The Strength Of Drug Addiction

If you've got any questions about the power drugs can have over someone's behavior, check this out...



In a related vein (no pun intended for those IV drug users out there), those of you who were around in the 80s - and paying attention - will recall the research done on Rhesus Monkeys who were given the opportunity to choose food, water or intravenous cocaine. 


I'll spoil the ending here by saying that the monkeys actually shot themselves up to the point of starvation and death, even though the food and water were right next to them.  Monkey mothers abandoned their babies in favor of cocaine.


As a recovering addict, I know all too well the grip dope can have on us.  I ruined more than 30 years of not only my, but countless others lives as well behind my drug addictions.


  There's help out there.


If you're suffering, go get some.....

"The registry and its specific language does not really include a category of what to do with individuals who are developmentally delayed or mentally ill, to the point they can comply with requirements,"

As one who spends the majority of time working to find housing for the homeless, I know the wait for housing here in Nashville for most folks is typically three years.

Social service agencies are occasionally able to get some folks housed in a shorter period, providing they have exacerbating circumstances, but those very circumstances can also keep a person out of housing indefinitely. Arson and sex crimes pretty much end most case managers' efforts to locate housing, since it's next to impossible to find a landlord or a unit that will risk housing individuals convicted of these types of crimes.

The solution here is additional housing, of course, with some of that housing designated for the mentally ill and violent offenders. Better to know where folks are then not, regardless of the cost.  

Btw, if you want to see the level of ignorance folks on the streets and in social service agencies must deal with on a daily basis when it comes to large chunks of the general public, take a gander at the comments page of this article in the Tennessean.  

A bastion of intelligent debate it ain't.....

Mentally ill struggle to meet sex registry regulations

By Kate Howard • THE TENNESSEAN • July 30, 2009

Carlton Hunter consistently fails to register as a sex offender, and he has served nearly 500 days in jail over the past five years as punishment for that.

Hunter, 45, was convicted in 1990 of two counts of attempted rape. He has racked up dozens of arrests since, almost all nonviolent misdemeanors: obstructing a passageway, public intoxication, possession of drug paraphernalia. And after he gets released on the minor charges, a new warrant inevitably is issued for his arrest when he fails to report it to the sex offender registry.


Hunter is homeless. He also is mildly mentally retarded and has paranoid schizophrenia. His attorneys say he has no family, nobody to watch over him, and he simply can't comprehend or comply with the rules of the sex offender registry.


The state agreed, granting Hunter an exception. He no longer will have to follow the rules of the registry. And though Hunter is an extreme case, some advocates are concerned that the law may need to be changed to deal with repeat offenders who lack the mental capacity to follow it.


"In terms of understanding mental illness, it's inconceivable that anyone could meet the requirements if they're mentally incapacitated," said Ben Middleton, senior vice president of core services at Centerstone.


Though there's no way to track how many people on the sex offender registry have mental illness, an analysis of the database showed that 9 percent of the 1,300 offenders in Nashville list themselves as homeless. Roughly 50 percent of those homeless offenders have been arrested for violating the laws of the registry in Nashville, according to their court records.


About 30 percent of homeless people have a severe mental illness, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.



Metro Public Defender Dawn Deaner first met Hunter at a jail docket for sex offender registry violators. He had already been picked up multiple times for the offense.


Soon, Deaner said, lawyers from her office would go to the dockets with Hunter's paperwork in hand, prepared to show the judge he couldn't be tried and hoping to get him out of jail as soon as possible.

"The registry and its specific language does not really include a category of what to do with individuals who are developmentally delayed or mentally ill, to the point they can comply with requirements," Deaner said.

It's been nearly two decades since he committed a violent offense, Deaner said, and it's rare to find someone as sick as Hunter. She fears cases like his may become more common as the state cuts mental health services.


"The competency of an individual can fluctuate, and competency can deteriorate," Deaner said. "If more people lose their services and become incompetent, you're creating more clients like Carlton who just don't have the wherewithal to remember."

Registration rules vary

Tennessee law requires anyone convicted of a violent sexual offense to register three times a year for life. Nonviolent offenders must register annually for 10 years. But all offenders must notify the registry within three days of an arrest or address change.


And though the law allows for people physically incapacitated through illness to stop registering, there's nothing that mentions mental illness or defect.


Deaner's office initially fought the rules with a lawsuit against the Tennessee Attorney General's office. Sharon Curtis-Flair, spokeswoman for the attorney general's office, said they made an agreement with Hunter after consulting with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.


She refused to say whether they've been asked to consider if there's a larger issue worth examining with offenders like Hunter.


Hunter is the first person the TBI has been asked to exempt for mental issues, spokeswoman Kristin Helm said.


"We're open to any legislation, but right now we have to follow the law as far as what the registry requirements are," Helm said. "If there's a case and that circumstance can be proven, we'll look at it on a case-by-case basis."

More homeless housing

As for Hunter, his entry on the registry will be listed as inactive. No longer will he be arrested for violations. He occasionally stays at the Nashville Rescue Mission, but mostly he is a wanderer. His lawyers usually don't know where to find him until he turns up in jail.


To Sita Diehl, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness's Tennessee chapter, Hunter's dilemma is another reason Nashville needs more housing for the homeless.


"The question becomes, how can we keep ourselves and our children safe," Diehl said. "One way is to get these people into housing where we can keep better track of them, and get them stable."

OSDN Moves To New Digs Today

Allright - today's the big day for Operation Stand Down - we are moving from the location we've been at for the past decade to a new building directly across the street.  In doing so, we will quadruple the amount of space we've had, be able to expand our services and resources dramatically, and for the first time ever, we will have everyone who is employed at OSD under the same roof at the same time for general work purposes.

This is a huge day indeed for the organization and I'm thrilled to be a part of it.  we've been packing up all this week and so have provided only minimal services to clients, but once we get across the street, we'll explode with opportunities for folks.

I'll try to get some pics of the move today.....

"I am real mad, and I am real depressed now,"

listen - it isn't rocket science.  Those of us without insurance are dying out here and we're dying in droves.  We're sick and tired of paying for  top-notch health care via our hard-earned tax dollars for those who are able to afford it on their own (are the politicians listening?) and we demand something that will at least help us battle the biggies when we need it.  

This is way past ridiculous and there are plenty of examples from around the world that universal health care is not only doable, it works well and costs considerably less than what we're doing now. 

As my friend MetisRebel (and I owe a huge apology here - I've been saying this is Matt's favorite line when in fact, MR has set me straight here - which is more proof that heavy cannabis use does have consequences, kiddies)  likes to say, 

"Get on it."

