"The number of homeless families in Los Angeles County seeking emergency shelter over the winter nearly doubled this year compared to last"

Shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, other than those families who went to shelters thinking that our society had some luxurious "safety net" established for them that would allow them to live like "Welfare Queens" (and thanks SO much to Ronny Reagan for that pejorative quote!)." 

Quite a shocker to discover that, if you're newly homeless and sticking your hand out to recoup some of those tax dollars you've donated from your years of hard work, about all you get is a nice, crisp slap.....

This winter, twice as many homeless families sought emergency shelter

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Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

Alitha Chism, 28, reads a bedtime story to her children Friday at the Union Rescue Mission in downtown L.A. The family was evicted after Alitha’s husband Amos, in back, lost his job and their apartment went into foreclosure.

Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority says 620 families sought shelter in the last 3 months, compared with 330 last winter. Individual shelter-seekers increased about 4% across L.A. County.
By Jia-Rui Chong
March 30, 2009

The number of homeless families in Los Angeles County seeking emergency shelter over the winter nearly doubled this year compared to last, according to figures from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

By the end of this year's winter shelter program, which wrapped up this month, 620 families had sought vouchers for motel or hotel stays. Last winter, there were 330 families.

The increase appears to be occurring at shelters all over the county, including a more than tenfold jump from 4 to 43 families at a Culver City shelter run by EIMAGO, an affiliate of the Union Rescue Mission.

"I think the economy has been really hard on families," said Rebecca Isaacs, executive director of the Homeless Services Authority. "There are many triggers for homelessness: an eviction, an increase in rent, the loss of a job, a health tragedy, domestic violence. A lot of people are living very close to the edge."

The joint city-county agency funds many shelters year-round, but has an additional budget of $4.3 million for winter shelters from Dec. 1 to March 15. The winter shelters, which are considered a last resort, provide on-site beds for individuals and vouchers for families.

The number of individuals seeking shelter this winter increased too, but only about 4% countywide. At the four winter shelters affiliated with the Union Rescue Mission, there was a 14% increase in individuals, compared with a 631% increase in families.

The Rev. Andy Bales, the mission's chief executive, speculated that foreclosures were probably throwing more families onto the street than individuals. And recently laid-off individuals were probably more likely to find a friend or family member to take them in, he added.

"When you bring the whole family into a house, the welcome wears out sooner," he said.

Neighbors of the Burbank winter shelter were not happy with the increased numbers, and the city is considering whether to host the shelter next year, said Mayor Dave Golonski. While neighbors had many concerns about the shelter -- including worries about sex offenders, which the shelter has tried to resolve -- they were also upset that more people than anticipated were walking through residential and commercial neighborhoods into the shelter at night, he said. Shelter residents had been expected to travel by shuttle bus.

About 100 people showed up at a March 19 public hearing about the shelter, Golonski said.

"We all know we're facing some extraordinarily tough economic times . . . and people expressed a desire to help the homeless," he said. "But the neighborhood contingent continued to express concerns about the impacts on their particular neighborhood."

Since the winter program ended, agencies have been scrambling to help individuals and families find other places to stay.

The mission has kept open 120 of its winter shelter beds downtown to accommodate individuals from other shelters that closed, Bales said. Several winter shelter families are also staying there in mobile tents.

The mission has placed 22 of the 117 winter shelter families in permanent or transitional housing. The rest may be seeking shelter with other providers or may be out on the street, mission officials said.

EDAR For All

Some time ago, I posted on the EDAR (Everyone Deserves A Roof).  It's a great and affordable mini-shelter for those of us who try to assist folks on the street while they wait, and wait, and wait some more, for a spot in rehab, transitional shelter, or affordable housing.  Check them out when you have a minute or three....

Pssssst....for you local Nashville folk, doesn't the dude sitting in the EDAR below the site's logo/header look a bit like a young WillyC (Will Connelly, Nashville's homeless helper extraordinaire)?

About EDAR

EDAR (Everyone Deserves A Roof) is a 501(c)(3) charity that provides unique mobile shelters to those living on the streets all around us. Each EDAR is a four-wheeled mobile unit which carries belongings and facilitates recycling during the day and which unfolds into a special, framed tent-like sleeping enclosure with a bed at night.

Mission

While respecting permanent and temporary housing for the homeless in group settings which use buildings to provide shelter, EDAR addresses the unrepresented hundreds of thousands of homeless people amongst us for whom no beds are available or who are unable or unwilling to participate in those solutions.

