"We're recovering addicts and we're proud of it,"

And I'm proud of you too because as a recovering addict myself, with 11 years clean now, I know what a monumental task that is for those of us with serious addictions.  Congratulations to all the successful graduates of Drug Court, and to those still struggling, hang in there and believe in yourself; life gets so much better once you've left that "gray time" during those first months of sobriety.

I am a HUGE proponent of treatment over incarceration and here is yet another example of why.    At my agency, the DC4 (a group of guys in treatment through the court system) are the hardest working, most polite and respectful young men I've met in a loooonnnggg time.  It's awesome to see that, let me tell you, and I wish programs like this were available to me and many of my friends who have never recovered....

Btw, Treatment is on average seven times more effective than jail and it's a helluva lot cheaper, too....

Drug Court Participants Give Back To Community

Posted: Jan 27, 2010 5:28 PM CST

Video Gallery

Drug Court Participants Give Back To Community 2:07

By Mark Bellinger
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Court officials said they're saving taxpayers thousands of dollars by keeping drug addicts out of jail. The drug court participants are doing community projects.

The men and women in General Sessions Judge Casey Moreland's drug court are glad to talk to you.

"We're recovering addicts and we're proud of it," said one woman.

On Wednesday, they cleaned, cooked and served food at Loaves and Fishes in East Nashville.

"We're serving the homeless food," said another woman proudly.

 They said it's a way for them to give back to the community.

"Just imagine. I was out there and now I'm in here helping people," said one participant.

Each drug court graduating class is required to do a community service project. Mary Page is part of that class. She hopes to graduate in a couple of months. Page was once addicted to crack cocaine.

"You know, you look at your life sometimes and you think, God, screw this. I'll just go get high," said Page.

The former bank senior vice president got a divorce, lost her job and turned to drugs. She said the drug court has been a life saver.

"You drug test once a week. You go to four meetings, four treatments a week and a meeting every day, an AA or NA meeting every day," said Page.

The former banker also said the program is demanding and it's not for everyone.

"It's easy to relapse. I just got back, but I've got to work the program, work the steps," said participant Katy Moran.

Judge Moreland started the drug court more than half a dozen years ago.

"For the longest time there was the war on drugs the government was waging, and now it's more fighting the demand side of the addiction," said Moreland.

He said the trend is toward more programs like it because it saves taxpayers money and it helps dozens of people.

Moreland said for every dollar spent $12 are saved because it costs taxpayers between $75 and $150 dollars a day to house an inmate. The alternative to drug court for many of the participants is jail time.

Mary Page said the program was the obvious choice for her.

"You don't have to do any of it. You can go to jail and do your time, but for an opportunity to change your life this is one of the best things," said Page.

Judge Moreland said his drug court costs taxpayers $50,000 a year. Other funding comes from court fees paid by defendants.

Mayor Karl Dean announced the "Adopt A Meter" program on Tuesday

Spoke w Clifton prior to the count about the announcement and he said they would start with 30 meters initially, and plans for a lot more are in the works.  As I said previously, Denver's program made a believer out of me, even though there are some things I find ....distasteful about the meters....

Special meters in Nashville to collect money for the homeless

By Nate Rau • THE TENNESSEAN • January 27, 2010

Nashville soon will have colorful decommissioned parking meters around town, designed to collect money for the homeless. (SUBMITTED)

Contextual linking provided by Topix
Nashville will soon have decommissioned parking meters posted around town, where people can contribute change and dollar bills to help the homeless.

Mayor Karl Dean announced the "Adopt A Meter" program on Tuesday during the Nashville Arts and Business Council luncheon at the Wildhorse Saloon.

The program allows corporations to sponsor a refurbished parking meter, which will be adorned with the company's corporate logo and then posted somewhere in Nashville, though the number of meters won't be dependent on sponsorship. The Nashville Metro Homelessness Commission will collect the funds from the meters.


Dean joked that he was stealing the idea from Denver, which has the same program in place. Dean said Denver raised more than $100,000 annually through the program, which he touted as a tool to curb panhandling as well.


"Homelessness is not a government issue. It is not a nonprofit issue. It is a community issue," Dean said.


Metro Councilman Erik Cole, chairman of the Homelessness Commission board, said the money would go to putting more outreach workers on the streets to help Nashville's homeless community.
Already two corporate sponsors, Southwest Airlines and Piedmont Natural Gas, have signed on to the program.


For information about sponsoring a refurbished meter, which will also be adorned with local art, contact the commission at 615-780-7014 or online at www.thekeyalliance.org.

Mayor Announcing the "Adopt a Meter" program at Wildhorse Saloon Today

Watching channel 5 this morning and they are stating that Mayor Dean will be announcing a new effort at homeless outreach and awareness after a ceremony today.

Not sure yet if this is using parking meters as a method for assisting but I do believe it is, and if so I'm not sure how I feel about this, for a variety of reasons.  However, I know Denver has been using this approach with a modicum of success and raise thousands of dollars to assist the homeless in the process. 

I've become increasingly impressed with the Mayor's effort to get some things rolling regarding bringing some real help to the street; when Nashville experienced the "big cold" a couple of weeks ago, the Mayor surprised advocates and agencies around the city when he mobilized an unprecedented number of resources to assist in getting help to folks on the street.

