Thousands of Dauphin County residents depend on money from the state’s Human Service Development Fund for the social services that keep them off the streets, fed and in some cases alive.
All of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties receive a piece of the HSDF money, which they use to pay for local service programs such as food pantries, homeless shelters and help lines — any organizations that fill in the gaps between formal county-run social services.
But that funding is drying up.
State officials announced last week that they would be cutting the HSDF by 13 percent, and it’s not the first cut. Counties have already dealt with a 13 percent loss in addition to steady cuts for several years.
Local human service officials have tried to get creative by cutting overhead expenses, but eventually something has to give, said Dauphin County Human Services Director Peter Vriens.
“Most likely you’ll see the programs cut back,” he said. “Staff members have to go part time, fewer clients are served, waiting lists will grow, or they won’t be served at all.”
In Dauphin County, HSDF money is used to support organizations that provide meals for the elderly, child-abuse-prevention services, temporary housing for the homeless, life-skills education, home visits for injured people, job counseling, transportation, shelters and food pantries.
In many cases, those services help to prevent the need for other county programs like Dauphin County Children & Youth Services or Drug & Alcohol Services, Vriens said.
“When these services and support are not available in the community, folks have to secure the help through more formal services, and it’s significantly more money that way,” he said. “When you place a child outside the home, it’s $200 to $300 a day. That’s why all these efforts have been around.”
Dauphin County isn’t the only county struggling. Each county in the midstate is allocated a portion of the funding, but all will see a cut.
Cumberland County has lost more than $80,000 of its $331,000 HSDF allocation between the cuts, said Terry Barley, Cumberland County’s director of aging and community services.
Read the full Patriot-News article here
Loading ...
Services for the poor are slashed? That is tragic. But the way to preserve money for the poor is to STOP giving free services to seniors who have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank and hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional assests.
Seniors are given free services without qualifiers. The money that funds free services for the rich elderly should be preserved for the poor who really need the help.
Yes, I know exactly what you mean. I am keenly aware of one elderly rich man who has been receiving free services from the Department of Aging. What a shame. He is quite able to fund himself, and actually is stealing money from the poor who really need help. The rich should not be allowed to rape the system, but it is the fault of the agencies who continue to give the rich elderly so many free services — simply because they are over 60 years of age.