News
October 14, 2021Joseph’s House & Shelter Expands its Street Outreach Program with New Van
The Chamber took part in a ribbon cutting on Wednesday, October 13 for Joseph’s House & Shelter. The ribbon cutting was attended by elected officials, community leaders and business owners from around the Capital Region.
In the midst of the pandemic when most of Albany was shutting down, Joseph’s House & Shelter’s outreach services expanded its services to meet the increased numbers of unhoused persons living in the streets, parks, abandoned buildings, and cars.
Last year, their street outreach programs served more than one thousand individuals. In Albany, they saw a 55% increase in persons served from the year before.
The mission of Joseph’s House is to provide non-judgmental services to end homelessness. They worked with city and county partners to locate portable toilets, hand washing stations, and cell charging locations when alternative facilities were shut down during the pandemic.
When their usual food suppliers shut down, a group called Feed Albany stepped in – providing Joseph’s House with cooked nutritious meals for the homeless they served.
Due to growing numbers of persons on the street, they expanded their daily operations from 8 to 10 hours a day. They also encountered an increasing number of persons who were unsheltered in locations outside the City of Albany, including Colonie, Latham, Watervliet and Cohoes.
The practice at Joseph’s House & Shelter is to embrace Housing First Solutions to homelessness. Simply stated, they strive to move persons directly from the streets into permanent housing without pre-conditions of sobriety, treatment compliance or even income. Over the past 25 years, they have found this approach to be quite successful; a nearly 90% annual retention rate in community housing. Last year, their street outreach teams placed 97 persons into permanent housing – ending their episodes of homelessness.
Thanks to grants from the Albany County Coalition on Homelessness and the Cogswell Foundation, Joseph’s House now has a health nurse and a certified social worker who accompany their outreach teams to help assess needs of those they serve.
With the help of the City of Albany and its Emergency Solutions COVID grant, Joseph’s House was able to purchase a new customized van that will provide basic needs (water, blankets, clothes, hygiene), warmed food and beverages to the individuals they serve. Perhaps the most important design feature of the van is that it has an internet hotspot equipped with computer tablets so they can complete real time, on-the-spot housing applications and submissions.
Says Joseph’s House, “Our goal is a community where everyone has safe and affordable housing. It takes a village. We can only do our work with a network of community housing providers, charitable food programs like Feed Albany, the Albany County Department of Social Services, the City of Albany, community police from the various municipalities in the County, Business Improvement District members, and volunteers – from various groups and engaged citizens; especially our good friends at Grace Fellowship. We thank everyone who made this expansion of outreach services possible as we continue to respect the dignity & worth of each person and strive to provide non-judgmental services to end homelessness.”
All ribbon cuttings are sponsored by Saratoga National Bank and Trust Company.