From the Office of Emergency Management to the Red Cross to faith based organizations opening their doors as temporary shelters, it was by far the biggest collaborative effort I've ever seen take place to assist those experiencing homelessness, and I remember walking away from the planning meeting wondering why it was that it took a major storm to bring about resources we should have at our disposal every single day.

It also left me with a newfound respect for Mayor Dean, who while he has been compassionate in many ways towards peeps on the street, didn't seem to be spending a whole lotta time pushing for additional help, what with the headaches over the schools, the convention center, and budget issues taking priority.

I'm anxiously awaiting this new news and am looking forward to seeing -and assisting in any way possible - the introduction of new outreach and/or services to help end homelessness in Nashville and her burbs.

Help can't come soon enough, believe it.....

City of Angels Homeless Fraud Case Completed

I wonder how that compares to what they bilked of our tax dollars???

Former hospital owners admit charging for unnecessary treatment

The Associated Press

Published: January 25, 2010

LOS ANGELES - The former owners of a Los Angeles hospital have agreed to pay $10 million to settle a lawsuit over paying recruiters to bring in homeless people for unnecessary medical treatment.

The U.S. attorney's office said today that federal and state prosecutors settled their case against Robert Bourseau and Dr. Rudra Sabaratnam, former owners of the City of Angels Medical Center.
Prosecutors allege the two defrauded Medicare and Medi-Cal out of millions of dollars.

Both men have pleaded guilty to criminal charges for paying kickbacks to recruiters and agreed to pay $4.1 million in restitution. Dante Nicholson, the hospital's former senior vice president, also pleaded guilty and faces up to 10 years in prison.

Bourseau will be sentenced on Feb. 22, and Sabaratnam on April 5.


 (Original story back on 8/2008)

FBI: L.A. hospitals used homeless in medical fraud 

 

Enlarge By Al Seib, Los Angeles Times/AP The City of Angels Medical Center, in Los Angeles, is one of three hospitals raided Wednesday as part of an investigation into alleged fraud involving homeless patients recruited from the streets.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — For hundreds of homeless people, posing as phony hospital patients provided them a clean bed and cash. For the hospitals that processed them, it meant a full patient-load and a paycheck from the government.

Now some of those allegedly involved in what authorities say was a massive scheme have been charged with billing government programs for millions of dollars in unnecessary health services.

A hospital CEO was arrested Wednesday after federal agents raided three medical centers. City attorney Rocky Delgadillo's office has also sued the hospitals, saying they used homeless people as "human pawns."

Hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange counties submitted phony Medicare and Medi-Cal bills for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of homeless patients — including drug addicts and the mentally ill — recruited from downtown's Skid Row, state and federal authorities allege.

While treating minor problems that did not require hospitalization, such as dehydration, exhaustion or yeast infections, the hospitals allegedly kept homeless patients in beds for as long as three days and charged the government for the stays.

Search warrants were served Wednesday at City of Angels Medical Center, Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center and Tustin Hospital and Medical Center, the FBI said.

Agents arrested Rudra Sabaratnam, CEO of City of Angels hospital, and Estill Mitts, operator of a Skid Row health assessment center, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. They were in federal custody and were scheduled to be arraigned Monday.

A 21-count indictment unsealed Wednesday charged both men with conspiring to receive and take kickbacks for patient referrals and to commit health care fraud. Sabaratnam also was charged with paying kickbacks and Mitts was charged with money laundering and tax evasion.

If convicted, Sabaratnam could face 50 years in federal prison, and Mitts could face 140 years, authorities said.

Bond for Mitts was set at $25,000. He was expected to be released Wednesday night to home detention, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office. Sabaratnam's bond hearing was set for Thursday.

Sabaratnam's lawyer Dominic Cantalupo, and Mitts' lawyer John Vandevelde did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien said he expects additional charges in the case.

"This is one of several major medical fraud investigations that are ongoing," he said. "There's too much money being illegally stripped from public health care programs and the potential impact to those with a legitimate need is too great to let such fraud escape federal prosecution."

The city attorney's office said it filed a lawsuit against the corporate owners of the three hospitals — along with Sabaratnam, several doctors and others — in connection with the alleged scheme.

The investigation began in 2006 as Los Angeles police looked into reports that hospitals were dumping homeless patients on Skid Row streets.

Representatives of the hospitals did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment. Los Angeles Metropolitan and the Tustin hospital are owned by Pacific Health Corp., and Los Angeles-based Intercare Health Systems owns City of Angels.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Count Is Right Around The Corner

This Tuesday night/Wednesday early morning will be the annual national point-in-time homeless count to try and determine just how many folks there are actually sleeping outside on a given night.

I've written about the problems with the count several times here and there are many, culminating in the fact that the final official number is really nothing but a low-ball guesstimate. 

However, with that said, the count does help the bean-counters determine where to spend the pittance they toss towards homelessness and how pathetic the pittance will be for the coming year.

Yep, it's important, if for nothing more than that fact.

If you're a volunteer, I'm hoping you'll go out of your way, being extra-vigilant, to really try to find folks.  I know that sometimes this is difficult, not to mention scary for some, but I just can't stress enough how important it is to actually find the folks outside on this night. 

See ya on the streets and get plenty of rest for the late night walkabout.....