Who We Serve

The EDAR units are currently being implemented in three ways:

1. EDAR works with current philanthropic, governmental and religious initiatives who currently work to house the homeless in temporary and permanent housing programs. EDAR units are being used as a “first step” into the homeless shelters for those that are typically reluctant to enter a traditional shelter system. The shelter creates a relationship with the homeless person who is using the EDAR unit and with time, the homeless person will often transition into the shelter’s program.
2. The EDAR units are being used as additional beds in shelters where there is a lack of portable cots for the homeless each night. EDAR users are mobile with the EDAR units during the day, and are allowed to enter the shelter grounds and sleep in a designated area. This provides the shelter extra sleeping units and gives the homeless person much more privacy than the traditional cot on which they might sleep.
3. The EDAR units are also given to homeless clients directly, those who are in need of a more comfortable place to sleep that protects them from the elements, for those who cannot or will not go to a shelter.

Los Angeles

• There are 73,702 homeless people on any given night in Los Angeles County; over half of them are in the City of Los Angeles.
• There are 141,737 homeless people annually in Los Angeles County.
• Approximately 83% of the homeless people identified in the point-in-time count were unsheltered, sleeping in the streets, alleys, autos, encampments, overpasses, doorways, tents, unconverted garages, sheds, and the like while only 17% were living in either emergency shelters or transitional housing programs.
  (Estimate: LAHSA 2007 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count)

United States

• Each year, more than 3 million people experience homelessness in the United States, including 1.3 million children.
  (Estimate: National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty)
• Of 23 major US cities surveyed, an average of 23% of shelter requests by homeless people are estimated to have gone unmet
• Of the surveyed cities, 77% of the emergency shelters estimate they will have to turn away homeless people, other than families, because of a lack of resources.
  (Estimate: United States Conference of Mayors: Homeless and Hunger Survey December 2006)

EDAR (Everyone Deserves A Roof), Inc.
1015 Gayley Ave. Suite 357 | Los Angeles, CA 90024
Phone: 310 208 1000 x109 | Fax 323 315 5188
info@edar.org

"They are the hidden homeless. And their ranks appear to be growing as rising joblessness and mortgage foreclosures take their toll in Sacramento and other U.S. cities"

I mentioned this in some posts many moons back, but these folks aren't going to be hidden for long.  This is a new (relatively speaking, anyway) breed of homeless person who knows how to gain exposure, organize, and initiate change.  

Already we're seeing improvements, although they are damned slower than most of us would like, but changes are coming.  

Now if we all can just hang on long enough to actually benefit from them...

Published on Thursday, March 26, 2009 by Reuters

Hidden Homeless Emerge as US Economy Worsens

by Steve Gorman and Suzanne Hurt

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Emergency shelters brimming with homeless people in California's capital are quietly turning away more than 200 women and children a night in a sign of the deteriorating U.S. economy.

A homeless person sleeps under a white blanket next to piles of garbage bags and a statue of Jesus outside St. Michael Roman Catholic Church Thursday, March 26, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

The displaced individuals on waiting lists at St. John's Shelter and other facilities often turn instead to relatives or friends for temporary living quarters, perhaps moving into a spare room, garage or trailer. The less fortunate might sleep in their cars or a vacant storage unit.

 

They are the hidden homeless. And their ranks appear to be growing as rising joblessness and mortgage foreclosures take their toll in Sacramento and other U.S. cities, experts say.
U.S. President Barack Obama recognized the trend in his televised news conference this week, saying, "the homeless problem was bad even when the economy was good," and he vowed to bring greater government resources to bear to deal with it.

"It is not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours," he said.

A "tent city" of up to 200 homeless in Sacramento was thrust into the media spotlight last month as a symbol of the battered U.S. economy. California authorities said this week they would shut down the illegal settlement and find other shelter for its residents, most of them chronically homeless.
Homeless advocates say they expect such encampments, which already exist around the country, to spread as the housing crisis worsens and shelters fill up.

"I think there's a slight trickle of people who've been at risk of homelessness who are winding up in tent cities or knocking on shelter doors," said Michael Stoops, director of the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington. "I expect a tremendous increase in homelessness over the next couple of years."

Stoops, who has worked with the homeless for 35 years, said the newly dispossessed often retain some income and seek initially to downsize or find cheaper accommodations.

