Category Archives: Homelessness

Minimum Wage Controversey

News link, Solutions to Homelessness

Raising minimum wage has been a constant controversial issue of the past few year and it is still ongoing. many people do not understand the annual rates of pay for people who have minimum wage jobs. The amount is not efficient enough for them to live in southern California and be able to raise a family.

Los Angeles times reported that “If California and D.C. won’t raise the minimum wage, city and county leaders should go it alone”. People are fighting a protesting to raise minimum wage because around a  $30,000 annually is not enough to live off of. Los Angeles has been working to make improvements within the past decade but have yet to have a city wide increase of minimum wage.  The cost of living is increasing but wages are not, making it very difficult for people to live in Los Angeles.

People think that going statewide would be a difficult task, so going city at a time is the best outlook. But in order to this city council members need to be on board and at times it seems like they are not. The would benefit many people lives in a positive way. However, we do run the risk of housing prices going up even more if the minimum wage is increased. Sometimes this seems like a never ending battle that needs more solutions.

This article mentions how ” raising the local wage would pour more money into the economy and improve the business climate” which shows positive effects on our economy. So why is this something that has not been taken into action yet? Many questions are looming over this controversial topic. This article shows how increasing minimum wage would have “little political risk” and would benefit numerous people in Los Angeles county.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/commentary/la-oe-meyerson-city-minimum-wage-20140330,0,1288897.story#ixzz2xaRPQDmU

‘Jesus The Homeless’ Sculpture Rejected By Catholic Churches In Toronto, New York

Homelessness, News link, Related topics, Religion, Uncategorized

In the Huffington Post article, Meredith Bennett-Smith begins her article with “the statue is haunting and uncomfortable, depicting a darkly shrouded figure lying huddled on a long park bench”. For me this statement actively depicts the emotional stigma that accompanies members of homeless communities. Timothy Schmalz’s “Homeless Jesus” statue has not only depicted the emotions described in the previous quote, but has stirred up controversy within the city of Toronto and the Catholic Register.

homelessjesus

Inspired by a homeless man, Schmalz discussed that it was jarring to come back to Toronto and to see so many homeless people on its corners and benches. For Schmalz, the statue was meant as a permanent reminder of the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25:31-46, where Jesus tells his disciples that they help the sick, the tired, the homeless, and they also help him [Jesus]. This would seem to be a powerful message to the city of Toronto, yet the statue was rejected by two high-profile cathedrals.

Is it because Schmalz’s statue hit too close to home for the city (no pun intended)? Or perhaps associating Jesus with the stigma of homelessness isn’t appropriate in the Catholic perspective? Although the initial fears of controversy and vagueness might have stemmed the Catholic leaders’ reaction, shouldn’t this push the Catholic
community to do more to help the homeless?

See the artiicle for yourself here.

 

People’s Beliefs about Homelessness

Causes of Homelessness

This weekend, another classmate and I went to the sustainability fair to teach the community about homelessness in the US and what some of the causes are that we have learned about.  We also addressed some of the stereotypes people often assume about the homeless population.  It was startling how many people believe exactly what we have learned is not true.  When asking what people thought was the issue with homelessness, most of them responded with answers involving blaming the homeless.  Whether it was that they don’t want to work or that they are drug addicts or alcoholics, most of the responses were directly related to the stereotypes we have learned about.  All this really did was further prove that this problem is as big as we are reading it is.  We attempted to educate the people that there are other ways to think about the homelessness problem and that it is out of these people’s control, but most said thank you and went on their way.  Of course some of the participants were extremely interested in what we had to say and were on board with our argument, but it wasn’t enough.  There has to be some way to educate the world and having them really listen.

Complaining goes a long way

Government programs, Homelessness, News link, Organizations, Reflections on our Reading

In an article posted yesterday by USA Today, benefits from the VA was re instated for those who had “less than honorable discharges.” After recently revisiting their eligibility statements, they quietly removed this category of recipients away.  Additionally, this past December, the VA cut finances to their support program as well as cutting transitional housing for those who served less than 24 months as well as less than honorable discharge. More often than not, the veterans that fall into this category  do not receive VA benefits therefore making them unable to receive benefits from homeless programs, or so the VA decided.

Once people heard of this change, they saw it quite contradicting to the goals that Obama had set in his State of the Union address earlier this year.  Senators, advocates, support groups, social welfare organizations and more all saw the heartlessness  in the VA’s actions. In response, the VA said a law has to be created to change rules. On Friday, Senator Murray, who sits on the Budget Committee, from Washington, created and presented legislation on this topic. “In the meantime, Robert Petzel, the VA’s undersecretary for health, restored support for all homeless veterans who had previously been receiving it.” About 1 in 10 veterans who live on the street have “less than honorable discharges” and almost 60,000 veterans in general are homeless. Not all veterans are immediate homeless; due to post dramatic stress syndrome, abuse, and life events, some become homeless after years of being back from their tour.