Local Woman In Bad Health Kicked Off TennCare

Posted: July 27, 2009 07:07 PM

Video Gallery <1> Local Woman In Bad Health Kicked Off TennCare 3: 00

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - While Patricia Newman fights to survive, local health care advocates point to her case as a perfect example of why they think massive health care reform was needed.


Newman's bedroom had become a prison. Her many respiratory illnesses trapped her inside and it was even worse at night.


"I have to be hooked up to the machines, because I stop breathing in my sleep," said Newman. "It looks like TennCare doesn't care if I die."


Newman will receive around $1,200 a month in Social Security disability. Not near enough to pay all her medical bills. Her Medicare benefits will not kick in for another 14 months.


"I am real mad, and I am real depressed now," said Newman.


Health care advocates said Newman's predicament was a perfect example of a broken system that needs to be fixed to cover everyone, more efficiently.


"Now what the congress is saying is, if you are below a certain income level, you are going to be covered under the Medicaid, program, we are going to get rid of all these arcane eligibility categories," said local health care advocate Tony Garr.


Washington lawmakers agree the system needs to be fixed. Late Monday there was word they are moving closer to a deal on health care.


"I am very pleased to report we are moving closer to a place where we will lower costs, and improve the quality of care," Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D) House Speaker.


When Patricia Newman became too sick to work for MTA she tried to get private health insurance, but they turned her down. A health advocacy group will meet with Newman Tuesday to figure out what she should do next.


Part of this health care reform package calls for insurance companies, to be unable to deny people coverage, based on pre-existing conditions.


A bi-partisan group in the Senate is edging closer to a healthcare compromise that omits a government insurance option that Obama favors.

"It is not ideal in any way, shape or form to have a baby in a shelter,"

I wonder, do folks who can pull the levers to disburse our tax monies really understand what's goin on out here?  I swear, it's as if they live in a freakin fairy tale.

Chalmers Johnson, author of Blowback and Sorrows of Empire (Youtube has a video of him discussing his latest work), talks in one of those books (both of which are excellent discourses on the behavior and future of the US) about the super-elite who drive past ghettos and slums in their armor-plated limos, impervious and inoculated to and against the suffering and misery they're passing.  They pull into gated communities that insulate them from the realities of the rest of the world and they then make policy and spending decisions based on their own flawed perceptions of how things are in the world.

It's all about priorities kiddies - ya either take care of yer own or ya don't.  I don't know how we can continue claiming the moral high ground when we can't put a pregnant woman into housing without delays......

In recession, babies starting out homeless

'I am shocked that I let us get this far down,' laments a jobless dad

The Associated Press contributed to this report. |Tribune Newspapers

July 28, 2009

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - -- At 5 weeks old, with a crown of dark hair and big blue eyes, Anastasia is one of the newest faces of the economic crisis. She was born homeless.

"When we are lucky enough to be settled, we will tell her that things were not always as easy as you may think," said Angela Garcia, 26, laying her infant down in a crib crammed into the corner of a small room at the Broward Outreach Center in Pompano Beach, Fla. She shares the room with her husband, David Henson, and their two older daughters, ages 2 and 6.

In Fort Lauderdale, Demali Staple's youngest child, 4-month-old Jabari, is another recession baby, entering a world gripped by the worst economy in more than a generation. When Staple finishes work as a landscaper, she picks up her son and his brother Alvash, 3, at a day care center and they return to a room at Covenant House, a shelter for runaways and homeless youths.

"There are days when I want to give up," said Staple, 21, a single mother. "But I don't want my boys to go through what I went through. So I push myself."

A recent study by the National Center on Family Homelessness found that 1 in 50 American children are homeless and most states have inadequate plans to address the worsening and often-overlooked problem.

The report analyzes data from 2005-2006. It estimates that 1.5 million children experienced homelessness at least once that year and says the problem is surely worse now because of the foreclosures and job losses of the deepening recession.

The report's state rankings reflect performance in four areas: child homelessness per capita, child well-being, risk for child homelessness, and state policy and planning.

The top five, or best-performing, states were Connecticut, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Rhode Island and North Dakota. At the bottom were Texas, Georgia, Arkansas, New Mexico and Louisiana.

Illinois ranked 13th, with more than 30,000 homeless children.

Pennsylvania, at 14th, had more than 43,000 homeless children. "If we could freeze-frame it now, it would be bad enough," said Sen. Robert Casey Jr., D-Pa., who wrote a foreword to the report. "By end of this year, it will be that much worse."

For pregnant women and newborns, health concerns are magnified by poverty and homelessness. Studies show that homeless children are more likely than other children to have asthma and ear infections and suffer from emotional and behavior problems.

"It is not ideal in any way, shape or form to have a baby in a shelter," said Patricia Mantis of The Coalition to End Homelessness.

For struggling parents such as Garcia and Henson, shelter living with an infant means access to free diapers, some clothing and even a stroller. They also benefit from counseling supplied by Broward Outreach Center caseworker Shirley Favali.

Quarters are tight, a bathroom is shared with dozens of others and there is none of the extended family support that many young parents rely on.

During weekdays, Alisa, 6, goes to camp while Garcia stays in the shelter's family wing with her baby and daughter Alexis. If Garcia can find day care for Alexis and the baby, she plans to begin looking for a job.

"We never thought this would happen," Henson, 31, said of the couple's spiral into homelessness that accelerated when he lost his construction job in January. "Really, I am shocked that I let us get this far down."

Together for seven years, Garcia and Henson grew up in Hollywood, Fla., and lived there in a rented apartment. When they no longer could afford it, they moved in with Garcia's mother. He worked day jobs through labor pools.

After a fruitless bus trip to find work in Texas, where Garcia's father lives, the couple returned to Broward County this spring, broke.

Henson recently found a job in a Home Depot warehouse, and Favali said the couple are on track to qualify for a move to transitional housing, where they can stay rent-free for up to 18 months.

"I think they are really trying," Favali said. "They are motivated."

Staple also is trying. "I am saving all the money I can," said Staple, who catches a 7 a.m. bus so she can drop the kids off at day care and get to work by 8.

With the baby in her arms, and Alvash bouncing on a couch, Staple looked around a lounge-type playroom in the former motel that Covenant House runs as a family center.

"This is not the life I imagined, being in this position," she said. "I'd still like to be a nurse, or get my GED and go into the military. But, look, I'm here now."

"With all of the problems that the state has and all of the problems that the city has right now, in the midst of this economic downturn, it’s shocking that the state and the city are prepared to invest the resources to put innocent children and their families out of safety-net shelters onto the streets,"

There's nothing wrong with having some ability to control the behavior of large groups of peeps who're thrown together without screening of any kind but those wielding that power had better be sensitive to the causes and conditions of homelessness before they begin exercising evictions.  

