LI Homeless Hit Hard By Pandemic: 'They Had Nowhere To Go'

EAST END, NY — The woman was homeless, living on the streets of the East End. According to Daniel O'Shea, executive director of Maureen's Haven Homeless Outreach program, the woman, whose name was not revealed, was a senior citizen living with many challenges. She was an amputee, diabetic, and had had a "lifelong struggle with substance abuse."

Still, she tried her best with crutches and a wheelchair. When she and a family member came to Maureen's Haven, a not-for-profit organization that provides food and shelter for scores of men and women who would otherwise have nowhere to go from Nov. 1 through April 30, staff and the many volunteers who dedicate time to the progam worked tirelessly to help.

"We worked very closely with her for two years and the challenges they faced were incredible," O'Shea said, adding that the lack of available beds offered by the Department of Social Services posed a unique problem during the pandemic.

Not only did Maureen's Haven staff try valiantly to get her a room in a motel — "It took a long time to make that happen," O'Shea said — they kept trying for something more permanent. Over the past year and a half, he and other staffers waded through the endless paperwork, helped the woman to make doctor's appointments, and then drove her to them. They helped with Social Security. Disability. Tasks that may seem difficult for a person at the best of times, but for the homeless, may seem overwhelmingly daunting and virtually impossible to traverse.

"These people don't have cars. They don't have active cell phones. They don't know how to navigate these systems. They don't have a dollar in their pocket," O'Shea said.

But despite the seemingly impossible quest, recently, due to a voucher system through the Suffolk Independent Living Organization, or SILO, O'Shea said he and the others on staff found the woman housing in an apartment.

"We put her on housing lists everywhere, apartments, private listings," he said. "Finally we found something in an apartment complex and they agreed to interview and see if she qualified. We went through the whole process and then, we heard from SILO and the complex — she was given the apartment."

All the woman had left to do was a last meeting, and to sign the papers.

"We called her last Monday morning. A relative picked up and said that she had passed away." He paused, the weight of sorrow in his voice."It's a sad story. No matter how much we deal with these challenging situations, we work so closely with these people. You can’t help but to build a relationship."

O'Shea said he's left frustrated by the red tape and a process that took two years — by the fact that the woman died just literally hours before her next chapter could begin.

"Two years. And this was a senior citizen, with one leg, living in a motel," he said.

Despite the pain, O'Shea and the rest of his staff and the many volunteers who work to provide hope in the darkness for the homeless have not stopped, vigilant in their mission. They have not stopped even a single day during the pandemic, remaining "fully functional" even when all other servies were shuttered due to social distancing and other concerns.

On Tuesday, O'Shea came before the Southold town board to outline the mission Maureen's Haven Homeless Outreach program and explain just how hard the organization has been hit financially by the pandemic.

"When the pandemic hit and most went virtual, we continued our outreach efforts. We stayed fully operational, recognizing the very real need for food, coordinating with soup kitchens and food pantries. We had food for the homeless seven days a week," he said.

During the pandemic O'Shea and all involved remained vigilant and focused on safety, practicing social distancing protocols, washing hands and wearing masks to keep everyone safe.

"We had a few scares but no one got severely ill and no one died," he said.

Now, with Nov. 1 approaching, O'Shea said he is gearing up for another busy winter; Maureen's Haven also provides a day center on Lincoln Street in Riverhead.

Looking at the sharp uptick in need, O'Shea said before the pandemic, the program would help about 30 to 35 people a night, bringing them on a bus or in a van to houses of worship across the East End where volunteers prepared dinner and a bag lunch and set up cots for the homeless to sleep in a warm, safe place.

If there were a higher number of individuals needing help, O'Shea said they'd try to "squeeze in a few more" or, if there were simply no beds available, they'd refer them to the Suffolk County Department of Social Services, which also provided a shelter program.

With the onset of the pandemic, there was a dearth of available beds, he said.

And, he added, the homeless were left with no place to congregate during the hours after they'd left Maureen's Haven in the morning. "The world was in lockdown," he said. "There were no libraries. No emergency room waiting rooms. Fast food places were closed. Just having a place to charge their phones or kill some time, those possibilities quickly disappeared. The challenge we faced was that Maureen's Haven's guests often have nowhere to go. Last year, they truly, truly had nowhere to go."