WORST NIGHTMARE
"Their worst nightmare would be winding up on the streets, in a tent city or a shelter," he said. "That's the last stage. They will do everything they can before that happens to them."

Maria Romero, 52, who held a series of low-paying jobs over the years before steady work became hard to find, said she lived out of her automobile for a year before reluctantly moving to St. John's Shelter in January.

"I'd rather be by myself. My car was my own space," she said, adding she would never consider living in a tent city.

"It wouldn't be safe, especially for a single female," said Romero, a high school dropout forced by circumstance to live in a car or shelter more than once in her life.

Her experience illustrates the complexity of homelessness in America, where the most economically vulnerable are often the first to fall through the cracks during hard times.

The latest national figures, in a January report by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, actually showed a 10 percent decline in the homeless population two years ago -- from about 744,000 per night in January 2005 to nearly 672,000 per night in January 2007.

But 36 of the 50 states reported increases and homeless advocates worry that the national trend will be reversed because of the deepening recession and housing crisis.

As of 2007, the report said, 42 percent of homeless people in the United States, and 70 percent of those in California, slept on the streets, in cars, tents or abandoned buildings.

The "Skid Row" area of Los Angeles is thought to have the nation's highest concentration of homeless, with more than 5,000 counted in that 50-block area in 2007.

Experts say it typically takes six to eight months to go from losing one's home to turning up at a shelter doorstep. Some already have noticed more than a trickle.

RUN ON THE SHELTERS
"I've never seen it like this before, and I have 30 years of experience working with the homeless," said Darlene Newsom, head of the UMOM Day Centers emergency housing project in Phoenix, Arizona, where the number of homeless families seeking services has doubled in the past three months.

Loaves & Fishes, a Sacramento charity that supports the homeless, now provides a free lunch to about 650 people a day, up about 10 percent from a year ago, but private donations to the organization have been flat.

"We are struggling to keep our doors open," director Joan Burke said.

Nearby St. John's Shelter, which caters to women and children, has been running at or near capacity for months -- filling roughly 100 beds a night -- with a waiting list well over twice that long, case manager Kellie Dockendorf said.

This is up from the daily average of 80 women and children turned away in 2008. And getting in can take up to 45 days.

The mix of clientele is changing too, she said.

"We're getting a lot more working people. We're getting more people with education. We're getting a lot more people who are working part-time or not getting enough hours to pay their bills," she said.

Keysia Bell, 38, had made a living as a caregiver for the elderly until full-time work became harder to find.

After a period of paying to stay with friends or relatives for weeks or months at a time, then renting a house she could no longer afford, she ended up at St. John's two months ago with her 17-year-old and 10-month-old daughters.

"I'm out of a job. I'm out of a place to stay. I have a baby daughter, and it all just became overwhelming," she said.

(Additional reporting by Tim Gaynor in Phoenix; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Mary Milliken)

From New York to California, the Section 8 Housing waiting lists have been closed for years and will remain that way until their current lists are reduced.

Our own Section 8 program has been closed so long I barely recall the time when you could fill out an app simply by walking in to MDHA and requesting one.

The typical wait time is 2 years and there currently about 4,000 folks on the waiting list.  

We might get lucky however, and see some real dollars come our way from President Obama; it would be a welcome change from the status quo of the past 8 years....

Section 8 Housing Applications Closed Nationwide

By Rev Cynthia on Mar 26, 2009 in Featured, Homelessness Statistics, Street Voices

From New York to California, the Section 8 Housing waiting lists have been closed for years and will remain that way until their current lists are reduced. What this means is that one cannot even submit an application to be put onto the waiting list. Those who managed to get on the lists have also been waiting for years for these subsidized housing vouchers to become available. Apparently, “…in large cities, the wait can be up to 10 years.” (www.nationalhomeless.org) - I should live so long!


According to the Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo County (California), the “inland” (vs. “coastal”, where I actually live) statistic for “extremely low income [for one person] is $14,050.” My annual income is $10,880, which is right at the national “poverty level.” The maximum subsidized rent for a one bedroom apartment is $402. for this same “extremely low income” population. That is still too much rent for me to pay on $907. a month in disability benefits. As a comparison, unsubsidized rents on the Central Coast of California run upwards of $850. a month for a one-bedroom apartment.