I would think and hope that, rather than being able to simply tell someone "you're outta here," there'd be some sort of process involved that would allow appeals and waivers for certain folks.  I cannot imagine a scenario where someone severely disabled would be asked to leave because their mother/brother/father/sister stayed out beyond the curfew hours, or "failed to sign in and out."  

Of course, I can't imagine how a society with the wealth and supposed "moral superiority" we claim to possess would allow homelessness to occur at all, either.....


Homeless Families Could Face Eviction Over Rules

By JULIE BOSMAN

Published: July 27, 2009 

 

Homeless families can be kicked out of city shelters for repeatedly breaking rules like staying out past curfew or for refusing apartments offered to them, according to a tougher policy that takes effect Tuesday.

Related

Times Topics: Homeless Persons

The new policy gives the city greater latitude to push families out of the shelter system, which had swelled to a near-high of 9,720 families as of Sunday. Families could always be evicted for illegal behavior like bringing in drugs or weapons, but they can now be ousted for any of 28 violations, including failing to sign in and out or not keeping an active case file with city welfare agencies.

The new policy is also meant to encourage families to more readily accept permanent housing, even if it is not to their liking.

“We would only expect to use this process in the most egregious of situations,” said Robert V. Hess, the commissioner for homeless services, in an interview on Monday. “We do have a small number of families where temporary emergency shelter is really being used as permanent housing.”

Evictions are for a 30-day period.

The five homeless shelters that are fully operated by the Department of Homeless Services will be the first to test out the new rules, which go into effect there on Tuesday. Shelters operated by the roughly 150 organizations that hold contracts with the city will begin by Aug. 17.

Steven R. Banks, the attorney in chief of the Legal Aid Society who has represented homeless families in decades-long litigation against the city, said he believed that the policy would be harmful to children and especially to adults with physical and mental impairments, who might be at risk of sanction.

“With all of the problems that the state has and all of the problems that the city has right now, in the midst of this economic downturn, it’s shocking that the state and the city are prepared to invest the resources to put innocent children and their families out of safety-net shelters onto the streets,” Mr. Banks said. “You have to wonder who needs this, with all of the other issues that are going on.”

Several nonprofit shelter providers, who asked not to be identified because they feared retaliation from the administration, said that they did not intend to evict any families from shelters.

But others said they were grateful for the ability to threaten the most difficult families with ejection.
“If you need a big stick now and then, for certain families, so be it,” said Richard Motta, the president and chief executive of Volunteers of America of Greater New York, which runs three family shelters.

The lack of such a threat was a problem, Mr. Motta said.

“There’s not a caseworker alive that wants to realize that threat, and as an agency, we don’t want to move people to the streets,” he said. “That’s not what we’re in business to do. But if you enter the shelter, if you know there’s a threat of being put out of the shelter, you’ll be more likely to follow the rules.”

The city already has the power to eject single adults from shelters.

State approval was required to put into place the new policies for families. After months of lobbying from city officials, and opposition from local advocates for the homeless, the approval was granted by David A. Hansell, the commissioner of the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, on June 25, his second-to-last day on the job. Mr. Hansell, a former Bloomberg administration official, resigned from his post to take a job with the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

Mr. Hansell decided that the policy would be in effect for only one year as a “demonstration project,” a move that Mr. Hess said he supported. Ten months after the policy begins, the city will be required to write a report on the results to that point.

Mr. Hess said it was not clear where families removed from shelter might turn. “The most likely outcome is that the family would demonstrate that they do have a place to go,” he said.

An instructional guide provided to shelter operators appears to leave open the possibility that families will be subject to the elements. It instructs shelter operators that no families should be ejected during a “Code Blue Winter Weather Alert,” or when the temperature drops to 32 degrees.

How To Bring Out A Tear Or Three

Okay - if you're an animal lover, I dare you to watch this without shedding a tear.

Made me run over and hug all over my goofy ol dogs.....

Makes me wonder how many homeless people are out there with families wondering where - and how - they are doing???

Dog Beats Odds To Return To Family

Posted: July 24, 2009 11:01 AM

Video Gallery <1> Dog Beats Odds To Return To Family 4:27

"Dogs are not our whole lives, but they make our lives whole." It's a quote animal lovers will tell you is true. 


After all, dogs are man's best friend, for their ability to show us unconditional love. As NewsChannel 5 photojournalist Nathan Sharkey and reporter Jeff Tang tell us a Rottweiler named Ella is teaching us all, the true meaning of loyalty.


How fitting is it that in the town of Only, Tennessee there is a dog with only one wish.

"She's somebody's baby you could tell," said animal rescuer Kathy Wilkes-Myers. "If her eyes could talk, speak words I mean they'd speak volumes."


Sitting on the front porch of Myers' house Ella is happy but not at home. Ella is waiting for something.


"She seems happy but she has this look in her eye like this is okay, but where's my family?" said Myers.


Most humans would say that Ella is lost, but she'll tell you it's the other way around. Her family has been missing ever since the accident.


"She slammed the breaks and we went into a spin," said accident survivor Joe Kelley.
On July 1, the Kelley family nearly died in a horrific car accident in Hickman County.
"I just remember slamming right into the mountain and I thought to myself well this is it god," said accident survivor Michelle Kelley.


A frightened Ella watched as the medics took Joe, Michelle and their three children away to the hospital.


"The last thing I've seen was her looking straight in the eyes before she ran up into the woods," said Joe.




The family pet, Ella, got scared and ran away from the scene.


"Couldn't find my dog - couldn't find my dog," said Michelle.


She could have wandered east or west, north or south, but she did not. Instead, for 13 days Ella waited.


Kathy Wilkes-Myers drove by the accident the day it happened and two weeks later she spotted a dog near the same spot.
"That's the last spot she saw her family and she was going to stay there," said Myers. "She was starved and covered with ticks."


Kathy brought Ella back to her rescue ranch where the two became quick friends. She also brought back a plastic bag full of clues hoping it could lead her to Ella's owners.


"I found another little nest where she had put all these personal items," said Myers.


Since Ella could not find her family at the crash site, she decided to find everything that belonged to them.


"It just blew my mind and I thought this dog was just trying to find some comfort," said Myers.


While searching the area, Kathy also found a notepad that led her to insurance agent April Bowers.


"I knew exactly who it was, whose dog it was - what's going on," said Bowers.


Just like that the pieces came together. Despite all they've been through, the Kelleys never once forgot their dog and Ella never forgot them.


Myers brought Ella to reunite with her family.


