Submitted by C., Nov 30, 2006 00:19

This is obviously a much contested argument. I have not only lived in the town bordering Camp LaGuardia nearly all my life, but have served at the Camp for two years first as a volunteer and second as a full time Case Manager. I see the issue from several sides. In my time at the Camp I loved working with the clients, especially the elderly, undocumented and mentally ill. It was the administration which made the Camp the terrible warehouse that it was.

Our caseloads were as high as 45 at times and we were pressured on a daily basis to place men into "three-quarter homes" which is a nice way of saying a house full of bunking men, many on drugs or methadone and a complete lack of case management. Neither the NYC Department of Homelessness nor Volunteers of America cared about the fate of the men who were literally pushed into accepting this type of "housing." They would regularly place the mentally ill, the elderly, even veterans and retired men on petty pensions into such places. I spoke to sources who even offered pay-offs for such placements. NYC property owners would rent out bunks in over crowded three-quarter homes – collecting $215.00 in welfare rent payments (a.k.a. our tax dollars) and provide some of this money to the individuals (administration and corrupt case managers) who ensured on a monthly basis that beds would be filled.

As a Case Manager I often refused to place gentlemen into three-quarter homes. I refused a lot of things in my time at the Camp. The case managers were constantly made to fear for the loss of their jobs. The men were simply numbers - warehouse products, each carrying an "HA" number. The Volunteers of America Camp LaGuardia administration and the City of New York will tell you that programs existed to help the men - but it is simply not true. One psychiatrist for 1000 men, one substance abuse counselor, three housing specialists and less than thirty overworked and underpaid case managers.

In the end, the victim will always be the homeless client. Yes, men have walked the roads of Chester and some say they are "wandering." But "not all those who wander are lost." There have been offenses made toward the community on the part of Camp residents - but in no way do such offenses account for all the truly good men who passed through the gates of Camp LaGuardia in an effort to find a home.

I can and will proudly account for this. My time at Camp LaGuardia was an education in itself and I have only the clients to thank. The mayor's "five year plan" is made possible only through the selfless efforts of underappreciated case managers. The Camp began as an out-of-sight, out-of-mind tactic. Its leaving Chester is in the end only fair for the clients who were moved so far away from their city.

So, who is at loss here? More than the county which will loose thousands in tax dollars, more than the 240 plus Camp employees who face a loss of employment and no promise for future work... are (let's say it together) the 600 plus homeless men currently living at the shelter. The result will surely be that many clients will inevitably "fall through the cracks" in their transition to city shelters. As always paperwork will be lost and supportive relationships with trusted case managers cut off. But I am sure the men will do as so many of those have done before them (many of whom I had the pleasure of helping) - they will survive.

In working with the homeless you learn some of life's greatest lessons, one being this:
Even if you have dealt with the loss of your job, your possessions, your health, your family ties and your home... there is always something greater left to lose, something like dignity and the will to persist. I can only hope that the dignity of the City of New York which does so little to end homelessness and so much more to blanket it… and that the dignity of the town of Chester which showed so little empathy for its temporary homeless population… may one day be as strong as the dignity of so many nameless men who passed through those rusty but familiar barbed wire fences of Camp LaGuardia.

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