The dog was quarantined to be monitored for rabies, but "appears to be well-maintained and cared for,"

And one more "thank you" for today; this one to Joe St. Georges, for courageously and fearlessly rescuing this dog and in the process getting his arm and hand chewed like a rawhide bone.....

 (USA Today)

 Dog bites firefighter who rescued it from river

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A firefighter splashed into a rain-swollen river Friday to rescue a German shepherd and managed to hang on safely, even after the dog furiously bit his arm and hand.

Los Angeles fire officials said 50-year-old Joe St. Georges, who suffered severe hand and arm injuries, was taken to County USC Medical Center.

"He has significant injuries, bites and punctures, to his hand and arm and is being seen by a specialist," Los Angeles fire Capt. Steve Ruda said. The 25-year department veteran was in good condition, Ruda said.

The dog, nicknamed Vernon after the Southern California town where he was found, did not have a name tag or computer chip, said Sgt. Charles Miller of the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority in Downey.

STORMS: Most evacuations ending

The dog was quarantined to be monitored for rabies, but "appears to be well-maintained and cared for," Miller said.

At least 50 firefighters responded to reports that the dog was in the river. For an hour, firefighters stood at the top of the steep, concrete banks, throwing life vest and float rings, hoping the dog would grab on. Most of the time, the canine walked along a pipe or ledge in the center of the river, sometimes slipping. One firefighter got into the river and tried to catch him, but the dog took off. Soon the pipe was submerged.

When the helicopter hovered overhead, the dog scrambled to the side of the river and tried to climb the slippery sides, only to slip each time.

St. Georges finally splashed down from the helicopter, wrestled with the frightened canine and lifted it to safety, using the dog's collar and a rope to hoist him up. Despite St. Georges' injuries, he didn't fail the dog.

At a late afternoon news conference, helicopter pilot Scott Bowman said St. Georges took a muzzle with him but he wasn't able to get it on, "so he decided to go for the capture."

Miller said the dog had some scrapes and worn nails, but was otherwise fine.

"He was fearful when he first got here, understandably. He went through a big ordeal," Miller said.

The dog will be quarantined for 10 days, unless the owner shows up with proof of rabies vaccination, Miller said. Then, the dog could be monitored at home. If the owner doesn't show up, officials will try to find the dog a new home.

McMurtry said good advice didn't seem to faze the robbers but instead made them angry

I know Bobby well and can't thank him enough for his effort in stopping these creeps from ripping off folks. 

Great job, my friend, and on behalf of our community let me say again "Thank YOU" for your commitment to honesty and integrity in the face of extreme hardship and arseholes...

Homeless Man Helps Police Make Arrests

Stolen Property Recovered After Madison Robberies

Reported By Jonathan Martin

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A homeless man is being credited with helping police this week make two arrests in a series of catalytic converter thefts in Madison.

Video

• Homeless Man Alerts Police To Robberies

Over the past three weeks, 60 catalytic converters have been stolen from car lots along Gallatin Road.

Bobby McMurtry lives in a wooded area behind a U-Haul rental lot in Madison and admits he doesn't have much but has respect for other people's property.

He said that three men and a woman were making lots of noise, slicing catalytic converters from dozens of U-Haul vehicles.

When he heard the thieves stealing the car parts, he said he "stopped them in their tracks and let them know it was wrong."

But McMurtry said good advice didn't seem to faze the robbers but instead made them angry.

"I noticed they started acting a little bit on the threatening side, so I made an excuse up that I had to use the restroom," said McMurtry.

Instead, he rushed to a nearby McDonald's restaurant and called 911. A few minutes later, police arrived and arrested two of the robbers, but two others escaped.

"This is an example of what we've been encouraging the communities to do, and this guy stepped up. We're so proud of him," said Metro police Officer Anthony Carter.

McMurtry is now working with detectives to identify the people who escaped when the arrests occurred. Police already have plans to honor the homeless man. They said his tip helped crack a case they had been clueless about.

"You don't need money if you trust in the Lord. There are always better days," said McMurtry.

Metro police said they have seen a decrease in stolen catalytic converters in Nashville because of a recent change in the state law that requires sellers to show identification and give a thumbprint before trading scrap metal.

Police said a lot of the local criminals are driving stolen metal to Kentucky, where those rules do not apply.

Previous Story:

* January 21, 2010: 2 Arrested In Madison Car Part Thefts

"We're less because he's gone."

Mr. Vivier, thank you for your service to this country, both on the battlefield and off.....

Homeless veteran who saved 5 in fire laid to rest

SLIDESHOW

  Previous        Next    

Honor guard members carry the remains of Raymond Edward Vivier, a homeless man living in Cleveland, who died in a boarding house fire with three other homeless person, Friday, Jan. 22, 2010, during burial services at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf) (Kevin Wolf - AP)

Chaplain Lt. John Logan talks with Elisha Vivier, the daughter of Raymond Edward Vivier, a homeless man living in Cleveland, who died in a boarding house fire with three other homeless person, Friday, Jan. 22, 2010, during burial services at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf) (Kevin Wolf - AP)

Honor guard members carry the remains of Raymond Edward Vivier, a homeless man living in Cleveland, who died in a boarding house fire with three other homeless person, Friday, Jan. 22,2010, during burial services at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf) (Kevin Wolf - AP)

Elisha Vivier, the daughter of Raymond Edward Vivier, is presented the U.S. flag by Ensign Haraz Ghanbari, right, during Vivier's burial services at Arlington National Cemetery on Friday, Jan. 22, 2010, in Arlington, Va. Vivier, 61, father of five, had been a homeless man, an adventurer, and Marine veteran, who rescued five people from the boarding house where he lived, before succumbing himself after arsonists set it ablaze. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf) (Kevin Wolf - AP)

By BRETT ZONGKER

The Associated Press
Sunday, January 24, 2010; 12:48 AM

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Ray Vivier had been an adventurer, a Marine veteran who explored the country from South Carolina to Alaska, the father of five children.

