Budget Could Hit Local Homeless Program Hard

Editor's note: this article first appeared in the latest issue of the Tremont Tribune, which is on the streets and online now.

Park Avenue Thorpe, a supportive housing building home to 20 formerly homeless families, could be shuttered this year by funding cuts. (Photos by Jeanmarie Evelly)

Digna, a 42-year-old formerly homeless woman and mother of two, has called Park Avenue Thorpe home for the last 11 years. She found refuge in the six-story yellow brick building in Bathgate, where an onsite caseworker helps her balance her bank account, pay her bills and talk to the teachers at her two sons’ schools, as Digna’s English is somewhat shaky.

The building, on East 184th Street, is run by Thorpe Family Residence, a nonprofit that provides supportive housing and services to chronically homeless families in an effort to keep them out of the city’s sprawling shelter system.

But severe funding cuts, proposed to balance the state’s ballooning budget, have put Thorpe and dozens of other programs like it at risk of closure.

“These cuts may be the beginning of the end for us,” said Executive Director Sister Mary Jane Deodati, who oversees the 20 families that call the building home.

Many of Thorpe’s residents are single mothers who have battled addiction, have physical or emotional disabilities or who have been victims of domestic violence. A caseworker helps each tenant with personal finances, with finding jobs and other day-to-day tasks.

“Many of our people are fragile and need constant support,” Deodati said. “If this program is cut, they’re going to be homeless again.”