BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — There was a one-stop shop to give those who are homeless access to resources and services like employment, mental health, and housing services.
Event organizers told me roughly 500 people were served Tuesday, at the Buffalo Convention Center, for the 15th annual Project Homeless Connect.
According to the Homeless Alliance of Western New York, as of late August 2024, 857 people in Erie County were homeless and 659 of them were from the City of Buffalo.
I passed the mic to a man who has been struggling with homelessness and advocates working to improve the issue.
"It takes so much to sleep outside and everything. Every time we find a place where people feel safe at, we get told we got to move," Mike shared.
Mike has been homeless for the past year.
"Like last night, I was underneath the bridge with just what I got on because everybody stole my stuff and all that,” he added.
The last time he had a home was when he was living in West Seneca.
"The place I was at, the owner sold the property and the new owners didn't want to keep it as a rental,” Mike explained. "I am 61 years old. Where do you want me to go?"
Fortunately, on Tuesday, he learned he received a referral to Cazenovia Recovery, also known as CAZ, for housing, which he never thought he would hear.
"I've been waiting for over a year. She goes, 'You're third on the list.' Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, I'm in a house. Everything will be so good for me,” Mike said.
His story resembles many others who walked through the Convention Center.
While there are several factors as to why people are homeless, Continuum of Care (CoC) Director Ashley Matrassi said it is important to remember people are not homeless by choice.
"It's because of a lack of affordable housing in our community,” Ashley Matrassi said. “How many people are rent-burdened in our community? How many people who are actively working, still cannot afford to live?"
The fight to end homelessness is not an over night project and has its challenges.
In June, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on the Grants Pass v. Johnson Case, which places restrictions on unhoused people and where they can sleep.
The high court ruled enforcing ordinances related to unhoused people is not a “cruel and unusual criminalization of homelessness"
"Criminalize homeless or those that have nowhere else to go that are sleeping in parks or in public settings. So, that ruling has come down,” Matrassi said.
Locally, she said collaboration among city leaders and organizations is happening.
As for Mike, it is safe to say he can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
He said he was a Buffalo firefighter for 31 years and his pension will kick in on his 62nd birthday, which is in November.
“I just want a studio place, so I'm able to cook my own meals and all that, and lay my head down, know I'm safe and nothing is going to be taken anymore,” Mike said.
