Tag Archive for homelessness

| July 19, 2013
No comments

“Transformational Campus” Programs Move Homeless from Streets to Multi-service Facilities

Homeless Guy on 6th St. in Austin, TX

Homeless Guy on 6th St. in Austin, TX (Photo credit: Bukowsky18)

In June 2010, San Antonio’s $125 million “Haven for Hope” program opened the largest and most comprehensive “transformational campus” in the U.S. It now has 15 buildings on 37 acres and nearly a half million square feet under roof. More than 80 faith-based, non-profit and government service partners work together to holistically and proactively help the nearly 2,100 residents daily. Robert Marbut was the founding President and CEO.

Haven for Hope provides hundreds of services to homeless people, including medical, dental, vision, substance abuse , mental health and podiatry clinics; classrooms for job and life skills training; and housing, legal, childcare, veterans , case-management and pet-shelter services. It also provides food, exercise, clothing, banking and transportation services. It has safe outdoor mat-sleeping zones for those not yet ready for the program. Of those who have utilized the outdoor sleeping courtyard, 797 have moved to the Transformational Campus and 126 have gone into permanent housing.

Seven hundred people live on campus and work toward jobs, homes and independence. Since the program opened three years ago, there have been 383 job placements, including 100% employment for those in the dental hygienist training program and those completing the first culinary training class. The In-House Recovery Program, which provides housing and support for those with drug and alcohol addictions, has had a 60% success rate, with a total of 240 graduates.

More than 500 individuals have completed various transformation programs and are now living independently. So successful is Haven of Hope that leaders from nearly 200 cities from 44 states have visited the campus, in hopes of implementing similar programs in their communities.

According to its brochure:

The campus is near downtown, close to existing social service facilities. It is funded through a combination of public funds (city, county and federal) as well as private donations. It represents tremendous cost savings, since it is much less expensive to treat the homeless in a center of this kind than it is through publicly funded emergency rooms or other care facilities. Haven of Hope is managed by an independent board, free of political red tape.

“Effective treatment also keeps the homeless out of the legal system and jail, and additional research shows that up to 80% of people who become homeless within a given year can exit homelessness quickly–if they get the assistance they need.

A similar, though somewhat controversial transformational center, is the 500-bed St. Petersburg Safe Harbor program. Robert Marbut, who has studied homelessness in hundreds of cities, was its paid consultant, and Sarasota is contemplating hiring him for a similar approach there.

St. Petersburg’s huge homeless problem became national news when a video of its police officers with box cutters slashing up a makeshift tent city near downtown went viral.

To promote his centers, Marbut has backed panhandling bans, spoken of limiting the frequent public feedings downtown by churches and charities that had become a magnet for the homeless, and supports sending those caught sleeping on sidewalks, having open alcohol containers or relieving themselves in public to Safe Harbor—instead of jail.

Most controversial is the revelation that St. Petersburg—which has seen the homeless population downtown drop from hundreds to only a few dozen—has been giving homeless people bus tickets to other cities. So, while its homeless count has dropped, Sarasota’s has increased.

According to Sarah Snyder, executive director of the Pinellas County Coalition for the Homeless, a group that develops policy and determines how federal grant money is distributed countywide:

I think Safe Harbor is part of the answer, but I don’t think it’s the whole answer. We can’t force people to become better. We can only show them how much better their lives could be if they made some changes.

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Category: Humane Exposures | Tags: , , , , , , ,
| June 27, 2013
No comments

New London, CT’s “Rapid Re-housing” Program Shortens Shelter Stays and Saves Money

Map of Connecticut highlighting New London County

Map of Connecticut highlighting New London County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On July 1, 2013, New London County, Connecticut’s homeless picture should change substantially as regional homeless services shift to the goal of “Rapid Re-housing.” This strategy will actually put the county ahead of new HUD goals that call for limiting the stay in a homeless shelter to no more than 30 days and reducing the number of people entering the shelter for the first time.