In the meantime, there seem to be a limited number of public housing units, which occasionally have vacancies. I went to look at one of those on Monday. This particular facility is located 20 miles away from where I live (there are no vacancies in my city). It is subsidized housing for seniors (over the age of 62) and those who are disabled. For a one-bedroom unit the rent would be 30% of my income, which would be $270. a month, plus utilities and an $895. deposit. Miraculously, they do allow smokers (although thankfully, I am not one) and small pets ($300. deposit for small dogs or cats (under 25lbs.) and $75. for a bird or fish. I was toying with the idea of getting a blue Siamese Fighting fish, whom I was going to call “Sushi,” but definitely do not want to spend $20. for the fish/bowl/food/gravel and then pay $75. for a deposit. I’ll continue to be happy with the few plants that I started from cuttings which were given to me.

The homeless shelter system in Ojai (California) is closing for the season at the end of March. As a result of not wanting my friends there, who are currently homeless, to end up on the street sans shelter, I forwarded the information about the subsidized housing vacancies listed above to contacts there. I am praying that some of these folks will now become housed.

According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, “More than 40 percent of homeless people qualify for disability benefits…” It is also interesting to note how diverse the homeless population actually is. Despite popular stereotypes, the National Coalition for the Homeless data states that “22% of the homeless in urban areas work; 38% are families with children; 25% are children; 20-25% have a mental illness; approximately 30% are drug or alcohol dependent; and 40% of homeless males are veterans.” About 30% of the women who become homeless are in that situation due to domestic violence. I will add that many senior citizens on extremely low, fixed incomes are also homeless. In 2000, the Census Bureau reported that “31.1 million people lived at or below the poverty line…and [were] at risk of homelessness.”

Because I have 7 local doctors (with more surgery ahead of me) and I do not have a car (I cannot currently afford car payments, insurance, gas, and maintenance), moving 20 miles away from where I am living does not seem like a good idea. However, after being on the waiting list for public housing in my area for nearly 2 years, I have recently discovered that a few criteria are in place, of which I was not previously aware. Specifically, race is taken into consideration (from the standpoint of making sure that there is a balance of the various races in each complex) and income is targeted (again, they are looking for a percentage of “extremely low/ low/ moderately low” incomes). My guess is that being Caucasian puts me 2^nd to the bottom of the list (only ahead of white men) and having “extremely low” income will undoubtedly serve to reinforce that negative position.

Stay tuned - I will keep you posted as to where I land. My contract for “transitional” housing with the Women’s Shelter Program (for domestic violence) ends in June (w/ a possible extension to December of 2009). Please keep me in your prayers!

"Police in Jackson say two homeless men whose bodies were found in a tent died of accidental alcohol poisoning."

Sometimes when you play, you pay.....dearly......


2 homeless men found dead in tent in Jackson
Associated Press - March 27, 2009 4:15 AM ET

JACKSON, Tenn. (AP) - Police in Jackson say two homeless men whose bodies were found in a tent died of accidental alcohol poisoning.

The Jackson Sun reported police were called to a wooded area Wednesday. Lt. David Demoss said the men were inside the tent, as if they were asleep.

Sgt. Tyreece Miller said there was no indication of foul play.

The medical examiner said the men appeared to have been in their late 50s.

Nick Elder, night manager of a nearby market, said he has seen the men going through trash bins and asking people for change.

Elder said he last saw 1 of them Tuesday night when the man asked for food.

Information from: The Jackson Sun, http://www.jacksonsun.com

The Contributor Gets A Snappy New Website!

I'm just so proud of the folks I work with down at The Contributor; the latest accomplishment from this fine crew is a newly revised and updated website!  Please, if you get a chance, check them out; they are doing work that benefits the homeless 110 percent and I'm both honored and proud to be a part of such a great team!

"Traditional education in areas like phonics, the chronology of history and mental arithmetic remain but modern media and web-based skills and environmental education now feature."

It might seem a little odd to find this particular article in a homelessness and poverty blog, but I will be the first to tell you that education can advance a person from the gutter into a home and the American Dream, or what's left of it, anyway.

I dropped out of school in the 8th grade.  I won't bore you with my adventures here; suffice it to say that I did things that would ruin my chances at a "normal" life for the next two decades, at least.

When I finally figured out that I was as smart as most folks who had jobs that paid them a decent salary, I'd already wasted most of my ladder-climbing years and now found myself in entry-level professional positions working with people half my age while those who were my age were far far above me on the professional ladder.

