Homelessness is a serious problem in New York City right now, and many of its victims are women with their children (14,476 families – 24,000 kids-right now). Unaffordable housing is one of the main reasons for this unsettling trend in our town. I reached out to Manuela Schaudt, the Executive Director of the Concourse House, Home for Women and Their Children. The Bronx shelter is a valuable resource for so many families facing even the slightest issues toward becoming homeless, along with those swept into it and needing assistance.
In your experience and opinion, what can mothers on the verge of financial collapse, facing homelessness, do to stop the process- before it’s too late?
There are services out there to help families in crisis. The Department of Homeless Services (DHS) can assist through their HOME BASE program. A mother can also go to Public Assistance and visit the Homeless Diversion Unit or Catholic Charities has services to prevent homelessness. The best thing to do is to tackle the problem before it gets out of hand, before you are evicted or served a disposes. Communicating and getting help immediately, before the problem gets out of hand is the key. Simply by calling 311 and asking for assistance can help, too.
How does homelessness start with mothers?
There are many reasons for homelessness. Many of our women come to us because they have been evicted, they simply can’t afford the rent, they are victims of abuse, they have been released from foster care and have no where else to go, they were “doubling up” with another family and it didn’t work out or they lost their job. A primary reason for homelessness is the lack of affordable housing in our city.
What does homelessness do to children in NYC?
Homelessness is very tough on a child. Moving around from place to place, not having a feeling of being settled, and having the stress at such a young age can be extremely distracting. It makes school difficult, often children feel ashamed and get bullied because of the stigma, and children often take on the stress that their parents are going through. Many of the children fall behind in school, miss school from moving around so much and often lose interest in children’s activities. I do have to say a place like Concourse House, that has so many services for children makes it much easier for a child to handle. There is a day care and an after school program for children to go to with their friends and engage in enriching activities. The Tier II system as it is called, provides these services for families, other systems, like the cluster sites, or hotels, do not.
How does Concourse Home work with facilities in the city to get people back on their feet?
It takes a whole lot of networking to help families get back on their feet. There are so many different agencies to communicate with and we help families jump that hurdle. We work with DHS, HPD, NYCHA, ACS, SSI, Public Assistance just to mention a few. The caseworkers are really instrumental in helping our clients connect to all the services they need to get their case together and to get ready to move into permanent housing, one of our main goals.
Can you tell me a little bit about Concourse Home, for people who may need its services or want to volunteer or donate?
Concourse House is a Tier II shelter and will be celebrating 25 years of service this year! We work with homeless women and their children from the entire metropolitan area. Our mission is to assist homeless families (in our case Women with Children ages nine and under) make a smooth transition to permanent housing. We do this by providing a host of services that include: day care, after-school programs, on-site caseworkers and a housing specialist, a board of education liaison, and network with other agencies to provide health care, mental services, drug rehabilitation, job training and several other services. Our hope is that families can make a new start and use the services and tools they connected to during their stay at Concourse House. Thus far we have served over 2300 women and over 3000 children. I just want to add, we at Concourse House we accept donations for our families. We can always use baby items such as diapers, wipes, formula, bibs, clothing, and bottles. We also accept toiletries or cleaning products. And of course we appreciate any monetary donations to assist with our budget.
An interesting story:
http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/the-next-step-punishment/
Manuela Schaudt is the Executive Director of Concourse House, a not-for-profit serving Women and Their Children. She has worked there for over 20 years. Manuela started as the Director of Child Care Services and currently as the Executive Director, overseeing the shelter program as well as child care services for families in the community through Pre-K for All and Early Learn services. She also sat on the Board of Homeless Services United, a coalition of not-for-profit agencies, as the Treasurer from 2009-2013.
Rebecca Conroy is an artist, stylist, and Editor of A Child Grows in Brooklyn. She is from New York City, and has an MFA from Columbia University in screenwriting. Rebecca often finds herself on film and photography sets making things run or look better, and is the mom of two outrageously wonderful kids.