The 61-year-old also was a man starting to get his life back together after living for years in a shanty beneath a Cleveland bridge. He had struggled with alcoholism, but by November he had a welding job, friends and a place to stay at a boarding house.

He rescued five people from that house when arsonists set it ablaze - but Vivier couldn't save himself. He and three others died, and two people have been charged in their deaths. Vivier's body, unclaimed and unidentified for weeks, seemed destined for an anonymous, modest burial.

However, Jody Fesco - who met Vivier while she was volunteering at a soup kitchen and had even invited him to her wedding - heard that Vivier may have died. Fesco and her husband contacted their friend Haraz Ghanbari, an Associated Press photographer, about the situation. Ghanbari took the lead to make sure Vivier wasn't forgotten, tracking down the family members and arranging a proper funeral.

On Friday, Vivier's ashes were inurned at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.

"You can see from what he did that he definitely had a good heart," said Mercedes Cruz, Vivier's ex-wife of 23 years, who attended the funeral with the couple's children. "No matter what our difficulties were in our marriage, I'm very proud of what's happened."

For his grown children - who now are scattered around the country - Vivier had been gone for about 15 years. They know of his heroism now - but they don't know much about the man he was trying to become. They remember their dad's struggles with alcohol and other troubles.

"What I'm trying to get out of this is to have one good, concrete memory that I can have of him for what he did to save those people," said his oldest daughter, Elisha Vivier. "I'm proud of the man that he was becoming."

Vivier was a private in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1965 and 1966, though he didn't see combat. He was stationed at Parris Island, S.C., Cruz said.

After his discharge, Vivier spent years working as a machinist, welder, iron worker and other tough jobs. He loved the outdoors and moved his family from Alaska to Oregon.

"He was just adventurous," Cruz said. "He loved to see different places and see what it was like to live there."

When he was homeless in Cleveland, he was proud to have one of the best shanties around, said Fesco, 29, who met Vivier at a soup kitchen.

"We hit if off right away," she said.

She took Vivier home for Christmas one year and later invited him to her wedding. Vivier was genuine, she said, "a real gentle spirit.

"He was trying to get himself out of some struggles - some struggles with alcohol - and just do better for himself, and he was, which was fantastic," Fesco said.

Ghanbari, who is an ensign in the U.S. Navy, helped arrange for Vivier's remains to be placed in a columbarium wall at Arlington National Cemetery. The site overlooks the Pentagon with the National Cathedral and Washington Monument in the distance.

At the military service, seven Marines fired three rifle shots, and a bugler played taps. Elisha Vivier carried a gold urn with her father's ashes to the wall and placed them inside, alongside the remains of thousands of veterans.

Ray Vivier was quiet, friends said, but people knew who he was. Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman met Vivier years ago while working as a social worker. He said Vivier was quiet, yet kind and compassionate. More than 125 people attended a memorial service weeks after the fire in Cleveland.

"It was a huge blow for the community. This was one of our neighbors who people cared about and knew," Cimperman said. "We're less because he's gone."

Tackling all these problems will require a regional approach that takes into account the fact that poverty no longer stops at the city line.

An interesting sidebar to this story is the fact that in the burbs all over the country folks are finding themselves homeless.  No surprise there, but interestingly, we don't spend a lot of time in the burbs counting those homeless folks, nor do we devote a lot of time to finding them, either.  There are a couple of reasons for this; services are sparse and basically unknown to many of us who've devoted our outreach and advocacy time to the "city's" situation, the area is larger to cover and has more places to law low in, folks often don't "look" homeless, etc.

The reason I bring this up is because in just a few days, we'll be conducting another annual "point in time" homeless count.  The big day....errrr, night....errrr early morning is January 27th this year and folks have been gearing up for the count now for several weeks. 

Unfortunately, here in Nashville we'll be devoting our time and resources in the form of volunteers for the count primarily in the heart of the city, with some branching into East Nashville and Antioch.  But areas like Donelson, Hermitage and Bordeaux will probably not see cars and people moving slowly through alleys and side streets looking for lumps on benches and under bushes.

Yet another reason the annual homeless count numbers are merely a lowball estimate of the real number of folks living hand to mouth on the streets of our country.....

Sharing the burden

Our view: The problem of suburban poverty requires a regional approach

For half a century, "moving on up" meant moving to the suburbs; that was the destination of the American dream, and millions of middle-class American families saw suburban living as their ticket to happiness as well as an escape from urban decay, poverty and crime. But suburbia may no longer represent the unmitigated good life it once did.

This week researchers at the Brookings Institution in Washington reported a surprising demographic shift: The suburbs are now home to the largest, fastest-growing population of poor people in the country. In the Baltimore metro region, for example, the number of suburban residents living below the federal poverty line - defined as $21,834 for a family of four - grew by almost 21,000 between 2000 and 2008. Meanwhile, the number of poor people in Baltimore City actually fell by 24,000 over the same period.

