Community members and activists demanded an increase in affordable housing and resources for families facing homelessness at a rally last week, held in front of the Broome County Department of Social Services office. They set up tents and chairs outside the county building, chanted, held signs, and handed out food and clothing to people in need.
Jasmine Stradford organized the event. She said she and her family struggled to find housing this year, and spent time in six different temporary housing hotels in the past four months. The county contracts with local hotels to provide housing for clients of social services.
“My family went through hell for the past four to five months,” Stradford said. “And I feel that now that I’m secure, I just can’t sleep at night knowing that families are dealing with what I dealt with.”
Stradford said the longest period of time her family spent at a hotel was 25 days. She said hotel management frequently forced them to move to another hotel. She said often, hotel rooms did not have microwaves or refrigerators, which made it difficult to cook a hot meal. The instability of living in a motel, she said, affected her and her family emotionally.
Stradford said the group chose to gather outside of the social services office because she feels the county, and the department, are not doing enough to help people experiencing homelessness.
“I remember applying to DSS five years ago, it was a streamlined process,” said Stratford, noting that she felt respected by caseworkers at the time. “But they have now [treated] us like animals, like we’re animals compared to them. When we come in, they think of us as another problem.”
Sana Wakefield delivers boxes of food to people living in motel rooms paid for by the county. She also organizes free community events for local families dealing with housing insecurity.
Wakefield said above all, residents need stable, affordable housing in the area.
“Anything less than that is not actually a solution. Band-Aids are not a solution, even what I do is not a solution, ” Wakefield said. “These are all just little things put in place that just prolong the inevitable of what we really need, which is housing, I feel like that’s the only answer.”
A recent study commissioned by Broome County found that 47% of renter households in the county spend over half of their income on housing. More than 14,000 workers do not make enough money at their job to afford medium rents in the county.
WSKG reached out to the county's Department of Social Services for comment. We will publish an update when we hear back.