The New London Homeless Hospitality Center declares that its Help Center will aid homeless people working on housing plans, find jobs and assist them in applying for Social Security and other benefits. The Norwich Community Care Team, which has closed its annual winter overnight shelter, just received City Council permission to convert its annual $30,000 federal community development block grant from shelter operation to rapid re-housing.

Many county homeless have some income but cannot afford pricey local rents and security deposits. The Hospitality Center is seeking funding to provide help ranging from bus fare to job interviews or a Social Security hearing to “topping off” someone’s monthly rent. Also, the area has a lot of derelict houses that could be fixed up for needed low-income housing, thereby also providing new jobs.

Homeless advocates and service providers agree that finding housing, whether it be supportive housing, shared apartments, transitional housing or even substance abuse treatment centers, is better than a lingering shelter stay.

Lee Ann Gomes, Norwich Human Services social work supervisor and a member of the Norwich Community Care Team said, rapid re-housing is much less expensive than running a shelter:

I estimate that the cost per person per year to house someone in a shelter is $990, while the rapid re-housing cost would be $363 on average, with some needing very little assistance and others needing more funding.

“The Community Care Team might provide small rental subsidies to people at risk of becoming homeless to keep them in their current housing. Or the fund could help pay a security deposit or first month rent to a working homeless person needing an apartment.

Gomes said in one recent case a person had family in Massachusetts willing to provide housing and needed only the bus fare to get there. Another family was staying at a relative’s house but literally had no beds to sleep on, so the fund could pay for beds to keep the family intact. Instead of sending people to shelter this coming winter, a caseworker will work with the homeless person to find housing as rapidly as possible.

Facilities and organizations in New London, Norwich and other county towns are now thinking regionally to solve homeless problems.

Lisa Tepper Bates, executive director of the Mystic Area Shelter and Hospitality Inc. and coordinator of the family services portion of the New London County fund, said her group argued successfully before the legislature this spring for renewed funding of up to $250,000 per year for two years in the new biennial state budget.

According to statistics provided to the legislature, 65 individuals in the region were re-housed in less than six months, and the average nightly shelter census dropped more than 30 percent from 2011 to 2012.The percentage of long-term stays also dropped, with about 62 percent of shelter residents staying for 30 or fewer days and 20 percent staying for more than 60 days, a drop of about 10 percent.

Tepper Bates said:

A shelter is still homelessness. Staying in a shelter is a stressful time for adulthood, and doubly or more so for children. The faster we can help a family stay housed, the better we are as a community. The more families we can return to housing, the more we have done for those children. It’s profoundly important. There are very serious and potentially lifelong issues here.

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Category: Homelessness | Tags: , , , , , , ,
| June 6, 2013
No comments

If Congress Passes these Four Bills It Could Lower LGBT Homelessness

Although lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth comprise 5 percent to 7 percent

English: Rainbow flag flapping in the wind wit...

English: Rainbow flag flapping in the wind with blue skies and the sun. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

of overall young people, an overwhelming 40 percent of all homeless youth are LGBT. Family rejection is the leading cause of homelessness among them, but an additional 26 percent leave home because they feel they have nowhere else to turn, because their schools and peers are hostile to LGBT students. Moreover, discrimination and harassment in schools exacerbate family conflicts over a youth’s sexual orientation or gender identity and increase the chance of homelessness.

Senators Tom Harkin and Al Franken are now pushing an education bill that includes a number of reforms to the Student Nondiscrimination Act (SNDA), which are designed to reduce incidents of bullying in schools. Modeled after Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, SNDA would establish the right to an education free of harassment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in primary and secondary schools. If signed into law, the bill would allow students who have been bullied to seek legal recourse, and it would authorize the federal government to withhold federal funds from schools that condone the bullying of LGBT students. It would be an important first step to ending LGBT youth homelessness.

Earlier this year, Senators Casey and Kirk introduced a bill in the Senate (which Rep. Linda Sanchez introduced in the House), the Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA), which would require schools receiving federal funding to implement policies to ban bullying, including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. It would also require states to report bullying and harassment data to the U.S. Department of Education.

