If you are facing a housing emergency, contact the Department of Social Services at 607-274-5348 between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. or in person at 320 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Street.
Over the past month, housing assistance resources in Tompkins County have faced multiple financial and resource-related challenges. While the county is working on adapting to the immediate challenges of the shelter system, two key housing programs that help individuals transition out of homelessness — the Village and Sunflower House — are struggling to remain afloat.
On Oct. 2, Tompkins County’s only transitional housing program for unhoused youth — the Village House — learned that its funding will be discontinued effective Oct. 31. The closure of St. John’s Community Services, the only emergency shelter that is operational all year, was announced Oct. 18. On Oct. 29, the county said SJCS residents under the Temporary Housing Assistance through the Department of Social Services will be moved to motel rooms, the contracts for which are still being negotiated. The Sunflower House, a low-barrier housing program for formerly incarcerated men, was allocated $45,000 over three years in the proposed 2025 budget, though it annually costs over $150,000 to run.
In a press statement released Oct. 29, the county said it decided not to declare a state of emergency because it has identified additional temporary shelter and housing resources.
The Village House
The Village House lost the national funding it receives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and will not have enough funds to sustain itself beyond November.
The Village at Ithaca was established in 2002 and serves the youth and families of Tompkins County. The Village House is an offshoot program within the Village at Ithaca that was established in 2022 and serves unhoused youth ranging from ages 14–24.
In 2022, the Village House applied for and received a pilot two-year grant of about $1 million from HUD to operate the house, pay its staff and provide services for up to nine residents. Meryl Phipps, executive director of the nonprofit, said the Village received an email in February that said the Village House was able to renew its funding until September 2025. However, on Oct. 2, the Village received information from HUD that its funding would officially expire Oct. 31, 2024.
Phipps said that after a day’s notice, HUD did a site inspection of the Village House on Aug. 6 and 7, and it found nine areas of unsatisfactory compliance, including documentation of homeless eligibility and failure to submit a spreadsheet of its finances.
HUD told the Village to find transfer opportunities for its five remaining residents by Nov. 1. Phipps said the Village will also need to find a transitional housing program open to youth by that date to transfer any remaining HUD funding to, but that it cannot continue to be the Village.
Phipps said the Village has met with two alternative programs, Family and Children’s Service of Ithaca and The Learning Web. However, she said neither organization has an established transitional housing program and it would be impossible to create one with such short notice.
“[The Village House] can’t operate without funding,” Phipps said. “Even if the HUD funds go to another agency, they’re not going to run the same kind of transitional housing program that we run because the whole reason we opened the program the way we did was to meet a gap in services.”
Sunflower House
As a part of the 2025 budget development process, the Tompkins County Legislature asked all departments and funded nonprofits to submit budget proposals for 2025 with a 5% reduction. The county did so to stay within the parameters needed to keep the fund balanced, which means it will be prioritizing capital and one- or multi-year requests over target requests.
The Sunflower House is an affordable housing program under Opportunities, Alternatives, and Resources of Tompkins County. Dave Sanders, executive director of OAR, said that even though the Sunflower House will face the consequences of these cuts, receiving minimal funding will allow the program to survive without cutting it.
Sanders said he might have to let go of a part-time weekend outreach coordinator and has already cut the position of a peer navigator who helped residents navigate the court systems.
“It was tough,” Sanders said. “ Now I think we have a really good product. [For funding] to be cut — is it discouraging? Yes. … [But] I just said ‘OK, it’s not personal.’ They have budget issues, they have to make cuts. … We’ll make do and have to find alternative resources.”
Wraparound care services
Bethanie Keem-Calhoun, case manager at the Village, said the Village House provides wraparound resources. Wraparound services take a person-first approach and focus on the individualized, holistic development through career mentorship, mental health care and legal services that extend beyond just providing them with basic sustenance needs. Keem-Calhoun said the wraparound services provide a sense of stability.
“If it is something that has to do with your housing, your health, your future, well-being, you can count on us that we are giving you wraparound care, support, compassion and wraparound love,” Keem-Calhoun said.
