Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel speaks at Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce event with Chamber CEO Dan Heitzenrater (June 2, 2023)

Local agencies are working on obtaining additional funding to help migrants in Chautauqua County.

Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel, speaking at a Chamber of Commerce event, said he’s been in touch with the State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Jackie Bray about bringing in funds to the county, “There is a $100,000 grant coming from the Department of State that’s actually here I think. I talked with COI, Chautauqua Opportunities Inc. They are the lead agency. There looks to be another increase, I was told it was about $350,000. That’s to assist the people that are here. You know, we’re looking to get caseworkers, we’re looking to get assistance in housing.”

Wendel emphasized that his State of Emergency declaration wasn’t to keep people from coming to Chautauqua County but to keep New York City from arbitrarily sending people here and leaving them without resources, “It’s a challenge, but you know, our people who are working boots on the ground run for that challenge. They’re doing a great job. We have Amish families assisting our migrants and our asylum seekers. So, again, people who live in very meager means assisting. We have a great deal of humanitarian aid going. We just need the state and federal government to step up, our governor in particular, to make the stance and get some action so that these people can work and provide for their families.”

Wendel extended the emergency order for an additional five days on May 30th. It first took effect on May 18, 2023.

The order prohibits municipalities from bringing in and housing people in the County; prohibits hotels and motels from housing immigrants without a license; and requires any municipalities that might bring migrating or asylum-seeking people into the county to ensure they will be fully cared for and paid for.

While the State of Emergency will remain in effect for 30 days, at which time it may be extended, the emergency order according to law is extended in five-day intervals.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that Chautauqua Opportunities Inc. and Legal Assistance of Western New York will each receive $125,000 under the Education and Outreach Initiative.

This program offers support for fair housing activities that educate the public and housing providers about equal opportunity in housing and compliance with the fair housing laws.

Chadwick Bay N.Y.S. Women, Inc.’s Christmas donations to Chautauqua Opportunities’ Youth Residential program

Chadwick Bay N.Y.S. Women, Inc. donated 20 bags of holiday gifts to Chautauqua Opportunities, Inc.’s youth residential programs.

The gifts will be given to youth in residence at the Safe House and Transitional Independent Living Program (TILP) apartments on Christmas Day.

The Safe House is a 12-bed runaway and homeless youth shelter that is licensed by the NYS Office of Children and Family Services. Homeless youth under the age of 18 may stay up to 21 days while staff work to reunite the family or find other appropriate living arrangements. Homeless youth ages 16 – 21 may stay for up to 18 months in the TILP apartments and learn independent living skills while working or going to school.

The Safe House and TILP apartments intake approximately 80 youth annually.

Certified Lead Risk Assessor Jeff Mitchell tests a Jamestown home for lead paint.

The 14701 zip code has the seventh highest number of lead poisoned children in New York State outside of New York City.

That data is according to New York State Department of Health’s 2020 data and being shared by the Healthy at Home CHQ Coalition for National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week to raise awareness of the childhood lead poisoning problem plaguing communities.

Healthy At Home CHQ Coalition Director Lisa Schmidtfrerick-Miller said that, “Every year, an average of 85 Chautauqua County children are testing at blood lead levels exceeding the New York State action threshold of 5 micrograms per deciliter, and about 60 of those children are in the City of Jamestown.”

Schmidtfrerick-Miller encourages folks to learn about the hazards of lead, to test older homes for lead, and to make sure that children are getting recommended blood tests to detect lead.

The most common source of lead exposure locally is from lead-based paint, which was used in many homes built before 1978. Chautauqua County, and Jamestown in particular, have some of the oldest housing stock in the United States.

Tiny amounts of lead can often cause loss of IQ, learning disabilities, and behavior problems in children.

For more information on free home testing for families with children under age six, and free EPA training and certification for contractors and landlords, visit https://chqgov.com/environmental-health/lead-poisoning-prevention or call 716-753-4489.

