mobile homeless
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.
You Are Not Where You Live
Published October 29, 2009 @ 07:52PM PT
You are not where you live.
This is the painfully-simple-but-so-important message writer Becky Blanton shared during a presentation for TED, an organization that shares "riveting talks by incredible people." Blanton began living in her van by choice. But one year after she began her adventure, she was broke, had fallen into the depths of depression, and felt homeless.
In the short video below, she talks about what she learned during just one year living in a van. She makes painfully important observations about homelessness, from the outside and the inside. Including three key lessons:
1. Society equates living in a permanent structure with our value.
2. The negative perceptions of others can easily impact our self-worth, if we allow it to.
3. Homelessness is an attitude, not a lifestyle.
Although I wouldn't classify Blanton as "homeless", I still found her testimony deeply moving. Partially because Blanton is such a riveting storyteller, but also because you can sense how deeply the experience impacted her.
Blanton had her identity as a writer and plenty of opportunities awaiting her at the end of her year on the streets. Many others are not as lucky.
Image: topleftpixel
Safe Lots Needed for Homeless Living in Cars
Published August 11, 2009 @ 07:08PM PT
When you live outdoors, but not on the streets, your home is probably on four wheels and runs on gas. A growing number of people are newly homeless and living in their most valuable asset: a car, truck, or RV. And in communities from California to Florida, the mobile homeless are on the rise.
According to a report released last months by a coalition of national homeless advocacy groups, entitled Foreclosure to Homelessness 2009, 18 percent of the 1.6 million who were homeless in 2008 were living outdoors, but not on the streets.
When your home is on four wheels, it's impossible to sit still. Each day you must be on the go to evade authorities and the expensive citations for illegal parking. You sleep with one eye open; you can never be perfectly at ease. Indeed, according to the LA Times, many "mobile homeless" become experts at the art of staying hidden while in plain view.
But the propensity to avoid authorities- or human interaction of any kind, for that matter- presents unique challenges for communities working to reach out to those in need of assistance. How will these individuals receive the assistance they desperately need if they cannot be found?
The answer is simple: safe lots.
Rather than turn a blind eye to the "mobile homeless", communities should confront the problem directly by following Ventura County, California's lead. Instead of encouraging the fleeing of the mobile homeless by issuing citations for illegal parking, the County created "safe sleeping lots." That is, lots where cars could safely and legally camp overnight where police would provide extra surveillance.
While such lots are by no means a permanent solution to the problem of mobile homelessness, they help people feel a bit safer, promote a sense of community among those living in cars, and- most importantly- allow service providers to find people in need of housing, supportive services, and a means of getting off the streets.
