Roadway shelter staff say 20 of 25 families have moved to permanent housing, county update shows

At the Sept. 3 meeting of the Tompkins County Legislature’s Housing and Economic Development Committee, Family Housing Coordinator Barb Kazian told legislators that since the Roadway shelter opened the county has served 25 families and “20 out of 25 of them have secured permanent housing.”

The update said Roadway currently houses 41 adults and five families (13 people), for a total of 54 people at the property, with 28 people placed in other motels within the county (down from 31 at the previous meeting) and one person placed out of county (down from two). Two additional families were described as scheduled to “lease up in the next two weeks.”

The statement matters because county staff described Roadway as a centralized location that allows more intensive, daily casework than scattered hotel placements. Kazian, who said she was appointed to the newly created family housing coordinator role about six months ago, described her work as meeting families “within 20 hours” of their shelter intake, developing service plans, doing daily case management and facilitating moves into housing.

Kazian told the committee she typically works with families for up to three months after move‑in, helps families document eligibility for temporary housing, connects them with medical and school services, meets landlords on families’ behalf and physically moves families into housing. She described frequent collaboration with Children’s Services to arrange voluntary referrals so families can get supports “without placement in foster care, or court petitions.”

Commissioner of Social Services Britney (first name provided in the meeting) and other department staff highlighted the Roadway shelter’s role in concentrating services. A county child protective supervisor told the committee the separation of family and adult areas at Roadway is a regulatory requirement that makes co‑location feasible and safer than some prior motel placements.

Funding and program context: Kazian said the family‑centered case management position was supported by an allocation from the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) that was provided to all districts for family‑centered case management services. Kazian said families in the past six months have spent an average of about 45–60 days in shelter, and that she spends daily time providing casework, transportation, referrals and landlord outreach. She also described linking families to community resources for furniture and basic household goods.

Committee members asked for data to track program outcomes over time — for example, how long families were in shelter before a coordinator intervened — and staff said that HMIS (the Homeless Management Information System) tracks shelter data and that the county’s HMIS lead can pull historic metrics.

The committee did not take formal action on the shelter report; the item was presented for information and discussion.