To learn more about Chautauqua Opportunities, Inc. HUD Lead-CHHP program which removes and repairs lead paint at no cost for qualifying tenants and homeowners, visit https://www.chautauquaopportunities.com/lead-program/.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist addresses Jamestown City Council (October 17, 2022)

The City of Jamestown has received a $194,000 HUD grant to help deal with homelessness issues.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist, in his Mayor’s report to City Council, said the city will have to develop a plan for use of the funds with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development encouraging that it be used for rapid response.

He said resource providers, local church organizations, and medical providers have met to discuss both long-term solutions and short term emergency shelter.

Sundquist said Chautauqua Opportunities, Inc. has taken the lead with the county on the issue and that one to two sites have been identified as potential emergency winter shelters, “So, it would be a nighttime, usually from around 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. Those sites would also then provide security at the locations, food, we’d have other churches and other groups provide resources there. We’d have social workers and other resource providers come to that location and we were also talking about potentially having once a week a medical provider come on site.”

Sundquist said they hope to get details finalized in the next week. He said with the weather turning cooler there is a need for emergency shelters, “On an average night across Chautauqua County when there is a ‘Code Blue,’ the weather is under 32 degrees, they have about seven people across the county that they have to shelter. That number is expected to double or triple this year with just Jamestown alone.”

Sundquist said resource providers are also discussing creating a shelter just for people with addiction needs or who are in recovery. He added that most of the current shelters in Jamestown are full.

Chautauqua Opportunities Inc. presents to Jamestown Planning Commission (September 20, 2022)

The Jamestown Planning Commission has approved the site plan for a new women’s homeless shelter in downtown Jamestown.

Chautauqua Opportunities Inc. will operate the facility to be located at 303 Lafayette Street. The facility will be able to shelter 18 women and is only for women age 18 and older.

COI officials said they hope to go to bid on the project in a couple of weeks. It’s being funded through a $2.49 million grant from the State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance.

The Planning Commission also has resumed discussions about establishing a Local Preservation Ordinance.

City Principal Planner Ellen Shadle said the ordinance would be part of the City’s zoning provision.
She said when it came to things like replacing older windows with vinyl windows or putting up siding, it depended on what was in the design standards, “And the design standards are not part of the ordinance. So the design standards.. you can’t create design standards without the ordinance authorizing their creation. And the ultimate design standards can be whatever you want to a certain extent.”

Shadle said those standards are created by a community member Preservation Board.

She said if the Planning Commission approved an LPO, it would then go to City Council for approval.

Commission Chair John LaMancuso confirmed that despite Federal Historic District designations, a historic district under an LPO doesn’t exist unless City Council designates an area as a historic district, “Nothing is a historic district until City Council says it’s a historic district. And we could adopt this as a city and city council could say, ‘Oh, well we don’t think that any place should be a historic district. We don’t want to burden people in this way,’ or maybe, ‘We want this block to be historic that includes the Jackson Center,’ or whatever. So a lot of this comes down to City Council which I think is very appropriate.”

LaMancuso requested additional information on the benefits to the city in implementing an LPO. There was no other action on the LPO.

Jamestown City Council work session (September 12, 2022)

City officials and local organizations are continuing to meet to work on ways to address rising homelessness in Jamestown.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist updated City Council on a meeting held Monday with organizations that are part of the county’s Homeless Coalition including the Salvation Army, UCAN Mission, Chautauqua Opportunities, Southern Tier Environments for Living, UPMC, and more, “What we’ve normally seen in the past is homelessness that includes folks that have been kicked out of shelters or have been sanctioned by the county or other providers for whatever violation of services they provided. We would normally see about 25 to 30, that’s what the last census was of homeless here in the city. We are finding encampments that can be up to 50 to 70 people. And we are trying to work to deal with it.”

Sundquist said part of the discussion included planning for winter given that individuals without housing often look for abandoned houses to break into in order to stay warm.

He said the city had a meeting scheduled with with local pastors Tuesday night to discuss homelessness and how the faith community can assist. A second Homeless Coalition meeting is scheduled for later this month.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist and City Council President Tony Dolce at City Council’s Work Session on August 22, 2022

Homelessness in Jamestown and efforts to combat it topped discussions by Jamestown City Council Monday night.