This article touched me because it is amazing to see what can happen when people feel like there has been injustice. Especially when a group that was subject to these changes does not have the strength to fight back, it is amazing what the power of voices can do to help make a positive change. From our reading of Book of the Poor, we saw many organizations are out there to aid people and offer them the best well-being they can. In this case, many people and organizations are out there to support veterans everywhere.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/29/homeless-veterans-va-denied-support-ptsd-discharge/7013129/

Paying Alcoholics in Beer? Good or Bad Idea?

About being poor, Government programs, Homelessness, News link, Organizations, People, Poverty, Solutions to Homelessness, Solutions to Hunger

Tonight, I was talking to my dad about this class, and he told me about a program he’d heard of in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This article from BBC News does a very good job of explaining the program. Basically, a company (The Rainbow Group) partially funded by the Dutch government have started a program to help homeless alcoholics in Amsterdam. The article describes how the program works: “They arrive at 09:00 and work until 15:00. They take extended breaks for beer, cigarettes and a hot lunch, all provided free of charge.” The aim of the program is not to fix these people, but to give them a better quality of life, while bettering the neighborhoods at the same time. Though this is a very controversial program that I imagine most Americans would not take seriously, I think it’s a very intriguing idea. The program seems to be helping to keep violence to a minimum and has been fairly cost effective. The people involved in the program are given a sense of dignity because they can work for their beer instead of begging for money. One of the men stated that “‘They used to treat us like garbage – and now we are picking up their garbage, we are not the garbage anymore.'” Rather than trying to change the “unchangeable reality” of alcoholism, this project is aimed at creating a better environment for alcoholics to live in.

I’m not sure about this program and its effectiveness, but I think that the change of thinking about these types of things is a good start to changing society. As the article states, why not “abandon ‘old-fashioned political correctness'” and try something “crazy” like this?

What do you think about this type of program? Do you think it would work in America? Is it making a significant difference?

Housing the Homeless: the ultimate solution

Homelessness, News link, Solutions to Homelessness

In an article from the Huffington Post, there was a study in North Carolina that showed signs that it is cheaper to give housing for homeless then for them to live on the streets. This study was conducted in an apartment complex of people who used to say they were homeless and showed a savings in health care and jail time. This apartment complex called the Moore house provides a safe place to live for 85 people who have suffered from homelessness for many years. The article stated that within a year the people who resided in the apartments “saved $1.8 million in health care costs, with 447 fewer emergency room visits (a 78 percent reduction) and 372 fewer days in the hospital (a 79 percent reduction).”  Additionally arrests and jail time both dropped roughly 80 percent. Most people do not think of the crimes that are committed to homeless people, only what crimes homeless commit to others. Yet, within the study, they discovered that crimes that are produced by homelessness, such as loitering, trespassing, and begging, aided in the prevention of increasing certain repercussions for the homeless.

In our course, we discuss many theories, ways, points of view, and alternatives we should give to homeless people. Housing would be the best option in a perfect world. The Moore house has the goal and motto of “housing first” which requires no drug test or what some would consider an invasion of privacy. They ultimately care about a persons well being and treats their tenants as people with compassion and support. This article went on to describe one of the inhabitants stories. As we have read, the system treats everyone differently depending on their characteristics. Needless to say, to “fix” the problem of homelessness we need to start at the root, which is reteaching the characteristics of certain groups and focusing opinions on experiences and interactions.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/25/housing-first-homeless-charlotte_n_5022628.html

Saving Money with a Home

Homelessness, Solutions to Homelessness

It actually saves the city money when they work together with the homeless to find a place to live. This is a really interesting fact that I learned while researching a variety of articles on homelessness. There have been a number of studies that have shown this fact, from ones in Florida, Colorado, and etc., but this one comes from Charlotte, North Carolina, where researchers at the University of North Carolina Charlotte studied a new apartment complex that was for homeless people.

This complex opened in 2012 starting with 85 units. The rules for the place are that each resident has to pay thirty percent of their income towards rent. The income ranges from any money from a job to benefits from the government. The rest of the costs are covered by a combination of local and federal government grants and private donors. In the first year, taxpayers save about $1.8 million because of two areas that had less a burden of homeless people which were health care and incarceration. With this housing complex being open, the residents visited the emergency room 447 fewer times than in past years. Also they were arrested 78 percent less during that first year as well. Because of the large amount of success that the housing complex was having, the Charlotte City Council approved about $1 million to have the Moore Place expand to 120 units.