Even as the world began to emerge from the pandemic, agencies including DSS "struggled to get operational again," O'Shea said.

With many services having shifted to virtual, it took some time for facilities to deliver in-person care, he said.

Last winter, O'Shea said the number of available beds in both shelters and drug and substance abuse programs was still sharply scaled back.

Despite all the setbacks, Maureen's Haven was able to serve about 50 guests per night; the additional volume added stress and financial strain to the organization. For example, O'Shea said, while volunteers had always signed up to stay overnight with the homeless at houses of worship in past years, during the pandemic, many were uneasy about COVID and, while they prepared food and brought it to feed the hungry, they were hesitant to spend the night.

"We still had an energized volunteer base — with voluntters setting up and dropping off meals — but in-person interaction was very limited," O'Shea said.

Maureen's Haven then hired five paid staff members to do the overnights, sometimes operating two or three sites a night due to the number in need, O'Shea said. "We took a big financial hit on the staff side," he said.

Over the first year of the pandemic, Maureen's Haven made up 4,600 beds, with about 100 to 110 homeless people seeking services over the winter months. Last year, the need spiked up to 6,400 beds, with 325 utilizing services.

"It's shocking," O'Shea said. "People often look at that number and say, 'Do we have that large of a problem on the East End?' The reality is that the majority are East End residents."

The homeless are living in the shadows in the upscale Hamptons and on the North Fork, in the woods, at the train stations, he said. And, because many are wearing high-end clothing donated by the wealthy residents in the Hamptons, they may blend in and never be noticed — until it's obvious they've slept all night on the bench, the beach, in a tent in the woods, or in a car.

"There's a big misconception of what a homeless person looks like," O'Shea said. "We have this idea of someone pushing a cart but that's not really the way all homeless people live. They might not be what you think."

Funding has been a critical concern, O'Shea said. During the pandemic, due to the need for social distancing, he had to make additional trips in the van, which led to the need for more gas. There was also a need for professional cleaning in the area churches and other cleaning supplies to maintain vigilance against COVID, he said. "Overall, expenses shot up in 2022," he said.

On average, Maureen's Haven receives 12 to 13 percent of its operating budget from county or local sources, including community block grants from the East End towns, he said.

County funding amounts to about $36,487, O'Shea said, with much of the additional funding needed to survive coming from fundraisers, grants, and private donations.

Still, he maintains, Maureen's Haven is saving the county money.

"If the average shelter bed costs Suffolk County $100 per night per person, we saved Suffolk County over $600,000," he said.

If people want to help, financial donations are always best, O'Shea said. If they want to donate services or items, it's always best to call Maureen's Haven at 631-727-6831 to see what's needed at that time.

"We always take coats, clothes, men's underwear and non-perishable foods," he said. "During the pandemic, many of the homeless wanted to sleep in the woods rather than with 25 other people, so sleeping bags were needed."

O'Shea said that while many of the homeless struggle with substance abuse issues and mental health challenges, he seeks to shatter the stereotype that some are lazy or unwilling to work.

"It's exhausting, mentally, physically and emotionally, walking for miles every day and carrying their worldy belongings with them, wondering where they will sleep, where they will eat," he said. "They are not lazy."

Working with the homeless is not always easy, and sometimes, it's downright difficult, when a person battling inner demons is yelling or desperately confused, O'Shea said.

But, O'Shea said, the experience has been "life-changing."

"I spend a lot of time trying to educate, or re-educate," he said. "It's a tough environment but you have a connection to people unlike anything I've experienced in my life. And I know if the time ever comes when I leave Maureen's Haven, I will never experience something like this again. It's the most demanding, the most challenging job of my life, but I would never trade it for the world."

He added: "I love what I do. I dread when the phone rings at 11 p.m. but I'm grateful I can help someone."

What makes Maureen's Haven so unique and special, O'Shea said, is that all involved treat the homeless with compassion, care, respect and dignity.

"When they really feel broken and can't go back to their former support systems, we are understanding and don't judge," he said. "Maybe everyone else has given up on you, or everyone else is turning their back on you, but we will be here. We are helping those that society and safety nets have failed — we provide hope."