Importantly, SSIA also explicitly states that schools cannot allow the threat of bullying and harassment to deter students from participating in school programs and extracurricular activities. In-school and afterschool programs have the potential to prevent homelessness for LGBT youth by providing a positive environment and deterring them from turning to substance abuse and engaging in other risky behaviors to cope with peer rejection. Discouraging youth from engaging in these behaviors alone reduces the risk that these youth will become homeless at some point in their lives.

Research from the Family Acceptance Project found that:

Abstaining from risky behaviors and performing well at school can reduce family conflict at home, which is the primary reason that LGBT youth experience homelessness. Among LGBT students, 30 percent report missing at least one day of school in the past month because of safety concerns, and students who are bullied frequently report lower grade-point averages..

“Researchers have also found that LGBT youth are more likely than other youth to use tobacco products than their heterosexual peers, largely to cope with rejection from their families and peers. By adopting and enforcing antibullying policies, schools can help alleviate behaviors associated with family conflict and rejection such as substance abuse and poor academic performance, thereby decreasing the odds of a child becoming homeless.

Another way Congress could help LGBT homeless youth is by directing existing homeless-youth programs to specifically target them. The Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) awards grants to public and private organizations assisting homeless youth. It is reauthorized every five years, yet makes no mention of LGBT youth, despite their disproportionate representation among the homeless-youth population. This year, Congress should include them in RHYA.

Congress should adopt a general statement of nondiscrimination for the bill that includes sexual orientation and gender identity. This would prohibit grant recipients using RHYA funds from discriminating against gay and transgender youth, who are frequently mistreated or turned away when they seek help from these organizations, simply because they identify as LGBT.

The Runaway and Homeless Youth Act is up for reauthorization this year, and the House and Senate are expected to introduce their respective funding bills for fiscal year 2014 in the coming weeks.

In addition to battling bullying in schools and improving existing programs for homeless youth, Congress should also seek new solutions to end LGBT youth homelessness. The bulk of the Reconnecting Youth to Prevent Homelessness Act aims to improve training, educational opportunities and permanency planning for older foster-care youth and reduce homelessness of all young people, LGBT or not. One part of the bill in particular calls on the secretary of health and human services to establish a demonstration project that develops programs that improve family relationships and reduce homelessness specifically for LGBT youth. A growing body of research from the Family Acceptance Project suggests that this family-centered approach is one of the best ways to support LGBT homeless youth, so targeted support for these programs has the potential to significantly decrease rates of homelessness.

The Reconnecting Youth to Prevent Homelessness Act was introduced in an earlier session of Congress by then-Sen. John Kerry, but has not yet been reintroduced into the 113th Congress.

For the first time, researchers have established a clear link between accepting family attitudes and behaviors towards their LGBT children and significantly decreased risk and better overall health in adulthood. The study shows that specific parental and caregiver behaviors—such as advocating for their children when they are mistreated because of their LGBT identity or supporting their gender expression—protect against depression, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts in early adulthood. In addition, LGBT youth with highly accepting families have significantly higher levels of self-esteem and social support in young adulthood. No prior research had examined the relationship between family acceptance of LGBT adolescents and health and mental health concerns in emerging adulthood.

Caitlin Ryan, PhD, Director of the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University. states:

At a time when the media and families are becoming acutely aware of the risk that many LGBT youth experience, our findings that family acceptance protects against suicidal thoughts and behaviors, depression and substance abuse offer a gateway to hope for LGBT youth and families that struggle with how to balance deeply held religious and personal values with love for their LGBT children.

The study, published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, also learned that LGBT young adults who reported low levels of family acceptance during adolescence were over three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts and to report suicide attempts, compared to those with high levels of family acceptance. It also found that high religious involvement in families was strongly associated with low acceptance of LGBT children.

Related articles

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Category: Homelessness | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
| May 16, 2013
No comments

Police Kidnappings and Highest Risk of Death to Detroit Homeless Drive Plan to Reduce the Problem

dtusaOver half of Detroit’s homeless are at risk of dying on the streets from freezing cold or violence—a far greater percentage than in any other US city. Interviews conducted via Common Ground’s 100,000Homeless Campaign revealed that:

Almost half of the Detroit homeless struggle with mental illness and substance abuse; 13% were veterans and 15% had grown up in the foster care system. Out of the 211 people interviewed, there have been 358 hospitalizations in the last year and 456 emergency room visits in three months. One hundred and three of these people (49%) do not have insurance, 74 people (345%) have been in prison and 149 (70.1%) have been in jail.