The Brookings report suggests that the traditional notion of poverty as primarily a big-city problem is no longer valid in an era in which 53.3 percent of the nation's poor now reside in the suburbs. As a result, policy makers are going to have to rethink how jurisdictions deal with a myriad of issues involving how government responds to the needs of the poor, from keeping the social safety net intact to planning for more affordable housing, public transportation and job creation.

Tackling all these problems will require a regional approach that takes into account the fact that poverty no longer stops at the city line. The recession has left Baltimore's suburban jurisdictions reeling from the effects of demographic change. In Baltimore County, where the percentage of poor people grew from 6.5 percent in 2000 to 8.2 percent in 2008, waiting rooms for social services have been jammed with people asking for help, and applications for food stamps are up 60 percent. Howard County, one of the nation's wealthiest jurisdictions, has seen similar increases in applications for food and fuel assistance.

Even so, the trends cited in the Brookings report may not be all bad. Though the total number of poor people in the Baltimore region remains unchanged, they are now less concentrated in a single jurisdiction. One would hope that the more they are integrated into mixed-income communities where opportunities for education and employment are likely to be better, the brighter their long-term prospects could turn out to be. Meanwhile, the decline in Baltimore City's poverty rate, one of the fastest of any city in the country, offers hope that the city's fortunes may finally be turning around.

But the increase in suburban poverty also presents difficult challenges. Suburban governments are not as accustomed to providing services for large numbers of poor residents, and the recent experiences of Baltimore and Howard counties show how easily the social safety net there can be overwhelmed. Moreover, because poor people in the suburbs are more geographically spread out, the logistics of making resources easily accessible to them are more complicated and require more planning. And as hard as it is for poor residents to get around by public transportation in Baltimore City, it's that much harder in the suburbs.

These are not problems that any one jurisdiction is likely to solve on its own. What's needed is a commitment to regional cooperation and burden-sharing that makes the most efficient collective use of the region's financially stretched public resources and institutions. We already have regional groups to coordinate transportation and development. Why not one to address the needs of the poor?

More people are being pushed into the street. If ever this country has seen a need for change, it's now.

Mr. Boden is dead on here, but he's left out one important component of affordable housing; assistance in the form of vouchers or exemptions to those who have zero income that helps pay for the "affordable" housing unit.  The fact is, it doesn't matter how "affordable" a home is, if one has no income, it's unaffordable at any cost.

Now before some of you roll your eyes and tell me you're not going to pay for housing for drunks, bums, vagrants and any other slur used to describe so many of the chronically homeless in our country, let me put forth that you're already paying, and paying dearly, my friend.

The cost of homelessness is incredibly expensive and it is clear that here in Nashville alone, for what we spend on chronically homeless individuals each year we could put them into the most expensive hotel in downtown Nashville, feed them three hot meals a day from any restaurant within walking distance, and still have a substantial cost saving by the end of the year.

It's getting over the "entitlement" mentality that I suspect is the hard part for many; when I mentioned this to my lovely better half, the first thing she said was "and how do you think those of us who go to work every day to support ourselves will feel about the fact that folks who don't work at all get more benefits than we do?  And second, what's to stop the rest of us from saying 'to hell with work' and simply put ourselves on the dole as well?"

Both good points, indeed, but hardly realistic, since those of us with real poverty experience - and I mean LIVED experience, can tell you that being poor sucks, whether you've got a roof over your head or not.  Any of us who've made a few bucks and enjoyed some of the finer things life has to offer, and here I'm simply talking about being able to get into a car and drive somewhere versus having to walk or ride the  bus, or being able to stop in buy a good meal when we feel like it, go to the show, take a vacation, you know, the simple pleasures of the middle classes, will never give those things up simply to obtain "free" housing.  Ain't gonna happen, nohow, noway.

My dear friend Clifton Harris often states that there's plenty of housing available in Nashville, what's not available is the money needed to rent it.  He's right on point there, and that's my point as well; affordable housing will sit just as vacant as a McMansion and just as much out of reach of those who have no income. 

A voucher program is desperately needed and frankly, I'd wager that if we simply put our money into the vouchers and stopped trying to cajole developers into building "affordable" housing units - a hard sell from the git because there's just not much money to be made in those types of developments - we'd probably get ahead of the game far more quickly.....





Need for affordable housing greater than ever

Paul Boden

Wednesday, January 20, 2010
   
"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." - Barack Obama (Feb. 5, 2008)

During President Barack Obama's first year in office, we learned that change could come very quickly when a financial crisis was imminent, but what about the tens of millions in human crisis? Our change is still rattling in the bottom of our cups.

Almost 40 million Americans live below the poverty line - 43 percent of them in deep poverty. Homelessness increased 12 percent from 2007 to 2008 in cities across the country. More people are being pushed into the street. If ever this country has seen a need for change, it's now.

Affordable housing is the only solution to ending homelessness. After years of community organizing by hundreds of groups nationally, we have seen some success when legislation creating the National Housing Trust Fund passed in 2008. The House has already included funding for $1 billion in a jobs bill passed in December, but the Senate now needs to follow suit. With that money, housing developers could produce tens of thousands of new affordable housing units and jobs.