Every member of the Kelley family was expected to make a full recovery. Though the family has faced some major medical and financial setbacks since the accident they said getting Ella back makes it all worthwhile.

Men and women who put their lives on the line and can now use an extra hand, or paw to get back on their feet and on with their lives?

Hat tip to my friend Laurie Green for forwarding this on to me.

I got no love for Al Franken; thought he was a snobbish, arrogant and meanspirited arsehole when I met him in Nevada while working as a development director with a small liberal arts college, but he's got my slap on the back for introducing this legislation. 

Those of you who know me know right away who's pictured here; Kailie's spent a lot of time on the street helping folks who are homeless, and it's not secret I'm a critter-lover to the nth degree.

And most of you know how I feel about the way we've treated vets in this country, regardless of one's position on whether we're in a war we approve of or not (now that is an odd statement, eh?  Who in their right mind would approve of any war?), one thing is certain: if we make promises to people in order to get them to sign up and go fight for us (or for rich, powerful politicians with personal vendettas) then we damned sure better keep those promises when folks return home battle scarred and f*cked all up from the event....

Service Dogs for Vets; Heroes for Heroes – What a Fantastic Idea!

Sunday, July 26th, 2009  

MN Senator, Al Franken, who was finally sworn into office after 8 months of recounts and political BS has made his first piece of legislation a momentous one!  

As injured vets, both physically and mentally, are returning home every day, to a country that is in many ways ill-equipped to deal with them,  Franken’s legislation, giving service dogs to vets, is going to give them an extra leg, or four, to stand on and an extra shoulder to lean on.

What could be more appropriate than to have service dogs, heroes in their own right, paired with our vets, our own American heroes.  Men and women who put their lives on the line and can now use an extra hand, or paw to get back on their feet and on with their lives?

Franken, a dog lover himself, spoke with an injured Iraq war vet at Obama’s inauguration and heard about how much help and support his service dog provided him and the idea for the legislation was born.

The bill passed the house this past Thursday and initially introduced as a stand alone bill, was added to a much-larger Defense Authorization bill which cleared the Senate on an 87-7 vote and will be reconciled with an earlier House version that did not contain Franken’s original bill.

If the program within the Department of Veterans Affairs survives, service dogs would be trained to help physically and mentally wounded veterans.

The Service Dogs for Veterans Act would create a pilot program within the Veterans Administration. The VA would partner with non-profit groups which train service dogs.

The program would pair dogs with 200 veterans who have mental or physical disabilities or injuries.

The pilot program would operate for three years during which time the National Academies of Science would study its effectiveness.

“There is evidence to suggest that increasing the number of service dogs would reduce the alarming suicide rate among veterans, decrease the number of hospitalizations and lower the cost of medications and human care,” Franken said of the proposed three-year program, which carries an estimated $5 million price tag.

For the vets and the dogs, you have to applaud! Live will be saved and improved, our American heroes will have their oun furry little heros by them every day.

Reno NV: 15-year-old boy has been arrested in the murder of a homeless man found this week at a downtown encampment.

Seeing this reminded me of time Ray Ray, one of my previous clients, was attacked by a young boy while sitting quietly in his tent drinking his morning coffee.

The kid apparently saw Ray Ray going into the tent after purchasing his coffee from the nearby Waffle House, picked up a softball-sized rock and chucked it through the screened window of Ray's Tent.  The rock beaned Ray in the forehead and damned near knocked him out.

After getting his wits together, Ray crawled outside his tent and began yelling for help.

The kid's parents, who seemed to find the situation hilarious, since they were laughing uproariously, hustled the boy into their car and peeled out of the parking lot.  They jumped on the nearby interstate heading towards Mt Juliet, TN and left Ray standing there, bleeding and with a large hole in the tent he'd just purchased days earlier using a considerable chunk of his meager SSI income. 

They were never caught.

Violence towards those experiencing homelessness is nothing new and occurs with frightening regularity.  In fact, the National Coalition for the Homeless released an Action Alert on July 23rd, 2009 designed to protect homeless Americans from hate-motivated violence. 

If you get a chance, take some action at the above link.  It doesn't take much effort and your help will be appreciated by the thousands of homeless folks who are victimized every year by fecal smears like the kid below....

Boy, 15, charged in murder of Reno homeless man

Associated Press - July 26, 2009 2:45 AM ET

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Police in Reno say a 15-year-old boy has been arrested in the murder of a homeless man found this week at a downtown encampment.

Police Sgt. Chuck Lovitt says the Reno teen was taken into custody Saturday night on an open charge of murder in the death of 55-year-old Eric Burkhart of Reno. He says the boy is being charged as an adult.

The teen's name has not been released, and he is being held without bail at the Washoe County Sheriff's Office.

Police say Burkhart's body was found Wednesday in a homeless encampment downtown, near the Truckee River. An autopsy indicated he suffered traumatic injuries.

Police are seeking anyone who knew Burkhart or his whereabouts over the last week.

Consumer Integration: Why it Matters, How it Works

I completed the second part of the two-part SAMHSA webcast yesterday and.....it's over.


I've been on a kind of adrenaline high from the experience for the past couple of months because believe it or not, it takes that freakin long to get it together well enough to actually put this on.


I gotta admit here, I get all churned up inside when I think of listening because I know I'm my own worst critic, but I was told we got into a good flow as we went along.


On a high note, Big Kenny Kraybill said he was just as pleased and as proud as punch- in fact, he mentioned he was beaming like a proud parent (since he did get us all together and actually brought me along from another job) after listening to us on the webcast, so I guess I can't ask for much more than to have met (and maybe even surpassed???) Ken's expectations.


But I'm still queasy inside when I think of hearing my voice and my stories out there where God and everyone can also hear em.

You be the judge, just be gentle, k?  Part two should be out in a couple of weeks - it's gotta pass the SAMHSA 508 clearance effort and to do that takes considerable effort by the fine folks who do those sorts of things for us.

I mentioned earlier in this post that I have been on an adrenaline high and now the party is over; I'm kinda bummed because it was really something to take part in an effort that touches so many.  We had 300+ folks tune into the first, almost 400 into the second,  and there's just no telling how many might spend a minute or three listening to the taped webcast in the future.  Sharing my adventures and efforts with the understanding that others may take something away from it that is useful in the overall effort to end homelessness is really.....amazing.

I guess what I am thinking here, what I'm trying to say in a horribly disjointed and clumsy way, is that for those of you who may be reading this today and having to head back to the viaduct, or the camp, or the alley, know that it's possible to overcome the street and become a positive force for the brothers and sisters still out there.

