Snowed: Blizzards & budgets pound America's Homeless

by Les Bayless & Fred Gaboury

This article was reprinted from the January 13, 1996 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

NEW YORK - A long line of homeless and hungry people, stamping their feet to keep warm, lined up in front of the Church of the Holy Apostles on 9th Avenue after two feet of snow blanketed the Atlantic seaboard in one of the worst blizzards of the century.

The storm caused at least 100 deaths and immobilized both government and business from Boston to Atlanta. Holy Apostles, which serves 1,000 meals a day, is one of 800 locations in New York City that distribute free meals.

Mark, 34, has been homeless for over a year. He spent the night in the "E condominium," the E subway train that runs from Queens to the World Trade Center in Manhattan.

"It's a lot better than the shelters," he said. "The train crews don't bother us." The "E" is the train of choice among the homeless because it runs completely underground and is much warmer in severe weather.

Mark receives a General Assistance check of $63 every two weeks. He has made three trips to the emergency room with asthma attacks over the last year. When asked about social cuts proposed by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and House Speaker Newt Gingrich, he said, "It's not right to cut these programs. The ones doing this have got to go."

Mike, who drove a cab before he fell on hard times, finds homelessness "frustrating, humiliating and embarrassing."

Liz Maxwell, associate rector of the church, said the soup kitchen -- the largest in New York -- has an annual budget of $1.4 million, of which only 20 percent comes from government sources. "I don't know how long we can continue to deny to people their basic human needs," she said.

The situation facing the homeless and the hungry was "very frightening," Maxwell said. The numbers at her kitchen were actually down from last year. She attributes this "success" to the mayor's program of harassing the poor and driving them to the suburbs.

Michael Goldsmith, the chef at the kitchen, takes pride in the meals he serves. "Today the menu is chili with rice, greens, peas, corn and peaches. We serve them a pound of food. We assume it's the only meal they get for the day," he said.

As most commuters stayed home from work up and down the east coast, police and city authorities "swept up" thousands of homeless, hungry people and took them to overcrowded and often dangerous shelters. Advocates for the homeless charge that dwindling federal funds cannot begin to deal with the national problems of joblessness and inadequate housing. They say that at least two million are homeless, with hundreds of thousands being concentrated in areas hit worse by the storm.

Available facilities to shelter the homeless are a "drop in the bucket," according to Mike Harris, spokesman for the New York Coalition for the Homeless. Harris estimates that of 90,000 homeless in New York, the city provides shelter for only 7,200 single adults and 5,500 families.

Harris says that many of the homeless prefer the streets -- even in inclement weather -- to dangerous and overcrowded shelters. Some security guards at shelters force homeless men and women to sell crack cocaine to obtain a private room at a shelter, he said.

Other cities on the east coast report similar problems. In Washington, D.C. 2,000 beds in shelters serve 15,000 homeless, according to Michael Stoops of the National Coalition for the Homeless. "In a sense, the blizzard was a blessing, with people's thoughts turning to those condemned to the streets. I wish that America would think about the homeless all year round," he said.

As corporate donations to charity shrink and a hostile Congress cuts funding, Stoops says the homeless population will continue to grow. "We predict that four to five years from now, the number of homeless will quadruple," Stoops said. "All the people who are being cut off of welfare, nobody is saying where they are going to go."

He said Congress needs to focus on employment and housing but with Republicans in control "we're just fighting to hold on to programs enacted over the last several years, even though that's not adequate." Republican proposals would "zero budget" several placement and training programs which help the homeless find jobs and housing.