Today I plug along, thankful that I have at least the gift of words, knowing that I've thrown away a very large portion of my life, but content that at least I was able to salvage some of it.

  I owe that salvage operation to education.  I've always been a "lifelong learner;" I just wish I would have ignored my peers - or had a different batch or them - back when I should have been listening to teachers.  I learned a lot, alright, but it was mostly crap that was useless outside of the dopeworld. 

There's nothing worse than realizing too late you've fucked up your life; when I was in San Quentin for growing the evil weed, I saw that happen to hundreds of men who walked terrified through those big metal doors and left their freedom behind; many for dozens of years.

Now on the street, I see it in the eyes and hear it in the comments of those who have spent their entire lives drinking, doping and chasing good times on the street, only to discover that the few truly good times the street brought had a damned high pricetag.

Tehir salvation, as it were, lies, at least to me, in advancing their education.  But it's a helluva lot bumpier road to travel in your 40s than in your 20s. 

Still, it's a road worth traveling, no doubt, so when I see articles like the one below, I'm very pleased that schools are beginning to provide the things I found necessary to excel as I entered true "adulthood."

Let's hope educators here in the states follow suit.....

Please Sir, how do you re-tweet? - Twitter to be taught in UK primary schools

4 Comments

by Mike Butcher on March 25, 2009

No, it is not April 1st yet. The British government is proposing that Twitter is to be taught in primary (elementary) schools as part of a wider push to make online communication and social media a permanent part of the UK’s education system. And that’s not all. Kids will be taught blogging, podcasting and how to use Wikipedia alongside Maths, English and Science.

The draft plans were due to be published next month, but have leaked early to The Guardian.

Children will also learn “fluency” in handwriting and keyboard skills, and how to use a spellchecker. Luckily they will still be taught how to spell themselves, rather than rely on Mr Clippy.

It’s a big overhaul of current thinking. Children will no longer be absolutely required to study the Victorians or the Second World War, as Teachers get a much freer hand in what goes on in the classroom in the biggest changes to primary schooling in a decade.

Traditional education in areas like phonics, the chronology of history and mental arithmetic remain but modern media and web-based skills and environmental education now feature.

The plans were drawn up by Sir Jim Rose, the former Ofsted chief, appointed by ministers to overhaul the primary school curriculum, and are due to be published next month.

"Every public librarian in attendance identified the user as a homeless man. Every academic librarian in the audience saw a professor emeritus."

I'm doing some research on an upcoming post for Change.org and ran across this article from Julie Hersberger.  I found it pertinent and interesting so I posted it here for your perusal as well....

The Homeless and Information Needs and Services

Julie Hersberger

(Reference & User Services Quarterly, Spring2005, Vol. 44 Issue 3, p199-202, 4p)

A reference colleague related the following anecdote. In the course of teaching a reference workshop she would hold up photos of users, and the attendees would provide a background profile for them. She showed them a photo of an older gentleman in a plaid flannel shirt with his white hair sticking out at odd angles. Every public librarian in attendance identified the user as a homeless man. Every academic librarian in the audience saw a professor emeritus.

Evaluating the economic status of a library patron using direct observation might result in correct estimates in some instances, but very wrong guesses in others. There is no material relevance to whether the library user who requests information concerning who won the World Series in 1961, for example, is homeless or housed. There are, however, environmental issues that surround the everyday life experiences of homeless persons that might prove useful when thinking about providing library services to the homeless.

The term “homeless” is problematic when we discuss information user groups. First of all, the homeless are not a homogeneous population. Homeless veterans, for example, might have very different information needs and service needs than homeless families. Providing information services that are most useful and thus most used, becomes a simpler task when target audiences are more defined and more specific. Different homeless groups have different information needs, but all users’ information needs must be assessed individually. Second, there is a perceptual issue of “deserving” versus “undeserving” individuals of existing and often limited services that underpins all discussions on homelessness. This perception often translates into library attitudes of “worthy” versus “unworthy” users, particularly in a public library setting.

Facts about Homelessness

  According to the Stewart B. McKinney Act, 42 U.S.C. § 11301, et seq. (1994), a person is considered homeless if he or she: 

lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence and . . . has a primary night time residency that is: (A) a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations . . . (B) an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized, or (C) a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.

