Posts by Shannon Moriarty
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Cheer for the Red Tent Campaign at the Vancouver Olympics
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Pajamas Have Nothing To Do With Homelessness
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Homeless Men and Dogs Heal Together
Students Shouldn't Be Punished for Being Homeless
Published February 08, 2010 @ 08:57AM PT
Rosa Bracero should have graduated from high school this week. Instead, she was forced to make an impossible decision between fulfilling her educational aspirations and helping her homeless family gain admittance to a shelter for the night.
Rosa was supposed to take the Regents exam at her Brooklyn high school last week -- a requirement for graduation in New York. But on the day she was scheduled to take the test, her family was evicted from their apartment. When the family went to a homeless intake center, staffers said they would be denied shelter if the entire family was not present for the seven-hour process -- even if it meant Rosa would have to miss her graduation exam.
According to the New York Daily News, the entire family was stunned at the cold, heartless lack of flexibility of the school and the New York shelter system. Rosa herself summed it up best: "I'm homeless so I have to be set back in my goals for my life? Isn't it enough that I'm homeless?"
This year, schools across the U.S. have been dealing with an unprecedented surge of homeless students. The National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth says that in the past two years, the number of homeless students has increased 100 percent. Though the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act provides a number of guaranteed protections for homeless students, it can be extremely difficult for these kids to keep up (nevermind excel) when they are without a stable home.
California Court Upholds Jessica's Law ... Sort Of
Published February 04, 2010 @ 08:21AM PT
We all like easy answers. We like things to be black and white, right and wrong. But sometimes, with a complex issue like homelessness, things just aren't this simple. And perhaps nothing illustrates this better than the debacle surrounding Jessica's Law and the soaring rates of homelessness among sex offenders in California.
Jessica's Law, passed by voters in November 2006, bars sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a park or school. Though these tough housing restrictions were meant to protect children from the threat of recidivism, it has further limited the already sparse number of affordable housing options for ex-offenders, causing thousands to become homeless. Since Jessica's Law was enacted in 2006, the number of homeless sex offenders in California has increased a whopping 2,400 percent. Homeless and children's advocates alike have argued that Jessica's Law is nothing more than "forced homelessness." A tough issue, indeed.
Even the California Supreme Court more or less straddled the issue this week, according to SF Weekly. On Monday, the Court ruled at a broad level that it is constitutional for the state to enforce the residency restrictions of Jessica's Law on paroled sex offenders. Then it passed the buck. Now, smaller trial courts will need to decide -- on a case by case basis -- whether Jessica's Law is unreasonable, vague, overly broad or unconstitutional for individual parolees within their jurisdictions. Since every sex offender's case, and the threat they pose to children, is different, that's a lot of cases.
Families Are the #1 Homelessness Prevention Tool
Published February 02, 2010 @ 07:40AM PT
They're your parents. You've relied on them for your genes, holiday meals and unsolicited advice. But these days, they're serving another important role. They might just be be your last line of defense before spiraling into homelessness. (Or, sadly, you might be theirs.)
As unemployment rates skyrocketed over the past year, relatives began dishing out loans and assistance to stave off the threat of homelessness. With shelters packed and tent cities popping up from Sacramento to Providence, it's not far-fetched to say that this crisis might have been much worse if not for the generosity of families.
Parents, siblings, kids, aunts, uncles and grandparents are preventing homelessness among their financially unstable relatives, according to a piece in the New York Times last weekend. They are, in essence, serving as the personal safety net before the social service safety net. A recent New York Times/CBS News poll found that more than half of 708 unemployed adults surveyed nationwide said they had borrowed money from friends or relatives. Most of the individuals had strained finances; nearly 80 percent of those who reported borrowing money said their family's financial situation was "fairly bad" or "very bad."
Of course, anyone who's ever seen "Judge Judy" knows that borrowing from a family member can be a sticky situation. Not only does it require putting one's pride aside to reach out for help, repayment agreements are typically tabled until the crisis blows over and job prospects improve.
Given the slow speed at which things are turning around, this could take awhile.
Photo credit: Merlign Hoek
Mapping the Impact of the Recovery Act
Published January 30, 2010 @ 12:23PM PT
I recently met a woman whose story blew my mind. I'll call her Nadia. She is a single mother with eight kids. She and her husband were middle-school sweethearts, and although they struggled financially, both working two minimum-wage jobs, they were somehow managing to make ends meet.
