Text of Senator Charles Schumer's Letter to Laurence W. Zensinger Chair, Emergency Food and Shelter Program

Dear Mr. Zensinger:

I am writing today to respectfully urge you to restore to Suffolk County the nearly half-million dollars that are being withheld this year for programs to prevent homelessness and hunger. The results of these cuts would be simply devastating to Suffolk, affecting everything from food pantries to programs to help pay back rent for poor families on the verge of losing their homes.

As you know, the $140-million Emergency Food and Shelter Program disqualified Suffolk this year because its unemployment rate was lower (4.09 percent) than the national criterion needed to qualify for the funding (4.3 percent). However, the funding formula based on unemployment percentages fails to account for the fact that the large homeless population in Suffolk was likely not counted in federal unemployment figures. The Department of Labor counts as unemployed only those actively seeking jobs, but the homeless often suspend job searches to deal with the daily challenges of finding shelter. Had many of Suffolk's homeless people not actively searching for jobs been counted among the unemployed, the county's rate of unemployment would be significantly closer to the qualifying mark.

Moreover the funding formula does not take into consideration the high housing cost in Suffolk County. The county is now plagued by a severe housing crisis that has caused a sharp rise in the number of homeless families. Suffolk homeless population has more than doubled in the last three years to 600 families. If ever there were a time when these funds were needed, it is now, in light of Suffolk's deep financial woes.

Among those who will be affected are vital nonprofit organizations that provide rental and mortgage assistance program that help several dozens of families, and outreach centers operating emergency food pantries that last year purchased tens of thousands of meals. If these cuts are not restored, hundreds of families will no longer be able to seek shelter and procure food.

I look forward to working with you to ensure that FEMA will restore these much needed funds so that Suffolk County can continue the effort to combat homelessness and hunger. I am sure you will agree that given the rising number of homeless families in Suffolk and the poor financial state of the county, these funds are needed now more than ever.

Sincerely,
Charles E. Schumer
United States Senator