Tough Times Ahead…

The News & Observer, a North Carolina media outlet has a terrific editorial today:

Help Toward Home

Cities across America have put together public investments and private contributions over the past few years to reduce the numbers of homeless people living on the streets. It's a good objective, but the Associated Press reports it is a threatened one. The economic crisis has bitten into charitable donations from corporations, and individuals who used to contribute to causes related to helping the homeless are worried about their own futures.

Let us hope that communities -- while recognizing the realities of the times -- don't abandon their efforts to help the homeless or don't allow the numbers of folks on the streets to go up. Even if people may not be able to do what once they did with regard to donations, perhaps they can remain advocates. The services that help reduce homelessness include good mental health care along with adequate shelters and transitional housing.

Fighting homelessness isn't just about a city protecting its image. It is about our basic humanity toward one another. And it's about families. Homelessness has many faces, and some of them belong to children, and to the working poor. Progress has been made -- too much to allow the sounding of a retreat.

(Pic from http://thevillagesofellenwood.com)

Will Everyone Survive?

An editorial in the LA Times today thinks people can and will survive the downturn of this current economy. Here is some of what Dana Parsons writes:

Financial doom is not certain, but it's certainly in play for 2009. Used to be that only crackpots forecast the imminent ruination of the U.S. economy and an uncertain length of time to recovery. Now, some respected economists are saying it.

We take note of the extreme measures that the politicians are talking about to fix the economy and, rather than being comforted, only grow more fretful as we grasp the severity of the problem. We re-read our Depression-era history and see that it took years for the economy to recover from these kinds of depths. We see friends and relatives losing jobs and forced to scramble for new ones that may not exist.

My sister reminded me that I'd never be homeless because some other member of the family would always take me in. And by implication, that I would do the same for any of them. That conversation put me off solid food for the next day or so, as I contemplated my golden years in a relative's guest bedroom or one of them in mine.

Oh, for the privacy of the cardboard box in the bushes near a freeway overpass! A place to call my own.

What seems different nowadays is people's acceptance that worst-case scenarios are possible. Denial that we could possibly lose everything is slowly being replaced by awareness that, yes, it could happen.

It's not that complicated: Lose your job, lose your home, deplete your already-disintegrating savings, fail to land another job and, presto, you're belly up.

I came to California 20 years ago without a job and with about 15 grand in net worth. It slipped below 10 grand in my first year out here. When I was a high school kid in Nebraska, it was hard to scrounge up lunch money some days. I heard my parents on the phone with bill collectors, and I packed up belongings as our family moved in with my grandparents more than once.

But the point is, I survived.

My take on Mr. Parsons "middle-class" assessment on poverty and the current economy... He has no idea what homelessness is. He thinks it's simply sleeping in a cardboard box on the streets.

He misinterprets the fact that he came to California with $15,000 and a family that backed him up as reason why all people should be able to survive the economy and not be homeless.

He is wrong. People today are struggling with mental health issues, substance abuse addictions, job loss, or health failure. They've survived the armed forces, foster care, or domestically violent relationships. But they still end up homeless.

They do not have $15,000 in the bank. They do not have a family or friend network (social safety net) to catch them. All they have are the ghosts of poverty that have pushed them onto the streets.

So, please Mr. Parsons, don't compare your "survival" tale with those on our streets. Or those who will end up on the streets given this current economy.

Don’t think surviving this economy is as simple as buying a survival kit at the local Walmart.

(Pic from http://blogs.ksbe.edu)

I Wonder...

So we are now in 2009. Our new President-elect is telling the country that the economic times will get worse before it gets better.

For most of us, it means tightening our fiscal belts. Perhaps less dining out, less driving, less vacations. Some of us may get laid off at work, and will need to seek a new job. Some households might go from two bread-winners to only one. Some might need to borrow money to get by.

But the majority of us will get by. Yes, things might get worse, but we know it will get better.

This is what we are being told.

But there is a layer within our society that has no social safety net. These are the people that I'm worried about. A job snatched away, a sickness without health insurance, or a home foreclosed, means more than simply getting by. It means people ending up homeless.

I wonder what will happen to them?

