This holiday season, families across Long Island will gather in warm, cozy homes in the company of their loved ones, to eat delicious hot food to their heart’s content. However, for some Long Islanders, enjoying that luxury won’t be a possibility.
According to the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless, 3,860 people on Long Island were homeless in 2015; with 105 of them being unsheltered and the rest in emergency or transitional housing. It’s a number that’s been slowly rising; in 2014 the homeless population was 2,288 and in 2013 it was 2,107.
To help meet the needs of these individuals, the county rolled out its WARMBED program on Nov. 25. Through the WARMBED program, which runs through the end of March, homeless residents can call the Nassau County Hotline at 1-866-927-6233 and be placed in a warm shelter. During the 2014-15 winter season, 257 individuals were housed in a shelter through WARMBED, a group that included 165 adults and 92 children.
WARMBED is just one way that the Nassau County Department of Social Services (DSS) is trying to help the area’s homeless population. DSS helps individuals find temporary housing, as well as provides them financial stipends (based on eligibility), to lessen the burden as they’re looking for permanent housing solutions. They also provide services for people in need—sometimes that means helping to provide daycare, other times it’s providing job training workshops.
DSS spokesperson Karen Gerber said the homeless population in the county fluctuates throughout the year and they see an increase in need during the colder months.
And the county’s not the only one providing services to help the area’s homeless population. DSS often relies on local nonprofit groups to help meet the needs of disadvantaged members of the community and help them get back on their feet. One of the most well-known charities helping Long Island’s homeless is the Interfaith Nutrition Network (INN). What began as a single soup kitchen out of a church in Hempstead in 1983 has grown to include a network of 14 soup kitchens and four emergency shelters across Long Island. They also have 22 longterm housing units where guests can stay for three to five years.
Each year, the INN provides more than 300,000 meals to children and adults, as well as houses approximately 1,000 homeless individuals at their four shelters, which includes two family shelters, one for veterans and one for homeless men. Like the county, the INN offers the services of a social worker who can help individuals clean up their credit, find employment and find educational opportunities.
“We’re trying to help them help themselves so when they leave our program they can get their own employment and have their own home and be self-sufficient,” said INN Communications and PR manager Dana Lopez.
People are referred to the INN by DSS and Lopez said they have a ‘no questions asked’ policy when it comes to the soup kitchens—anyone can come get a hot, free meal without having to explain why they are there.
Sometimes it’s because of substance and mental health issues, other times it’s because someone lost their job. Gerber said people are also still reeling from the recession and Hurricane Sandy.
“After Hurricane Sandy, there were a lot of apartments where people had to find alternate housing and rentals went up significantly and folks found themselves unable to afford it,” Gerber said.
Gerber said the homeless problem won’t get better any time soon, as finding affordable housing on Long Island is almost impossible.
Cathy Nannini helps run the food pantry at Hicksville United Methodist Church and said they’ve seen about 10 homeless people come through over the years.
“It goes in cycles. Sometimes we’ll go months without seeing any homeless people, then four or five will come in regularly and we won’t see them any longer,” Nannini said. “They show up at certain times and then we don’t hear from them.”
The food pantry purposefully sets aside items for homeless individuals, such as clothing, blankets, Ensure and special food that doesn’t require a can opener or a lot of preparation.
While people are generally more charitable during the holidays, which makes for a robust staff of volunteers at soup kitchens and food pantries during November and December, Lopez encourages local residents to lend a hand year-round to help those in need.
“Once summer comes, people aren’t as interested in helping as they are around the holidays,” she said. “We appreciate the support at all times and want people to remember we’re still here.”
Find out more about The INN at www.the-inn.org or the food pantry at HUMC at www.hicksvilleumc.com.