Instead of recognizing the true cause of homelessness - the absence of affordable homes for very poor people - the conventional wisdom continues to portray homelessness as a problem of individuals: their dysfunction, laziness, mental illness or substance abuse. This myth ignores the reality of families doubled-up or living in a hotel, the working poor who can't afford a full month's rent, seniors who lost their housing due to gentrification, which reduced the supply of affordable housing.

Today , hundreds of organizations and thousands of concerned people up and down the West Coast are converging in San Francisco to evaluate our gains and our losses, and to organize for what must happen next. As a start, President Obama needs to provide significantly increased HUD funding in the federal budget.

Join us as we celebrate the one-year anniversary of the election of Barack Obama and become part of the change we voted for!

Paul Boden is the director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project in San Francisco.

Nashville Coalition For The Homeless Starts a New Year With Vigor

I attended my first board meeting as a genuine member of the board yesterday and was pleased as punch at the level of participation and energy the board seems to be filled with as we begin a new year.

Lots on the table for the coming months and because we are an organization that networks and informs the community about available and new services, we're able to put a lot on our plate.  I don't want to share a whole lot here yet, since I'm not sure exactly what I'm able to divulge and it probably wouldn't go over well if I screwed the whole group after the very first meeting, so let me get some clearance on what can be discussed beforehand and I'll share as much as I can.

One thing I do want to mention here is that we're looking for attendees to the meetings and would love to see outreach, agency members and interested peeps come in and spend some time with us as we share info. 

Agencies and advocacy groups tend to get tunnel vision when they spend all their time locked into their niche; it's always good to get fresh blood because with it comes fresh perspective and new, updated info that folks may not be privvy to or in a position to hear due to their....positions.

So, if you can, please consider coming to a meeting or three; the board meeting will be the second Wednesday of each month at 3pm, tentatively scheduled to be held at Operation Stand Down Nashville's community room. 

The general meeting, which includes a spotlight speaker, "street talk" (outreach personnel discussing recent events on the street) and program updates takes place on the third thursday of each month at 9am upstairs at the Nashville Rescue Mission. 

Come on in, we'd love to see you there and hear what you've got to say!

"In a 48 hour span, Central precinct officers offered help to more than 200 of Nashville's homeless, 135 refused that help and only 34 accepted a ride to a shelter."

Our local "men in blue" get a lot of bad press concerning the treatment of the homeless in and around the Nashville area and many times there's no doubt they deserve it.  I've seen some pretty distasteful incidents occur to folks and can verify some ridiculously broad applications of "obstructing walkways," "loitering," and "littering" that have landed some of the homeless in jail for what I consider hellishly long times for simple infractions.

Those of you who watch my videos will remember Nelson's long stretch in the pokey simply because he chose to hide in a trash-filled alley to sneak a drink and was caught in the act.  The cop who arrested him cited him for littering because trash from the surrounding businesses had overflowed dumpsters and was scattered all over the ground around him.  Although none of the trash was Nelson's, he plead guilty to the charge rather than fight it; the irony here is that he would have spent longer time in jail fighting the charge and being exonerated than he did by simply pleading guilty and taking the punishment.

Don't mean to go off on a tangent here but the fact is, this is exactly why so many people end up with convictions on their record in the first place.  It's often far easier, and certainly much cheaper, to just plead to a deal instead of fighting a bogus charge.  Even when one is successful in beating a rap, one still often spends considerable time in the hoosegow - especially if one is poor and cannot raise bail - and regardless of whether you've been found innocent, you still did time.

Sigh.

But I digress and deviate. 

My main point here isn't to lambaste the police; they've got a damned hard job to do and deal with some of the worst vermin we humans can degenerate into.   Instead, I'm praising their effort during the "big cold" because I know what it took to get officer Johnson onto the street in this capacity, and I know the difficulty his superior officer had in getting his duty both approved and paid for.

 I've long been an advocate of better relationships between police and outreach personnel; good working relationships between the two often means the difference in having someone spend time in jail versus getting to a shelter, rehab or some food and some help. 

It isn't an easy relationship to cultivate,  either, believe me.  Cops deal with cynical peers and supervisors while enduring constant suspicion of motives by street outreach and the homeless themselves.  Outreach personnel deal with suspicions that they are somehow "working undercover" for the police and can experience ostracism and a shutdown of information flow from their own peer groups as a result.  

It takes time, cooperation, and repeatedly righteous actions to establish trust and credibility on both sides.  Yes, we have a long way to go yet, but at least we're beginning to get the train rolling down the track, and believe it when I tell you that train was, and is, loaded with considerable baggage.

Some will tell you it's not worth it.

I disagree, and I bet a good number of homeless folks who've been able to receive services rather than jail time because outreach and police have slowly come together in a spirit of collaboration to serve them would disagree as well....

Police Scramble To Help Homeless In Cold

Posted: Jan 08, 2010 3:14 PM CST

Video Gallery

Police Scramble To Help Homeless In Cold 2:58

By Amanda Hara 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - On Friday, Metro police officers scrambled to get people off the streets and out of the cold. They encouraged everyone they saw to go to a homeless shelter or warming station.

Officer Mike Johnson stopped anywhere he saw someone in need of help, offered a ride and handed out fliers with information on where to go.