In the last five years, this country has promoted a visionary perspective on homelessness-building permanent housing linked to services and targeting the most vulnerable homeless people on the streets. It was working.

Until this most recent downtown in the economy.

Some are saying an increase in homelessness could match the 1980's, despite the gains in addressing homelessness in the past five years. The media is already reporting such increases around the country.

So here's how I see it... when President Obama, a few years in the future, announces that the economy is now getting better, I wonder what will happen to the thousands of newly homeless who ended up on the streets during the "worse" of times?

When a person or a family ends up on the street, the cost of getting them re-housed is quite expensive. I'm wondering if a better economy, in the near future, will not invest in people who have fallen through the safety net now.

So I wonder if we are basically back to ground zero in 2009? Where the increase in homelessness overwhelms the gains in decreasing chronic homelessness since 2005.

Those of us who spend our waking hours trying to resolve homelessness in communities around the country are bracing for the "worse" of times. I wonder if 2009 will be that year?

(Pic from www.1k30days.com)

Year-end musings and New Year resolutions

By Richard Bloom
Executive Director, Community Initiatives

As the year 2008 comes to a close, we look back on a year of enormous change and turmoil. Looking forward, we are, at once, filled with hope and intrigue that our new executive administration brings, while, at the same time, fear and trepidation over economic turmoil and war. I am sure that many of those who are homeless share similar thoughts and feelings. I try hard to think what it must be like to view these world events from the homeless perspective on the street. What does a devastated economy mean to a person who has nothing and and has been living for several years in squalor, debilitated by dependency? How distant must the violence of Afghanistan, Iraq and the middle east seem to a mother who is living moment to moment, wracked in the confusion and pain of mental illness?

Things must change and our incoming President asks us to believe in our ability to make change happen. I believe and I hope you do, too.

The new year is a traditional time for resolving to do things differently and the transition in Washington should give us more than the usual optimism for success. So, let us resolve in 2009 to bring meaningful and positive change to the homeless and to reduce the turmoil that accompanies their every day. Let us acknowledge that this humanitarian crisis requires substantial investment but that the dual dividend of lives reclaimed and economic savings to our communities is well worth it. In Los Angeles County, let us resolve that the time has come for each of our 88 cities and our County to find common ground, recognizing that each must shoulder a unique responsibility for creating housing, providing services and implementing best practices. Finally, let us all resolve to always remember that solutions to homelessness are not simply your responsibility or his or hers or mine. The responsibility is ours.

We at PATH Partners look forward to working together with each of you to make these resolutions a reality in 2009.

Civil Overestimation

By Daniel Tran
Communications Intern

Police in Orange County are currently on the search for a group of teenage boys who viciously attacked a homeless man with paintball guns. Link

This group of teenage boys basically went up to the homeless man and fired up to 35 paintballs at close range to his face and upper body. Hospital officials are saying that his injuries are so severe that he could lose an eye.

As much as I’d hate to demean or insult anyone, but don’t we live in a civil and intelligent society? What disgusts me is the fact that these teenage boys are my generation and from my county.

From personally growing up in Orange County, I know that there’s absolutely no excuse for people to have been raised as, for lack of a better word, trash. It’s quite easy for me to articulate whatever I want to say, but at this moment I’m completely baffled.

This attack is comparable to genocide, and I personally hope that these boys are found, tried as adults, and receive no less than what they showed that homeless man.

Economy threatens cities' fights vs. Homelessness

By Daniel Tran

Communications Intern

Case workers in Atlanta, Georgia are doing the same thing that basically every case worker, every nonprofit, every shelter is doing: bracing themselves for the inevitable super decline in financial sustainability. Link

In Atlanta in particular, leaders in the year of 2003 adopted a 10 year plan of transitional housing to address and effectively end homelessness. However, their plans are taking a backseat as a sudden decline in the economy effects funding. A drop in donations as people scramble to manage themselves during the crisis and cuts in funding allocated to outreach case workers as the state tries to stabilize itself during the crisis means hard times for the homeless in the upcoming year.

"Despite the good work a lot of these communities have done with their 10-year plans, we're probably going to have a time when there's more pressure on homelessness."
So here’s a classic case: a desire for change, but little means to bring it about? What do we do, how can we help, as the economy slowly declines back into the 1980’s?