That's what this webcast was really all about, by the way; getting agencies who claim to be specialists in assisting the homeless and those trying to recover from addictions, mental illness and homelessness to actually use those of us who've been out there - and may still be out there.  Those with lived experiences are critical to understanding how to set policy, formulate responses that actually work, and provide some dignity, hope and respect to consumers still in the mire as they labor through the processes.

You may not believe it here - and given the amount of pie in the sky promises that've come from agencies and government do-gooders in the past, I don't blame ya - but I have a feeling that there's going to be considerable funding tied to integration in the future.

Spell that JOBS for those of us who've lived on the street and can add some real, worthwhile input to those trying to help us get off it.  And I'm not talking about janitors and dishwashers here, either kiddies; I'm talking about service coordinators, policy analysts, peer support specialists, program directors and even Exec directors.

Mark my words here, there are some very influential and intelligent folks working on integrating us into the mainstream of recovery-care; our voices matter and the matter a lot.

Keep them loud, proud and out in front, ya hear?

“This funding represents HUD’s continuing investment in helping our local partners improve their communities,”

So lets see,  we take the 46 million, which sure seems like a good chunk of cash, and we start eating it up with the costs to put up some affordable housing- hell, the "right to build" is a major cost in and of itself. 

Then ya gotta believe that no matter where yer gonna put an affordable housing complex, you're almost certain to run into neighborhood "challenges," some of which could turn legal; no one wants "projects" in their neighborhood and no matter what you call the new development, folks in the neighborhood are gonna be sure to slap the project moniker on it immediately.

Then ya gotta build it - and new construction aint cheap.  Added to this is the fact that for developers, there's little incentive to build, since they don't make squat off it. 

So although 46 mil seems like a pretty significant chunk o change, when it's all said and done, we'll be lucky to house a few hundred of the 8-10 thousand Tennesseans either living under the local bridges or about a missed day labor effort away from packing up what little they have left and moving under it with the gang already there....

  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad for the pittance, it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick....

HUD announces $46 million for affordable housing and community development in Tennessee

July 23, 2009

by Tennessee RealEstateRama

Category: News || Grants, Housing & Development | No Comments

NASHVILLE, TN - July 9, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) — U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced the State of Tennessee will receive more than $46 million to support community development and produce more affordable housing. HUD’s annual funding will also help individuals and families who might otherwise be living on the streets and offer real housing solutions for individuals with HIV/AIDS.


“This funding represents HUD’s continuing investment in helping our local partners improve their communities,” said Donovan. “If we hope to lay the groundwork for sustainable growth and prosperity in the future, it’s critical that we help state and local communities to make the needed improvements and to produce more affordable housing. See below for detailed funding chart.

Since 1974, HUD’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program has provided approximately $124 billion to state and local governments to target their own community development priorities. The rehabilitation of affordable housing and the improvement of public facilities have traditionally been the largest uses of CDBG although the program is also an important catalyst for job growth and business opportunities. Annual CDBG funds are distributed to communities according to a statutory formula based on a community’s population, poverty, and age of its housing stock, and extent of overcrowded housing.

HOME (HOME Investment Partnerships Program is the largest federal block grant to state and local governments designed exclusively to produce affordable housing for low-income families. Since 1992, more than 600 communities have completed more than 900,000 affordable housing units, including 383,000 for new homebuyers. In addition, 209,000 tenants have received direct rental assistance.

Emergency Shelter Grants (ESG) provides homeless persons with basic shelter and essential supportive services. It can assist with the operational costs of the shelter facility, and for the administration of the grant. ESG also provides short-term homeless prevention assistance to persons at imminent risk of losing their own housing due to eviction, foreclosure, or utility shutoffs.

HUD’s Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) grants are distributed to states and cities based on the number of AIDS cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The grants provide resources for operating community residences and providing rental assistance and support services to individuals with HIV/AIDS and their families. In addition, the HOPWA program also helps many communities develop strategic AIDS housing plans and fill in gaps in local systems of care. A stable home environment is a critical component for low-income persons managing complex drug therapies and potential side effects from their treatments.

###

HUD is the nation’s housing agency committed to increasing homeownership, particularly among minorities; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS. The Department also promotes economic and community development, and enforces the nation’s fair housing laws. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov.
Knoxville - Mark Brezina - 865-474-8205
Memphis - John Gemmill - 901-544-3403
Nashville -Bill Dirl - 615-515-8510

“Poor people can build a community and houses for themselves if they are given the opportunity.”

I don't know if this was a good or a bad thing, but one thing is for certain; if you don't provide us with jobs and affordable housing, we're gonna make do with what is available......



July 23, 2009, 1:00 pm

Activists Arrested After Occupying East Harlem Lot

By Colin Moynihan

 

Librado Romero/The New York Times Housing advocates and East Harlem residents occupied an empty lot outside a vacant building on East 115th Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues.

 

Updated, 6:16 p.m. | At first glance on Thursday morning, it looked as if a fashion photo shoot was in progress on East 115th Street. Men and women with digital cameras and boom microphones assembled on the north side of the street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues. A green awning was set up on the sidewalk over a table holding bagels, cherries and lime seltzer. A few feet away was a portable metal clothing rack with hangers holding slinky dresses. And there was a model wearing black fishnet stockings, a shiny sequined skirt and three-inch heels as she walked back and forth in front of a large empty, grassy lot.

“Action,” one woman shouted to the model. “Flip your jacket across your shoulder. Now cut.”
The purported fashion shoot was actually a ploy, intended to provide cover for a political protest, which by early evening resulted in at least 9 arrests.


As the model walked back and forth, trailed by a camera, two people holding a large green screen were shielding others who sliced through an eight-foot-tall, chain-link fence that separated the lot from the sidewalk. Then, at about 10:30 a.m., about 20 people entered the lot — which they said was owned by JPMorgan Chase & Company — and began transforming it. They constructed simple tents out of bright blue tarps. They assembled a wooden gazebo with a roof and a sign that read “A place to call home!” Soon, they were joined by others.

By 11, about 100 people were inside the lot, some playing musical instruments including bongos and guitars, others strolling through the lot picking up trash and placing it into plastic bags. More than two dozen police officers, in uniforms and in plainclothes, watched from 115th Street, some of them standing behind blue wooden sawhorses. By noontime, they had not made any attempt to eject the protesters.

Asked for a response to the protest and an explanation of how JPMorgan Chase came to own the lot, Jennifer R. Zuccarelli, a spokeswoman for the bank, declined to comment.

The action was organized by an advocacy group, Picture the Homeless, which occupied the lot as a protest, activists said, against the shortage of affordable housing. They said they were inspired partly by the “Hoovervilles,” the shanty towns and tent cities that emerged during the Depression, and partly by the Lower East Side squatters who occupied abandoned buildings in the 1980s.

