Last fall, Dukes County added a newly created part-time position for a housing counselor funded through the Housing Assistance Corporation (HAC) in Hyannis to work with homeless or imminently homeless individuals on the Island.
Housing counselor Karen Tewhey, a seasonal Oak Bluffs property owner since 2003, moved to the Vineyard full time last October. Throughout the winter she worked with the Island Clergy Association (ICA), which began a homeless shelter program it dubbed Hospitality Homes, run out of two Edgartown churches.
Ms. Tewhey has a direct line to a team of specialists on the Cape who are well-versed in family support, shelter programs, assistance for those being evicted, and other resources much needed on the Island. State Rep. Timothy Madden led the initiative in the legislature to fund the position for one year.
Ms. Tewhey’s office is located in the offices of the Dukes County Regional Housing Authority on State Road in Vineyard Haven, which administers and manages a number of Island housing programs. DCHA executive director David Vigneault said he’s grateful for the help in addressing the Island’s housing challenges.
“We don’t have state vouchers, and we don’t administer Section 8,” Mr. Vigneault said. “Now we have a person on the Island who actually works for an agency that administers both.”
Housing Assistance Corporation has been around for 40 years, offering a continuum of housing services for low-income and homeless individuals and families. The nonprofit develops affordable housing for seniors, families, and individuals; provides emergency shelter and homelessness-prevention assistance for individuals and families; administers the largest housing-subsidy program in the Cape region; and offers family self-sufficiency and employment services.
Ms. Tewhey has spent the past few months familiarizing herself with other agencies on the Vineyard, such as Martha’s Vineyard Community Services and the Health Care Access program, and she made herself available to the homeless she met through Hospitality Homes, the clergy-run shelter program this past winter.
“Since January, 41 people have self-identified as homeless, and I’ve spoken to 30 to 35 of them, either through Hospitality Homes or this office,” Mrs. Tewhey told The Times in a recent interview. “That includes those in the process of getting evicted and becoming homeless through eviction.”
She said around 20 percent are women, and ages range from people in their 20s to their 60s. Mrs. Tewhey describes this group as people who, if they had families or friends who would let them stay with them, would not be homeless. She said approximately 75 percent of those she’s encountered either had a prior alcohol or drug problem, or are currently struggling with addiction.
Mrs. Tewhey previously worked for the Department of Education and the Department of Early Education and Care. “I’ve run alternative schools, primarily focusing on children with disabilities, low-income, ESL, children from homeless families,” she said. Part of her experience included providing supports for families living in motels in Brockton, where she said some 500 families from around the state were housed.
Many of the people she has encountered have a long history of trauma, she said. “Substance abuse, mental health problems because of abuse and neglect, physical disabilities and health disabilities, there are sometimes a multitude of challenges they’re trying to address,” Mrs. Tewhey said. It’s their resilience and optimism that she finds inspiring.
“If I were in that situation, I’d feel overwhelmed,” she explained. “I’m meeting individuals who speak to me who still have hope, who think they will get a home, and they understand that it will be transformative for them.”
She said more than half of the homeless she has met on the Island have some type of employment. What they are looking forward to is “a place to get out of the rain, to have an address, a place where they can rest.”
“I’ve talked to people with deep roots here,” she said. “They’ve been chefs, worked in retail; they’re artists, musicians, landscapers, construction workers.” She’s also met some who have become acclimated to their homelessness, and she’s connected with them so that they are aware of her position.
Mrs. Tewhey can help people navigate the paperwork for state services, especially those with not enough income to qualify for affordable housing. “My job is to hustle after every voucher opportunity so they can get into an apartment. All of these individuals will need rental assistance in order to compete for the little affordable housing there is on the Island.”
She also expressed frustration at some of the eligibility requirements for housing assistance.
“I know of one gentleman who had a drug problem but had been sober and clean for five years and was on Suboxone,” she said. “But there was no program in housing for him to enter because he was on a maintenance drug.”
Mrs. Tewhey said she feels there are good services in place on the Island, and they all work together collaboratively. She said there are two questions regarding the homeless issue for the Island community: What needs to be done to supplement the winter shelter in order to ensure that citizens of Martha’s Vineyard are housed throughout the day and night during winter, and what is the continuum of services missing for those with drug or alcohol addiction — what services are either not adequate or not available?
She also sees the homeless issue as part of the affordable housing crisis on the Island.
“I have two individuals with Section 8 vouchers; they have a monthly guarantee of $1,100 for a studio or one-bedroom apartment, but they have nowhere to use it,” she said.
County manager Martina Thornton said she is pleased to have a housing counselor in place, and she thinks Mrs. Tewhey is doing “an excellent job working with the clergy and connecting with other services.”
“If everybody takes a piece of the responsibility, we can put the puzzle together,” Ms. Thornton said.
For information about Housing Assistance Corporation, contact Karen Tewhey at 508-367-0005.