Solving Homelessness With $10 Bills?

So "El Dorado Elf" was at it again this holiday season. He is the attorney of the original "elf" who used to pass out $10 bills to homeless people on Los Angeles' Skid Row. When the original "elf" passed away in 1992, his attorney continued the tradition.

Just imagine a man driving down downtown Skid Row in his Cadillac El Dorado, and passing out $13,000 in $10 bills to homeless people.

I've never seen it firsthand, but I'm sure it's chaos. Like a Pied Piper handing out golden tickets to "heaven." People streaming, grabbing, yelling, for that bill with President Alexander Hamilton on it.

Who benefits from such an act of charity? The homeless person clutching ten bills? Or the man who feels good because he sprinkled $13,000 throughout a neighborhood that literally needs billions to truly house its hurting people? (I have supporters that literally have given ten times more than this, who quietly give to programs that help people find housing and employment. And most  people don't know their names.)

I'm wondering if this amount of money could be used more effectively?

It could pay rent for a year for two homeless person's apartments. Too bad he couldn't find two homeless people on Skid Row who are so vulnerable to street life, that if they don't get off they could die. Too bad the "elf" couldn't literally save their lives by putting them in an apartment.

Too bad $13,000 couldn't be used to hire a lobbyist to City Hall or the County Hall to literally lobby for more public money to address homelessness. His money could be leveraged significantly.

How about pay for a marketing campaign to let our community know that it is just not right to allow our citizens to sleep on our streets?

Or take a homeless family off of Skid Row and into an apartment in a safe neighborhood with a school that will ensure their kids get educated?

I just don't know what $10 will do for a homeless person on Skid Row?


Note: I will be on vacation next week. One of my staff members will continue this blog. Happy holidays! And thank you for being a part of a blog that I hope will slowly change the way our country views homelessness.


(Pic from www.palaceavenue-methodist.org.uk)

Why Is Christmas Merry?

People drinking and eating
Presents nestled under trees
Stemmed wine glasses clicking
Eggnog, crackers, and cheese

Behind the façade of gladness
I know there is sadness
Behind the frosted window
I'm certain there's sorrow

Gift buyers hurrying to acquire
But not knowing, not aware
Of people huddled in cold mire
It really doesn't seem fair

Houses filled with lights, and a tree
Loved ones gathering to make merry
Yet outside homeless are isolated
Or in shelters crushed, suffocated

What really is the reason
Like they say for the season
Is it really about Jesus
If faith ignores all of us

It's certainly about family
I'm convinced it's also friends
We embrace our loved ones
We toast the good fun

But could it include the stranger
Maybe he is dying of AIDS
Perhaps homeless for decades

Might it be the one in your party
Pretending to be hearty
Yet slowly choking in depression
The one who can barely function

I once thought Christmas was presents
When I was a kid, filled with nonsense
Now this season is more than events
It's not just fake happy supplements

Why is Christmas merry
It is just a simple tale of fairy

Why is Christmas merry
When so many lives are scary

Perhaps Christmas is merry
When we truly become altruistic
Perhaps Christmas is merry
When our community is holistic

Maybe Christmas is merry
When equality is present
Maybe Christmas is merry
When the hurting are content

Possibly Christmas is merry
When everyone has a home
Possibly Christmas is merry
When none on the streets roam

Merry Christmas!

Joel

(Pic from www.creation.uk.com)

Rest In Peace?

All over the country, small little memorial services were performed last Sunday. Cities, small and big, put on memorial services for people who were homeless and who died in the past year.

People sleeping on our streets.

No relational connections, except perhaps “friends” on the streets.

People who spent their last gasp of air with no place to call home, but the streets.

Some died in their sleep. Others passed away in hospitals. And sadly, many died violent deaths on the streets.

Typically, a memorial service brings together friends and loved ones to honor a person’s life. But who will honor a homeless person’s life when that person had no one who would help them get off the streets?

So these homeless persons’ memorial services enable the community to honor them. To let them know they are not forgotten. To bring dignity to a life that ended without it. It’s a touching, moving response.