A recent year-long investigation by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan found that Detroit police officers have been forcibly relocating homeless people (particularly from the popular Greektown tourist district) to locations miles away and dumping them there.

ACLU attorney Sarah Mehta said:

DPD’s practice of essentially kidnapping homeless people and abandoning them miles away from the neighborhoods they know–with no means for a safe return–is inhumane, callous and illegal.

The city’s desire to hide painful reminders of our economic struggles cannot justify discriminating against the poor, banishing them from their city, and endangering their lives. A person who has lost his home has not lost his right to be treated with dignity.

In some cases, officers confiscated any money their victims had, forcing them to walk miles to get back to downtown Detroit, where most shelters are located. The ACLU’s complaint alleges violations of constitutional rights including the right to due process and the right to not suffer unreasonable search and seizure.

Currently, Detroit is on the verge of bankruptcy. At any point in time, Greater Detroit has 13,000 to 14,000 homeless citizens—60% of them with children.

Many organizations are working to reduce Detroit homelessness and eliminate its related dangers and problems. A coalition of these public and private groups, including Homeless Action Network of Detroit, Wayne County Department of Human Services and Detroit/Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency, conducted a two-year study which resulted in the report “Moving Forward Together: A 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park.”

In the past year there have been some successes: an increase in the availability of permanent supportive housing for the chronically homeless, a strengthened Homeless Management Information System and improved capacity of the Continuum of Care. Moreover, considerable work has been done to improve relationships and collaboration between anti-homelessness groups.

The 10-Year plan has seven key goals:
1) Provide safe, affordable, supportive and long-term housing solutions for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless—reducing the time they must spend in emergency shelters.
2) Prevent homelessness by strengthening and expanding resources and services that allow people to remain in their own homes or to quickly access housing when faced with a housing crisis.
3) Strengthen the infrastructure of supportive services and community resources for people who are homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless to assist them with accessing housing and maintaining residential stability.
4) Build a political agenda and public will to end homelessness.
5) Provide better access to badly needed support services, such as healthcare, mental health, substance-abuse remediation, transportation, job training and placement, child care, education and food.
6) Increasing collaboration.
7) Finding new ways to better serve the chronically homeless—the 10% of all those without homes who currently consume the greatest percentage of services.

The report states:

We face many challenges—including our difficult economic times—that must be overcome if we are to be successful. These challenges are felt acutely by the nonprofit organizations that valiantly strive each day to meet the needs of the thousands of men, women, and children seeking their help.

“It will only be by all sectors—nonprofits, businesses, government, and individuals—working together that we will be successful in ending homelessness in our community.

Hopefully, the organizations will also put pressure on Detroit Police to stop kidnapping and forcibly relocating homes people.

Related articles
Housing data and statistics: libguides.lib.msu.edu/content.php?pid=81596&sid=605565

More Detroit Homeless likely to be imprisoned once homelessness funding is cut: http://www.examiner.com/article/detroit-s-homeless-likely-to-end-up-prison

Report from the Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness:
www.icphusa.org/PDF/reports/ICPH_Michigan_Brief.pdf

Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness: www.mihomeless.org

Enhanced by Zemanta
Category: Homelessness | Tags: , , , , , , ,
| May 2, 2013
No comments

Efforts Underway to Fight Student Homelessness in Nevada, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and the U.S. Congress

1.6 Million Homeless American Children

1.6 Million Homeless American Children (Photo credit: Occupy* Posters)

There were 1,065,794 homeless students in the U.S. in June 2011, The U.S. Education Department estimates. Recent data show that the number of homeless students rose in 44 states, and that 15 states saw increases of 20% or more. Kentucky had a 57% rise in homeless students over one year. The U.S. homeless student count rose 57% since the start of the recent recession, in 2007.

