Twice as many people can be housed at one time in apartment-based shelter than was possible in the rotation model.
Once limited by van size (14 seats), Shelter Program numbers are now capped by family number (currently 6) rather than participant number. In early summer, there were 29 individuals staying in apartment-based shelter at one time!
FPGROC received more calls for shelter in August 2022 than any other month since opening our doors in 2004. The numbers don't lie. It's hard out there. You know it, and we know it.
100% of families in FPGROC's Shelter Program have income and a majority are working outside the home or receive SSI.
Stereotypes about homelessness lead us to believe that those experiencing it should be working harder; but that's a gross misunderstanding of the problem. In reality, families are working but minimum wage and SSI benefits do not equal a living wage.
Due to a lack of affordable housing in Rochester, between 2018 and 2022 FPGROC's average length of shelter stay increased from 35 to 54 days.
Why is the length of stay longer? Rochester's limited affordable housing stock and increasing rent prices leave low-income families with very few choices.
Extremely low-income families are forced to spend between 70 - 95% of their income on housing.
By definition, "affordable housing" is spending 30% of a household's income on rent and utilities. Affordable housing builders use the Average Monthly Income (AMI) of the area to determine base rates, which far exceed low- and very low-income household earnings.