A spokesman for Picture the Homeless, Tej Nagaraja, 28, from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, said the organization wanted to show that unused properties and vacant lots could be used to house the homeless and destitute.

“There’s a long history of homeless people and displaced people throwing together dwelling in public space,” he said. “Poor people can build a community and houses for themselves if they are given the opportunity.”

Also present was Jean Rice, 70, who said he was born in South Carolina and now lived in Harlem. Mr. Rich, a member of Picture the Homeless, said the lot takeover was directed at “some of the same banking interest that are asking now for citizens to bail them out of their financial crisis, some of the same banking entities that redlined and ghettoized this neighborhood.”

In the early afternoon, the occupants of the lot strung up banners, including one that read “they say gentrify, we say occupy.” Rob Robinson, 52, a board member of Picture the Homeless, said that he had received a message of encouragement from Max Rameau, a leader of a Miami-based group called Take Back the Land, which recently became known for installing homeless families in foreclosed homes without the permission of financial institutions.

Shortly before 2 p.m., police officers parked a white panel truck, of the sort used to transport prisoners, in front of the lot. Mr. Robinson consulted with police officials and just addressed the crowd inside the garden, saying the police had told him that they had an affidavit from the owner of the lot authorizing them to order the group to leave the property. Mr. Robinson said that he had asked to see the affidavit, but that the police had not yet shown it to him. “We’re waiting for our legal representative,” said Mr. Robinson. “There are a number of us who are willing to defend the space. Let’s leave it at that.”

Just after 3 p.m., a police sergeant with a megaphone approached the lot and announced to those inside, “You are on private property. You have no permission or authority to be on property. We are asking you to leave this peacefully. Anyone who remains on property is subject to arrest.”

Most inside the lot moved onto the sidewalk or street but about 10 people remained inside, huddled beneath the gazebo roof. Police officers formed a line in front of the lot as workers unrolled a 50-foot length of chain-linked fence that had earlier been dismantled by the occupants of the lot. As about 50 people behind blue police barricades shouted their disapproval, the workers replaced the chain-link fence.

At 5:10 p.m., officers entered the lot and began handcuffing those inside with plastic ties. Then, as a few dozen supporters stood behind police barricades on East 115th Street, holding a plastic tarp over their heads to ward off rain, the police began leading people, one by one, from the lot and into a police panel truck parked nearby. At least 9 were arrested.

Homeless Tales - Everyone Is Enjoying One!

I've been spending considerable time over at Matt's site, Homeless Tales / Street Voices where a group of us are all sharing information and stories on homelessness. The project has really taken off and I'm more impressed every day at the caliber of writers, stories and commentary; so much so that it's hard to come back here and write!

It's lonely over here!

As many of you know, I also write for Change.org and the Contributor, and, as soon as I slow down enough to catch my breath, will be writing bits n pieces for an HRC/SAMHSA project.

It's been a lot of fun to do this but when I took on the job I currently have, much of my writing time, which is done in the early AM when my thoughts are clearest and my words seem to flow the best, has been blown away by the demands of the position.

We're about 7 days away from moving into a brand new facility; it will be the first time in OSD's 10-year history that the entire organization will all be housed under the same roof. At the moment, half our operation is housed in a gym about 7 miles from the Service Center, which is what I call home from 730-4 on a daily basis.

By this time next week however, we will all be moving into a massive (from our perspective, anyway!) new space that will provide vets in middle Tennessee with a real one-stop service center for damned near all their needs.

In additiion, we're working on broadening services and while I'm not yet at liberty to describe them in any detail, suffice it to say we will be able to offer significantly expanded assistance to folks - and we also will be able to handle the load that is coming as we wind down two vicious wars that have taken their toll on the men and women who've been fighting them for us.

Forgive me for going tangentially here; I'm trying to grab my original point and bring it back right here: Homeless Tales / Street Voices has become a favorite place for me to hang lately and I'm sure you're going to be seeing some of my gibberish over there in the near future.

I love what Change.org is doing and being a part of their organization is awesome, but there is something .... familiar about hanging with the folks at Homeless Tales; something comforting and close, like a fat, warm sleeping bag under the viaduct after spending the last few days wandering the alleys while the snow flies. Crazy analogy but for the "rough sleepers," they'll know right away what I mean.

So anyhoo, it doesn't mean an end to SSS - I will continue posting here regularly as it's an information source for the happenins in Nashville - as it was really designed to be. But there is an increasing flood of good stuff related to homelessness on the web and I'm thrilled to see so much out there worth reading. Glad I'm a part and I'll continue doing my part to get the word out.....

Just Do It

My friend Matt over at Homeless Tales has posted this piece again and it's worthy of being plastered on every bulletin board in every politician's office from here to San Francisco and all parts in-between:

Want to end people sleeping on the streets in two years? Here’s How:

1. All buildings left unoccupied for one year may be legally squatted.

2. All empty government buildings be turned over to committees of homeless people to house themselves via their own committee structures. Rent-geared-to-income.

3. “Use it or Lose It” Laws. Taxes on empty buildings are incrementally increased until by the 3rd year the property taxes = the cost of the building and if not paid–the building reverts to the City/town to be used for social housing. See #2.

4. Municipal land grants squatting licenses where housing is unavailable. Those committees are legally entitled to collect renovation/building scraps to build new abodes with. That way, “difficult” people [drug/alcohol etc] have somewhere to live independently without affecting the living conditions of others. In other words, a last place of refuge. Not a shelter shuffle–a permanent, independent, home.

5. Building codes. If a landlord does not keep up to spec then the municipality sends in teams [creating work] to fix the property up to code. That cost is added to the taxes on the building. If the landlord does not pay those added taxes then the building is put up for auction starting at the cost of the repairs to bring new blood that KNOWS what will happen to them if they do not comply with regulations.

6. Pay some construction “overseers” to help the unhoused, house themselves as safely as possible. Those who squat get “title” for their places based on “sweat equity”. Rent-geared-to-income.

7. Stop all tax breaks for empty units. If a landlord doesn’t rent he does NOT get to “write off the loss” as is the present situation in many places.

As Matt so eloquently states:

“get on it.”

Where Does The Time Go?

This weekend I have one of the guys who I've helped find services and housing over to the house.  He's in need of a little cash and he helped me get some stuff done that desperately needed doing, and as he was taking a break and reading on my back porch, a wave of jealousy and envy washed over me.

I don't know what each of you do in your daily lives but I'm telling you, in mine, I don't have time to poo, let alone sit quietly somewhere and read.