Prominent homelessness expert Diana Nilan (who once was homeless herself) says:

The government estimate of over a million homeless students is horrifyingly high, but it probably is half of what it would be if all the kids were counted. The count doesn’t include homeless infants, children not enrolled in school and homeless students that schools simply failed to identify.

Seventy-one percent of the kids identified as homeless by the Education Department listed the homes of family or friends as their primary residence, but these kids aren’t counted as homeless by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which means they can’t apply for subsidized housing. That’s bogus!

Many parents fear losing custody of their children who sleep on the street, so they seek alternative living situations (such as in motels, sleeping on friends’ couches and moving around a lot). Efforts are underway in Congress to pass HR 32, which would broaden HUD’s current very-narrow definition of homeless children (those on the streets and in shelters only) and permit more of them to receive government assistance.

A new report shows that only 52% of homeless students who took standardized tests were proficient in reading and only 51% were in math. In Virginia, 21.2% of students who are homeless at some point during their high school years drop out, compared with 14.8% of all poor children. In Colorado, the high school graduation rate is 72% for all students, 59% for poor students and 48% for homeless students,

“When “you don’t have a permanent place to stay, you have to change schools a lot,” said Barbara Duffield, policy director for the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth. “It sets you far behind and is socially and emotionally disruptive.”

When Sherrie Gahn became principal of Whitney Elementary in Las Vegas, she was shocked to find students eating ketchup from packets and learned that 85% of them were homeless.
So she told parents:

Give me your children and let me teach them, and in turn I will give you food and clothes and we will take them to the eye doctor. I will pay your rent and your utilities, but you must keep your child here.

Funded by organizations and private donors, she meets a wide range of homeless student needs, from haircuts to financial assistance—and as a result those kids have doubled their standardized test scores. She is now working with Nevada’s First Lady, Kathleen Sandoval, to create an after-school program that will make the children feel productive. Gahn has also promised her homeless students that if they graduate from high school and cannot afford college, she will help pay their tuition.

In Minnesota, where 9% of students were homeless last year (and at least one was regularly sleeping in a public toilet), the legislature is considering a $50 million boost in homelessness programs, plus $50 million in bonding for affordable housing. Last year the state spent $8 million transporting homeless students.

In Pittsburgh, between 2005 and 2009, black homeless families made up 56.3% of residents in family homeless shelters, even though they only accounted for 12 %of the city’s population. Educational disparity is one major reason. So after-school programs are being introduced in homeless shelters.

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Category: Education, Homelessness, Humane Exposures, Shelter | Tags: , , , , , , ,
| April 18, 2013
No comments

Family Homelessness is Increasing, But Multiple Strategies Can Reduce It

 

English: A homeless man in New York with the A...

English: A homeless man in New York with the American flag in the background. Français : Un homme sans domicile fixe à New York. Un drapeau des États-Unis est visible en arrière plan. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The National Center on Family Homelessness (NCFH) reports that U.S. family homelessness rose by 38% from 2007 to 2010.

A more recent Point-in-Time Count conducted by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) found that on a night in January 2012 families containing 239,403 persons (an estimated 77,157 households) were homeless That number was up 1.4%, over 2011.The Department of Education reports that nearly 1,065,794 public school children were identified as homeless over the course of the 2010-2011 school year (the highest number on record).

Currently the U.S has a shortage of 6.8 million affordable housing units. USICH believes that the most common reasons for families becoming homeless are the inability to find stable housing, loss of a job or doing work that doesn’t pay enough to afford housing, health crises, domestic violence, having children at a young age and lack of a strong social support network.

A report from NCFH states: Without a place to call home, children are challenged by unpredictability, insecurity and chaos. Families experiencing homelessness are vulnerable; most have experienced extreme poverty, residential instability and violence; and many parents have limited education and work histories.

Often, families who are homeless have experienced ongoing trauma in the form of childhood abuse and domestic and community violence, as well as the traumas associated with poverty and the loss of home, safety and sense of security.

