Most Popular Homelessness Posts
Wikipedia Founder Creates Site for Homeless
Published November 21, 2009 @ 01:51PM PT
The Wikipedia model isn't just for pop culture research anymore. Wikis for homeless services information are popping up from coast to coast, proving that when web innovators apply their theories and skills to ease the delivery of social services, everybody wins.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales was recently in Tampa Bay to launch TampaBayHomeless.wikia.com, a site that aims to serve as online "hub" for homeless services in the city. The city isn't the first to have such a site, similar wikis are already being used in larger cities, like New York and LA.
The site - Tampa Bay Homeless - is rooted in the Wikipedia theory of collaboration. The design is user-friendly and easy to navigate, making it easy to find needed information. Information is organized by needs - such as shelter, legal services, food, veterans, etc. - and allows anyone to log-in and edit information. The collaborative model allows shelters to easily update ever-changing information about their shelters, allowing those in need of services to rest assured that the information they need is current.
Part of the reason the idea of a Homeless Wiki is so exciting is it will allow for user feedback. I can envision shelter reviews, personal testimonies that expose snags in the system, information from the streets to aid outreach workers. The concept of service providers and recipients collaborating online is exciting, because it has the potential to ultimately improve the delivery of services.
Collaboration can be tough to accomplish in homeless services. But perhaps wikis are just the thing to provide streamlined services and information to those who need them. It's encouraging to see trailblazing web innovators like Wales applying their concepts to the delivery of social services. Anything to make the "user experience" more streamlined and information more accessible is a win-win for everyone.
The Human Element of Case Management
Published November 21, 2009 @ 06:52AM PT
Part of street outreach is building trust, forming, and nurturing the bonds with those we meet while working. It's a delicate balance to walk for many of us, especially for those who have spent much of our lives homeless prior to working in this field. One has to be careful to detach oneself from the emotional impact human beings have upon each other, since some decisions aren't easy and may cause pain.
Those relationships can also occasionally put us into a very difficult position. I spent much of my day today watching a friend, outreach contact and success story die after I ordered him disconnected from life support.
Elringo De'Angelino, aka Velvet Thunder, was a local icon here in Nashville Tennessee. He'd spent the better part of the past 30 years on 2nd Avenue, singing on the street to anyone and everyone who'd lend their ears for a moment to listen to the man's silky smooth, yet deep and throaty crooning. Just about anyone who's ever spent any time at all around the area known as "lower Broad" in this fair city will probably recognize who I'm talking about; they may not know the man's name but they almost certainly will remember him as the big man who sat in a chair, American Flag Cowboy boots and stylish hat always cocked at a rakish angle, singing and performing with his five gallon bucket at the ready for tips.
The Audacity of Home
Published November 20, 2009 @ 09:12AM PT
If there were ever a time for the Obama Administration to fulfill its promise of restoring Hope for America, re-prioritizing the promise of "a Home for all" is the ideal start. The sum of our devastating housing and economic crisis, combined with the recent findings from the international human rights community, prove that there is no better time to move housing to the top of the federal policy agenda.
Today, I'm taking a step back. Away from the details in the news, away from the constant flow of comments, the banter. Today I want to talk about something so simple, so basic that most of us take it for granted.
Home.
A Home is a basic necessity. Something so basic that it's easy to forget. We see homeless people, we hear about programs designed to serve them, we read the news of the worsening crisis. Yet we're desensitized to the severe psychological implications of not having a home. We're numb.
A Home helps to ensure safety, health, and well-being. It is our base, a place we can always return to. We identify with our Home - with the structure we live in, the town and state it's in, the schools it's near. A Home is safety, it is opportunity. For many people, it is even identity. It is not far-fetched to say that our ability to hope is directly related to having a Home.
Act Now: Stop Hate Crimes Against the Homeless
Published November 19, 2009 @ 05:52PM PT
It's a cruel fact: when you live without a home, you are more vulnerable to violence on the streets. Next week, the Senate Judiciary is scheduled to vote on legislation that would add homeless people to the federal hate crimes statistics statue. Take action today to tell your elected lawmakers to support this important bill.
The legislation - called the Hate Crimes Against the Homeless Statistics Act (S. 1765) - was introduced by Senator Cardin of Maryland and Senator Collins of Maine. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, the legislation has been placed on the Senate Judiciary Committee schedule and could be marked up as early as November 19, but more likely the week of the November 23.
