| The Day HPP Didn’t Close |
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| Wednesday, 01 April 2009 12:59 |
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In some ways it seems like a sort of sick April Fools joke akin to being blindfolded and put up against the wall in front of a firing squad only to be granted a last minute reprieve. Unfortunately, it is simply business as usual for nonprofit service providers in New York.
For the past three months, providers of Homeless Prevention Programs (HPP) in New York City have been preparing to be defunded, effective today. The $5 million programs, which operate pursuant to contracts with the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA), had been targeted for elimination in Governor David Paterson’s Executive Budget submission for FY2010.
The proposal came as a shock to providers – CAMBA, Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), Queens Community House, Catholic Charities Community Services and Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation – whose services are widely credited for avoiding evictions and homelessness for thousands of families each and every year. Last year, for example, HPP reportedly prevented 6,680 evictions through a three-part package of services for families who are referred directly from Housing Court or the Human Resources Administration. It was estimated that the $5 million in HPP program costs ultimately saved $85 million in costs for families which would have been forced into New York City’s homeless shelter system.
“Nobody was saying this wasn’t a good program,” says Carolyn McLaughlin, Executive Director of CAB. “Nobody was saying it wasn’t worthwhile.”
Despite this widespread recognition of the program’s value and effectiveness, HPP provider agencies – and the nearly 100 staff who provide services daily to families threatened with homelessness -- have been forced to wait until Monday’s announcement of an agreement on the State’s budget to learn their fate – two days before the anticipated termination of their contracts.
“We are very relieved,” said JoAnn Oplustil, Executive Director at CAMBA.
“We are thrilled,” said Kenneth Rosenfeld, Director of Legal Services at Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation.
Unfortunately, this lack of certainty in terms of funding and contract relationships is far from unusual for New York nonprofits. And, while many agencies appear to almost take these circumstances in stride, they clearly impose significant strains on already overstressed organizations and the people who work in them.
“They are worried,” said Julie Belizaire-Spitzer, Director of the Homeless Prevention Department at CAB in an interview with NYNP last month. “We have 25 staff on that contract and they may not have a job. It is scary, but they are hanging in there. We haven’t had anyone transfer out or abandon ship yet.”
Despite the stress, most providers appear to have been able to hold their programs, including staff with years of experience, together.
“We didn’t lose anybody,” says JoAnn Oplustil.
Nor, it seems, did most providers close intake leading up to the funding deadline. In part, this was due to positive signs coming from legislators who offered strong support for the program; in part from a belief that alternative funding streams might ultimately be found either through the Federal Stimulus package or New York City’s own budget process for the year beginning in July.
Still, however, agencies were forced to expend valuable resources – time, energy and even budgetary reserves – in preparing for contract terminations that no one actually wanted. Executive directors explored possibilities for outside foundation funding or temporary allocations of agency reserves. HR staffs began preparing for layoffs and the payout of accrued leave balances. In at least one case, vacancies in non-HPP programs were held open to accommodate senior staff transfers rather than layoffs. “This left us very understaffed in some programs,” said one executive.
It is a tough way to run a program.
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