For more information and links to the other city’s studies, click this link

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/03/24/3418140/charlotte-homeless-study/

Systemic Causes of Homelessness

Homelessness, ,

Vincent Lyon-Callos Inequality, Poverty, And Neoliberal Governance Ethnographic analysis emphasizes that there are systemic causes to homelessness. Shelters are resources for the homeless, but their strategies for providing assistance doesn’t address these systemic causes. The staff at shelters often have programs that ‘normalize’ homelessness and provide medicalized treatment plans as if homelessness individuals simply need to be cured. If an individual doesn’t conform to the shelter’s rules or challenges them or their programs in any way, become labeled as deviant and essentially get left behind. Shelter staff have little room to work with to make any changes and this lack of power within the system causes many problems and shortcomings with assistance.

This system is toxic and unproductive. They do not help the people and often blame the individual when that is not the case. Vincent Lyon-Callos arguments about systemic change mirrored much of the same notions from another book, Daniel Kerr’s Derelict Paradise. Daniel Kerr provides an in-depth history of the city of Cleveland’s homeless probelms and how it developed due to the influence of structural causes. Shelters are  a huge part of the causes Kerr mentions as the assistance to the homeless is institutionalized, which we see in Vincent Callo’s ethnography. The formula that the shelters today have been shaped to adhere to focus on the individual rather than the structure.

To see Daniel Kerr’s book: http://www.amazon.com/Derelict-Paradise-Homelessness-Development-Cleveland/dp/1558498494

For Vincent Lyon-Callo’s book: http://www.amazon.com/Inequality-Poverty-Neoliberal-Governance-Ethnographies/dp/1442600861

Solving Homelessness or the Homeless Blemish?

Homelessness, How we should treat each other, News link, Reflections on our Reading, Solutions to Homelessness

There is a “dash movement taking place in Santa Cruz, California. According to the Santa Cruz Sentinel article, “’Dash’ deployed for solving Santa Cruz Country Homelessness”,  the multi-agency cooperative 180/180 Initiative has a goal of offering “180 people a 180 degree life change” by a deadline of July 1st. A secondary goal was also created to place 25 of the city’s most visible homeless people, along with a group of 12 from Watsonville, on a course towards permanent supportive housing within 100 days by May 7th.  The 100-day dash plan is a specialized tool that gives partnering agencies and officials who wouldn’t usually get involved a finite timeline and achievable goal.

 

Although this project sounds promising, with 8 people currently being helped and two already housed in Watsonville, there seems to be the same lingering goal to get the chronically homeless away from the downtown commercial areas where they reside. Homeless Services Center Executive Director Monica Martinez is even quoted in the article saying “Everybody has their reason why (they want to get the homeless off the streets), but we all agree we want it to happen.” This reminds me of Wasserman and Clair’s book  At Home on the Street: People, Poverty, and a Hidden Culture of Homelessness, and how their participants discussed how the programs shouldn’t be pushed upon them and that they should be choices. My interpretation of this article seems as if this plan isn’t entirely for the homeless’ best interest, but to remove them from living in commercial areas where their presence isn’t wanted, which was an issue also raised in the book. These chronically homeless people they are “helping” are not being seen as people, but as a blemish on the downtowns of Santa Cruz and Watsonville. As much as this would like help out the homeless community, I fear that it is not enough to solve the chronic problem.

“Keep your coins, I want change”

About being poor, Homelessness, Reflections on our Reading, Solutions to Homelessness

“Keep your coins, I want change”. This is something that truly stuck out to me during one of the presentations last week. This statement speaks great volumes about the needs of the homeless. Coins do not do anything, but change does. Between this and our conversations in class, I was able to recognize the resources that would benefit the homeless. Through various organizations, help centers are offered to teach life skills to those who are homeless. There resources are aiming to provided life lessons, skills, and goals to make a lasting impact.  It related to the metaphor: “If you give a man a fish you feed him once, but if you teach a man how to fish, you feed him for a life time”. This is the kind of action that needs to be taken.

Having resources such as resume building, job skill training, and educational classes we are offering needy people the chance to have a life that they are in need of. I feel this needs to go beyond local non profit organizations and have a bigger impact within the government. A great population of our country is homeless, and sometimes it seems like many options are not put into full force to make a lasting impact. We have learned a lot about how one person can make a difference with their voice, but actions are louder than words. I hope to find out more information, especially from my internship, and see exactly what they are doing within these resources and seeing the lasting impact that they have on people finding jobs and getting off of the streets.