But let’s make it clear… honoring and bringing dignity should be much more than an hour long memorial service. If we really want to honor and bring dignity, let’s make sure all people are not sleeping on the streets.

Having no homelessness in our society is true honor and dignity.


(Pic from http://cache.daylife.com)

Out-Of-Towners Are To Blame?

San Francisco, like many other cities around the country, are starting to put the homeless blame on others—particularly people from outside of their city.

San Francisco has always been an open door to homeless individuals, from local homeless individuals to the homeless individuals that somehow drift to the bay area. But now, there is consideration for that open door to slam shut; slam shut on the drifters that is.

Basically, I’ve heard this before. “These homeless people are not from our city. They are coming from surrounding cities/other states/fill in the blank.”

Here is San Francisco’s reasoning… since January 2004, this city has built 3,500 permanent housing units for homeless people (and another 445 will be completed next year.) They also say that they have housed 5,186 homeless people. 90 percent of people who enter permanent housing stay in that housing.

The city of San Francisco invests $190 million per year in helping its homeless population. The city also has a program called “Homeward Bound” that gives bus tickets to homeless people who need to go home. This year, they sent 800 homeless people home.

"If a homeless family living in San Francisco doesn't get shelter, and somebody just off the bus does, it doesn't seem fair," said Trent Rhorer, director of the Department of Human Services.

So with all of this amazing investment and effort—more than most cities around the country—you would think the homeless population in San Francisco would be reduced.

Not the case. In 2005, there were 2,655 people on the streets. Two years later, there were 2,771.

So city officials have concluded that even though they built thousands of units (and spent billions) to help its homeless population, the number of homeless people still increased.

Conclusion… people are coming from outside of the city to live on San Francisco’s streets. The out-of-towners.


(Pic from http://static.howstuffworks.com)

Why Are We Always Worried About The Little Things?

So the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the ACLU are shaking hands. Maybe with clenched teeth rather than smiles, but they are shaking hands of agreement.

Why? Because in 2003, five years ago, the ACLU supported a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles accusing the LAPD of “stopping and searching people in Skid Row without reasonable suspicion that they committed a crime.” In other words, as part of cleaning up Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, the police were stopping homeless people and searching them and their possessions.

A settlement between the ACLU and the LAPD occurred yesterday, where the LAPD will agree to “more than a dozen conditions under which officers would be prohibited from searching people they encounter on the street.”

Clearly, the ACLU was correct in making sure the LAPD was following the law, and the Constitutional rights of people. This agreement ensures that the police follow the law. But like the LAPD Captain of that area said, “But there's nothing wrong with us going back and making sure that our officers clearly understand the Constitution, and all the laws they have to abide by," she said. "I feel confident they do."

So after five years of legal wrangling and back room political negotiations, what has our community gained? An assurance that the police will follow the law?

In the bigger picture of homelessness in downtown Los Angeles, what has a homeless person gained? The right to not be searched?

That’s great. Go ahead and sleep on our cold and wet streets. Go ahead and struggle finding food, being in an environment where you could be hurt or sick. What will we, as a society, do for you? We will make sure the police don’t search you unless they really think you have committed a crime?

What’s wrong with this picture? Shouldn’t we have spent the last five years figuring out how to get these people housed? Not how to protect their rights while they drown on our streets?

I am a supporter of the ACLU. But, frankly, if they really want to help homeless people, perhaps they should sue the government to ensure people have the right to housing.

The bigger issue for homelessness is the lack of housing. Let’s concentrate on that.


(Pic from http://lawlibnews.blog.asu.edu)

What Does It Say When A Wealthy Society Allows Its Families To Be Homeless?

By Daniel Tran
Communications Intern, PATH Partners

Homeless shelters are seeing a larger influx of families in response to the cold weather and the current economic crisis: Link

"This is, as far as I am concerned, a disaster of Katrina-esque proportions," said Tanya Tull, chief executive of the L.A.-based nonprofit Beyond Shelter.

Like the rest of the country, Los Angeles shelters are noticing the great increase from past years of, not just homeless individuals, but homeless families. Furthermore, hotel/motel vouchers are running scarce, since shelters are ill-prepared for the heavy increase in homeless individuals.