In a 48 hour span, Central precinct officers offered help to more than 200 of Nashville's homeless, 135 refused that help and only 34 accepted a ride to a shelter.

Most of the time people refused help because they had pets or family members they did not want to separate from.

"You hope you can get to them before they actually succumb to the temperatures," said Johnson.
Johnson then drove to abandoned buildings where homeless are known to stay. Although he found make shift beds and evidence that they'd been there, no one was around.

"There are just so many shelters to go to right now and they need those, as you saw it's not very warm inside there," said Johnson.

For Johnson, this is more than a job. He said it's the right thing to do.

"If it was you you'd at least like to be given the opportunity to stay warm maybe a hot meal change of clothes. I think everybody would want that," said Johnson.

Area shelters are filling up, so warming stations like the Mount Bethel Baptist Church on Arthur Avenue are taking in the overflow of people.
email: ahara@newschannel5.com 

Downed, But Not Out

So the other day I was out hitting the tennis ball for my dogs when I heard this very loud whooshing noise, and right in front of my eyes huge flames shot up into the sky so high it reminded me of a fireworks display.

I of course hotfooted it between two garages to see what the hell had happened while yelling "FIRE FIRE Call 911" into the neighborhood and as I emerged between the two garages, I came upon a home that was already fully engulfed in flames. 

I ran around the house screaming for anyone inside this inferno but couldn't get close enough to tell if anyone was inside because the heat was so freaking intense it was burning my face as I circled the home. 

The pic I've got here doesn't do this fire justice, trust me; the entire backside of the house had flames roaring out of every window and if you look at the roof line, you can see the flames rising up from the back side. 

So anyhoo, I'm running around pushing cars from the driveway and generally acting like I'm 18 instead of 50 and in the process, tweaked my sciatic nerve so badly that it has laid me up for almost a week.  The pain was so severe I ended up in the ER on Sunday and spent three days flat on my back, too sore to do much of anything.

I'm slowly recovering but still in a great deal of pain, so posts here will be a bit sporadic over the next week or so.  I'm attending a homeless count meeting today and will be overseeing the OSDN part of the count, and our first Homeless Coalition meeting is on the 19th, so there will be much to talk about shortly.

In the meantime, try to stay warm, avoid pushing cars and take an Advil or three for me, k?

Where To Go To Get Off the Street During This Cold Weather

Been a busy couple of days since the storm hit here in Tennessee; freezing cold right now with light dusting of snow on the ground in most areas, but the bigger news of course is that  Mayor Dean has asked for unheard of cooperation and resource allocation across the board by agencies and organizations in Davidson county to keep folks on the street from dying in this cold weather.

A huge thanks to the good Mayor for putting the welfare of all his citizens at the top of the priority list during this storm!

Here are some details that might help to save a life:  

There will be other options besides the Nashville Rescue Mission for shelter -   Mt. Bethel, 1508 Arthur Ave – 131 capacity   

& 

First Baptist Church, 108 7^th Ave South – 126 capacity.

211 will have live operators during this time and can direct folks to shelters.  Also, along with the Nahsville Rescue Mission's Cold Patrol vans, Nashville metro PD will also direct volunteers and outreach workers to provide pickups for shelter rides by calling 862-8600.  

Second Harvest and Salvation Army will coordinate feeding at the shelters and there should be HOT meals at these shelters.   

ATTENTION: Metro PD will be strictly enforcing "quality of life" issues for folks as their goal is to get people off the streets during this cold period.  Beware, they will not be cutting people any slack, so this is not the time to hang out at Riverfront or the parks; get to a shelter and stay there; they will be open and people will be allowed to stay for the full duration: no mandatory boot-outs.

WARMING SHELTER OPENS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON IN PREPARATION OF WINTER STORM AND ONGOING FREEZING TEMPERATURES

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management, in conjunction with the Nashville Red Cross, will open an emergency warming shelter in Davidson County today to assist residents in need of a warm meal and place to stay during the forecasted snow event and extreme cold.  This includes those whom may have lost utilities providing heat and/or power to their homes and persons who may be homeless.     


The shelter is located at Mt. Bethel Baptist Church, 1508 Arthur Avenue, and opens to the public at 1 p.m.  As the need arises, the Red Cross will add additional shelters. 


“Nashville has been in the deep freeze for several days now and the temperature continues to drop with the threat of accumulating snowfall,” said Interim OEM Director Stephen Halford.  “It is imperative that everyone seek shelter and a coordinated effort is being made across the city to spread the word to our vulnerable populations about what shelter options are available.  With the opening of this shelter and the ability to add more, there’s simply no reason for anyone to be turned away that wants a warm place to stay to get out of the cold.”  

The Nashville Humane Association will deploy mobile units to provide shelter for domestic animals, as pets will not be permitted in the Red Cross locations.  Qualified, credentialed animal handlers will care for the pets while staying in close proximity to their owners. 

The Office of Emergency Management is coordinating with several Metro government and non-profit agencies to provide transportation to shelters and Nashville Mission as needed.  Metro 2-1-1 will be processing transportation requests, as well as providing general information to the public.  The call takers will be available 24/7. 

