Advocate trumpets

Provide shelter first, treatment second, NYC expert tells local leaders

By Michael Gonzalez

Post-Tribune Correspondent

GARY – Sam Tsemberis believes he can end chronic homelessness in America.

He spent most of Friday convincing area social service agencies and homelessness advocates they can do the same here.

Tsemberis and his Pathways to Housing program, based in New York City, represents a dramatic shift in the way people see homelessness.

Most homeless shelters usually require their users to undergo some sort of treatment program, often unsuccessfully, before helping them find homes.

Pathways promotes putting chronically homeless people, most of whom are mentally ill or substance abusers, in permanent apartments.  From there, they will often choose to kick their habits and start new lives, Tsemberis said, and he displayed studies and numbers to prove his point.

“Homelessness is not an illness, it’s an economic condition,” Tsemberis said.  “This is what I call compassionate pragmatism.  Homeless people tell me ‘My problem right now is I need a place to live.’

“(Pathways) is four times more successful than other homelessness programs,” he said.

Tsemberis was the guest of the Sojourner Truth House, a day-care center for women and children on 13^th Avenue and Madison Street.

Sister Peg Spindler of the Congregation of St. Agnes said she first heard about Tsemberis and Pathways to Housing and wants to see the program brought to Northwest Indiana. 

“We’ve felt the frustration of the homelessness situation,”  Spindler said.  “Most homeless people don’t want immediate treatment as much as they want housing.”

It is a dramatic departure from the way most social service agencies combat homelessness now, said a number of the seminar participants.

Agencies and homeless shelters generally house their users for 10 to 15 days and require them to go through different steps like cleaning up drug and alcohol abuse.

The end result is often what Spindler called a “revolving door syndrome,” with the chronically homeless falling back into the troublesome activities.

The Pathways approach changes that, Tsemberis said.  He advocated shelters spending local, state and federal funds on apartments for their clients and building what he calls Assertive Community Treatment teams.

ACT teams are professionals who help Pathways clients adjust to their new surroundings by counseling them, helping them get medical attention and encouraging them to find employment.

To Tsemberis, it’s logical. 

“(Taxpayers) are already paying more money for people on the street than to house them,” when social costs, like operating shelters and paying police to round up the homeless are calculated,” Tsemberis said.  “It’s actually cheaper for them to be in an apartment.”

Convincing social service agencies is not easy, but Tsemberis’ pitch seemed successful.

“I think it’s real workable,” said Lisa Wein, executive director of the Haven House domestic violence shelter in Hammond.

“This approach works, especially because with the ACT approach, you’re looking at sustainability for homeless people, not just helping them for a short time,” Wein said.