Although it is reasonable to understand the side effects of a country rife with economic crisis and home foreclosures, you have to wonder: what does it mean for a wealthy society to allow families to live on the streets?

As a college student, I look at the generation who is currently the “caretakers” for our society, and frankly, I’m appalled. When there are more millionaires in Los Angeles than there are homeless people, why are we allowing such human tragedy to take place?

Economic crisis or not, America is still an extremely wealthy country. This means that there should always be options for families, and people in general, to prevent homelessness. The compassion seen by homeless parents towards their children, pretending to do work at supply stores to let their kids sleep comfortably in strollers or pretending to be waiting in a hospital emergency room so the children will have somewhere warm to sleep, should be compassion that all of society should share from a person-to-person basis.

Homeless families face a different struggle from homeless individuals, because what effects one member of that family effects all of them. Since these homeless parents are trying so hard to protect their children in hard times, shouldn't there be more people (like our whole society) trying to protect them all in hard times?

What does this neglect say about our society today? Perhaps, a new generation of “caretakers” should take over. Since, clearly this existing generation is negligent.

(Pic from LA Times)

Cold Weather Reflects The Cold State of the Economy

It’s now cold here in Southern California. Our chilled weather reflects other parts of the country. Jackets, gloves, and hats are now in order. No more shorts, tank tops, and flip flops.

Cold and rainy weather also affects those living on our streets. Being homeless in L.A. doesn’t just mean warm, sunny days hanging out on the beach. That’s an urban myth.

Where do homeless people go when it rains, when it’s just above freezing, and when it’s windy? With 73,000 people who are homeless, and only about 15,000 shelter beds, they really have no place to go. It’s a daily game of musical chairs—or in this case musical beds—where most people do not get a bed.

So you find a “warm” place under a bridge. Or you stay on the heated bus or train until someone kicks you out. Not a lot of places to go.

Can’t wait until society builds enough affordable apartments. That will take years and millions of dollars. Can’t even wait until society sets up more shelter beds.

You just have to figure out how to survive on cold, wet streets. It’s not any easy predicament.

(Pic from http://www.crestock.com/)

Games Are For Fun… Allowing People To Live On Our Streets Is NOT Fun.

I wrote an op-ed piece in 2005 called, “The Homeless and The Numbers Game.” It was an essay on how counting homeless people is a high stakes political activity that affects money, power, ego, and policy.

In reading last Saturday’s Reuters’ article on their view of homelessness during this current economic decline, and their account that Los Angeles reports that homelessness is decreasing in this metropolis, I’m reminded of my 2005 piece.

Why? Because this is just a numbers game.

Just like communities around the country, shelters in Los Angeles are reporting a 100% to 1,000% increase in the demand for shelter and services in comparison to last year. Local L.A. media outlets are documenting this increase.

So who is telling the truth? Those who want to show that homelessness is decreasing—perhaps for political reasons? Or those who are on the front lines encountering throngs of people desperately seeking shelter?

This struggle between numbers turns a tragic human situation into a form of statistical homelessness. This reminds me of Point 5 of my blog post last Sunday, “Homelessness is not a noun or a ‘thing.’” As if the counting of homelessness is like counting the number of cars on the freeway or the latest air quality statistics.

Why are we so indifferent toward the fact that people are suffering on our streets? That we use numbers as political tools, rather than embrace compassion that causes us to act?

Why do we argue over how many people are on the streets? Rather than acknowledge that we have a disgustingly high number of human beings struggling in extreme poverty.

I realize that the theme of the Reuters article was that homelessness is increasing as our economy declines. But the fact that it also states that homelessness in Los Angeles is declining is simply an insult to those who are living on L.A.’s streets, and those of us who encounter the demand for housing and services here.

Sometimes we read facts in the newspaper and assume they are true. In this case, it is not.

Like the rest of the country, Los Angeles is struggling with an influx of people falling through a social safety net because of a bad economy, and ending up on the streets.

Let’s stop playing games, and start figuring out how we respond to this new human fact.

(In future blog postings, I will share what our agency is designing to respond to this new declining economy.)


(Pic from www.ctaconline.org)

Let’s Not Sugar-Coat Homelessness

“A survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors showed that 19 of 25 cities saw an increase in homelessness in the 12 months to October.”