These experiences can significantly impact how children and adults think, feel, behave, relate to others and cope. A constant barrage of stressful and traumatic experiences can have profound effects on a child’s development and his/her ability to learn, ultimately affecting success in life.

In June 2010, USICH released a Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, which claimed that adequate funding, political will and commitment at all levels of government could end family homelessness by 2020.

The multi-faceted strategy to accomplish this involves: 1) supporting federal homeless programs, 2) utilizing programs that help children and youths thrive; 3) supporting veterans and their families; 4) reducing and preventing domestic violence and protecting survivors; 5) initiating and supporting trauma-informed care; 6) investing in data collection; and 7) developing best practices.

Reverend Bobbi Virta, of the 44-member Interfaith Coalition on Homelessness in Whatcom County, WA, reports that a 2012 Point-in-Time Count found that 22% of the homeless in her community were younger than 18.

She says:

Homeless families are often doubled-up, moving from one friend’s house to the next. They are sleeping in cars or camping outside. Some are lucky enough to get a voucher for an occasional night in a cheap motel for the chance to shower. Parents are struggling to keep it together, and children are struggling to stay in school.

Although many group shelters separate fathers and boys older than 12 from mothers and daughters, her Coalition’s nine temporary/emergency housing facilities allow families to stay together. She reports that after three months of emergency housing, 90% of the homeless residents leave for stable, long-term housing.

Related articles

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Category: Homelessness | Tags: , , , , , , ,
| April 7, 2013
One comment

Aging Street Dwellers Could Remain Homeless for Life Unless More Housing is Found

English: Homeless veteran in New York

English: Homeless veteran in New York (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A recent report from the National Alliance to End Homelessness predicted the number of elderly homeless people could increase 33% by 2020 and more than double by 2050.

The alliance recommends that the supply of subsidized affordable housing for economically struggling elderly persons be increased and that permanent housing be created to end chronic homelessness. The alliance also suggests advancing research to better understand the needs of the elderly homeless population.

In Pasadena, CA, homelessness increased more than 21% between 2009 and 2011. The 2010 US Census found that more than 21,000 people in 8,000 households in Pasadena (a fairly wealthy city) had incomes below $15,000 and were considered at-risk for homelessness. Researchers also found that 14% of Pasadena residents were living below the poverty level, including 19% of children, 23% of families with a female head and 13% of people over 65.

Anne Lansing, co-chair of the Pasadena Housing and Homeless Network and project manager for the Pasadena Housing Department says:

As the population ages, the homeless population will age correspondingly with it. If they’ve become homeless when they were seniors, there is a great deal of anger. They feel that society has basically failed in its social contract.

Most of these seniors have been homeless for a long time, aging on the street. Unless there are serious efforts to increase their housing opportunities, many will continue to live on the streets.

Providing for the elderly homeless provides new challenges for agencies, because older people are sicker and require a wide range of medical services. A lack of housing exacerbates their medical problems. Lansing points out that arthritis is more debilitating when one is sleeping on concrete instead of a bed.

Marvin Gross, CEO of Union Station Homeless Services, in Pasadena, says:

We don’t dispense medication, but we work with seniors to make sure that they take certain medications at a certain time. Seniors need more time and attention from our case-management staff.

Union Station offers two health clinics, and its staff arranges doctors’ appointments and ER visits. Staffers also assist those with mobility and mental health issues.

Because many seniors are in poor health, they are unable to perform the activities that enable some younger homeless people to eventually become self-sufficient. So homeless seniors are more likely to remain homeless for the rest of their lives.

Union Station provides employment assistance for its homeless population, but many homeless seniors face age discrimination when they attempt to re-enter the workplace.
Gross adds:

Homelessness is one more barrier to getting a job. Many seniors are disabled and can’t get work.

Elderly people who are homeless are often eligible for government assistance, including Social Security, Medicare, Medi-Cal and Section 8 rent subsidies, but they are often unaware that they qualify for these programs. Or they do not know how to obtain these benefits. Helping senior citizens receive assistance is yet another task that Union Station performs for its residents.

