Extreme Makeover: Home(lessness) Edition

by Shannon Moriarty

Published November 20, 2008 @ 05:38AM PST

Take out your bulldozers, hammers, and paintbrushes: low-income housing and homelessness are in need of a serious political makeover. That is, if we want these issues to remain in the public discourse once the foreclosure crisis, and accompanying media storm, have passed.

Homelessness has plagued this country since the 1980s. Yet, when times were good, like in the late 1990s, nobody was talking about it. When the economy stinks, like it does now, it's all over the news. The thing is, homelessness was still an issue during the late '90s. So why didn't anyone care?

Randy Shaw of San Francisco's Beyond Chron thinks this has a lot to do with the perceived vulnerability of the middle class:

When one examines public attitudes toward homelessness and the affordable rental housing crisis over the past nearly three decades, a pattern is clear: when the economy is buzzing and good times predominate, public concern over those "left out" of the boom is at its highest. But in down times, like today, focus is on the struggling middle-class homeowner, not on the housing problems of the longstanding ill-housed population.

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More Senseless Cruelty: Homeless Houston Man Brutally Killed

by Shannon Moriarty

Published November 19, 2008 @ 09:22PM PST

Barely a month after John McGraham was burned to death in LA, another homeless man has become the victim of senseless, violence crime. Johnny Pena, who lived on the streets of Houston, was brutally beaten, stabbed, and burned to death this weekend.

The Houston Chronical reported:

Johnny Pena, 55, had been living on the street on the city's west side since he stopped working as a barber three years ago. Authorities and family say he slept in alleys, drank a daily ration of beer and fed the stray dogs that liked to follow him around, but most in the neighborhood considered him harmless.

Authorities say he was sleeping in an alley early Saturday when Juan Gutierrez, 18, and Carlos Portillo, 19, came across him on their way home from a party.

"I'm going to go at him," said one of the young men, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Gutierrez told police he and Portillo kicked Pena repeatedly, stabbed him with a pocket knife and then hit him with a metal pipe, according to the affidavit.

The young men then poured a flammable liquid on Pena, lit a piece of paper on fire and threw it on him, the document says.

Gutierrez and Portillo were charged with murder Tuesday. Jail records had no attorney listed for either man.

Investigators don't believe the young men knew Pena and aren't sure what the motive was, said police spokesman Sgt. Gabe Trevino.

Will the push for homeless hate crime protection intensify? More importantly, when will the violence stop?

Time to End Homelessness: 5 Actions in 5 Minutes

by Shannon Moriarty

Published November 19, 2008 @ 10:27AM PST

This week is National Homelessness and Hunger Awareness Week... so don't just sit there, DO something!

To eliminate any excuses you may have for not getting involved, here are five actions you can take today that won't take more than five minutes:

1. Sponsor a show on Homeless Youth TV.
   Change the reality of homeless youth in America by sponsoring your favorite HYtv reality show (Meal or No Meal, American Idle, Project Runaway). Your $1 sponsorship goes to an organization that provides services to vulnerable youth. Here's the best part: you get a great sponsor badge that you can display on your Facebook page, blog, or homepage to help spread the word! 
    
2. Organize an email-blast food drive.
   Soup kitchens and food pantries are in short supply, thanks to our sick economy. Right now, you can send an email blast to your co-workers, social network, congregation, or classmates and ask them to bring a canned food item to work/school/party/service tomorrow. Remember: a bunch of small actions can add up quickly to make a big impact!
    
3. Call your Senators and urge them to vote for an economic recovery package to prevent hardship. 
   If the Senate fails to act this week, nothing will happen until January! The Coalition on Human Need's Legislative Action Center provides all of the phone numbers, scripts, and background information you need to make these critical calls. So what are you waiting for?
    
4. Learn about homelessness in YOUR community.
   Does your community have a 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness? Is your community on the Top 20 list of Meanest Cities for homeless people? Does your community have a street paper? If all politics is local, so are many of the best solutions and most controversial issues surrounding homelessness. Learn something new about your community today... you might be surprised at what you find!
    
5. Share this list with five friends. 
   Ask five friends to spend five minutes of their time today to end homelessness. Share the reality of this issue, tell them why you think it's important and why you care. And take this a step further: when you learn something interesting, share it! Post the link to a blog post on Facebook or share the link on Twitter or email. This doesn't require a lot of effort on your part, but can inspire others to learn about this issue and take action. 

It's going to take more than a week of awareness to end homelessness in America (to regurgitate a bit of my rant from yesterday). This critical issue needs to be on our national conscience every week of the year. 

Spread the word. 

Homeless People are Grade School Students, Too

by Shannon Moriarty

Published November 18, 2008 @ 08:40PM PST

Ten-year-old Tanysha Dempsey lives in a homeless shelter in Minneapolis. Although she's only in the fifth grade, she has dreams of one day attending college. And if Margo Hurrie has her way, she will.

As an office administrator for the Hennepin County school district in Minnesota, Margo Hurrie does whatever it takes to make sure homeless students stay in school. In 1991, she worked with a total of 50 homeless students. This year, she's seen more than 5,000.

Minneapolis, like every other major city in the U.S., has seen a huge increase in the number of enrolled students who are homeless. This figure is expected to rise as the economy slows.

Tanysha and Margo were interviewed for NPR's All Things Considered, which was broadcast this morning.

Take seven minutes and have a listen. This will open your eyes to the reality of homelessness in America.

