MID-HUDSON – As a storm approached the Hudson Valley on Friday, a line meandered about in a former parochial school gymnasium, now pantry, with individuals getting free food.
“They come in for food. If they are homeless, they can still get food,” said Linda Zalanowski, of the Deacon Jack Seymour Food Pantry in Newburgh. “There are people who don’t have any means of showing identification, so we have prepared bags that have items in there you can eat right out of the can.”
Food insecurity is just one problem facing many people this winter.
There is also homelessness, bitter cold – and the nagging Covid pandemic.
“It’s been particularly cold, and Covid has been rampant,” said Victoria Read, a team leader for case management and housing services for the Family of Woodstock in Kingston.
Family of Woodstock has four shelters. In Midtown at 38 Thomas Street, a shelter is open for up to seven families. Next door at 40 Thomas Street, there is a shelter for up to 19 single people. Family of Woodstock also runs a domestic violence shelter, which is consistently full, and another shelter for runaways and children.
Competing with the bitter cold on the misery index is the Covid pandemic, which has already forced Family of Woodstock to temporarily close a shelter because too many residents were infected and had to be quarantined, and staff would bring them food elsewhere where they were in quarantine, possibly in a motel for a night or two.
When enough people, said Read, test negative the shelter can be opened for those who need it. And Covid has also affected the needed use of warming centers. “They can’t stay at the warming center because the warming center will then be filled with Covid,” said Read.
There also been some bitterness in this city over the Health Alliance Hospital’s closure of a unit that serves those afflicted with substance abuse and mental health problems, and Read said this issue has not subsided.
“They cannot get access to services because there are just not enough services,” she said.
But the present issues of homelessness could be exacerbated when a moratorium expires, and landlords move forward to evict tenants who cannot pay the rent.
“I do not know where they are going to go,” said Read. “Lots of people will be evicted.”