This is the statistic of homeless in America during this particular economic crisis, where emergency food is not enough to meet demands and cities face the fact that they’re not equipped for the increase in homeless families: Here is the Article.

The major cities are finally catching onto the fact that many families are entering the homeless sector, following harsh home foreclosures in time of financial crisis in the U.S.

This trend is consistent as major media outlets are grasping the effects of the current economic situation on the microeconomic issues that accompany it.
However, as someone that personally works with homelessness in the Los Angeles area, I have to question the article’s claim that Los Angeles is reporting a decrease in homelessness.

Of course, statistics are skewed and shaped in order to reflect a more positive connotation towards certain situations; however, now is not the time to sugar-coat the facts. The facts are making a hard statement, and that statement is that homelessness is a problem, now more than ever before in the past 20 years.

President-elect Barack Obama has made his stance on boosting affordable housing and restoring public housing subsidies, but maybe with a little more light shed on the subject, he’d find the inspiration to do even more.

The Right Stuff... In Addressing Homelessness

I've been literally working with nonprofit agencies addressing homelessness since I was a teenager in college. That was over two decades ago.

The past couple of decades has shown no improvement in this country's approach to homelessness-except for the last few years, that have emphasized permanent housing and chronic homelessness.

My career in addressing homelessness has helped transform thousands of people's lives but has not helped this country's quest to resolve homelessness. This weighs on my heart, and frankly, consumes the way I approach addressing homelessness today.

So here are my ("decades of experience"-given what it is) views on homelessness:

Ten Observations On Homelessness

1. We need more permanent housing for people struggling on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder. Our country failed to build a housing infrastructure in the last two decades to keep up with the growing number of people falling into homelessness.

2. But housing, in itself, is not the answer. Homelessness is not just about giving a person a "home." It's about transforming lives. A physical place to live helps, but is not a certainty that people will overcome the barriers that caused their homelessness.

3. Addressing root causes is more important than applying band-aid solutions. If people are ending up on the streets because of lack of health insurance, living wage jobs, affordable housing, food, protection of domestic abuse, or the laundry list of other barriers, then simply building more shelters or services is not the answer.

4. Our country needs to build a social safety net that addresses these root causes.

5. Homelessness is not a noun or a "thing," as if it is just another "problem" in our country-like traffic, education, crime, and the environment.

6. Homelessness is about hurting people stuck in extreme poverty, and in need of significant tools and resources to overcome their barriers.

7. Our country should have a "right to housing" law that guarantees housing for every citizen. But this housing should not be a $300,000 unit, designed by fancy architects, so "that it is acceptable" in any neighborhood. If we can build a hundred times more housing with less money, we should.

8. We should NOT give people the "right" to sleep/eat/bathe/etc. on the streets. It's not safe, healthy, and frankly, not dignified for the human race.

9. We should also give communities the "right" to keep their neighborhoods free from homelessness. (But only if these communities invest in a social safety net.)

10. Homelessness is a Spiritual issue. When people end up on the streets, their spirits break, their hopes are lost, and their well-being is no longer well. That broken spirit does not get mended simply by giving a person a house, a job, or medicine. People need "chicken soup for the soul."

Please feel free to add to this list...


(Graphic from www.newchildcare.co.uk)

Obama Chooses Housing Advocate As New HUD Secretary

By Richard Bloom
Executive Director, Community Initiatives
PATH Partners

With his selection of Shaun Donovan as HUD secretary, President-elect Obama has hit a grand slam for affordable housing and homeless advocates.  Donovan is a Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development.  In September, Donovan spoke at a media event, proudly proclaimed that New York had reached the midway point in preserving or building 165,0000 affordable housing units.  

Holding degrees in Public Administration and Architecture from Harvard, Donovan has worked for a non-profit lender and builder of affordable housing then ran housing subsidy programs for HUD (until 2001).  Most critically for those focused on homelessness, he is an appointee of and supporter of Mayor Bloomberg's 10-year plan to build 12,000 supportive housing units in New York City.  

Is Michael Bolton Really Homeless?