This bill is timely; as homelessness has increased over the past decade, so has the number of brutal, violent attacks against the homeless. From 2002 to 2005, hate crimes against the homeless increased 300%. Fatal attacks rose by 67%. And the latest study by the National Coalition for the Homeless found that this number has increased even more - 65% - since 2005.
But it's important to remember that hate crimes cannot be measured solely in terms of physical injury, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless, they also "leave a special emotional and psychological mark on victims and their communities, leaving them feeling isolated, vulnerable, and unprotected by the law."
Unlike other categories protected by most hate crime laws - such as gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religion - a person's "homeless" status is not permanent. In fact, it is preventable and can be ended with one thing: housing. Of course, until housing becomes regarded as a human right, we will have to settle for such incremental steps to protect the most vulnerable among us in the short term.
Tell your lawmakers to vote "yes" for this important piece of legislation!
Image: Matt From London
Giving Homeowners a Fighting Chance
Published November 19, 2009 @ 12:14PM PT
Every once in a while, you come across some good news. It's bleak as hell for the homeless and soon-to-be, but some hope remains in Philadelphia.
On the heels of news that the foreclosure rate hit 19% last month, the New York Times covered the story of an innovative program in Philadelphia that requires banks to meet with homeowners before eviction. Though there's some doubt about the program's effectiveness, many believe it to be an improvement over President Obama's efforts to stymie the catastrophic scale of the housing crisis. Philadelphia's approach makes equitable outcomes more likely, "by bringing together all the principals in one room. If the mortgage company proves intractable, the homeowner has the right to request mediation in front of a volunteer lawyer serving as a provisional judge, who relays recommendations to the program's supervising judge." If the judge suspects wrongdoing on the part of the lender, then she can suspend sale of the house until a resolution is reached. Not bad.
Should Shelters Ban Sex Offenders?
Published November 18, 2009 @ 06:03PM PT
Everybody, including sex offenders, needs a place to live. If proposed legislation in Massachusetts passes, registered sex offenders would be barred from staying in homeless shelters, begging the question: where are they supposed to go?
There are few questions that get people as riled up as those regarding registered sex offenders, particularly homeless sex offenders. Serving this population can be difficult, costly work for homeless service providers. Residential restrictions make housing almost impossible to find. Stepping up security in homeless shelters can be expensive, and other shelter guests may not feel comfortable knowing that a level 3 sex offender is sleeping on the adjacent cot.
But according to proponents of the legislation, the real problem lies with the requirement to report an address. Since residential bans can make it all but impossible to find affordable housing that is not near schools, playgrounds, or daycare centers, many sex offenders will bypass this requirement by simply listing a homeless shelter address, which allows them to live wherever they please. According to the Boston Globe, 74 percent of Boston's level 3 sex offenders had a homeless shelter listed as their address.
Sure, this loophole presents public safety concerns. If we don't know that a level 3 sex offender lives nearby, how can we protect ourselves?
The Plight of Homeless Sex Offenders
Published November 18, 2009 @ 01:35PM PT
Last winter shelter season, my eyes were opened to the horrible plight of sex offenders living on the streets. Our street outreach team was called to find shelter for a man. He was a registered sex offender, so he wasn't allowed to stay at the winter shelter. He had done everything right, reported to the police and the shelter workers. But there was no shelter that would allow him to stay.
No matter what you think of the crimes this man committed, he had served his debt to society and was adhering to the terms of his punishment. Still, finding housing - even emergency shelter - proved nearly impossible.
Up until that time, I had rather a hard stance on this subject. I thought sex offenders were dangerous, a threat to society. Who cares if they have to continue paying for their crime once their jail time is up? But one look into this man's eyes gave me different point of view; he was so filled with hopelessness, so beaten down from trying to survive. It's a difficult memory.
I met Tim in Cleveland, Ohio. He's trying to make something of his life. But as a sex offender, it's nearly impossible for him to find the help he needs.
I don't know what Tim did to become a registered sex offender. But I believe an equally heinous crime might be our own society allowing people like him to suffer on the streets, sex offender or not.
Tim from InvisiblePeople.tv on Vimeo.