Wraparound services are necessary for people like Nani King, 18-year-old former resident of the Village House. After finding permanent housing, she messaged Keem-Calhoun for help getting to a local food pantry. Keem-Calhoun shared this message with The Ithacan after obtaining King’s permission. Keem-Calhoun said services like the Village are always open to any young person in the community.
“Hi, Bethanie, I love you and I miss you,” King’s message said. “I was wondering if you were busy saving the city because you’re Batman, or if there’s any way you could come get me and take me to today’s food pantry.”
Sanders said the county generally lacks sufficient wraparound care services, which are important for helping individuals transition out of homelessness. This is not an issue unique to the county. While the number of people exiting from temporary to permanent housing increased in 2023, the number of people entering homelessness outnumbers exits from temporary to permanent housing.
Sanders said wraparound services are crucial for individuals who might be struggling with substance abuse and mental health.
“[If] you run a housing program for vulnerable people and you don’t have the wraparound services, it’s not fair to the individuals, it’s not fair to your neighbors, it’s not fair to all the people involved,” Sanders said.
Sanders said wraparound care can also serve as a preventive and intervention measure for substance abuse.
“You can see this in current housing programs that are in Ithaca,” Sanders said. “[If people] start soliciting [substances], you’re going to have a captive audience pretty soon. … That is really problematic, and that’s where the wraparound services come in and making sure things are going on.”
Next steps
The Tompkins County Continuum of Care system (CoC) facilitated research for a homelessness and housing needs assessment for the county, which was released in Spring 2022. The results showed that the county struggles with helping people transition out of homelessness into permanent housing and had a higher rate of homelessness per capita when compared to other CoCs in New York state.
Dominick Recckio ’16, communications director of Tompkins County administration, said via email that the county is planning to build a permanent emergency shelter. In July, the county issued a request for qualifications to begin assessing the development and building of the shelter.
The former Key Bank building, located at 300 N. Tioga St., will serve as the Code Blue shelter starting in early November. Code Blue is a mandated program that funds New York counties to provide shelter to people during cold months.
The Code Blue shelter at the former Key Bank building will offer services between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Outside of those hours, clients will have to access alternate communal locations for warmth, like the Human Services Building Lobby at 320 W. Martin Luther King Jr. St.
In August, the Ithaca Common Council formally created an encampment response coordinator position. City Manager Deb Mohlenoff ’92 said the position will be part-time, non-benefits eligible and is not a role that is dedicated to outreach within the unhoused population specifically.
“The city itself does not have any human service department,” Mohlenoff said. “Our niche need [for] this particular encampment situation [is] someone who has kind of [a] boots-on-the-ground ability to go to a location where a new encampment has been established and have a conversation with that person and get an understanding of why they’re in the situation.”
Mohlenoff said the coordinator will be in a text thread with representatives of local nonprofits the city partners with and will coordinate for further support if they find a new encampment. Mohlenoff said the city contacts three local nonprofits: OAR, REACH and Second Wind Cottages.
“It’s really grassroots,” Mohlenoff said. “Whoever can respond, responds. We start the communication.”
Mohlenoff said she also hopes to establish a working group at some point to reflect on the state of homelessness in Ithaca and send a list of recommendations to the Common Council.
“The city is in an incredibly tough spot,” Mohlenoff said. “We don’t have human service agencies that provide services that people need. But a lot of the people are looking at the city, like, ‘Hey city, why aren’t you solving the problem?’ We don’t have the right tools in our toolbox. … We still have a lot of work to do, but I am trying to publicly demonstrate that the city is committed to putting significant resources into the issues.”
Tompkins County Administrator Lisa Holmes said via the Oct. 29 press release that county staff are trying their best to adapt to the situation.
“We are meeting daily to mobilize the resources we have available and delegate tasks and responsibilities to County staff working on both shelters while continuing our regular duties,” Holmes wrote. “We are committed to providing regular updates as the situation changes. There has also been an outpouring of community support to further assist people in need. As we develop a better understanding of everything that is needed from the community, we will communicate that to partners and the public more broadly.”