From blog posts to webcasts to articles to grant writing to letters for clients to court, I haven't had time to read anything for pleasure (although some of the letters I've written for service-consumers could be described by some as "entertaining") in so long I've darned near forgotten how wonderful it is to just sit and read.

Which got me to thinking about my neighbor, who was recently approved for disability benefits and who has time now to go fishing, mow his lawn at his convenience (and when it's nice and cool), go to the store when ten million others are too busy working to crowd the aisles, and generally do what he wants to do, when he wants to do it, within reason, of course.

Which got me then to thinking about life before "success" and how easy it was for me to fill my days with "stuff" to do that was enjoyable to me.  Granted, I wasn't making much money while doing it, but when weighed against what it takes to earn my money today, well hell.... 

And that finally got me to thinking about those who've been on the street for a long long time and how hard it must be for them to concieve of doing anything else, since they've got so much they need to do in order to survive day to day.  Lots of it ain't much fun; I can't imagine having to walk hither and yon for a meal anymore, but not having bills, no one breathing down your neck to get something done on time, no worries that come with having money in any quantity, coming and going when you want, rising and snoozing at your leisure.....there's some allure there for many, dontchakno....

Monday and I've got another busy week.  I guess I'll try to find some pleasure in reading the proposal we're working on....

"the ruling left unclear the question of whether churches must seek permits for homeless encampments"

And the war rages on....

Washington court reverses ban on homeless camp

By TIM KLASS (AP) – 1 day ago

SEATTLE — A Seattle suburb violated the state's constitution by using a temporary ban on development to block a church's effort to set up a tent city for the homeless, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The high court's unanimous decision reversed lower court rulings that sided with the city of Woodinville's refusal to consider the Northshore United Church of Christ's land-use permit application for Tent City 4 in a largely residential area in 2006.

Woodinville officials violated a constitutional provision that guarantees "absolute freedom of conscience in all matters of religious sentiment, belief and worship," Justice James M. Johnson wrote.

Six other justices signed Johnson's ruling, which reversed findings by King County Superior Court Judge Charles W. Mertel and a state Court of Appeals panel. The majority faulted the church on some procedural grounds but nonetheless found the city mainly in the wrong.

The other two justices would have gone farther. Justice Richard B. Sanders wrote, and Justice Tom Chambers agreed, that the majority held an "errant and dangerous assumption that the government may constitutionally be in the business of prior licensing or permitting religious exercise any more than it can license journalists."

Neither group of justices ruled on whether federal religious freedoms were violated in the case, which was closely watched by civil rights advocates and churches.

Lawyers disagreed over the impact of the decision.

Robert Aloysius Hyde, a lawyer for the church, said he was happy that, "essentially, the church was vindicated," but added that the ruling left unclear the question of whether churches must seek permits for homeless encampments.

"They may not if a substantial burden is placed on the religious practice," Hyde said.
"The municipalities have to act very carefully," he said. "There has to be a very careful examination of the permitting process for each church."

Woodinville City Attorney Greg Alan Rubstello said he was disappointed but believed the decision left room for "reasonable conditions on these types of permits."

"I'm not sure that it has really changed the rules that much," Rubstello said.

Since 1990, self-governing tent cities of about 60 to 100 homeless people have been organized by the Seattle Housing and Resource Effort and Women's Housing, Equality, and Enhancement League, circulating about every three months among church grounds and other sites volunteered by property owners.
Such encampments have popped up with increasing frequency and numbers in a number of U.S. cities, including Fresno, Calif.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; San Diego, and Columbus, Ohio. In places like Seattle and Portland, Ore., homeless advocacy groups have paired with nonprofits or faith-based groups to manage the tent cities as outdoor shelters.

In some cases, plans to establish the encampments have drawn complaints from neighbors, code enforcement officials and other local officials.

The Woodinville case dates to 2004, when officials there allowed a tent city on municipal land earmarked for a park. At the time, SHARE/WHEEL and Northshore UCC signed a contract promising not establish any future tent city without first obtaining a valid temporary use permit.

Two years later, the church agreed to host a tent city, but Woodinville officials refused to process the permit application, citing a previously adopted six-month moratorium on land use applications in the largely residential area pending a study of the environmental effects of new development. A church request to the City Council also was rejected.

The city attempted to extend the moratorium beyond its legitimate purpose of assuring that development would not damage the environment, Johnson wrote.

"Therefore, the city's action constituted a violation" of the state constitution's freedom of religion clause, he concluded.

Supporters of the church included the American Civil Liberties Union, a synagogue and six churches or religious organizations, including the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle, Church Council of Greater Seattle and regional associations of American Baptists, Evangelical Lutherans and United Churches of Christ.

Top 10 Meanest U.S. Cities: 2009

Speaks for itself, although I would have you note that 4 of the ten are located in Florida, so keep that in mind if you're in danger of becoming - or already are - homeless in that state....

Urban Panning: The 10 Meanest Cities In America?

by Linton Weeks

Enlarge

David McNew

A homeless man sleeps on the sidewalk next to a lot in downtown Los Angeles in March 2009. Getty images. An outdoor bed awaits it's owner under a downtown Nashville overpass. Photo by Steven Samra

NPR.org, July 15, 2009 · To some people, the Land of the Free doesn't always seem so free. And America the Beautiful doesn't look so pretty.

That's the viewpoint of two Washington-based groups — the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, and the National Coalition for the Homeless — that have targeted the country's mingiest municipalities.

Without further ado, the groups' Top 10 Meanest U.S. Cities are:

1. Los Angeles

2. St. Petersburg, Fla.

3. Orlando, Fla.

4. Atlanta

5. Gainesville, Fla.

6. Kalamazoo, Mich.

7. San Francisco

8. Honolulu

9. Bradenton, Fla.

10. Berkeley, Calif.

The list is part of the organizations' "Homes Not Handcuffs" report. Released on Monday, the survey shows "an increase in the trend in cities around the country to criminalize homelessness," says NLCHP Executive Director Maria Foscarinis. Her group has been monitoring the issue since the early '90s.

The report, covering 224 cities, is an updated version of a 2006 study. In the past three years, according to the groups' findings, there has been a rise in laws that directly affect homeless people — including an 11 percent increase in anti-loitering laws and a 7 percent rise in regulations that ban camping in certain public spaces.

It's tempting to look at other, less serious ways cities might be ranked among the most mean. Largest number of quick-changing yellow traffic lights, for instance. Or least garbage pickups per month. A great city, Aristotle said a while back, is not to be confused with a populous one.

The meanest cities, Foscarinis says, are cracking down on people for "living in public places and for begging and eating and for seeking assistance in public places. Some cities are also punishing organizations and some people who are trying to help by offering food to poor people in public places."

In other words: Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses. Just make sure they don't huddle and mass in public places.