National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week: A Rant and A Revelation

by Shannon Moriarty

Published November 18, 2008 @ 05:33AM PST

Each November, one week is dedicated to raising awareness about the hungry and homeless among us. 

Call me cynical, but condensing such a systemic and devastating issue like homelessness into just one tiny week of "awareness" hardly seems like it's going to move us closer to any real solutions. I mean, where is our national conscious the other 51 weeks of the year? What's more, the week is shared with two other "national awareness weeks": bullying awareness and geography awareness (assuming we all have maps...).

If you ask me, every week going forward should be deemed National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week until each man, woman, teen, and child in this country is safely housed and financially independent. 

To be clear, it's not that I am undermining the value and importance of the awareness and service activities that are taking place this week. These lectures, sleep-outs, and can drives are extremely important. In fact, shelters and food pantries will probably get a much-needed boost in donations this week. That alone makes me pause and reconsider my rant... but only for a moment. 

Here's the big idea: housing plays a crucial role in our lives. We identify with the places we live. Housing keeps us safe, healthy, and rooted our communities. It's connected to our schooling, our social networks, and even our opportunities in life. And so the implications of NOT being housed, of not having a home, are devastating. 

We know that homelessness has increased dramatically across the country. We know that foreclosures are displacing people everyday, sometimes without notice. We know that homelessness disproportionately affects veterans, children, and minorities. We know that the gap between income and living expenses has become so vast, that millions of people are just one or two paychecks away from becoming homeless themselves.

But we also know that it doesn't have to be this way. We know that if we make eradicating homelessness and providing housing a national priority, then we can find the resources to achieve these goals. Consider the Iraq war and the $700 billion bailout... money (or credit, perhaps) is always available to fund our national priorities. 

Every week should be National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week because we all have a vested interest in ensuring that every person in this country is safely housed with food on the table. An interest that should extend beyond this one week in November. 

But then, one week is a good start. If just one person feels a call to action as a result of this week, we're making progress. If one person calls their elected representatives and asks for homelessness to be a priority, that's progress too. We must recognize that real progress in ending homelessness will require leaps and bounds. These small steps, however, are also moving us in the right direction.

Alas, my idea probably won't hit the floor of Congress for a vote anytime soon. So I will use this little corner of the interweb to capitalize on the good will of the masses this week. Who knows, perhaps we can spur a little grassroots activism while we're at it!

Stay tuned... five days, five ways to get involved each day. So don't just sit there... DO something! 

Homeless People are Grade School Students, Too

by Shannon Moriarty

Published November 18, 2008 @ 03:25AM PST

Ten-year-old Tanysha Dempsey lives in a homeless shelter in Minneapolis. Although she's only in the fifth grade, she has dreams of one day attending college. And if Margo Hurrie has her way, she will. 

As an office administrator for the Hennepin County school district in Minnesota, Margo Hurrie does whatever it takes to make sure homeless students stay in school. In 1991, she worked with a total of 50 homeless students. This year, she's seen more than 5,000.

Minneapolis, like every other major city in the U.S., has seen a huge increase in the number of enrolled students who are homeless. This figure is expected to rise as the economy slows.

Tanysha and Margo were interviewed for NPR's All Things Considered, which was broadcast this morning.

Take seven minutes and have a listen. This will open your eyes to the reality of homelessness in America. 

Organizing for Change: Lessons from the Past

by Shannon Moriarty

Published November 17, 2008 @ 11:42AM PST

Twelve years ago, the world lost a legendary community activist and organizer named buddy gray (he preferred all lowercase letters... another rebellion against capitalism). According to a memorial on StreetVibes (the blog for Cincinnati's street newspaper) buddy was a "relentless and uncompromising advocate for low-income housing and other services for the poor."

Today, after Generation Y and Millennials across the nation engaged in community organizing for the election at levels not seen since the civil rights movement, we have a lot to learn from buddy. Not only was his life's work an inspiration, but his vision for changing societal ills can certainly apply to today's world.

Here's an excerpt from the tribute to buddy on StreetVibes:

Many people are dedicated to feeding and housing the poor. Others are dedicated to organizing for change. buddy's insight was to bring these two ways of service together. He saw the people of Over-the-Rhine, not just as downtrodden souls to be given a meal or a bed for the night, but partners in a struggle to change the system and heal society.

Therefore, buddy worked to organize people and groups into an Over-the-Rhine People's movement that includes organizations like the Drop Inn center, ReSTOC, the Over-the-Rhine Housing Network, and the local, state, and national Coalitions for the Homeless. He worked with many homeless people who are now leaders in that movement.

His capacity for work was legendary. Within a day's time, he might attend a City Council hearing, work on the plumbing of a ReSTOC building, help an old man get off a park bench and into the shelter of the Drop Inn, write a poem, and do the notes for the next day's meeting. He lived very simply, in an apartment on Race Street, owned little, and cared nothing for fashion or show. As Jack Gray said at the memorial after buddy's death, "He feared no man. He took nothing and he served everyone. He worked to feed the hungry, free the captive, and heal the sick." Many people are alive and living healthy lives today because the work of buddy gray. He earned, thereby, the respect and love of many.

RIP, buddy. Thanks for reminding us that all of us has the power to change the status quo. For reminding us that we are all human, we are all created equal. And as such, we are all equally deserving of the dignity and respect that comes with having food on the table and a place to call home.

Let us not rest until this is achieved. 

[Picture: From the buddy gray Memorial Fund.]