Homeless for the holidays

Even in wealthy areas, some get left out in the cold

By:Emily Craighead
   Lori Martine slept in a shed in Manville the night before she came to St. John’s Episcopal Church in Somerville for a hot lunch Friday.
   "You can probably smell the alcohol on my breath," she said, not apologizing, but stating a fact.
   Cigarette smoke clings to her hair and clothes and she seems weary and frustrated.
   She is not alone.
   "We have these people literally living in sheds and in the woods, in pipes, under buildings, in cars," said Tom O’Leary, executive director of the Samaritan Homeless Interim Program (SHIP).
   Nationwide, requests for emergency shelter increased by 6 percent this year, according to the December Hunger and Homelessness Survey by the United States Conference of Mayors and Sodexho USA. The need for affordable housing is expected to rise again next year.
   In November, Somerset County Social Services helped 103 individuals and families, placing 40 in motels and 63 others in transitional housing, including shelters, according to Charlotte McNorton, administrative supervisor of social work for the Somerset County Board of Social Services.
   Because of the variety of circumstances that can cause homelessness — substance abuse, family breakdowns and mental illness to name some — social service workers can be hard pressed to find solutions.
   Standing in the St. John’s fellowship hall where dozens of people gathered for a free, cafeteria-style lunch, Ms. Martine, 40, put on a smile each time someone walked past, greeting everyone with a motherly hug and a kiss or a pat on the arm.
   Three times a week, they gather at the church for meals prepared by church groups from throughout Somerset County.
   "They’re all great people. They’d bend over backwards for you, but it’s hard to help each other because of the way the system works," she said, her smile already disappearing. Ms. Martine has spent many nights sleeping on friends’ couches, but often they can barely make ends meet themselves.
   Until three months ago, Ms. Martine lived in an apartment in Manville. But struggling with drug and alcohol abuse and a seizure disorder, she lost her job at UPS and her apartment.
   Her boyfriend of three years, who lived with her, also lost his job.
   Sometimes having a job isn’t enough to keep a home in Somerset County.
   "The cost of rentals in the county is very high, and that is one of the main reasons people find themselves without shelter," Ms. McNorton said. "Even if they work, they can’t afford it."
   Even in a relatively wealthy community like Hillsborough, a few people a year find themselves homeless. There, Mr. O’Leary said the most frequent problem is women driven from their homes by divorce or domestic abuse who end up living out of their cars with their children.
   When a school teacher or someone else in the community finds out, Mr. O’Leary will receive a call asking for his help.
   They are often surprised at the situation, but, he said, "I can’t believe they think they are immune to this."
   In such cases, individuals are often able to pull their lives together within a month or two with a little outside help. Others will always need help from social services and organizations like SHIP. It takes an average of one to two years for the homeless in Somerset County to find permanent housing, according to local social service agencies.
   Deemed unable to work by social services, Ms. Martine said she must wait for her disability paperwork to be processed before she can apply for permanent housing.
   "I just went for my disability papers, and they told me it might take a few months, so I’m stuck," she said. Ms. Martine has been told to seek shelter at the YMCA in South Plainfield, but she is reluctant to go there.
   "I’m not going to South Plainfield because that will just set me up to do partying," she said.
   She says she drinks because she lost her two daughters. The girls, now 10 and 13, have lived with a wealthy family in Trenton since Ms. Martine lost her house five years ago. Their relationship now consists of occasional letters and photographs in the mail. Ms. Martine also has 24- and 21-year-old sons.
   She said she does not want to stay at a shelter for women and children, where she would encounter constant reminders of her daughters.
   She also wants to stay with her boyfriend.
   Mr. O’Leary sees shades of Ms. Martine’s story every day.
   "Many of the people who are coming to us, the system has failed them in many ways," Mr. O’Leary said. "To stay up with the system, you have to be able to walk the tread mill."
   That’s impossible for many battling alcohol and drug abuse, mental illness, spiritual illness "and all of the above sprinkled with a little HIV and all the rest of it," Mr. O’Leary said.
   And according to the Hunger and Homelessness survey, most of the homeless fall into those groups — the survey found the homeless population consists of 23 percent mentally ill individuals and 30 percent substance abusers.
   Providing affordable housing will help, but won’t completely solve the problem of homelessness, according to Ms. McNorton.
   "Our clients need to have access to health and substance abuse care," she said.
   Mr. O’Leary uses SHIP’s ministries to draw those who need help, but don’t want to ask.
   "It’s always been my philosophy, if you bring food to the needy, they’ll come for other services," Mr. O’Leary said. SHIP offers free HIV testing and counseling.
   Friday, they came for Christmas presents. Nearly everyone who came to St. John’s for lunch left with a huge black trash bag full of clothes, toiletries and other donated gifts.
   But Ms. Martine had another Christmas wish.
   "I’m looking forward to having a place to sleep and just getting my head back together," she said. "I’m not happy. I just want a place to live. They’ve got to do something. Look at us."