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From YouTube: Councilwoman Blackwell Holds Press Conference on Homelessness Prevention Efforts 3-13-2017
Description
Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell (3rd District) held a press conference on Monday, March 13, 2017 bringing together organizations and advocates who work to reduce homelessness in the City of Philadelphia.
The press conference took place before a hearing of Council's Committee on Housing, Neighborhood Development and the Homeless on creating more robust homelessness prevention programs.
View that hearing here: https://youtu.be/8MwnKoh7L-Q
A
Good
morning
my
name
is
Kathy
Desmond
and
I'm.
The
president
of
the
people's
emergency
center
I'd,
like
to
start
by
thanking
everyone
for
coming
today
to
the
hearing
and
a
special
thank
you
to
counsel
them
and
Jamie
Blackwell
for
hosting
or
the
resolution,
and
the
hearing
today
gives
us
an
opportunity
to
talk
about
the
crisis
and
affordable
housing
and
some
of
the
solutions
family
that
homelessness
preservation
dollars
could
afford.
B
So
when
Kathy
agreed
sis
here
to
talk
about
the
dishing
and
people's
emergency
shelter
is
the
oldest
shelter
in
the
state,
so
PE
see,
people's
emergency
center
has
been
around
and
been
invaluable
in
my
aryan
citywide
and
we're
here,
because
at
this
particular
time
as
we
begin
the
budget
deliberations,
we
want
to
put
a
focus
on
saving
people
by
prevention.
We
want
to
put
a
focus
on
how
many
millions
of
dollars
we
can
save.
B
If
we
deal
with
preventive
money,
they
do
it
in
a
few
other
places
like
New
York,
our
own
based
program,
and
we
are
interested
in
discussing
that
and
other
issues
and
putting
on
the
record
with
people
who
deal
with
this
issue
do
how
we
can
do
it
and
what
we
can
do
to
be
better
and
Philadelphia
a
thanks.
Let
me
call
on
some
of
my
colleagues.
If
that's
okay,
he'll
again.
C
Thank
you
so
much
Councilwoman
block.
Well,
there's
no
question
that
the
issue
of
homelessness
and
homeless
prevention
has
been
one
that
the
city
needs
to
deal
with
for
myself
in
particular,
I'm
very
grateful
to
the
advocates
who
have
come
out.
You've
been
advocating
for
this
for
time
to
remind
us
that
shelters
and
emergency
housing
are
not
the
only
approaches
to
homelessness
that
we
really
need
to
take
a
look
at
the
prevention
issues
and
some
of
the
things
that
lead
up
to
this
situation.
C
I'm
especially
grateful
to
a
number
of
advocates
who
are
out
there
addressing
women
and
children,
because
we
know
that
homelessness
so
deeply
impacts
them
and
that
the
the
consequences
of
it
are
dramatic
in
terms
of
schooling
in
terms
of
poverty,
issues
in
terms
of
destabilization,
mental
health
of
young
people
and
in
particular,
because
so
many
women
who
end
up
in
this
situation
often
do
so
because
of
domestic
violence
because
of
trauma
in
the
home.
So
I'm
incredibly
grateful
to
the
advocates
you've
been
tireless
in
their
advocacy
to
help
raise
attention
to
this
critical
issue.
D
Thank
you
and
good
morning
and
I
want
to
especially
thank
everybody
for
being
here
today.
I
want
to
thank
councilman
Blackwell
for
introducing
this
resolution.
That's
a
subject
of
today's
hearing,
which
will
examine
the
benefits
of
having
a
more
robust
homeless
prevention
program
in
our
city
increase.
Our
prevention
efforts
is
a
vital
step
towards
our
ultimate
goal
of
eliminating
homelessness
in
the
city
of
Philadelphia.
By
the
way,
my
grandmother,
you
taught
me
that
an
ounce
of
prevention
is
worth
a
pound
of
cure
and
that's
in
this
topic
also
of
homelessness.
D
E
Think
the
timing
of
this
is
it's
just
so
appropriate
having
this
hearing
today,
the
public
conversation
is
critical
as
we
approach
our
budget
hearing
and
want
to
let
everybody
know
that
we
on
City
Council,
we
as
chairpersons
of
these
committees,
care
a
lot
about
the
citizens
of
Philadelphia
and
can
ensure
you
that
the
priorities
that
will
be
discussed
here
today
will
also
be
discussed
during
the
budget
during
the
budget
hearings
in
and
that's
what
we're
about.
You
know
we're
about
taking
care
of
people,
and
nobody
knows
it
worse
than
Janie.
