Rochester shelters grapple with worsening homelessness crisis
As rents continue to rise, homeless shelters across Monroe County, NY, struggle with increased demand, understaffing, and county regulations.
By Arianna Cator
Maria, a 17-year-old Rochester native, and her mother were evicted from their apartment in November 2024. With nowhere else to go, they were forced to seek support from Monroe County’s shelter system. For eight months, Maria worked on her high school coursework on a stained floor mat, eating food that made her so sick she was unable to attend classes. Her days were filled with uncertainty about what was next for her, her mother, and this is the reality for over 700 people in Monroe County on any given night.
Monroe County consists of 21 smaller suburban towns and one large city: Rochester, NY. There is a serious homelessness epidemic in the county, any local can tell you that. However, this crisis is only intensifying as the years progress.
The Let’s End Homelessness Annual Point in Time count has shown a concerning increase in not only those staying in shelters, but those living unsheltered as well. 2024 was a record-breaking year for the count, with the number of sheltered homeless — those in emergency housing, transitional housing, or Safe Havens — totaling 976, the highest it has been in Point in Time recorded history.
An additional 80 people were found to be unsheltered, living in places not meant for human habitation i.e., encampments, abandoned buildings, parks, under bridges, nearly doubling from the year prior, and creating an aggregate total of 1,056 homeless adults and children.
While health issues, domestic violence, and mental health continue to drive homelessness, the escalating shortage of affordable housing has become a critical factor, intensifying the crisis for countless individuals.
Guillermo (Willie) Torres, a senior emergency housing specialist at Providence Housing explained to the News that during the COVID-19 pandemic, many took advantage of the eviction restrictions and stopped paying their rent.
After these restrictions were lifted, many landlords evicted those who had not paid their rent in months past, causing an influx in those who were homeless for the first time. Additionally, Theresa Clemonds, the Director of the Tempro Emergency Housing program within Providence Housing, said that she has seen a stark increase in people seeking help especially in the past six months. She personally receives at least two or three direct phone calls a day from people seeking help.
Unfortunately, like all shelters, Tempro has a maximum number of families it can house. For those she must turn away, Ms. Clemonds is able to provide options such as MyWayfinder, a platform that connects individuals and organizations, and 211 Lifeline for families to find help.
The average stay at a Tempro emergency housing residence is approximately 44 days. Some may leave sooner, and some may have extensions granted by The County Department of Human Services, but everyone must vacate the shelter at some point.
“If we kept people longer, might we be able to provide more assistance? Yes,” Clemonds explained “But could it make it difficult for more families to get into shelters that provide help? Yes.”
Many individuals who find themselves facing homelessness turn to shelters for refuge, while others choose not to or are unable to access the shelter system.
Sanctions are one example of why an individual may be ineligible to enter a shelter. A sanction is placed upon an individual if they have not adhered to certain regulations set in place by the Department of Human Service (DHS) and enforced by Monroe County.
DHS reserves the right to remove residents from the shelter system for a minimum of 30 days if they do not adhere to an assessment, a scheduled appointment, a social service plan, housing search requirements, or health and safety rules. Sanctions do not only bar the affected from the shelter they were ejected from, but from all DHS funded shelters.
Only recently, due to policy work done by Amy D’Amico, a policy maker and advocate, as well as the Rochester Alliance for Housing Accountability, has DHS changed their letters that notify someone when they have an appointment to state that they will receive a sixth month sanction if they miss the appointment.
Other reasons that some may be unable to enter a shelter are due to rules against service animals, the lack of shelters for couples without children, and the often traumatic environment of many shelters, D’Amico explains. “If you would put a low barrier, respectful shelter, that’s trauma informed as an option, many people would choose that,” she says.
Ms. Clemonds states that many shelters find it difficult to maintain a successful working relationship with DHS. “It’s hard to come home and feel like you’ve made a difference when those things are happening every day and you’re fighting the system, you’re not using your resources for the people,” she says.
DHS provides the funding, and the state of New York determines how DHS funded shelters must run. For example, families in DHS funded shelters must be applying for apartments every day.
Rochester is a city with very little affordable housing available. According to Ms. Clemonds, an inidividual is typically given about $440 a month for rent from DHS and is expected to pay the remainder. While some living in shelters may be employed, many are not, and $440 is not enough for even a studio apartment in Rochester.
If families or individuals turn in an apartment search with apartments that are outside of their price range, the search is deemed “unsuccessful” and may result in discharge or even a thirty-day sanction.
Maria told me that the food options at the shelters were scarce, and would make her nauseous, stating that “it was really the worst kind of sickness.” There was typically poor wi-fi and loud conditions that made it hard for her to complete her schoolwork as well. She also attests that one staff member at Sanctuary House, the first shelter she stayed at, was responsive and kind to residents, although he was only a stand in due to understaffing at the shelter.
Understaffing and indifferent staff are issues across the board at many local shelters. Guillermo (Willie) Torres, a senior emergency housing specialist at Providence Housing told the News that “They [shelters] need to retain staff, staff that are that are going to be patient, because it takes a lot of patience and working with people that are homeless, with homeless families with children, and they have to be willing to roll up their sleeves and get dirty”.
With staff retention levels low, it becomes hard for residents to trust shelter employees, which is essential when supporting individuals with trauma and PTSD.
Maria also explained that the second shelter she stayed at, Bethany House, which is an independently funded women’s shelter in Rochester, had much better conditions. There were suite style rooms with comfortable beds and desks for getting work done.
This seems to be a common theme, with shelters that are not DHS funded such as Bethany House, Open Door Mission, and others, being able to provide more due to the generosity of donors as well as being able to give shelter to those who have DHS sanctions.
Spots at independently funded shelters fill up very quickly, cutting the only lifeline for individuals who have nowhere else to turn.
Homelessness is detrimental to the psyche of both children and adults and wreaks havoc on families and communities at large. It is a hard topic to discuss, as it was for Maria, who did not inform her teachers about her situation.
Yet, it is something that must be discussed. Because, if it is not, we will not develop something that is necessary when dealing with issues such as homelessness: compassion.
“Homelessness is the predictable end product of a private housing market and will be with us until that changes. Homelessness will not change,” said Amy D’Amico. “So, along the way we must be good to one another”.
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