Ms. Reese, you have just nailed it. I think this is what is most aggravating about addressing the issues of homelessness with the uninformed. They continue to conjure up the image of the skid row bum, deliriously drunk and soiled while laying in the gutter.
Now there's no doubt that we've got a few of these folks languishing on the streets and in the alleys of Nashville. But the truth of the matter is, many folks are experiencing homelessness for the very first time and have worked their entire lives, cared for their family, participated in their community, been diligent in their finances and behavior. For reasons often beyond their control, they are suddenly out on the street with nowhere to turn.
I'm working with a gentleman now - "Bert" - who is so despondent about his situation he called me on Friday completely over the edge, sobbing uncontrollably, and threatened to hurl himself in front of a bus.
What makes his (and those like him) situation so difficult is that we - those of us in the social services arena - simply don't have the resources, nor are we really set up, to deal with those who "don't" have those sets of problems that are often found in the population of folks on the street; if you are not "chronically homeless," do not have a mental illness and/or are not addicted to some illegal substance, the options for you shrink to damn near zilch.
Trust me when I tell you that there's nothing more frustrating to me - and many of my colleagues - than to be contacted by someone who has just discovered they will be homeless within the next couple of weeks due to a job ending or some other situation beyond their control and are hoping to find some help. We just don't have very much to offer because our resources are typically being used on those who are in really bad shape.
It's definitely time to rethink this whole approach, by the way, since it is pennywise and pound foolish to continue with our present course. When we do get someone like "Bert" on our caseload, we're forced to wait until his/her circumstances begin getting dire - and not his version of dire, either, since he recognized his situation was bad beyond his control long before we could actually help him.
If we were able to step in immediately, get Bert and others like him a transitional home to stay in with phones and computer access, some bus passes and a resume service, we might be able to fend off adding still more people to the ranks of the "chronically homeless."
It really wouldn't take that much, either. We're set up to do it, just not to do it for folks who aren't yet chronically homeless and/or have other issues exacerbating their situation....
By the way, it's really nice to see the Tennessean paying so much attention to this issue. It's freakin huge and growing by the moment, especially now that the warm weather is coming.
I have a feeling we will see an explosion of people without homes over the next 12-18 months here in Nashville. It may get so bad that the city will be forced to do something to address it, far beyond what they are currently doing....
In suburbs, homeless have fewer options
By CLAY CAREY • April 9, 2008
Liz Reese, the director of the nonprofit organization created to provide shelter and help the homeless in Wilson County
LEBANON — The old brick building on Virginia Avenue smells like new paint. For the first time in years, the walls are bright white, the floor covered with tile — not concrete and debris.
In less than a month, organizers say, it will be home for more than a dozen Wilson County residents who have nowhere else to turn.
Once a home for the elderly that had sat vacant for years, the building now called Brooks House will reopen April 20 as a homeless shelter. When it does, all 20 of its beds will be full — and many more women will remain on the group's waiting list.
"We know right now from my waiting list, this is just a drop in the bucket," said Liz Reese, the director of the nonprofit organization created to provide shelter and help the homeless in Wilson County.
Brooks House has been working toward opening the shelter for almost two years. In the meantime, Reese said, it has helped more than 300 people find food and shelter in the area.
"We're not talking about bums on the street," she said. "We're talking about middle-class people who have fallen through the cracks."
Edith Hager hopes to be among the first to move into the new shelter. Hager, 62, said her adult son kicked her out of the house they'd been sharing after a nasty argument a few weeks ago.
"I'm glad they're here for people like myself that's got no one," Hager said.
"I don't know what I would have done without them. … I'd probably be out there wandering somewhere."
Obstacles may occur
Brooks House is the only shelter of its kind in Wilson County, and one of just a handful of local refuges for the homeless outside of Nashville.
"We need services in the surrounding counties," said Charles Strobel, founding director of the Nashville-based nonprofit Campus for Human Development.
"What exists traditionally in Middle Tennessee is what we call here in Nashville 'bus therapy.' … If someone is homeless, you send them to Nashville in a bus."
Clarksville and Murfreesboro have programs in place to help the homeless locally. But in most cities, Strobel said, "the first reaction is, 'We will help you, but we will not help you in a way that will connect you to this community.' "
As the towns outside Nashville continue to grow, more communities will find themselves facing larger homeless populations, Strobel said. Those people will be better served if they can get help in their local towns, rather than a distant city they find unfamiliar or intimidating.
"There's some trauma about leaving home, about leaving your roots," he said. "It takes them from being a neighbor — maybe a poor neighbor, but a neighbor — to being a stranger."
