Pete Powell appraises long career at Homes with Hope

Since Peter Powell became director of the Interfaith Housing Association (IHA) in February 1988, he's helped thousands of homeless people with food, shelter and guidance as they try to climb their way back into society.

But he didn't think he'd be at it for long.

"When I started, everyone could remember a time when there were no shelters," he said, adding that, until 1984, the only shelter in the state was in Hartford. "Our goal was to solve this brand new problem of homelessness and then go out of business. And we failed."

Powell will retire next month having never achieved that goal. But he'll leave behind an important legacy: a nonprofit that has ten full-time workers, 15 part-time workers and nine buildings that collectively house 60 homeless people a night, 17 of them children.

On Thursday morning, Powell discussed his career with a reporter in a small office at the Gillespie Center, 45 Jesup Street. There were paper bags stuffed with food bank donations and an assortment of wrapped presents piled on shelves and on the floor surrounding his chair.

"We moved into this building in April 1989," he said. "It was a former town garage that stored trucks behind the old town hall. We embraced the move."

Beforehand, he and one other full-time worker operated the IHA out of the abandoned Vigilant Firehouse on Wilton Road. The organization -- now named Homes with Hope/IHA -- was just a handful of years old back then, having officially formed on Christmas Eve in 1984. Next Wednesday will mark its 25th anniversary.

In October 1989, Powell hired a third staffer to stay at the building during the day. The facility began staying open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and hasn't stopped for over 20 years.

"We anticipated then that every program in the state would follow suit," he said, "But there's only four of us now that are open 24 hours a day in the entire state. You have to raise enough money to do so."

Fundraising, he said, has been the biggest challenge of being director. The organization has an operating budget of $1.2 million in cash. It receives $145,000 from the state and a combined $50,000 from Westport, Weston, Wilton and the federal government. "So we need to raise one million dollars a year," he said, adding that the majority comes from individuals and families.

"It had gotten relatively easy until this year," he said. "Right now, it's very difficult. But we enjoy tremendous support from individuals that enables us to do the creative things we do."

Asked to elaborate, Powell pointed to the office door. In an abutting room, staff members were holding a meeting. "Everybody in that room has a Master's degree," he said. "Nowhere else in the state can do that."

Back in the 80s, the only requirement for being hired by IHA was "to be willing to work," he said. Times have changed. In the early 90s, single men and women in Connecticut lost significant coverage from welfare. Then, in the mid-90s, the state shut down the Fairfield Hills Mental Hospital in Newtown. Many clients became homeless. A year later, the federal government cut welfare coverage for families and replaced it with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

The dynamics of homelessness were changing.

"We had become more skilled at working with people and getting them ready to get back in the economy, but the safety net kept fraying," he said. "And it's stayed frayed."

In the late 80s, he said, a heroin addict with HIV could receive treatment at Fairfield Hills for 13 months. "That's about the time needed for the necessary behavioral modifications," he said. "Today, I'd be lucky to get that person three weeks of treatment." And so, the staff at Homes with Hope has had to become more qualified to deal with a wider range of issues.

The root of modern homelessness, Powell believes, is society's increased mobility and the breaking down of the extended family. This phenomenon began before World War II, as cars became cheaper and people moved more easily around the country. With the GI Bill and affordable housing sprouting up in pockets, families divided geographically and people began growing up faster with less parental guidance.

"A sociologist would say that if you live more than 50-miles from a close family member, you have no close family member," he said. (Powell grew up in New Jersey and North Carolina and moved to the area in the mid-80s) "In this area, almost all of us have moved here recently. You have to search far and wide to find a real Yankee."

The result: the homeless shelter has for many people become an extended family.

Moving forward, Powell believes the key to solving homelessness is to focus on supportive housing. "If you're not mentally ill, you're relatively easy to find housing and a job for, even in this economy," he said.

For the mentally ill, however, a permanent living situation with professional support is the new best option.

For that reason, Homes with Hope wants to add more supportive housing units in the coming years along with qualified staff members to support them. Last September, it acquired six such housing units with the Westport Rotary Centennial House.

Late Thursday morning, as volunteers and current Gillespie Center residents were getting ready for lunch, a man who'd just been placed in one the Rotary House walked into Maryellen Estrada's office as Powell was leaving. Estrade is the program director at the Gillespie Center.

"I saw it and it's spotless," he said of his new home, shifting back and forth on his feet rapidly. "I'm going to keep it spotless, too. I can hardly wait."

"I'm glad that you're excited and will keep it spotless," Estrada said. Powell looked on.

"It even comes with a vacuum cleaner," the man said. "Brand new. Still in the box."