shelter
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.
The New Faces of Homelessness
Published November 09, 2009 @ 07:42AM PT
Today I am live-blogging from Rhode Island's "Yes We Will" Conference on Homelessness and Housing. The first workshop of the day will examine the "new faces of homelessness" - not necessarily new categories of people experiencing homelessness, but groups that have started receiving more priorities and attention from funders and policy-makers.
10:22 - I like the note that we're starting out on: moderator Mike Burk from the RI Dept. of Children, Youth, and Families notes that many of the groups facing homelessness we will discuss today are homeless as a direct result of policy decisions. For example, Rhode Island intentionally cut off services for foster youth at age 18; homelessness has become an unintended effect.
Overflow Shelters Opening, Filling Fast
Published November 03, 2009 @ 11:08AM PT
As the temperatures drop, communities across the country are opening seasonal shelters to provide life-saving respite from the cold. This year, though, an early trend has some providers worried. Overflow shelter beds are filling fast with people looking for food and warmth. If the demand is outpacing supply now, how will budget-strapped communities meet the need when temperatures become deadly?
The Warming Souls Winter Overflow Shelter is housed in a Wichita church and opens every year to accommodate the increased numbers of shelter guests that show up each winter. On Sunday, when it opened for the first night of the season, organizers anticipated 15-20 guests. Thirty-six showed up. "And the weather wasn't that cold last night," according to the shelter's director.
Other communities have added beds to their seasonal shelters this year in anticipation of the rising numbers of people living outdoors. Arlington, Virginia, for example, saw the number of shelter guests increase 40 percent in one year during the summer months. This year, they have added beds in the winter shelter to compensate for the growing numbers of people in need.
Despite the obvious need for additional seasonal shelter beds for the homeless, delivering this life-saving service is a real challenge for budget-strapped communities. Sacramento's homeless services recently received a devastating 84 percent slash. For a time, it looked like there would be no additional winter shelter beds for the city's homeless. Recently, however, Mayor Kevin Johnson pledged to fund 269 temporary beds and motel rooms for homeless men, women, and children during the winter months. Still, he said, making it happen wasn't easy. "Given the desperate conditions of state, county and city budgets in California, our ability to create emergency winter housing is a triumph of hard work and cooperation," he told CW31.
If ever there was a time for communities to come together, pool their resources, and develop creative solutions to an urgent issue - this is it. Leadership and community-level advocacy is critical right now to ensure that every person who seeks shelter from the cold this winter receives it. Speak up, ask questions. What is your community's plan for providing shelter this winter?
Are Storage Units Modern-Day Carboard Boxes?
Published October 29, 2009 @ 10:30AM PT
Somewhere along the line, the cardboard box became synonymous with homelessness. But today, these old stereotypes are changing as our modern-era homeless population grows and utilizes existing resources. Today, many homeless individuals and families are taking shelter in storage units.
An article in last week's Chicago Tribune told the story of a family living in a storage unit. It's not a new phenomenon; similar stories have been reported out of Hawaii and Maryland. At $179/month, the price is certainly right. And as I wrote back in March, storage units beat the dangers of the street, the rules of shelters, and the stigma of tent cities for people who are newly homeless.
Still - it's ironic, isn't it? Storage units exist because people have too much stuff. So much stuff, in fact, that we can't even squeeze it into our houses or apartments. Yet, at the same time, homelessness is at an all-time high in many cities. What does this say about us a society, about the enormous gap between the rich and the poor?
Have we come to value "stuff" more than we value people?
Parenting While Homeless
Published October 29, 2009 @ 08:20AM PT
It's the toughest job there is, being a parent. And it's a role that becomes exponentially more challenging when the safety of four walls and a roof are gone. How do homeless parents help their family survive? How do they provide for their children amid such uncertainty?
Sadly, these are questions that far too many families are having to answer the hard way... by experiencing it.
The team over at the Homelessness Resource Center shared with me a the powerful essay of a woman named Gladys Fonfield-Ayinla who shares her experience as a single homeless mother. She talks about her downward spiral into homelessness, her regrets, the painful memories of entering shelter.
But Fonfield-Ayinla's essay is not just a memoir. She raises important concerns she had while parenting in a shelter environment; issues that should be required reading for every family shelter service provider. Her key concerns involved childcare choice, parenting in a house with other families (with their own beliefs, disciplinary styles, etc.), and the heavy-handed disciplinary approach that - while necessary in some cases - prevents individuals from speaking out for fear of losing their only shelter.
Whether you're a parent or not, this story will open your eyes. You will feel her pain. But more importantly, you will get a sense of the intrinsic challenges in meeting the needs of homeless families through a traditional shelter system.
From Homeowner to Homeless Shelter
Published October 21, 2009 @ 12:50PM PT
There is a certain level of pride and accomplishment associated with being a homeowner. It is, after all, the American Dream. On the flip side, checking into a homeless shelter carries its own stigma. These days, thanks to the foreclosure and economic crisis, growing numbers of people are experiencing both of these extremes as homeowners-turned-homeless.
Growing numbers of homeowners who lost their homes to foreclosure are winding up in homelessness shelters, according to a report released this summer by a coalition of housing and homelessness advocates. (This population is distinctively different than renters evicted from rental property due to foreclosure.) According to the report, foreclosure was rarely a factor leading to homeless three years ago. But in the past year, an average of 10 percent of homeless individuals seeking shelter lost homes to foreclosure.
The NY Times piece details the story of Sheri West who used to run a transitional shelter program and owned her own home. Over a year ago, she lost her house to foreclosure. She spent a year living out of her car and on the couches of friends and family, delaying the inevitable. Finally, she sought a bed in a homeless shelter.
Talk about the ultimate irony.
The part that I found so unsettling about the NY Times piece wasn't the devastation of West's plight. It was her closing quote: "I do want to eventually own a house again," she said. "That's the American dream. That's what everybody wants."
I don't think West's sentiments are rare, especially for someone who has experienced homelessness. After experiencing the devastation of being in a precarious housing situation, many think home ownership implies that you've "made it." Sadly, this is not always the case.
Why do we continue to value homeownership over financial stability? If a housing bubble, followed by a massive recession, followed by marked increases in homelessness can't reinvent the American Dream, what will?
Image: New York Times
Crisis Looming for NYC Homeless System
Published October 16, 2009 @ 10:37AM PT
The New York City homeless shelter population has hit an all-time high. Over 120,000 people sought shelter in NYC during the past year and 39,000 homeless people check into NYC shelters each night. With cold weather on the horizon, the number of people seeking shelter inevitable increases. What will this mean for a city already struggling to meet the current need?
This new information comes from a report published this week by the Coalition for the Homeless, a NYC homeless advocacy group. It said that the city has not seen such high levels of homelessness since the Great Depression. These alarming numbers come despite Mayor Bloomberg's commitment to ending homelessness "as we know it" back in 2004. Despite this commitment, the Coalition points out that homelessness has increased 45 percent since Bloomberg took office eight years ago.
Then again, pointing fingers during a time like this is useless. New York City has a crisis on its hands. If shelters were filled to the brim at the end of the summer, it's unsettling to think about the possibility of running out of shelter space come winter. This is not a far-fetched possibility, given that cold weather often sends people to shelters in droves.
Stop squabbling - politics can wait. It's time to start thinking about how to save lives this winter.