Related articles

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Category: Homelessness, Humane Exposures | Tags: , , , , , , ,
| March 29, 2013
No comments

Tent Cities Provide a Temporary Alternative to Homelessness

"Nickelsville" homeless encampment (...

“Nickelsville” homeless encampment (named after Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels) towards the end of its 3-month stay in the parking lot of the University Congregational United Church of Christ in the University District, Seattle, Washington. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Since the US and world economies cratered in 2007 there has been a large increase in homelessness. Supportive services have become overburdened, and many people have abandoned the shelter system altogether and moved into tent cities.

 
In 1990 Seattle had one of the first tent cities, created by a sponsoring organization called SHARE. Twelve years later Seattle became the first major American city to accept the basic tent city operating principles. Ever since, two tent cities have operated under city and local ordinances—and one has operated unsanctioned—each relocating every three months. They are hosted by a rotation of churches.

 
Neil Donovan, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, in a 2010 report declared:

 

Tent cities are Americans’ de facto waiting room for affordable and accessible housing. All developed nations have supportive public housing with varying levels of volume and efficacy, but many housing options take months or years to get into.

It is ironic that while US homelessness is increasing, 11% of houses stand empty. Tent cities are a pragmatic, short-term way to widen the safety net for people in danger of losing their homes. If permanent housing for all homeless people becomes unrealistic, the model of transitional housing in organized tent cities could prevent both temporary and absolute homelessness.

 
Many churches like to host tent cities, as it allows them to help the people most in need.

 
Despite high unemployment, many tent city dwellers work day jobs, and some tent cities are based around employment opportunities. In Fresno, CA, for example, Little Tijuana is a predominantly Hispanic tent city comprised of many migrant workers who can’t afford housing or don’t want to take the risk of signing a lease.

 
Portland, Oregon’s Dignity Village is a self-governed, self-funded community founded by homeless people (all of whom have since moved on to permanent housing or elsewhere). In its 13-year life, it has evolved from a traditional tent city into an “eco-village,” with help from local non-profit organizations and community donations. Its houses are made from recycled materials, and amenities include 24-hour security, an organic farm and city-provided waste removal and recycling. This autonomous community remains relatively safe by throwing out residents who bring drugs or alcohol onto the site. Portland police believe that Dignity Village makes their jobs easier.

Seattle Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith concludes:

 

  We have people in this city sleeping outside. That’s reality. So let’s create as many options as we can.

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Category: Humane Exposures | Tags: , , , , , , ,
| March 7, 2013
No comments

NYC’s Doe Fund Houses, Trains and Helps 700 Homeless a Year Find Work

English: The western ramp and pylon of Brookly...

English: The western ramp and pylon of Brooklyn Bridge, New York City (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

New York City currently has about 50,000 homeless people (nearly 8% of the U.S. total), as well as considerable poverty and unemployment. But, quietly, for the last quarter-century, the non-profit group The Doe Fund has operated a highly effective one-year program to move them from despair on the streets to contentment and comfort in homes and at jobs.

A 2010 Harvard study found that people who spent a year in The Doe Fund program were far less likely to commit violent felonies than others just released from prison.

Hamilton Nolan, writing in Gawkr explains:

They take in homeless people, referred to them by places like Bellevue Hospital. Many of these people are fresh out of prison, with little safety net. They house them. They ensure they’re sober and make them abide by a schedule. They give them a job for starters—cleaning up trash around the city, for a month.

After that, the fund gives them classes in life skills and specific job training (they can choose between pest control, catering, building maintenance, and other specialties) for the next six months or so. There are mock job interviews, to get the pitch right. Then they send each one out to pound the pavement and find a job. When they find a job, they find them a place to live.

About 25 years ago, George McDonald (social activist turned politician who is running for mayor but unlikely to win) was shocked to learn of the winter death of a homeless woman in the heart of Manhattan, right outside Grand Central station. For the next two years he went to the corner of 43rd St. and Vanderbilt, at 10 p.m., to feed homeless people. This was during the massive mid-80s crack epidemic, when mounds of vials covered the streets. During the time McDonald ran his ad hoc and officially unsanctioned program, he was frequently arrested for being a nuisance (disorderly conduct).

