CREST HAVEN — Democratic Assembly candidate Carolyn Rush this week asked the county commissioners to clarify a comment made at a previous meeting, when Commissioner Bobby Barr said the homeless who deserved help would get it.
Rush’s request came after a report at that earlier meeting about homelessness, mainly presented by Commissioner Will Morey, who chairs an ad hoc committee working on the issue.
Morey presented a two-phase plan to improve services to homeless people, saying the first phase could be implemented immediately and it included extending general assistance payments and sheltering people in motels, if need be, along with case management. Some of those efforts would be coordinated with local nonprofit organizations that already work with the homeless.
“There was one comment that concerned me, and I’d like clarification on it if possible,” Rush said at the commissioners’ July 22 meeting. “Commissioner Barr mentioned that we are looking to help those who deserve it, so I’m just curious about what the criteria might be as far as who deserves help and who does not.”
She also asked if those criteria could be put in writing so people could understand them before anything is voted on or money is spent.
“It’s the words ‘people who deserve it’ that is the concern for me — how it’s determined, who deserves it when we’re talking about homeless,” Rush said.
Barr said the comment was a matter of “poor phraseology” on his part. He said people would have to meet some eligibility.
Rush, who is running for an Assembly seat in the 1st District, said she just wanted to be sure there were not some subjective criteria being imposed, such as people being excluded because someone feels they don’t deserve the help.
Morey said part of the process of improving services is to determine eligibility, and one reason the county is engaged in this process is that it sees gaps in assistance.
“There are actually folks that may not be eligible for certain services now, but we think it would be appropriate to join in with the nonprofits to try to help provide those services,” he said.
Morey said part of the process is building the program, which he thought would be “pretty easy,” saying it was a collaboration with the nonprofits. He said the second phase would be more difficult, making a longer-term commitment for housing, so putting together eligibility for Phase II would be important.
“So, it’s too early for me to say what it is, but ultimately it’s broad. It’s certainly not intended to be exclusionary; actually, just the opposite,” he said.
Morey said ultimately all of the information would be available to the public. He added that the initial figure of $300,000 as the cost of Phase I might have to be adjusted to $350,000.
“In that range,” he said.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