E
Blackwell
who's
been
taking
care
of
people
who
are
entire
career
or
entire
life
with
every
ounce
of
passion,
and
will
that
she
has
moving
in
needle.
So
I
want
to
thank
her
for
getting
us
to
this
point
in
the
city
of
Philadelphia,
as
we
move
forward
to
continue
to
move
the
needle
and
making
this
a
priority
prevention
and
the
rate
of
return.
E
I,
don't
know
how
you
can
quantify
a
return
on
the
investment
with
people's
lives
and
futures,
but
we
sure
he'll,
we'll
give
it
a
chat
and
we're
going
to
we're
going
to
move
the
needle
we're
going
to
make
a
difference
in
people's
lives
and
we're
going
to
do
it.
Smartly
we're
going
to
do
with
these
hearings
as
we
approach
a
budget
hearing.
So
thank
you
all
for
being
here.
I.
F
Just
would
like
to
thank
Councilwoman
black
well
as
author
of
the
resolution
also
councilman
Thomas,
chair
of
the
committee
and
my
colleagues
that
are
all
here,
because,
with
information
that
will
obtain
from
this
hearing,
we
will
all
we
will
be
better
able
to
come
up
with
solutions
that
really
can
work,
and
this
without
question
is
a
major
problem
in
urban
life
today,
and
we
need
to
do
something
about
it.
So,
thank
you
all
and
thank
you
for
all
being
here.
Thank
you.
G
Hi,
my
name
is
Daniel
Farrell
senior
vice
president,
that
help,
you
would
say,
we're
a
national
nonprofit
of
homeless
and
housing
providers
and
homeless
prevention
providers.
I
want
to
thank
Councilwoman,
Blackwell
and
Councilwoman
Jim
councilman
Dom
for
sponsoring
today's
he
ring
and
just
want
to
talk
briefly
about
homeless
prevention
in
general.
You
know
in
a
civil
society
we
work
to
prevent
negative
outcomes
both
for
the
individual
and
the
group.
We
work
to
prevent
smoking
among
young
adults.
We
work
prevent
drunk
driving.
G
We
work
to
prevent
diabetes,
obesity,
all
sorts
of
problems
that
that
a
civil
society
looks
to
address.
We
work
to
prevent
them,
but
yet
nationally
we
do
very
little
on
national
scale
for
homeless
prevention.
So
I
want
to
talk
just
briefly
about
our
success
in
doing
almost
reventon,
both
in
New
York,
City
and
Las
Vegas
in
New
York.
G
We
run
homeless
prevention
programs
in
the
Bronx,
a
number
of
them
in
which
we
serve
close
to
5,000
unduplicated
families
in
single
adults
in
a
year
and
ninety-nine
percent
of
those
folks
a
year
out
do
not
enter
shelter.
That's
ninety
nine
percent!
Now
you
say
that
99%
is
nice,
but
the
baseline
is.
We
understand
that
it
should
be
ninety
percent,
so
we
are
well
above
the
threshold
and
the
benchmark
for
success.
Homeless
prevention
can
work,
it
does
work.
It's
been
replicated
in.
G
H
Hi
I'm
Rachel,
Falcone
and
I'm
here
with
the
family
service
provider
network.
My
agency
is
the
Philadelphia
interfaith
hospitality
network
and
we
are
coalition
of
congregations
and
community
organizations
working
together
to
prevent
and
to
help
families
experiencing
homelessness
in
our
neighborhood
communities.
We
work
very
closely
with
all
of
the
council
people
here
today
and
I
thank
them
for
having
us
here
and
for
drawing
attention
to
this
important
issue.
H
H
What
happens
to
the
people
when
they
get
out
the
family
service
providers
network
wants
us
to
be
able
to
increase
resources
and
services
for
homeless
prevention
at
the
front
end,
and
we
think
we
have
some
creative
ways
of
doing
that
with
the
Housing
Trust
Fund
as
a
possible
funding
source
of
part
of
that,
we
also
want
to
increase
crees,
affordable
housing
options
at
the
back
end.
You
know
we
have
to
both
build
the
homes
and
then
we
also
have
to
prevent
people
from
coming
into
the
system.
Right
now
we
have
a
logjam
system.
H
People
can't
get
in
because
people
can't
get
out,
so
the
solution
is
in
affordable
housing
and
in
helping
people
afford
the
housing
that
they
currently
have.
We
also
want
to
fortify
the
existing
shelter
and
transitional
housing
system.
The
system's
been
flat
funded
for
the
past
eight
years,
and
the
providers
here
today
have
been
doing
more
with
less
for
a
very
long
time.
That's
resulted
in
cuts
and
services
and
cuts
and
effectiveness
and
with
longer
length
of
stay.
