Committee OKs Mayor’s Homeless Proposal

OSWEGO – At its meeting Monday night, the Administrative Services Committee approved the mayor’s request for a $25,000 budget amendment. The funds will be used to contract with Oswego County Opportunities to perform street canvassing throughout the city of Oswego from August 1 to December 31 in an effort to combat homelessness in the Oswego community.

The full council will now consider the matter at its next meeting.

“Over the past few years, I think we’ve all noticed a growing problem of homeless people throughout the city,” Mayor Billy Barlow said Monday night.

The situation caught the attention of Shane Broadwell, chair of the Oswego County Legislature, who called a meeting to address the problem, the mayor said.

“Just to have a discussion, really. To talk about what problems we’re seeing in the city,” Barlow said. “I learned there was a system in place called 2-1-1, where if somebody notices somebody who appears to be homeless they can call and try to get resources to help that person. But, that’s not the most effective tool; in fact we weren’t really practicing that here in the city with our fire department, police department, DPW.”

The said he sent out a memo to everyone aware of the system.

There was a street canvassing project some years ago, he said. But it ran out of money was was discontinued.

The mayor is proposing to contract with Oswego County Opportunities to get a street canvassing program under way in the Port City. OCO knows how to work with these people, he added.

The Oswego Homelessness Outreach Program will provide individuals with connections and references to emergency shelter services, community resources, emergency food and personal hygiene packs as well as provide transportation for those wishing to be connected to resources immediately, he told the committee.

Sometimes, homeless individuals don’t always trust someone offering them help, the mayor said, adding, “That’s why it’s good to build relationships. It may take two, three, four, five times before somebody who appears to be in a dire situation actually takes you up on it and accepts help.”

Recently, he and city of Oswego Section 8 Rental Assistance Program Director Nate Emmons joined the Rescue Mission in the city of Syracuse for a day of street canvassing to see firsthand the positive impacts and effectiveness such a program could have in the city of Oswego, the mayor said.

“We saw, firsthand, how a program similar to this works,” he told the councilors. “What was amazing to me … there were some situations where the folks we were riding with encountered the same people on a regular basis.”

They noticed someone they’d never seen before, walking out of a wooded area. He showed them where he was living at the time. He seemed to be unaware of some of the resources that were out there, the mayor said.

“That lead me to believe that working with OCO. This will give us a true grasp of the scope of the problem,” he said. “It will immediately be helpful for the individuals we encounter.”

Having homeless people in city parks and other areas isn’t the message the city wants to send; we should be helping them, the mayor said

“This is just one part of the bigger picture over time to improve our community as a whole. I think this program takes care of some immediate needs,” he said.

He said the canvassing would be from 12:30 to 9 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the weekends conducted by two staff personnel.

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