County Plans to Close WestHELP

According to Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner, Westchester County plans to close down WestHELP, a facility in Greenburgh that supplies transitional housing and support to homeless families with pre-school age children. WestHELP opened in 1991 and has space for 108 families and provides essential services such as medical help, substance abuse support, employment services, daycare and more. In the last 20 years it has helped 2,400 families find permanent housing. The County plans to shut it down in September, 2011.

Before WestHELP was built, the county housed the homeless in local hotels, sometimes spending over $200 per night to put people up in hotels like the Rye Town Hilton. Since the New York State constitution requires the county to find shelter to house the homeless, closing WestHELP will simply cause the county to spend more money to find shelter. The shelter's daily rate is $92.27 per unit per day and the town of Greenburgh has received $1.2 million a year for rent under an agreement between the county and town. With the number of requests for food stamps on the rise and an increase in the number of foreclosures and evictions, Feiner contends that there is clearly a need for the facility.

In order to protest the closing, Feiner is calling on the Town Board to pass a resolution asking the county not to close down WestHELP. A meeting will be held on Monday night March 7th at Greenburgh Town Hall to rally for support of the facility.