To Chautauqua County Sheriff James Quattrone, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to address homelessness.

“There are some people who need a hand out,” Quattrone said toward the end of a public safety forum held in Jamestown this week. “They need it right now to survive. But then we need to do rehabilitations. We have to talk to them. ‘Where do you see yourself improving? What do you need now to survive, the next month to survive? And then moving forward a month after that?'”

“We have to have a development,” he continued. “It’s kind of like that, ‘Give him a fish, feed him for a day. Teach him to fish, feed him for a lifetime.’ We have to work with them.”

The sheriff’s comments came after concerns over the rising homeless population were raised by a handful of community members.

One local resident opined that if the homeless weren’t offered “hand up solutions rather than hand outs,” the city would become a magnet for further homeless population growth.

“Doing so will create issues beyond our ability to handle it,” the resident said during Wednesday’s forum. “It is OK to help down-our-your-luck individuals, but really most of those individuals are not open to solving issues of this nature.”

Quattrone, prior to becoming sheriff, served as executive director of the UCAN City Mission, the city’s lone shelter for homeless men. During the forum, he relayed a brief story in which he encountered a young homeless man outside a local restaurant. The two spoke for about 20 minutes over a meal.

The sheriff suggested that people speak with the homeless. “Just have a conversation, a non-judgmental conversation,” he said.

He added, “Not everybody is trying to abuse the system. Some of the people that we’re dealing with that are homeless are going to be resistant to that help, but I will say Chautauqua County has a lot of resources. We need to know how to access them.”

RISING NUMBERS

Josiah Lamp, housing director of Chautauqua Opportunities Inc. and chairman of the Chautauqua County Homeless Coalition, has seen the local homeless population increase this year.

“It’s gone up more than we’ve seen in a long time,” Lamp said in a recent interview.

In the first eight months of the year, more than 650 homeless individuals have been identified in Chautauqua County through regular census counts.

Lamp, as have local officials in recent months, cited several possible reasons for the jump this year: financial strains caused by the years-long COVID-19 pandemic and eviction proceedings resuming in New York.

“We are definitely seeing an increase in homelessness in Chautauqua County coming out of the pandemic,” he said.

Chautauqua Opportunities is a Community Action Agency which, according to the organization’s website, is “federally designated as the frontline resource for people living in poverty, providing direct services and support for education, employment, and family support services for low-income families.” With a budget of $16.7 million, the organization served 3,484 households in 2021.

Lamp said the lack of affordable housing festers instability, and noted the general need for more rental units and housing developments. Chautauqua Opportunities itself has been awarded funding to establish a temporary shelter for women over the age of 18. The shelter will be located in downtown Jamestown and is expected to open next year.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist has referred to the current shelter situation in the city. At present, there’s a shelter for men and another for women and children of domestic violence.

APPROACHING COLD PROMPTS WORRY

During this week’s forum that focused on a range of public safety and housing issues, Sundquist said the estimated homeless population within Jamestown has gone from 25 to 30 individuals to about 70 in some areas.

“So it has risen rapidly across the city,” he said. “In many cases, it’s visible. We’ve always had homelessness, let’s be clear about that. We’ve always had it — it hasn’t been as visible as it has been.”

The mayor said he’s concerned what might happen with the homelessness crisis when temperatures drop.

“We’re afraid when winter comes, when the snow comes, we’re going to start to see people in abandoned homes,” he said. “We’re going to start to see people, potentially, dead on the street. And that’s something that we do not want to happen.”

Sundquist and Quattrone were among officials who this week met with 60 local church leaders to address the increasing homeless population. In talking with mayor of other cities, Sundquist said there are benefits in partnering with faith-based organizations.

“When I have talked to other mayors, they have found that when the faith leaders and the resource providers work together to create a partnership then they have been able to tackle emergency sheltering, getting resources to where people are, getting folks off the street,” he said. “That’s a model that we are trying to do right here in the city of Jamestown.”