WPCNR County Clarion-Ledger. By John F. Bailey. December 17, 2004: WPCNR News has learned Westchester County will announce today  whether Samaritan House, the women’s homeless shelter at Grace Church on Church Street will remain open or close by the New Year.

County Legislator William Ryan told WPCNR Thursday afternoon that Nancy Travers, Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Social Services, had assured him closing was not an option as previously reported by other publications, that the rent was the last remaining issue.

Rent the Last Hurdle.

Ryan made it clear to WPCNR it was his understanding the Samaritan House homeless shelter situation had been resolved between the two parties with the goal to stay open, and only the final rent was left to discuss.

He said that staying open, meant Samaritan House would stay open without any interruption in service as the goal, and the attempt would be made that residents would not be sheltered elsewhere while other arrangements to keep Samaritan House open were worked out.

The county and Grace Community Services have kept the residents of Samaritan House “in the dark” for a week, not advising them or the management staff supervising the residents whether they will still have a home or a job as of the first of the year. A source who works for Grace Community Church in a management capacity, interviewed by WPCNR said they were operating with two mandates: 1.) To close the shelter, and 2.) To keep it open.

The source employed by the Grace Community Services operation, said the organization had just begun an effort to contact and hire the “5 or 6 persons” back they needed to keep Samaritan House open, (as of Wednesday), and that the day-to-day operations staff were very stressed over the ambiguity of their fate. Samaritan House has been operating by shifting personnel back and forth between the men’s shelter, Open Arms, and Samaritan House, they said

Gifts from the Santa Spano and the 17 Legislators in Spano’s Workshop.

Coal for Samaritan?

The County Legislature started awarding early holiday gifts of its $9 Million surplus this week.

One of them was an additional $750,000 in funding for the arts and county service agencies, including  My Sister’s Place, the county-contracted service for battered women, long supported by Amy Paulin, the State Assemblywoman  for the 88^th District.

Three Weeks to debate less than half the Arts and Social Services Windfall.

On the other hand, the county has spent three weeks deliberating how to deal with a requested increase less than half the “gift” announced Monday to the arts and other social service agencies.

 The month-long hissy fit between the D.S.S. and Samaritan House, which according to Ryan, Samaritan House overreacted defensively to D.S.S. budget questioning, has been causing residents to fret and go through anxiety over having to leave to go to other shelters. This has been confirmed by WPCNR by speaking to our insider employee sources at Samaritan.

The Samaritan House budget increase request was for less than half that amount that the County showered as a bonus to the arts and social service agencies. A sum settling in the $225,000 range was the Samaritan House figure that stirred the Department of Social Services scrutiny.

Tolchin Not Talkin’

It should be noted that WPCNR has repeatedly asked Susan Tolchin, Chief Advisor to County Executive Andy Spano, and Director of Communications to have Kevin Mahon or Ms. Travers of the D.S.S. explain to WPCNR, whether it was a management problem at Samaritan House, an accounting problem, or a staffing problem that caused them to balk at the figure.

WPCNR  asked  Ms. Tolchin, for the Department of Social Services could explain how many staff persons were required by law to operate a homeless shelter for 19 persons on each 8-hour shift, since Samaritan House dismissed six employees in mid-November and has been operating with 1 to 2 employees on every 8-hour shift.  

How many do you need on shift anyway?

The D.S.S. has yet to contact WPCNR, even though Ms. Tolchin has been asked to prod them to do so.  The source WPCNR has who is familiar with personnel matters there could not explain to WPCNR how many staff they had to have per shift. The reason this question is key is that if Samaritan House was billing the D.S.S. for 9 persons and only paying for say, six, or five when occupancy of the home dipped, that might be a cause for concern. On the other hand if for the last month it is o.k. to operate with 3 persons supervising,  then why did Samaritan House need 9 in the first place.

Samaritan House the Final Hours or a Christmas Miracle.

The WPCNR source at Samaritan House, speaking on condition of anonymity, reported that Samaritan House management (Grace Community Services) had had a meeting with Larry Schwartz, Deputy County Executive, and Kevin Mahon, Commissioner of the Department of Social Services last Wednesday where a cut budget (according to County Legislator Ryan) was submitted.

The Samaritan House source said the D.S.S. asked some questions about it, and Grace sent back answers to those questions on Friday, and were queried some more. The source said the second round of answers were submitted to the Department of Social Services Monday, and as of  late Wednesday evening Grace Community Services had not heard back.

Ryan: Closing Not an Option. Rent’s the Hurdle.

Today after Ms. Travers was quoted in The Journal News as still considering the “close option,” we asked Legislator Ryan why there had been no response on the part of the D.S.S. since Monday.

Ryan who has been closely monitoring the association told WPCNR Thursday afternoon by phone that “all differences have been resolved except one. They are now negotiating on the rent issue.”

According to published reports, Grace Community Services was charging Samaritan House in its building a $70,000 increase in rent, (paying rent to itself). Sources attempting to explain the situation to WPCNR said that the church was trying to cover its deficits in running the program.

Ryan told WPCNR he was expecting an agreement to be arranged.

A call to the Department of Communications at 6 P.M. yielded no information as to when any announcement was to come.

Nevertheless, the question remains, will County Executive Spano have one more check left in his bag? Or is this just fool’s gold?