Housing Committee Chair Marie Carrubba said the issue of homelessness in downtown Jamestown, including people camping under the South Main Street viaduct, isn’t new and that the Homeless Coalition has been trying to address it for over 15 years, “The moratorium that was lifted on evictions has now created more of a homeless problem in the city because those individuals are no longer housed where they were not paying rent and utilities. So, we’re seeing more and more on the streets. I believe police, public safety, have been down trying to address the issue. I know the city has been down there offering assistance and giving resources and information to the individuals who have been there.”

Council member at Large Jeff Russell said he planned to talk to the groups of homeless people to find out what their situations are, “Are they from Jamestown or have they come here from somewhere else? Did they have housing? Were they removed from housing and what the situation is? I’m not going to leave it up to others to do that. I’m going to do it myself. And if there’s any other council members that want to join me, to come down and have a chat, and just see how we can help or what their situation is, then I would welcome that.”

Mayor Eddie Sundquist said challenges in Jamestown include the evictions, the location of the city and cost of living; weather, and homeless shelters being at capacity. He said there are some actions the city is taking right now to try to address homeless issues including moving homeless populations out of unsafe areas like the viaduct or near unsafe buildings, “As we shift out of more visible areas, you’re seeing more people end up in our parks. You’re seeing more people end up under other areas. And so we’re trying really hard to keep up with that. At the same time, we’re providing resources. You mentioned the beat patrols – we send out foot patrols down to provide resources. We also work with our partners at COI, at UCAN Mission, with Salvation Army Domestic Violence, and others.”

Sundquist said the city is also working with the county, who has a program to provide funds for those who are here in Jamestown and don’t have the means to get back to wherever they call home. He said in early September, the Homeless Coalition will be having an in-person meeting in Jamestown, “Their entire goal has been to really focus on funding and on the ground support. So I personally went to that group and made a plea and said, ‘You need to be in Jamestown. What good are you as a group if you’re not physically here helping the people that we have.'”

Sundquist said the date will be announced this week. He added that local churches will be invited as well.

Chautauqua Opportunities, Inc. will receive $180,710 and the Dunkirk Housing Authority will receive $90,600.

The awards will provide funding to help individuals and families experiencing homelessness move into permanent housing with access to supportive services, with the overarching goal of long-term stability.

HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said, “Access to stable housing is a basic necessity – the safety of a home is essential, especially as we continue to fight the COVID-19 virus. These Continuum of Care (CoC) program grants, coupled with the historic resources in the American Rescue Plan, will deliver communities the resources needed to ensure that every person in a respective community has the equitable opportunity to a safe and stable home.”

The CoC program is designed to promote a community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness. The program is the largest source of federal grant funding for homeless services and housing programs servicing people experiencing homelessness.

Chautauqua Opportunities’ Director of Housing Josiah Lamp presents to Jamestown City Council

Jamestown City Council heard a presentation on the proposed homeless shelter for women to be located in downtown Jamestown.

Chautauqua Opportunities Director of Housing Josiah Lamp said the facility, which will be able to shelter 18 women, would be located at 303 Lafayette Street.

It’s being funded through a $2.49 million grant from the State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. Lamp said the City of Jamestown also is providing a $110,000 match through Community Development Block Grant funds. He said operating funds will come from the Chautauqua County Department of Health and Human Services as well as from Chautauqua Opportunities.

Lamp said the first floor, which was formerly a laundromat, will be community space, “A lobby, there will be a secure entrance, and there will be a computer lab where the women can come in and look for housing, they can use that to look for employment. Then there will also be a laundry facility, storage facility, and then office space for our staff to work with them while they’re in shelter.”

Lamp said the second and third floors will have fully adaptable units with elevator access. He said the building will be secured through fob entry for the main entrance as well as for each unit. The facility also will be staff 24-7 by Housing Support Services employees.

Council member at Large Jeff Russell commented that there’s a definite need for this kind of shelter and that it’s long overdue. He asked Lamp if the women sheltered there would be just from Jamestown or from outside the area, including outside of the county. Lamp said the need is largest in Jamestown and that he doesn’t ever see anyone from outside the area being placed there.

The renovation of the Lafayette Street building is anticipated to begin this Fall with completion by July 2023.