He obtained a city contract for his homeless people to work on city-owned apartment buildings, and he arranged free city housing for 70 of them in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant district.

Today the program has 700 formerly homeless workers residing in its facilities in Harlem, Bed-Stuy and Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood. They staff their own businesses, including a pest-control firm. At one point, during the Giuliani mayorship, their budget was cut in half, although today it has risen to $50 million/year.

Currently they are seeing many more military veterans and psychologically damaged adults who are former crack babies. The Doe fund has expanded and now operates a similar program in Philadelphia.

‘Doe Fund runs a deliberate, rule-based, common sense, step-by-step process that successfully solves society’s thorniest social and economic problems. At any given time, 700 people are making their way through this process, on a yearlong journey from Having Nothing to Having Something.

All of it exists because George McDonald—just some guy, really, not a radical revolutionary or professional camera-hogging pundit, just some guy who thought homelessness in his city was troubling—went out, with the help of some close friends and confidantes, and built it.’

One advantage of McDonald’s mayoral campaign is that it focuses public attention on homelessness, poverty, unemployment and related social ills. His approach should appeal both to both compassionate liberals and personal responsibility-conscious conservatives, since it provides a hand-up rather than a handout. In an ideal world, the Doe Fund’s services would be provided by government. Hopefully they will be expanded and will be attempted elsewhere.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Category: Homelessness, New York City | Tags: , , , , , , ,
| January 17, 2013
No comments

Wyoming: economic migrants and homelessness

Map of USA with Wyoming highlighted

Map of USA with Wyoming highlighted (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Wyoming is notable for how well it has weathered the recession. It has as strong economy and a low unemployment rate, both of which are attractive to those who have suffered in the current economy. This means an influx of new residents seeking jobs, far more of them than there are homes available for.

Jack Healy of The New York Times reports:

There is a surprising downside to Wyoming’s economic resilience and its 5.1 percent unemployment rate: a sharp rise in homelessness.

As another winter settles in, many people who moved here fleeing foreclosures and chasing jobs in the oil, gas and coal industries now find themselves without a place to live. Apartments are scarce and expensive, and the economy, while strong, is not growing at the swift pace of drilling towns in western North Dakota, where cashiers can earn $20 an hour and fast-food workers can be paid thousand-dollar signing bonuses.

As homeless rates held steady nationwide last year, federal data show that Wyoming’s homeless population soared by 67 percent, to 1,813 people from 1,083 in 2011. Advocates attribute the surge in part to a more aggressive attempt to count the state’s homeless.

That is an amazing spike, sixty-seven percent in one year! While more accurate counts of the homeless can surely account for a portion of that rise, there must be other factors involved. This is where a sort of “gold rush” mentality comes into the equation, people are flocking there for the jobs.

As in any other place in the country, many homeless people in Wyoming have lived on the streets for years or suffer from mental illness or drug and alcohol addictions. But social service workers say they have seen a growing number of economic migrants from Florida and Michigan, Wisconsin and California, with nowhere to settle.

“They’d pack up their pit bulls, their children and they’d move to Wyoming with nothing, just the clothes on their backs,” said Lily Patton, a housing counselor with Interfaith of Natrona County, a nonprofit group. “They keep saying, ‘I’ve never been in this situation before.’ ”

Economic fallout from the past few years has forced many families across the nation into homelessness, and as times have gotten harder many have been forced to seek better opportunities elsewhere. This is exactly what we are seeing in Wyoming, and the available housing stock is not up to the challenge of the new population. As noted above, a good economy does not necessarily denote a growing economy.

As I noted in my last post, many elements of the homeless picture are constant – the need for substance abuse and mental health care options for instance – but there are others that are specific to any given community. As 2013 progresses we need to pay attention to both.

Every state can benefit both socially and fiscally from enacting rehabilitative and skill-development programs, and these are vital things to fight for, but vigilance and engagement are required on the local level in order to deal with the specific dynamics of their communities.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Category: Humane Exposures | Tags: , , ,
« Older Entries   Recent Entries »