I hate it when the entertainment media "announces" that some big celebrity is going to be homeless. Remember Ed McMahon, and his big news that the bank was going to foreclose on his multi-million dollar mansion, and he would go "homeless"? (Until Donald Trump "bailed" him out.)

Today's latest is music wonder, Michael Bolton. He is getting kicked out of his girlfriend's million dollar L.A. mansion, at the same time he put up for sale his million dollar spread on the East Coast. The media says he is going to be homeless. 

During these tragic economic times, it is almost a slap in the face when these millionaire celebrities (or their publicists) seek sympathy from average Americans for their "sad" state of affairs.

Come on... homeless? Give me a break. When thousands and thousands of people are struggling with homelessness, fighting disease, cold weather, hungry stomachs, and threats of violence against them, please do not give us a sob story that some celebrity might be losing his million dollar mansion.

It's an insult to those struggling on our streets, to those who struggle to save them, and for average Americans who are worried that they too might end up on the streets.

Michael Bolton, Ed McMahon... if you can't pay for your million dollar mansions, or you're stuck between a sale, get a regular rental apartment unit like millions of other average Americans.

Having a roof over your head, as humble as an apartment might be, is a million times better than sleeping on the streets.

(Pic from www.8notes.com)

Weaving A Community Safety Net Is Not Hard To Do

I’m beginning to picture what a community safety net might look like. Yesterday afternoon I was with 19 community stakeholders in downtown Long Beach. We were together to create solutions for some of the most vulnerable homeless people in this city.

There were representatives from the police department, fire department, County Supervisor’s office, Mayor’s office, downtown business association, local hospital, homeless agencies, university, city departments, and faith groups.

It reminded of the picture I envisioned last week on the commuter train, of how a small town community might respond to a hurting homeless woman. The local sheriff, pastor, doctor, and businesswoman would conference together trying to figure out how to help this woman.

Yesterday’s meeting was a conference of local stakeholders in search of solutions to help the city’s hurting homeless people. The idea was simple: let’s find the 10 most vulnerable people living on the streets of Long Beach and get them into apartments linked with case management services. When this works, the community will want to do more.

We won’t ask the city or county for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Instead, we will scramble to seek existing support services (that are already funded), find government subsidizes (that are already funded and geared toward this population), seek the support of business and faith groups, and then share the stories of our hurting neighbors.

Clearly, it’s more complicated than that. But on the other hand, when a “crisis” occurs, typically a community mobilizes to help our hurting citizens. We don’t wait for large funding grants, we just do what we have to do to get the job done.

At the meeting, we all agreed that we would spend as little time as possible “talking” about the problem of homelessness, and spend as much time actually implementing a solution. Doing!

Our meeting was only 60 minutes long, but we put together a long task list of action items. The safety net is beginning to be weaved together.

Should We “Prepare For” or “Prevent” Homelessness?

So a few people emailed me asking whether we really should be preparing people for homelessness. In other words, are we creating “smart homelessness”? People who have the skills and experience to remain in the middle-class, but are at risk of homelessness given the current declining economy.

The real question is this… is homelessness a “crisis”? Sort of like a Katrina-type hurricane? A hurricane can be devastating, displace people from their homes, and mandates immediate action. (Just like homelessness.) So we warn residents before a hurricane hits, to get out or bunker down. We help them prepare for such a crisis—board up your windows, move to another place, or stock up with food and water.

Are we doing the same with this new type of homelessness? Preparing people for this new “crisis”? Help people find food at a food bank, give them a hotline to call, help navigate the world of charity.

It occurs to me that there is one difference between a hurricane crisis and a homelessness crisis. With a hurricane, we know it’s coming. And we prepare for it. But… we can’t stop a hurricane from arriving.

But with homelessness... we can stop homelessness from occurring. “We,” meaning our collective society, have the resources and know-how to make sure that everyone in our society has a place to go. “We” just choose not to.

Instead, we “prepare” people in case they become homeless. Rather than “prevent” people from becoming homeless. There’s a big moral difference.

“Preparing” is not a bad thing in itself. But if we have the capacity to “prevent” homelessness, shouldn’t we be doing that instead?


(Pic from http://siblingrevelry.files.wordpress.com)