Former Camp LaGuardia resident blasts shelter

Chester-A former resident of Camp LaGuardia has offered a rare glimpse at life at the homeless shelter in Chester, long criticized by local officials and others as a "closed society" shut off from public scrutiny. The 1,001-bed Camp is the only New York City-run homeless shelter located outside the city. It has come under fire in recent years for what is commonly perceived as an increasing rate of on-campus violence, and for the acceptance of parolees with violent pasts. "A lot of these guys are very serious criminals," said Sean Devney, speaking about his experiences at the Camp in the fall and winter of 2002. "I'd say that about 90 percent of the homeless population are drug addicts or alcoholics or a combination." Devney now works as a sexton at the Washington Square United Methodist Church in Manhattan. He lives in the church. The 45-year-old writer and artist was homeless for about a year. In an article he wrote for mainchance.org, titled "Down and Out in New York City," he tells of his journey through the shelter system, and writes at length about the Camp. The article is available online at www.mainchance.org/upward/read/may2003/devney.html. He said that Volunteers of America, which New York City has hired to run the Camp, is ineffective. "What you're dealing with is bureaucrats," he said. "Now, maybe the people who have actually designed these programs honestly want to help. But the people who are doing the work in the trenches, the day-to-day activity, these people don't care at all. They're there simply for a paycheck. It's surreal." He said it is impossible for "the bureaucrats" to differentiate between those who have simply have slipped through the cracks and those who are life-long addicts. What happens is there are drugs there all the time." He said he witnessed much violence in his time there. During the first weekend he was at the Camp, a man died overdosing on heroin, He said. "There were fights in Chester. One guy pulled out a knife and stabbed the other guy in the chest. The guy who was killed had just gotten a Section 8." The Chronicle made several calls to Camp LaGuardia to confirm the details of Devney's story. Darren Gamma, the director of public communications for the Volunteers of America, asked the paper on two occasions to delay the story while awaiting a response from the New York City Department of Homeless Services. No responses ever came. Town of Chester Supervisor William Tully said Volunteers of America gets about $13 million dollars a year from New York City to administer programs, programs that Devney calls, "a joke n bells and whistles" that look good on paper. The towns of Chester and Blooming Grove and the Village of Chester have long been asking for a neutral monitor that officials say will help stem the tide of violence and lesser offenses, both on and off campus, by ensuring the conditions of the so-called Rampe Agreement have been met. In particular, a monitor would report how many residents are participating in rehabilitation programs for drug and alcohol addition, and the nature of those programs. Chester officials and county legislator Frank Fornario have vowed to get a monitor for the Camp, even if it means going to court once again. Devney agrees with Tully's characterization of the Camp as a "closed society." He said if a court-ordered monitor were put into place, "it would be a disaster, are you kidding me? My God. This is not a nice place. It's dirty. The people in there, a lot of these guys are just completely out of their minds." Devney says he has had some tough experiences. His mother died when he was seven years old. His father was "a very serious alcoholic." His brother, who survived Vietnam, was later killed in a helicopter crash in Canada. He has one sister, a nurse, who lives outside Chicago. He has written two books. One, to be published in the near future, is titled, The Story of Joseph The Wise. "I conceived of this great idea while I was at Camp LaGuardia," he said. "It's a satire on religion. Joseph is visited by these aliens, and he wants them to find young people so they can be transported from earth to their home planet, to help them rebuild their society. It's meant to be campy. I came up with this idea, because in this shelter system, you have to sit through these terrible religious programs. It would drive you to drink if nothing else." Devney said the religious talks weren't required at Camp LaGuardia, but were at a Bowery shelter he stayed at briefly. Several of his works, plays and non-fiction articles, have been published in Big News, a homeless advocate publication in New York City. He was also part of a theater company called AWD. "In 1992 I was the first one ever to take the talk show format and put that up on stage," he said, in his play "The Jackie Simon Show." He admits it is not easy to support oneself as an artist and writer. He has held jobs, such as in security work. After some credit card problems and the loss of a job, he needed help. It is not unusual for people living in one of the most expensive cities in the world to go to family for help. But Devney had none. So he got help from the government. But, he says, government-run shelters are just warehousing people. He does not have sympathy for addicts who do not change. "There's an entire class of homeless guys," he said. "They've made this into their life. It's their profession." "A lot of these guys are told, ‘Stop taking drugs and change your life,' but they won't listen," he said. "My father was a very serious alcoholic. He actually stopped drinking. He went cold turkey. The point is if you want to stop doing something you can stop doing it."