Syracuse’s housing market a hindrance against opioid recovery
By Bobby Manning
Cassie France stood outside of Crouse’s drug rehab center with a cigarette in hand, waiting for her taxi. Butts lined the sidewalk and grass nearby, piling up from daily visits for group meetings and counseling now routine to cities embroiled in the opioid crisis.
France started using heroin four years ago. Then a friend who she met through her drug use, already recovered from his addiction, offered her housing. France and several other people pursuing recovery called a stable housing environment crucial. According to people who assist them, lack of income and addiction stigma limit their access to stable housing.
“He was clean about eight months when I decided to get myself clean,” France said of her friend. “And saw how much he was improving by coming here. I wanted my life back and I saw he was getting his life back.”
A middle-aged man, sitting on the rehab’s front steps, said that he spent three years homeless after his family turned their backs on him because of his heroin addiction. In 2017, he signed up for Crouse’s services, spent one month at Rescue Mission Alliance’s shelter, moved into transitional housing, then got own apartment through a Crouse case manager.
Some people afflicted by addiction in Syracuse rely on non-profits to help bridge the affordability gap, according to people who work with them. Others, like France, stay with friends and family.
Le Ría i Epperson, France’s friend from her group sessions, said she will look into Crouse’s housing services. She receives an “unrealistic” $380 per month from the Salvation Army, has five kids and said the subsidy only stretches so far, especially factoring in security deposits. The cheapest apartment listed in Syracuse on New York’s housing search site costs $400 per month.
“It's like a trap,” she said.
Since possession of un-prescribed opioids is illegal, the criminal justice system bears the brunt of the opioid crisis and its compounding housing issues. Judge Rory McMahon started Syracuse’s opioid court in January to confront the crisis. In its sessions, prosecutors halt charges to prioritize treatment for 30-90 days.
Dan Schick, who works with the court, estimated 80% needed housing support and called housing the largest issue its participants face. Roughly 40 people entered since it began.
“The defendants were coming in and they didn't have any stable housing,” said Karen Loftin, who manages housing for the court.
Loftin said addiction is conducive to roaming place-to-place, often relying on family until they get burned out by addiction habits. She works with 3-5 participants at a time for their stay in the court to establish housing that will last beyond the 90 days.
Ben Prezepiora, who works at ACR Health, said the quality of housing environments is important to a successful recovery. Rising housing costs affect everyone in Syracuse, he said, but particularly people spending their money on drugs, or those devoting their time to the recovery process. Prezepiora found that many opioid addicts are homeless or in the shelter.
“You're going to a lot of groups,” said Sara Bertelli, also of ACR Health. “You're going to a lot of things that take up pretty much all of your day. You don't really have time to get a job. You can't work.”
Loftin said the housing market in Syracuse is geared toward multiple occupants, rather than single individuals. Landlords shouldn’t know about applicants’ drug use, housing facilitators agreed, but Schick suspected they do.
Wendy Whigham-Maida, ACR Health’s housing coordinator, said they previously only had grant money for HIV-positive clients. In October, they received a grant to help house people with multiple chronic medical conditions, including addiction. She said ACR has three programs to pay introductory housing costs, to subsidize housing that people already have and to find housing for those with the means to pay.
“In the past couple of weeks, we've had a couple of issues where clients who just moved into apartments are being asked to leave because of the quote, 'traffic,' that they're bringing into the apartment,” Whigham-Maida said. “So if they're living in an apartment building, or a house with a couple of different apartments in it, and other people start complaining about different people coming in-and-out.”
She said her staff found landlords that accommodate her clients and who they can lean on in a pinch. Barriers that prevent them from accessing larger apartment complexes include bad credit, a history of addiction, or denial of subsidies. New York banned source-of-income housing discrimination in April.
Loftin said she steers clear of landlords in her care court duties, though she receives updates on their prices. She said landlords only care about money, and she doubted they would turn down anyone with the funds if she had to help a client access private housing. Her aim is to provide them with the means.
She said temporary employment, where companies order specific labor needs for a given amount of time through contracts, has become the go-to job in Syracuse.
The Center for Community Alternatives, Loftin said, is preparing a 90-bed housing program she plans to work with in the future. Across the board, those assisting people addicted to opioids in Syracuse attempt to create stability, which they agreed starts with a home.
"It's very important,” said the man on Crouse’s front steps. “If you don't have a house, you don't have your daily responsibilities of cleaning the house, getting up and making your bed. The routine that you're supposed to have in your life.”