The Cycle of Poverty Hits Home

Part 1: An interview with Tom Rebman

Living on the Space Coast is more than rocket launches, surfing, and golf carts. In this first in a series of conversations that address the cycle of poverty in Brevard County, we found it affects more people than we realize.

This first installment explores affordable housing through the unique perspective of Tom Rebman, a teacher in Palm Bay and former social services administrator for the City of Palm Bay who lived homeless for a year — by choice. The lesson he learned from his field research: the biggest causes of homelessness are access to services and affordable housing.

The cycle of poverty includes people you likely know, often families one paycheck away from losing everything. The cycle also includes the homeless — those who either by choice or as a result of a series of events, live on their own away from traditional housing.

“Housing is the number one reason for homelessness,” Rebman said. “That's in every study in the nation. It's not substance abuse, it's not work. Affordable housing is the number one reason people are homeless, period.”

Rebman talks with passion about various aspects affecting the area’s homeless. He said he’s come across people working full-time jobs who are living in the woods due to the perfect storm of life circumstances. One couldn’t recover after child support obligations slashed his take-home pay. Another has income, but a criminal record has prevented landlords from giving him a chance.

“I talk with lots of people who have full-time jobs but can't find affordable housing, or they only need to overcome a credit issue or a felony issue with a landlord,” Rebman said.

The stats

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest statistics, of Brevard’s less than 230,000 occupied housing units, 28% are renter occupied. Now let’s break down the cost to live under a roof as a renter here. The median household income is $52,000. The median gross rent in Brevard is $971, including utilities. Simply using these numbers shows that close to a quarter of a household’s income (much more for lower-income families) must be used to cover the rent. Factor in food, transportation, health care — and sometimes there just isn’t enough money to cover essentials.

The Census says 12.4% of Brevardians live in poverty. But the statistics can miss capturing everyone.

Who’s affected

EverythingBrevard went with Rebman into the woods to see how some area homeless are living.

“Let me really blow your mind,” he said. “I talk to a guy that lives in the woods next to Walmart in Palm Bay. He's a full-time Walmart employee, living in the woods.”

This man’s story involves having child support come out of his paycheck, and with making only minimum wage, the money he takes home isn’t enough to live under a roof. 

“He doesn't use drugs. He doesn't have a disability. He has a full-time job. There is no help offered for someone like that,” Rebman said.

Others trying to recover from a criminal history also encounter roadblocks.

“I talk with lots of people who have full-time jobs but can't find affordable housing, or they only need to overcome a credit issue,” he said. “They have the money, but because of their (criminal) record, can't get into housing. Who is helping those people negotiate with a landlord to help them find housing?”

Rebman claims the public is not aware just how “broken” the help system is. As an example, he points to the private not-for-profit 211 Brevard, which when we checked, listed three food pantries in Palm Bay.

“I know of 29,” Rebman said. “When it comes to community services, 211 can only list services that request to be listed. That's why I am advocating that the Palm Bay City Council provide an official community guide for all services.”

After so many visits to homeless camps in Palm Bay, Rebman said he knows just about all the permanent camp residents. And the biggest hurdle is trying to connect people with existing services.

“I am four years into serving people daily and I still find out about churches that are providing rent assistance I didn't know about. There is just no real resource to connect people with help.”

He described what he calls failures of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program, where vouchers are given to people who have been homeless at least a year and who are disabled in some manner: What good is a voucher if there isn’t any housing available. Or if the person receiving it doesn’t know what to do with it.

“Many of these vouchers are handed to homeless people and then are never used. There is not a case management system to properly guide these people,” Rebman explained. “Many of the people who are getting housing vouchers are disabled… The current ‘system’ expects a mentally or physically disabled person to go find their own housing.”

The Path Forward

Rebman looks at the nature of the system itself as the problem: “The reason that our help system is broken is not because the support agencies are bad or doing anything wrong. They are all great people doing amazing things, but unfortunately they have to work within grant requirements. If they are not being paid to service someone, they cannot afford to do it. They are not a charity organization, no matter what people may think. They have to stay in business, they have to pay their employees and pay to keep their doors open.”

Fixing the broken system, Rebman said, means addressing community-based solutions, with affordable housing as the first priority.

“Next is to be able to connect people to current services without the runaround we currently have in every arena. That's in mental health, in getting housing, in financial assistance with rent, that's in everything,” Rebman said. “We need to have all the services we currently have, but we have to scaffold the services together and be of more help to those in need.”

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