  People become homeless for many different reasons (emphasis on the plural). Basically, poverty and a lack of shelter form the primary reasons. In many cases, individuals can resolve one life crisis, but the homeless most often have been dealt multiple crises including various combinations of mental health issues, substance abuse, domestic violence, loss of a job, loss of a loved one, loss of one’s home, and so forth. Information needs are often tied to the reasons that one becomes a homeless statistic, and the local services that can be provided to help resolve these problems.

 
The question regarding the number of people who are homeless is a very difficult question to answer. Estimates range from a few hundred thousand to over three million. The time that one spends being homeless is a critical issue. The chronically homeless spend very long periods living on the streets or in substandard housing. Probably the largest number of homeless people could be categorized as experiencing “periodic” homelessness, in which various circumstances result in the loss of housing. Persons who lose their homes due to natural disasters or from relocating to a new area are considered “temporary” homeless persons. Finally, those classified as living in “total” homelessness are those who have not only lost their shelter but also suffer from a loss of other important social supports such as family connections or public assistance.

  In past research efforts, homeless persons have articulated several everyday life information needs. These needs include information about:
  ❖ Finances
  ❖ Relationships with others
❖ Childcare
❖ Housing
  ❖ Health and health care (for self and for others)
❖ Employment
❖ Education (for self and for others)
  ❖ Transportation
❖ Public assistance (for self and for others)


Not all of the information needs of the homeless are best answered by public librarians. Libraries might not have the lists for local subsidized housing available, but librarians ought to be able to know where in the community such information is known (that is, information and referral).

It is important to note that when addressing some questions, there may be other important issues that must be recognized prior to providing the best, most useful information. For example, some of the homeless are seeking job information, but simply providing information on available jobs is not always enough. If public transportation does not stop near the place of work, then a list of jobs might be useless information. Sometimes homeless parents cannot accept a job that is available only on the night shift due to the lack of affordable or available childcare during those hours.


As noted above, it is not always the questions themselves that render the status of the inquirer important; the everyday context is often crucial to understand. A CEO and a homeless person who both need to find a new place to live are basically asking the same question. However, the CEO will have many more options and thus seeks— and receives—much more information. And, often, there are many more information providers able and eager to provide that information to the CEO.

  Providing Services to the Homeless
  The primary issue facing service providers to the homeless can be summed up in one word: attitude. A decade of studying the homeless as an information-user population has frequently called attention to the subject of the attitude of the information provider. In one study, those who provided information in a friendly manner were often referred to as “friends.” However, in many circumstances, the homeless were very sensitive to a feeling of “unworthiness” in the perception of the information provider. Practitioners and LIS students should be encouraged to review ALA’s Policy on Library Services for the Poor (Policy 61 in the ALA Policy Manual). The policy states that libraries should strive to remove existing barriers to service access and to improve services provided, taking into consideration the information and services needs of poor people. Poor people, especially the homeless, are marginalized populations already denied or struggling for full participation in a democratic society, but libraries ought to be social institutions of inclusion, not exclusion.

Categorizing an entire class of people as “problem patrons” is outright discrimination. Inappropriate behavior is a legitimate reason for asking a user to leave the library, but this is a separate issue from the user’s social status. Toddlers, who can be smelly and loud, are not in the library reading anything and are often asleep, but no one advocates that this is a problem patron group unworthy of library services.


  The library literature is split on the issue of library services to the homeless. The ALA Code of Ethics advocates information access and service provision to everyone regardless of demographic or other attributes. Some in the profession disagree. Cronin expressed what others have also advocated when he stated that “a library is not a refuge for the homeless . . . . A disruptive minority is effectively preventing the majority of bona fide library patrons from exercising their rights.”

  Again, it is not the fact that the person is homeless that ought to determine worthiness for service. Anyone who is disruptive ought to be asked to leave the library. However, it is very doubtful that Cronin and others would classify two- and three-year olds as a problem patron group. Policies need to be applied equally. Users and staff who are overly perfumed cause physical reactions in others. While this issue has been addressed in the library literature, few refer to those wealthy enough to douse themselves in fragrance as a problem patron group. Isn’t this disruptive minority abridging the rights of others too?

  And why can’t a library be a refuge for the homeless? There have been many articles in the past concerning the library as a “sanctuary” where individuals have gained information that greatly improved their everyday lives. Articles in library journals and various newspapers and other popular press venues celebrate the gains that many homeless individuals have realized through their use of the public library. ALA president Carol BreyCasiano believes that “libraries are a safe haven for the homeless across the country, regardless of their location,” and that libraries are often organizations that can better the lives of homeless users.

