped facilitate the meeting, commended Rusin for his work to address homelessness but also urged for more collaboration among city groups.

“For every dollar spent to find housing for an individual and house them, you need ten times that to wrap around them and make that housing successful,” she said.

Owens, Rusin and Michael Collins, the city’s commissioner of neighborhood & business development, also highlighted what they believe to be a general lack of support toward unhoused communities throughout central New York.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of homelessness in Syracuse has continued to increase, with levels rising 30% between 2022 to 2023. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness’ 2024 “State of Homelessness” report, New York state’s homelessness rate was significantly higher than the national average in 2023.

“We need help in advocating for policies at the state, federal and local level … We need help from our neighbors, we need this to not be a Syracuse solution to a community problem,” Collins said.

While Rusin helped establish a coordinated effort to contract with the county and identify specific individuals, Owens pointed out that there is still no centralized system for the city’s multiple independent social programs. Without a centralized point for information and resources, it’s difficult for people to find support in an emergency, Owens said.

With the help of the 911 call center, mobile crisis hotlines and ambulatory partners, SPD is in the process of embedding mobile crisis personnel within ambulance services to ensure that both medical and mental health risks can be assessed when necessary, Rusin said.

“It’s a multipronged approach,” Collins said. “As we create the housing (assistance), how are we making sure there are wraparound services that include being able to give people the opportunity to stand on their own two feet?”

Published on August 27, 2024 at 10:53 pm

Contact Kate: kjacks19@syr.edu