Vincent Paulette got into drugs when he was around 8 years old.
“I would party with my older brothers… I went away for college, got my bachelor’s degree, came back, and went into a drug-induced manic episode,” said Paulette, a resident of Shirley. “I was diagnosed with drug-induced schizophrenia, and I was on and off cocaine.”
That was the beginning of a slew of challenges facing the now 25-year-old.
Paulette was caught in a revolving door of rehabilitation centers to treat his addiction. Eventually, he began an extended rehab program at Hope House Ministries in Port Jefferson. Facing homelessness, he was sent to Pax Christi Hospitality Center, a Port Jefferson homeless shelter due to his possession of a cell phone and vape pen, items which were banned at Hope House.
Pax Christi is a 25-bed emergency shelter, which Father Frank Pizzarelli started in 1980. Roughly two dozen males aged 16 and up are provided with shelter, food, clothing, recreational space, and other necessities. Director Stephen Brazeau said he and his staff operate under the umbrella of the greater Hope House Ministries nonprofit, but mainly run on a contract with the Suffolk County Department of Social Services. He added that Pax Christi maintains a good relationship with the Village of Port Jefferson to serve the nearby community.
“We get [people from] all walks of life that find themselves homeless here in Suffolk County. It’s a broad swath of human beings that are impacted,” Brazeau said.
“We have a mental health counselor that works here. We have a social worker that works here. So we’re really blessed to have some really great support staff,” he said. This also includes staff with medical knowledge as well as knowledge of logistics and maintenance.
Pax Christi also accommodates guests with quiet spaces, a courtyard, social settings with entertainment, a religious room resembling a miniature church, a closet full of donated garments, and more, to help guests get back on their feet.
Paulette said that despite being college-educated, he has had a rough journey with the drug rehabilitation and homelessness system.
“Hope House Ministries, Father Frank, Dr. Rabino, and Charlie Russo are literally my heroes… [Father Frank] is a modern-day saint. He is one of my inspirations to become a priest,” Paulette said.
Paulette said that there were enough resources on Long Island to help him navigate homelessness. “Those who want it can get it,” he said. “But those who are mentally unstable, it is harder for them, because they’re more adapted to their lifestyle on the streets. They don’t really try to fit in with society and the norms.”
According to the latest U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) 2023 Point-in-Time Count Report, the combined total of Nassau and Suffolk counties’ homeless population is back on the rise after a post-pandemic drop. The decline could possibly be attributed to the movement of pandemic relief efforts during that time period.
Emergency shelters (ES) and transitional housing (TH) shelters have a lot in common. However, ES residents have stays of 90 days which can be extended, where TH shelter residents must have a lease or sublease to stay during their two-year period, according to Homeless Initiative. According to the 2023 PIT Count records, ES shelter populations are slowly edging out TH shelter numbers in Nassau and Suffolk counties. The growing homeless population is losing their housing more in emergency situations without a concrete plan moving forward.
“One day at a time. One minute at a time. One second at a time. Say the serenity prayer,” Paulette said.
Joseph Barrett, 26, of Yaphank, has spent his first week at Pax Christi. He grew up in Section 8 housing with his single mother, who fought physical and mental disabilities. He moved out at 17. Battling mental illness, Barrett struggled for permanent housing for most of his adult life and lived in his car for a year in his mid-20s.
“It’s hard working a job when you don’t have a place to go at the end of the day,” he said. “It’s hard to engage in anything. I felt like I was on rock bottom for a long time.”
Barrett reiterated the importance of a shelter with resources and humans being the first step to getting on track.
“I’m very happy being here because it’s good to have a place to go to,” he said. “I have somewhere I can shower. I have resources available to me. I have people to talk to. It’s an amazing thing.”
Depending on the town, food-insecure or homeless people might have more difficulty finding help. Where Pax Christi has plenty of contact and residency information online, Good Shepherd in Deer Park, does not. This facility also could not be reached at the front door. Good Shepherd had featured no workers on the premises, no signs of inhabitants, and a porch with mail covering the length of it. Because of the lack of a means of communication to Good Shepherd, as well as the outward appearance, a homeless person might find difficulty contacting this facility or question its status as open for business.
Love & Mercy Fellowship in Bay Shore, advertises a food distribution service on their website.
“Local families that are struggling to make ends meet can contact the church and be added to the list of people the church loves to help by supplying both perishable and nonperishable food on a Saturday afternoon,” according to its website. On a Saturday afternoon, the church was locked and no staff members were present. No food was being distributed to persons in need. There was a homeless man begging for food two blocks away from the church.
“The big hot-button issue is affordable housing, affordable housing, affordable housing,” Brazeau said.
New York State offers different rent-subsidizing programs that are desirable for shelter residents, but the programs are difficult to get into due to limited allocation. Through one of these programs, Brazeau explained, Suffolk is able to pay $1,300 for a studio or $1,600 for a one-bedroom apartment to qualifying shelter residents. However, the price of local apartments exceeds this threshold and prevents some people from transitioning back into a permanent residence, posing a challenge for shelters.
Another of these factors holding back shelters from a higher turnaround rate with their residents comes from the need to outsource medical and safety concerns, Brazeau said.
Shelters must refer drug- or alcohol-using individuals to hospitals to maintain safety. Drug- or alcohol-induced behavior can lead to an unsafe environment and is taken seriously. If a person is displaying homicidal, suicidal, or otherwise psychotic behavior, the shelters will also refer them to a hospital. Connecting more mentally stable residents with professionals is a lengthy process, though.
“If I have a guy sitting in my office and he says he wants to see a psychiatrist and get on medications, it’s gonna take us weeks before we get him in front of somebody,” Brazeau said.
He added that the difficulty of connecting residents with the right medical care is a hurdle that can lead to them returning to the streets.
But Barrett said, “There’s always a way. You’re not alone in life. There’s resources and there’s people out there. If you don’t know who you are, the world’s gonna tell you who you are. Your past doesn’t really define you … You’re never doomed.”
