The Dept. of Homeless Services plans to lay off about 100 Community Assistants. These are the workers who maintain the city’s homeless shelters.

SSEU Local 371 has been informed that 16 of targeted workers are at the Auburn Family Center in Brooklyn, which houses 300 homeless families. This includes people like Gale Hemmings, who has worked at the shelter for 15 years. Her duties include distributing supplies and feeding the clients. “I serve them breakfast and lunch. If they’re depressed, I talk with them. I try to help out the clients the best way I can,” she says.

As a single mother with two children, ages 12 and 14, she wonders, “Will they redeploy us or are they just going to leave us out in the cold after 10-15 years?”

Hazel M. Davis performs custodial work. “I issue supplies. I clean the beds. I take out the garbage. I sweep the sidewalks. I am trying to do the best I can to help the homeless, in any way, shape or fashion,” she says.

“I think it’s a shame what the mayor is doing to the whole homeless system,” said Community Assistant E. King. “In the long run, it’s going to hurt not only the employees, but the clients. It’s hurting them right now, but it’s going to hurt them even more.”

As DC 37 and Local 371 battle the layoffs, John Talbutt, executive assistant to Local 371 President Charles Ensley, points out that the targeted workforce is among the lowest paid. “But the agency has hired many Staff Analysts to do policy planning downtown. Why are the lowest paid workers being laid off at DHS?”

— JL