Is such a narrowed view fair? A city that is deficient in one category might be abundant in another. Take the case of Kalamazoo. Just last month This Old House magazine named a Kalamazoo neighborhood as one of the best places to buy an old house. (OK, irony alert.) And it was only last year that the city was showcased by the Wall Street Journal for its successful economic development ventures.

And what about Berkeley? "We are famous around the globe as a center for academic achievement, scientific exploration, free speech and the arts," the city's Web site says. "Berkeley is a constantly changing mix of longtime residents and new neighbors, and whether you just arrived from Albany or Azerbaijan, you are welcome here."

And San Francisco? Why is the lovely, open-minded City by the Bay on the list? "Because it's mean," says Bob Offer-Westort, civil rights organizer at the San Francisco office of the National Coalition for the Homeless. "There are a number of efforts to criminalize homeless people in the city that stem from City Hall.

"Over the past year and half, San Francisco has started spending money on prosecuting cases — such as sleeping in parks and sleeping on sidewalks — that specifically target homeless people."

He also points to the Community Justice Center, a newly funded court in the Tenderloin neighborhood designed to cut down on "quality of life" crimes such as panhandling and public indecencies. Many of the court's cases, The Associated Press reported, have involved sleeping outdoors, blocking public passageways and creating a public nuisance.

And who will speak up for the "meanest city" of all? Casey Hernandez, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, comes to her city's defense. The report, Hernandez says, "fails to detail the city's housing-first strategy, which reflects national best practices for housing and services that help homeless individuals stay off the streets."

"The assertion that Los Angeles criminalizes homelessness," she says, "is simply false. ... Since 2007, Mayor Villaraigosa has dedicated $100 million annually to housing for the homeless."

Since taking office, Hernandez says, "the mayor has committed city funds to more than 1,078 permanent supportive housing units, creating more units to serve the homeless and those at risk of homelessness than in the previous 12 years combined."

In addition to permanent supportive housing, Hernandez adds, Los Angeles has worked to reduce crime in areas with high homeless populations. Hernandez credits the city's Safer City Initiative with helping reduce serious crime by more than 35 percent. "The city's first priority is to protect our most vulnerable residents from violent crime. The city dedicated an additional 50 officers to Skid Row to protect its residents and remove a significant criminal element that historically hinders efforts to provide services to the homeless."

The skid row initiative is specifically cited in the meanest cities report. According to a 2007 study by UCLA, the $6 million that the city was spending on the Safer City Initiative was more than the $5.7 million it was spending for homeless services. "Advocates found that during an 11-month period, 24 people were arrested 201 times, with an estimated cost of $3.6 million for use of police, the jail system, prosecutors, public defenders and the courts. Advocates asserted that the money could have instead provided supportive housing for 225 people," the report states.

To make the mean streets less so, Maria Foscarinis urges cities across the country to take more constructive approaches: providing housing, jobs and social services. In the end, she says, "that's more cost effective than deploying more police and spending more money on prisons and jails."

Related NPR Stories

• April 24, 2009
  From Juilliard To Skid Row In 'The Soloist'
• July 13, 2009
  'Pedal Power' May Help Homeless Find, Keep Work
• April 21, 2009
  Can Los Angeles Make Skid Row Safer?
• July 11, 2009
  In Phoenix, Homeless Battle Summer Heat
• July 5, 2009
  Some Stimulus Money Preventing Homelessness
• July 2, 2009
  Hundreds Of Calif. Homeless March For Land Rights
• June 9, 2009
  Homeless Advocate Goes High Tech

Here's the original story.....

Homes Not Handcuffs

List of "meanest cities" released

July 13, 2009

The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP) and the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) released a report today, Homes Not Handcuffs, tracking a growing trend in U.S. cities - the criminalization of homelessness. The report, available here, focuses on specific city measures from 2007 and 2008 that have targeted homeless persons, such as laws that make it illegal to sleep, eat, or sit in public spaces. The report includes information about 273 cities nationwide.

Homes Not Handcuffs also ranks the top 10 U.S. cities with the worst practices in relation to criminalizing homelessness.

The national ranking is based on a number of factors, including the number of anti-homeless laws in the city, the enforcement of those laws, the general political climate toward homeless people in the city, and the city's history of criminalization measures.

In addition to the "meanest cities," the report identifies examples of more constructive approaches to homelessness.

NLCHP and NCH released their last joint report on the topic in 2006. In the 224 cities surveyed in both this report and the 2006 report, there are currently more laws used to target homeless persons, including an 11% increase in laws prohibiting loitering in certain public places and a 7% increase in laws prohibiting "camping" in certain public spaces.

Maria Foscarinis, NLCHP Executive Director, noted, "Homelessness in America is a human rights crisis right here at home. As foreclosures continue and the recession deepens, the crisis is affecting more and more Americans. But while some cities offer a helping hand, too often, as documented in our report, cities adopt unjust laws and practices that punish people simply for being poor and homeless."

"As a result of the economic crisis, homelessness is on the rise. Instead of helping to prevent homelessness, many cities are criminalizingthose who lose their homes by passing 'quality of life' laws," said Michael Stoops, Executive Director at NCH.

While more cities are cracking down on homeless people living in public spaces, the housing and homelessness crisis in the United States has worsened over the past two years, particularly due to the current economic and foreclosure crises. According to a report released last week by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 41.8% of the homeless population was unsheltered between January 2007 and January 2008. Most cities do not have adequate shelter space or affordable housing to meet the need, leaving many homeless persons with no choice but to live in public spaces.

"Criminalizing homelessness is not only an inhumane way of approaching people who are poor and vulnerable, but is counterproductive in dealing with the problem of homelessness," said Tulin Ozdeger, NLCHP Civil Rights Program Director. "It costs more to jail a person than it does to provide permanent supportive housing."

The report also includes information about costs studies examining criminalization measures, constitutional challenges to measures that criminalize homelessness, how criminalization measures violate human rights law, as well as constructive alternatives to criminalization.

The report recommends that cities adopt constructive measures, such as developing innovative strategies to allocate more city funds for permanent housing, job training and services for homeless people. In addition, NLCHP and NCH recommend that the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, recently charged by Congress with developing such alternatives, urge cities to stop criminalizing homelessness and adopt such constructive measures instead.

Top Ten Meanest Cities:

1. Los Angeles, CA

2. St. Petersburg. FL

3. Orlando, FL

4. Atlanta, GA

5. Gainesville, FL

6. Kalamazoo, MI

7. San Francisco, CA

8. Honolulu, HI

9. Bradenton, FL

10. Berkeley, CA

And here's the report in its entirety(PDF)