LICH has a small street outreach team that goes out into the community in both Suffolk and Nassau- working directly with people that are living on the street for the longest lengths of time. Our team provides permanent housing-focused case management, which often requires that we engage the same people frequently and over long periods of time until stably and permanently housed. This is achieved through fully understanding someone’s living situation, their resources, their eligibility for various programs, their housing preferences and goals, and then assisting with applying for housing programs based on the person’s preferences.

Due to the significant increase in people experiencing street homelessness, LICH is no longer able to provide a direct response/support to each person living unsheltered. Referrals will be prioritized based on the length of time people have been experiencing homelessness. This means some people will be referred to other street outreach and existing resources.

LICH facilitated a funding process, where funds for four new street outreach teams were applied for, to better meet the dramatically increased needs within the community.

LICH does not operate emergency shelter and does not have funds to pay for things like arrears and other expenses. All year-round emergency housing requires that people apply through DSS. There are some winter shelter programs, drop-in centers, and warming centers that become available to the public during freezing temperatures.

LICH is not able to provide services including distribution of food/items or transportation for everyone on the street, due to staff capacity challenges and a low inventory of supplies based only on donations. LICH can only provide essential items and transportation to clients enrolled in the street outreach program.

 

Types of Community Response Street Outreach:

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Minimizing Criminalization and Encampment Sweeps:

LICH strongly advocates against all forms of criminalization of homelessness. LICH Street Outreach staff coordinate directly with police and other emergency service response entities to conduct outreach.

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Inclement Weather Outreach:

LICH will conduct outreach ahead of any serious weather patterns, such as extreme temperatures, hurricanes, storms, and other dangerous situations.

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Missing Persons Outreach:

LICH is regularly following up with those homeless on the street longest and the most vulnerable. It is common that people go missing because they need to move around to remain safe, may not have a working phone, or otherwise relocate. If a client that is missing is reported, it will help us reconnect and continue working on housing.

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Problem Solving and Resource Sharing:

All other community referrals will be added to our known locations list that outreach teams follow and check on when in that area, coordinate referrals to other outreach teams that exist in the community and share available resources with people over the phone when able, such as how to access shelter, where drop-in centers are located, and information about other housing and support services programs.  

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Partner Agency Outreach:

The LICH Team will join other outreach teams, in a joint effort to engage groups. This is done to achieve warm handoffs and connections to other or additional support, and to establish consistency in best practices and approaches in doing street outreach (cross training).

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https://www.lihomeless.org/living-on-the-street

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Transportation:

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Transportation is available only to LICH clients due to limited staffing and vehicles.

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Seniors: https://211ny4regions.communityos.org/guided-search-li/render/ds/%7B%22service%5C%5Cservice_taxonomy%5C%5Cmodule_servicepost%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3A%5B%7B%22taxonomy_id%22%3A408157%7D%5D%2C%22operator%22%3A%5B%22contains_array%22%5D%7D%2C%22agency%5C%5Cagency_system%5C%5Cname%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3A%22VLTEST%22%2C%22operator%22%3A%5B%22notequals%22%5D%7D%7D?localHistory=tYbY4qmuoMtr1_GOohreug

Nassau Able Ride: https://www.nassaucountyny.gov/3228/Special-Transportation

Nassau: https://www.nassaucountyny.gov/2620/Transportation

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Distribution of Food and other Essential Items:

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Distribution of items is only available to LICH clients, due to limited staffing and supplies, unless we can identify volunteers to help gather and distribute more items. LICH does have a Boutique located at the Amityville Resource Center, that can be accessed by referral but requires that items be picked up. Other community drop-in centers, faith-based entities, and local community members also help distribute needed items.

https://www.lihomeless.org/immediate-needs

https://www.lihomeless.org/drop-in-centers

Boutique: https://www.addressthehomeless.org/community