Bad economy means more clients at Schenectady’s Bethesda House

It’s a measure of success that Margaret Anderton never wanted — her new building for the homeless is now helping more than twice as many people as she saw at her downtown site.

“The success would be if we could close,” she said, 10 months after opening a $5 million building on central State Street.

She knew the economy would force more people onto the streets, but she never anticipated this much need.

“The day programs are overwhelmed,” Anderton said.

The biggest unexpected need is in the suddenly unemployed who have run through their savings and are facing eviction as they search for a new job.

She applied last year for a federal grant for homeless prevention that would give her money to pay rent and utilities, giving the unemployed a chance to get back on their feet without being kicked out of their homes. The money is only spent on those who seem likely to recover quickly — those who have the skills and work history that would ease their way into another job.

In her application, she wrote that she expected to stabilize 72 households over two years.

One year into the program, her agency has helped 145 households. Another 150 households were screened but rejected, creating more work as her staffers tried to find other help for them.

The indigent are also coming to her food pantry in record numbers. Usage is up 23 percent, she said. The daily meal offered at the site now draws 170 people or more.

When Bethesda House was downtown, about 100 people came to the meals.

“I’m not sure it’s necessarily connected to the move. I think it’s the economy. Homeless prevention is 80 percent city residents, but the rest are from the county, and we’re not talking people barely outside the city lines. We’re talking Delanson, Duanesburg, Glenville,” Anderton said. “But the food pantry and the clothing room — that’s the neighborhood. We’re their closest food pantry.”

On days when the food pantry or the clothing room is open, 250 people come to Bethesda House. On other days, the agency averages 200 visitors.

“Downtown, we would hit 200 at times, but it wasn’t a consistent thing,” Anderton said.

Bethesda House moved to the juncture of Hamilton Hill and Vale, two of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, in January under pressure from the City Council.

Some business owners downtown had complained about Anderton’s plans to expand her agency downtown, saying that Bethesda House drew the homeless and indigent to the commercial area, scaring away customers.

Anderton received some funding from the city, through a federal grant, to help her move. The council also cut her funding the year before, which was widely seen as an attempt to encourage her to move.

Bethesda House was able to raise most of the money for the new building through donations and grants — it has only a $300,000 mortgage, which Anderton said works out to a small monthly payment.

But the influx of indigent and nearly-homeless residents is stretching her budget to the breaking point.

She’s already operating at a deficit, she said. She’s managed to stretch the homeless prevention grant by helping each family for short periods of time — three to six months — rather than the 12-to-18-month period she had envisioned.

She had wanted to continue helping each family long after the adults got jobs, so they could replenish their savings.

Without that help, she fears they will fall back into crisis with the first major car repair or medical emergency.

“We projected on the safe side, longer-term assistance,” Anderton said.

To reduce the cost of screening the applicants, other staffers at Bethesda House are helping to interview and input data, staying late to get the job done.

She has little hope of getting more money for the program or additional funds for the day programs.

United Way — which supports the agency through a grant — cut its funding last year because of reduced fundraising, Anderton said.

“And they’re 20 percent behind in their fundraising this year,” she said, explaining that she expects another cut in her grant.

The state grants that she receives were also reduced.

She still gets regular donations, but only small ones.

“The $50 to $100 donations, that’s steady,” she said. “The large donors — they’re gone. They’re the ones that were hit hard in the market.”

She’s put out the call; she needs donations, but she’ll take volunteers too.

“We have enormous numbers of people coming in and not enough staff,” she said. “We need volunteers.”

Categories: Schenectady County