Reliable Transportation is Key to Escaping Homelessness

Harbor Care helps people get to where they’re going and a recent Homeland Heroes Foundation donation of Uber cards to Veterans FIRST will help many struggling former servicepersons take important steps towards changing their lives.  

This significant donation of 120 Uber cards, each worth $25, is earmarked for connecting Harbor Care veterans to services, employment, housing, and so much more. 

In New Hampshire, most of us take our car for granted. It’s in the driveway every morning, waiting for us to climb in. It sits in the parking lot at work, at the gym, or at the supermarket, ready to take us to our next destination. Having a car can seem as common as having a set of lungs, but in fact roughly 23,100,000 people in the U.S. do not have access to a car.  

Yes, some of these live in the heart of a large metropolitan area where they have access to a sophisticated, diversified, and widespread transit system, but many of them live in small cities like Nashua, Manchester, or Concord; towns like Merrimack, Antrim, and Claremont; or in rural areas like Mason. 

Rayla Bellis of Smart Growth America discusses this in her article More Than One Million Households Without a Car in Rural America Need Better Transit: 

On a national level, the majority of households without a car are in urban counties (as are the majority of people), but the rates aren’t as different as you might expect: on average, about nine percent of households in urban counties do not have access to a car, compared to approximately six percent of households in primarily rural counties. And while most of the counties with the highest rates of carless households unsurprisingly are in big cities like New York City, Baltimore, San Francisco, New Orleans, and the District of Columbia, the majority of counties with overall high rates of zero-car households are in fact rural. 

Many of our nation’s 230,000,000 carless people live in New Hampshire. Sharon Brodeur, Director of Mainstream Housing, says: 

I remember seeing our clients all over town, walking. Often their jobs were in the outskirts of the city, or in a neighboring town. I would see them at bus stops here and there, but the bus doesn’t go everywhere. I would see them walking along the side of a road, or beside a busy highway. One client who had to walk from Main Street in Nashua to his employer’s finance office in another town every week just to pick up his paycheck. I’d see him out in all kinds of weather. I was not permitted by my employer to give him a ride due to liability issues, but it sure was hard not to, when the rain was pouring down. 

Someone with a car has 30 times the jobs available to them in within a 30-minute commute, as compared to those who rely on public transportation; owning a car, however, costs 10 times as much as using public transit.

When someone in our car-oriented society doesn’t have a car, the loss of a drivers’ license is often at fault. Sometimes a legal issue was the cause, but medical issues, such as a diagnosis of epilepsy, macular degeneration, or cataracts can bring about a permanent (and sometimes sudden) end to one’s driving life.  

For other, the loss of a car comes after losing a job, or from the inability to stretch a paycheck across rent, utilities, food costs, a car payment, and unexpected car repairs. With the rising cost of rent as well as consumer prices, this is a scenario many of us can imagine. 

Meghan McCarty Carino says in her article How A Transportation Safety Net Could Keep More People Off The Streets found that access to transportation is the single biggest factor in the odds of escaping poverty and avoiding homelessness. Her findings are echoed by Victoria Van Tol’s words in Lack of Affordable Transportation keeps People Homeless: 

We found transit is not nearly as good at connecting people to the labor market as cars. Drivers had access to 30 times the number of jobs within a half hour commute compared to those who relied on public transportation. The time disparity is particularly fraught for low-wage workers who may have odd hours, work overnight and can often be docked pay or fired for being late. 

Ms. Carino also reminds us of the circular cause-and-effect of low-income and lack of a vehicle:  

But the cost of owning a vehicle can be prohibitive. One study from the Public Policy Institute of California found low-income people in the San Francisco Bay Area spent about 10 times as much on transportation if they drove compared to taking transit. 

Many in New Hampshire want public transportation expanded.

Locally, recent transportation studies of towns around Greater Nashua show that nearly 74% of respondents said they would use public transportation if it was available in their area. Of those, 50% reported that they need it for work and/or school. 65% percent for shopping for groceries and other items, 40% need it for medical appointments.   

Because of its negative impact on getting and keeping a job, the loss of one vehicle makes the worker less able to purchase and maintain another. It also reduces that person’s ability to attend job training programs, keep groceries in their pantry, and see their doctor, beginning a downward spiral that affects most areas of the person’s life. 

The staff at Harbor Care’s Homeless Veteran Reintegration (HVRP) are more than familiar with this particular Catch-22. Andrea Reed, HVRP Program Manager, says that her clients need transportation for medical appointments, job interviews, and a host of other things, yet many struggle with access. She says, “we are often unable to transport clients in our own cars, due to liability issues, so rideshare services are how we get our clients around.” 

These rideshare gift cards are a crucial part of our mission. We often use them to get clients to job interviews, medical appointments, training, and more.

When asked about transportation issues her clients encounter, she says: Clients often have cars that would be fine if they just had some repairs, but there’s no money for that. It’s always a problem. Grants don’t pay for car repairs because grantors assume the clients can use public transportation, but as you know it’s not always available, and it doesn’t go everywhere. 

Andrea is delighted that Homeland Heroes Foundation has made such a generous donation of Uber gift cards, earmarked for veterans. She says: 

These rideshare gift cards are a crucial part of our mission. We use them to get our clients to job interviews, to medical appointments and work physicals, to the DMV to get their license back, to vaccination clinics, to court appearances, and much more. There’s always a need. We often use rideshare to pick up a new client wherever they have been living – in an emergency shelter, in a tent somewhere, or under a bridge – and transport them to one of Harbor Care’s veteran housing facilities.    

When asked what she would do if she got more funding for transportation, Andrea says, “I’d buy more gift cards for Uber, Lyft, and other rideshare options – including the local taxi if they offer cards! It would also be nice to get donations for car repairs for veterans. If anyone can help out with that, please let me know.” 

Veterans ServicesGuest UserHarbor Care Veterans FIRSTTransportation, Veterans FIRST, Homeless Veteran Reintegration Program, Homeland Heroes Foundation, Rideshare, Donation