Sadly, Nadia's world fell apart two years ago when she came home from work one day to discover that her husband had committed suicide. Since then, life has been a whirlwind for Nadia and her children; they are struggling to deal with their devastation while going in and out of homelessness. Last November, when they came to the homeless service center where I work, Nadia and her children were living in a tiny one-room studio apartment just outside of Boston.
Under any other circumstances, my organization may not have been able to help Nadia and her family right away. They may have stayed on a waiting list or had to move into a shelter before getting the housing assistance they needed. But this year, it was different. We used money from the Recovery Act to find Nadia and her kids a four-bedroom apartment. They moved in just two days before Christmas.
There are hundreds of success stories like this, all originating from the tiny chunk ($1.5 billion) of Obama's $800 billion Recovery Act bill that was dedicated towards the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Rehousing Program (HPRP). Since then, this money has slowly trickled down to cities and towns across the country, moving folks into housing and keeping at-risk families in their homes. It isn't enough to help everyone, but it is changing lives.
Jessica's Law Blamed for Steep Rise in Homeless Sex Offenders
Published January 26, 2010 @ 03:55PM PT
In just three years, the number of homeless sex offenders in California has increased a whopping 2400 percent. Who or what is to blame for this skyrocketing figure? Believe it or not, it's Jessica's Law, passed by voters in November 2006 and designed to protect children from paroled sex offenders. What's a state to do when a law intended to bolster public safety is actually exacerbating the threat of recidivism?
Today, there are 2,200 paroled sex offenders who are homeless in California. This is up from 1,257 a year ago and just 88 in September 2007. The causal link between the passage of Jessica's Law and the onslaught of homeless sex offenders is undeniable. What, you ask, is at the heart of the issue here? Housing.
Jessica's Law bans sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park where children "regularly gather," according to the Mercury News. These strict requirements have created real difficulties for paroled sex offenders looking for places to live. Even if housing is available within approved areas, it may be unaffordable. The requirements have also created clusters of sex offenders in places like unmonitored motels, which are not sustainable forms of housing nor necessarily safe for children.
Homelessness in Suburbia
Published January 14, 2010 @ 11:09AM PT
Mental health, addiction and poverty are not city issues. They are not rural issues. In fact, they are not geographic issues at all. Still, homelessness is often associated with urban areas, simply because this is where most social services are concentrated. Many people refuse to believe that this issue touches the wholesome suburban world of cul-de-sacs, white picket fences mand strip malls.
But as an article in the Toronto Sun points out, this assumption is just plain wack. Homelessness plagues the suburbs just like any other area. In York, one of British Columbia's most prosperous regions, homelessness is real and it's affecting thousands. Problem is, they have nowhere to go. If someone falls on hard times, there are few housing options; the area has the lowest proportion of rental housing in the area and some of the highest rents. Shelter options are even more limited. The region has four emergency shelters that stay quite busy, but there is plenty of unmet need. For example, there are no shelters that serve single women.
So where do the suburban homeless go? They stay hidden by couch surfing, living in cars or camping, according to the Sun. The suburban homeless are too often unseen, unnoticed and, in too many cases, unaccounted for.
You know what they say -- out of sight, out of mind.
Photo credit: Shahram Sharif
Homeless Children, In Their Own Words
Published January 06, 2010 @ 03:17PM PT
Each year, one in 50 kids experiences homelessness, according to the National Center on Family Homelessness. This disturbingly high number proves that youth homelessness is more common than many know or see. But it is important to remember that the prevalence of youth homelessness does not diminish the devastation of the experience. Rather, it should compel us to do more to end this atrocity.
For kids, homelessness means sleeping in crowded shelters, on couches, in cars, or sometimes on the streets. It means frequent moves, being separated from family and exposure to "adult" issues, like alcoholism, drugs and violence. It means struggling to keep up in school, and the increased likelihood that they themselves will experience deep poverty and homelessness as an adult. Indeed, even if their homeless experience is short-lived, it is an experience they will never forget.
I can tell you from my days working in a family shelter, capturing the stories of homeless youth is tough. Anyone who works with homeless families understands that it is critical to be fiercely protective of a homeless child's privacy. Their classmates may not be aware of their living situation or their family may be escaping a violent living situation. But there are rare cases where the family and child understand that their experience can help boost others' understanding of homelessness issues.
That's why this short video from the Tacoma Rescue Mission is so unique and valuable. Hearing first-hand accounts from kids who have had to sleep in cars, witness their parents' downward spiral into alcoholism, or sleep in crowded shelters will change the way you think youth homelessness.
Children's Stories from Tacoma Rescue Mission on Vimeo.
Photo Credit: UTWatch
