UPDATED: Feb. 22, 2020 at 2:58 p.m.

Syracuse is working to combat homelessness by offering day jobs to people living on the streets in a compassionate and effective manner. The number of homeless people in Syracuse has risen in recent years from 461 in 2016 to 613 in 2020, according to an annual count from the Housing and Homeless Coalition of Central New York.

In December 2018, Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh and County Executive Ryan McMahon announced their plan to combat homelessness in Onondaga County, the Hire Ground Workforce Development.

“Providing some of the most vulnerable in our community a path out of poverty that is rooted in economic viability and support services has been a priority of my administration. This pilot program works towards that goal and my team stands ready to help in any way possible to ensure its success,” Walsh said when the plan was announced.

The initiative began in May 2019 and offers daily work to panhandlers and the homeless. In My Father’s Kitchen, a local nonprofit organization, currently heads the Hire Ground initiative. The nonprofit is dedicated to combating chronic homelessness, using a van to pick up as many as nine homeless people a day. Each person works a five-hour shift and is paid $50 for their labor. The workers are tasked with various projects around the city such as cleaning up the War Memorial, shoveling snow at NBT Stadium, or picking up litter at public parks.

John Tumino, founder of In My Father’s Kitchen, said in its first year, the organization has engaged 300 individual participants on the work van and helped connect 40 people to Medicaid.

The initiative is not perfect, and faces some logistical limitations. As it stands, In My Father’s Kitchen cannot bring the day laborers to work at private residences due to legal setbacks. Another limitation is the size of the van, which can only fit nine people.

“The main hurdle is there’s a lot of hurting people and we can’t get to them all,” Tumino said.

Tumino said In My Father’s Kitchen also reacted an interim program with CNY Works to train participants for jobs in a 10-week paid program, and then connect them with employers

Not everyone, however, is convinced about the program’s success. Dr. Gretchen Purser, an associate professor of sociology at Syracuse University, said she thinks the program is designed as a case management initiative rather than an anti-poverty effort.

“We need to create real, living wage jobs,” she said. “Day labor is nothing but day labor. There’s no guarantee you’ll get a job ever, even another day. You might get it one day and never have it again.”

Purser raises an important point. The Hire Ground Workforce Development only addresses a symptom of a larger problem, the conditions that create homelessness in the first place. Our economy is in dire need of reform. A livable wage is a human right. Inflated housing costs and a scarcity of jobs that pay a livable wage are contributing to poverty and homelessness.

It is equally important to remember, though, that the program was never designed to address systematic contributors to homelessness, such as the inadequate job market. The program focuses on assisting the people already experiencing extreme poverty, rather than focusing on fundamentally changing the systems that have created poverty.

The program isn’t merely a roundabout attempt to curb panhandling. It is a compassionate and practical approach that helps people help themselves. In Tumino’s own words, “Our mission is building relationships with people.”

Syracuse has evolved its approach to combating homelessness and poverty. Other American cities should follow Syracuse’s lead.

Patrick McCarthy is a senior creative writing and American history major. His column appears bi-weekly. He can be reached at pmcca100@syr.edu. He can be followed on Twitter at @pmcopinion.

Published on February 19, 2020 at 10:44 pm