UPDATE: Galvan Quarters
Although nobody, including Galvan special adviser Rick Scalera or Register-Star reporter Tom Casey, seemed to have this information on Thursday night, Galvan supposedly issued a press release on Thursday saying they have abandoned the idea of adding seven "permanent supportive housing" units to the facility they are proposing for State and Seventh streets. Casey has that news, together with his coverage of Thursday night's Economic Development Committee meeting, in today's Register-Star: "Galvan shelter plan changes again."
Well now that is mercurial.
ReplyDeleteGalloway should consider using 'mercurial' in one of his many 'titles.'
DeleteMercurial Group - here to bring you better living through subsidized profits - even though we're so rich we really could do it for the common good - but we won't
Look closely at what has happened since the CARES report was issued. There have been many changes, often sudden, to the approach the County and its partners intend to take in reference to homelessness in Columbia County. My hunch is that there are serious flaws in program design and budgeting for all involved in this endeavor including New York State. It takes about three years from concept and design and approved budgets to get these projects up and running, maybe less for small projects. But many are not clear what the concept is anymore! And if they were told what the concept and the design that results from it was and how it is going to be paid for that could all change next week. Good program design and solid budgeting combined with an all out effort to get community support -- including from the people and families living in motels -- would have resulted in high marks for the County, City of Hudson, and its partners. Am I the only one who reads of the recent change and thinks "inept."
ReplyDeleteA major program by the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration aimed at streamlining services to people on Medicaid with multiple chronic health problems including the chronically homeless with co-occuring disorders was launched in 2011. Someone at the County level would know if NYS amended their Medicaid plan to include this program, Health Homes, in their beneifits. If the Affordable Care Act survives this election the program could be a factor in reducing homelessness. Underpinning this program is the view, which I hold, that chronically homeless people with untreated co-occurring disorders are a public health problem. They should be housed and seen by a primary care doc or a health care team and out of the homeless arena altogether. I'm wondering why policy makers in Columbia County aren't waiting the election out before doing the same old same old approach to homelessness.