The Home Depot Team interviewed Gloria White, Housing Placement
Director of Neighborhood Legal Services Housing Placement Center located at 7310 Woodward Avenue in Detroit. 1. Q: Background information about the agency and your specific position A: Gloria White has been the Director of Housing for 3 years. She oversees the housing placement programs and manages the housing placement specialist. Neighborhood Legal Services began 49 years ago; they provided free legal assistance to those who couldnt afford it. The housing placement center has been in existence for 15 years. The programs are financially funded through HUD for city of Detroit residents. The housing center provides homeless housing, rental, and utility assistance through the Rapid Re-housing and Prevention Assistance programs. 2. Q: Do you feel that funding for existing housing programs or development of new programs has taken a back seat to the economic development that is happening in Detroit A: Yes, due to Governmental stands funds are being directed to other areas such as Veteran affairs and programs to create jobs. NLS housing programs receives less funding every year. 3. Q: Has there been any change in policy and legislation that has affected the services you provide. A: Yes, though its not a bad change, a lot of funding has been recently put into Veteran families. NLS has been able to service 225 homeless Veteran families this year and were predicting an increase yearly. 4. Q: Are there any current changes in housing policy and legislation that you would like to see? A: Yes! Ms. White expressed that 60% of funds are mandated to the homeless population (homeless per HUDs definition) while 40% is mandated to homeless prevention services. In her opinion, this should be reversed. She believes that preventative measures should take precedence because it could help to reduce homelessness. 5. Q: What are your opinions on the Housing Choice Vouchers Program (Section 8) and its elongated closed waiting list within the city of Detroit?
A: The application process should be shortened; its elongated
process may cause stress to families. Also, the housing placement center assistance is limited and the clients are in need of a more permanent residence in which the housing choice vouchers would provide. Yet, due to the step by step waiting process after NLS services have exhausted there are still no available vouchers. 6. Q: Are there issues with financial contributions from the State vs. the Federal government for housing vouchers? A: All funding comes from HUD, which is a governmental entity. NLS receives additional monies from private donors, DTE, and the KEM foundation. 7. Q: What advisory boards or committees are you apart of regarding housing and homeless programs? A: Most of the shelters in the city they partner with. Ms. White is also apart of the Homeless Action Network (HAN) which includes most of the housing service providers in Wayne County. 8. Q: Are there any barriers that Social Workers or housing advocates find hard to overcome. A: Keeping clients on track for meeting their goals. Clients complete a goal attainment sheet in which they list goals, in addition to housing that they would like to achieve. Also, referring clients to outside agencies for assistance for nonhousing related issues such as substance abuse.