"It's warmer here. I'm not in the rain. I'm out of the wind, and I don't have to sleep in a tent no more,"

Well, there's no doubt that a shortage of affordable housing is a problem, but so too is a shortage of subsidies to help folks who cannot afford rent along with their other bills.  I'm not talking here about the chronic alcoholic and/or drug addict who spends every dime he/she gets to feed the habit.  Rather, I'm talking about the folks who work at minimum wage jobs and don't always get full 40 hour weeks, or people who are struggling through with two or three part-time jobs and then suffer a transportation disaster or an electric bill that has skyrocketed due to cold weather.

With Section 8 closed since December 08 and the agencies that can help with overdue/past due bills running out of money on the first or second day of each new month due to heavy demand, there is little else available to individuals trying to stem the level of bleeding their paychecks are experiencing....

Ways To Help With Long-Term Solution For Homeless

Posted: Jan 04, 2010 3:50 PM CST



By Amanda Hara
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Monday's cold temperatures meant a night of suffering for Nashville's 4,000 homeless. Experts said the money spent on coats and food for them could be better spent on a more long-term solution.

Local homeless advocates said spare change and bagged lunches are a temporary fix, but not a long-term answer for the men and women on the streets of Nashville.

"I think people mean well and it helps for the moment, but again the solution is housing. First getting people in housing and putting the right case management services around people to keep people house," said Clifton Harris with the Metro Homelessness Commission and Key Alliance.

Experts said taxpayers spend over $72 million a year on Nashville's homeless. It would only cost taxpayers $7 million a year moving them off the streets and into housing.

A private developer realized his money would go further, not in the hands of the homeless, but in the remodeling of a Lewis Street building.

Debra moved there from Tent City six weeks ago.

"It's warmer here. I'm not in the rain. I'm out of the wind, and I don't have to sleep in a tent no more," said Debra.

The homelessness commission helped move about 300 people off the streets into permanent housing over the last four years. Those people also received a number of services to keep them housed.

Of course not all of us have the resources to revamp a building and rent it out. If you're interested in changing the way you help the homeless, contact the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission.
The Key Alliance: ending homelessness in Nashville

Nashville Cold Weather And The Homeless Population: "Are we doing enough?"

Unless you've been in another country or hanging in Tuscon, Arizona, you know it's been not just cold but downright bone-chilling.

Having spent the better part of 30 years wandering the Sierra Nevada mountains, I'm no stranger to cold, snow and lousy weather, but there folks are prepared to cope with it.  Here in the South, it's a whole different ballgame and when it gets really cold there aren't a lot of resources available to deal with it.

Thank the Gods for places like the Mission and the churches currently participating in the Room in the Inn program; without these available beds, I fear we'd be seeing a lot more needless deaths on the street.

I'm heading to a meeting this morning with folks from the Key Alliance to see if we can come up with a more comprehensive cold weather approach and I'll post the jist of the meeting here tomorrow; hopefully we'll emerge with a plan in place that will help to save lives, keep folks warm and be something we can initiate whenever the temperature dips below freezing....

 Cold snap 'horrifying' for homeless

	By Nicholas Kamm, AFP/Getty Images
A homeless man sleeps next to a manhole in Washington, D.C., after a snowstorm blanketed much of the East Coast last month.

By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY

Homeless shelters are swamped as an extended cold snap in the eastern half of the country raises alarms about people living on the streets or in unheated buildings.

The problem is acute in New Orleans, where thousands displaced since Hurricane Katrina live in abandoned houses.

"It's a pretty horrifying situation," says Martha Kegel of UNITY of Greater New Orleans, a network of agencies helping the homeless. She says a team is looking for people who need shelter, but many are hidden. "There's no way to get to all of them," she says.

Overnight temperatures will fall into the mid-20s later thisweek, The Weather Channel forecasts.

"I have a sickening feeling we're going to lose people to exposure," Kegel says.

Other cities have already seen that.

In Nashville, where the temperature fell to 12 degrees Monday night, four people died outside. The Tennessean reported that one was an 81-year-old man with Alzheimer's who wandered outside in his bathrobe.

SOUTH: Struggles with record-setting freeze

WINTER: Snow, bitter cold to hit central, eastern parts of USA

WEATHER: Frigid temps break winter weather records

"We're trying to prevent hypothermia," especially among people who drink alcohol and might not notice the cold, says Don Worrell, president of the Nashville Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter that has 747 beds and is now over capacity. When the temperature drops below 36 degrees, his "cold patrol" goes out to find the homeless and bring them in.

Even in what is normally sunny Florida, homeless shelters are gearing up as temperatures dip below 40 degrees.

"We're putting people on mats," says Robby Cisrow of Broward Outreach Center in Hollywood, Fla., a homeless shelter that normally houses 15 to 20 people but has averaged 40 this week. It's prepared to take 70.

The deep freeze in much of the South, unaccustomed to such cold, will ease slightly but plunge again by week's end, The Weather Channel says.

People in most cities can phone 211 for help if they lack shelter or their heat has been cut off for unpaid bills.

Birmingham, Ala., opened a temporary "warming center" Tuesday in the Boutwell Municipal Auditorium for anyone needing shelter. It will have cots, blankets and warm drinks and will stay open from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. through Sunday.

In Atlanta, the Gateway Center shelter downtown has more than 100 women and children sleeping on mats in an overflow area.

Protip Biswas of the United Way Regional Commission on Homelessness says outreach workers will push harder to get the homeless indoors if temperatures dip into the teens.

Still, he wonders, "Are we doing enough?"