So
this
is
something
else
that
we're
at
King
City
Council
to
consider
in
the
upcoming
budget.
H
Finally,
we
want
to
creative.
We
want
to
partner
creatively
with
business,
safe
communities
and
community
organizations.
It
really
does
take
a
village,
it's
more
than
just
government
funding.
That's
going
to
get
this
job
done.
We
have
some
advocates
from
the
air
participating
congregations
here
who
are
doing
tremendous
amount.
We
have
one
organization
here:
the
st.
Vincent
de
Paul
Society,
part
of
the
catholic
church
that
has
been
actually
preventing
homelessness
quietly
for
the
past.
H
I
don't
know
how
many
years,
but
it's
225
families
a
year,
225
families
a
month
who
they
are
helping
to
prevent
homelessness
with
small
targeted
grants.
So
again,
I
thank
all
of
the
advocates
for
being
here
and
all
of
the
community
folks
who
came
out
to
support
this
effort.
I
also
have
750
drawings
from
which
is
what
we
expect
750
drawings
of
houses,
and
this
is
actually
the
number
of
households
that
we
expect
to
be
helped
with
three
million
dollars
of
housing,
trust
fund
money
dedicated
to
prevention.
Thank
you.
H
I'm
so
sorry,
I
forgot
the
most
important
part
and
our
families
come
forward,
I'd
like
to
introduce
Nancy
house
and
audrey
house,
and
also
aundrea
jordan,
who
are
here
today
to
speak
about
their
experiences
both
facing
homelessness
and
also
in
the
system
and
now
some
creative
solutions
that
we've
done
with
master
lease
housing
for
them,
which
got
them
out
of
shelter
a
lot
faster.
So
we're
looking
forward
to
sharing
their
stories
with
you.
I
I
Was
at
interface
for
a
while,
because
I
did
my
taxes
and
all
with
them
and
my
daughter
was
involved
in
a
lot
of
programs.
Rachel
came
to
me
because
she
realized
there
was
a
problem.
So
I
had
told
her
my
situation
and
she
goes
okay,
let's
sit
down
and
we'll
figure
out
how
your
budget
spending
is.
She
found
that
I
wasn't
making
enough.
So
she,
since
my
aunt,
was
kicking
me
out
the
other
on
racial
brought
me
into
the
shelter.
I
stayed
there
for
about
six
months.
I
With
my
daughter,
Aubree,
my
oldest,
had
already
moved
off
and
was
married.
We
can
live
our
first
child,
so
we
stayed
at
different
churches
congregations
for
about
six
months.
Rachel
introduced
me
to
a
new
program.
She
started.
It's
called
master
lease.
What
happens
is
the
first
year
interface
would
subsidize
the
rent
to
an
apartment.
She
showed
me
an
apartment
brand,
new
apartment
loved,
it
so
I
said:
okay,
I'll
try
it
Audrey
was
happy.
She
was
excited.
I
We
got
in
everything
went
well
the
first
year
interfaith
paid
like
half
the
rent
I
paid
the
rest.
I
was
able
to
do
that
even
with
the
24
hours
the
second
year
came,
I
was
able
to
pay
on
my
own
I
used
my
income
tax
check
that
I
got
back,
which
was
about
five
thousand
dollars.
Rachel
and
keone
told
me
to
put
it
towards
my
rent
as
the
subsidy
I
did,
and
because
of
that.
I
Eitc
chapter
sorry
after
I
did
that
I
was
able
to
pay
about
three
hundred
dollars
a
month
for
my
rent.
It
made
it
so
much
easier
because
I'm
able
to
pay
my
my
bills,
my
car
pay
my
car
insurance
and
I'm
in
school,
which
I'll
be
graduating.
Hopefully
this
month,
gay
so
I
think
in
her
face
more
than
anything.
If
it
wasn't
for
them
and
the
way
they
helped
me
do
my
rent
I
wouldn't
have
a
place
to
stay.
So
thank
you.
F
Well
me
and
my
mom
were
in
the
old
apartment
she
was
struggling
and
I
was
doing
really
bad
in
school
and
when
my
mom
told
me
we
were
moving
out,
I
didn't
want
to
leave.
I
was
like
married
to
that
apartment.
Since
I
was
like
two
and
my
mom
showed
me.
The
apartment
I
was
excited,
but
I
still
didn't
want
to
leave
the
other
apartment.
So
I
just
really
happy
that
I
have
a
place
to
stay
and
if
it
wasn't
for
miss
rachel,
I
wouldn't
have
a
place
to
call
my
home.
Thank
you
and
she's.