  While the attitude of individual staff members is critical to the provision of library services, equally as critical is how policy is promulgated and implemented. Patron behavior policies that determine access to information need to be focused on behaviors that are specifically delineated and then equally enforced. If the policy states that users may not sleep in the library, the pillar of the community snoozing away in the local history room after having a little too much wine at lunch should be asked to leave along with the homeless person sleeping in the reference area. The question of unequal enforcement of policy is one that individual libraries must discuss on a regular basis. Continuing efforts to discuss such policy issues at the state and national levels are also an important goal.

 Assessing Information Service Needs and Providing Needed 

Services


  I have long advocated that students of public librarianship be very active in assessing information needs of any identifiable user group. This involves getting out from behind the desk and, as needed, getting out of the library. Asking users for input is always a good idea as well, such as interviewing potential users in homeless shelters and soup kitchens about their information needs. Questioning other local service providers for input might prove valuable as well. Think outreach. If your children’s department provides story times at various locations around town, such as nursery schools and daycare centers, why not consider providing a similar service to local family homeless shelters? Mark lists the following needs of children in homeless shelters that can be met by a visit from a librarian:

  ❖ These children need special attention due to their homeless status.
❖ These children often do not receive the attention they need.
❖ These children need respect and the sense of being important to someone. 
❖ These children need stability.  
❖ These children need their lives enriched. 
 ❖ These children need to discover (or rediscover) their ability to believe.  
❖ These children may have shorter attention spans than other children, and need books that will aid in lengthening their ability to focus.
❖ These children often want lots of affection, and need lots of hugs. 
❖ These children need volunteers [and professionals] to prove themselves. 
❖ These children need the comfort and special bond that can be created when adults read aloud to children. 




Homeless children living in family shelters are a great example of a very deserving user population. Libraries can make a difference in these young lives. If cost becomes an issue, such endeavors are often ones that local organizations will help fund.


Being creative in other ways can also help provide information to the homeless. One nonprofit group in a northeastern state received a large donation of Tyvek plastic sheeting on which they printed up the location and contact information of where one could find local homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and other public service providers. This virtually indestructible material did not disintegrate in rainy or snowy weather, nor did it fade from sun exposure. Think creatively when placing information like this around town. While there are some fairly obvious places to display this information, there are also fairly affluent areas where the “hidden” homeless reside. One eye-opening television newsmagazine feature focused on once-wealthy Beverly Hills women who were living in cars or episodically housesitting for friends. These women did not share their homeless status with their family or friends. Some of them spent a lot of time in the public library in the local history rooms, ostensibly doing research but often just finding a nice, climate-controlled environment in which to spend the day.

Conclusion

As a former public library director, I am well aware of the many challenges that staff members face in providing services to an extreme range of users. However, there is little utility in the identification of homeless persons as “problem patrons.” The same can be said of classifying senior citizens, young adults, or others as problem users. Individual behaviors that are well identified are reasonable arguments for denying access to services. Although it can be difficult to provide day in and day out, a cheerful, helpful attitude goes a long way in making a homeless person’s day. Conversely, the homeless are often on the receiving end of disapproving attitudes or worse, being treated as if they are invisible. As professionals, let us assess service needs in the context of a person’s homeless environment while not making personal judgments of their situations.

References and Notes
1. National Coalition for the Homeless. Accessed Nov. 20, 2004, www.nationalhomeless.org. This site has helpful information on many aspects of homelessness.


2. Leanne G. Rivlin, “Home and Homelessness in the Lives of Children,” in Homeless Children: The Watchers and the Waiters, ed. N. A. Boxill (New York: Haworth, 1990), 5–18.


3. Julia Hersberger, “Everyday Information Needs and Information Sources of Homeless Parents,” The New Review of Information Behavior Research 2 (2001): 119–34.


4. Blaise Cronin, “What a Library Is Not,” Library Journal 127 (Nov. 15, 2002): 46.


5. Claudia Assis, “Homeless Find Safe Haven in the Public Library: ‘It’s like a school,’ Says Day Laborer, Homeless ‘off and on’ for Past 7 Years,” The Herald-Sun (Durham, N.C.), Jan. 22, 2004, final edition. 6. Darryl L. Mark, “Cambridge Public Library Outreach,” Journal of Youth Services 7 (Spring 1994): 155–66.