One of the best things about working for the agency I do is that we're able to provide exactly these things, in ways many other agencies only wish they could. Our ED has been pretty savvy in setting up the organization and rather than take the new Housing First approach, he's been plodding along with the traditional approach; sobriety, transitional housing, employment/disability income, permanent housing, long-term support for those who pass through the program.
I've been a consumer and employee of many social service agencies over the past 50 years and I am here to tell you, while the approach is similar to that which has been in place for a long time, there is something radically different about this org and its ability to make the approach work well.
It's the fact that when someone comes through our doors and jumps through our hoops - and there are always hoops attached to any of these programs because we don't get the money to assist folks given to us without those same hoops in place for us - they become a member of our "family."
I was fortunate enough to be part of an agency that was gifted a year-long Radical Loving Care training that Baptist Healing Trust does and I can tell you that what we have at our agency is exactly what this training tries to initiate and stimulate within an agency via that training.
But there's something about these old military guys n girls that bond them together; a common shared experience that allows them all to relate to something - to belong to something - far greater than the sum of the parts.
Not every person that comes through my door has seen combat or been involved in a conflict, but I tell you now, every person that comes through that door and has served their country honorably is viewed with love, respect, compassion and understanding.
This permeates our agency and I frankly was scared to death when I started this job at what the environment would be like, seeing as how I'd never served and by nature am adamantly opposed to war anyway.
Almost six months later - lordy, has it been that long already? - I can tell you that I've never met a group of more caring and concerned people in my life, and better yet, I've expanded my family to include many of them. Sounds crazy but I'm telling you, there are people there that I can guarantee I will have a lifelong relationship with and would be devastated to lose.
This is not to say it's a building full of suckers, mind you. Most of the folks I work with are tough as nails and have lots of experience in the areas they deal with on a daily basis. But I also know they love their country, they love their brothers and sisters, and they'll give the shirts off their backs to those who need it. I know because I've seen it done, not once or twice, but daily; every day, day in day out.
Nashville will spend millions on housing in poor areas
5-year plan targets poor areas, homeless
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The Metro Development and Housing Agency said it will emphasize the creation of economic opportunities and prevention of homelessness as it spends the $33 million in grants it expects to receive through four federal programs between 2010 and 2014.
"There are in this economy people who are potentially homeless, and we need to assist those individuals," Howard Gentry, a member of the Homelessness Commission, said after reading the report.
"I see a great attempt to support those individuals with, not just providing subsidies, but also to provide job opportunities and training."
The Department of Housing and Urban Development requires the five-year plan, which updates spending priorities, for MDHA to continue receiving funding. A public comment period on the report runs until Nov. 19.
The plan also calls for setting aside $2.5 million for down payment assistance, $5.6 million for emergency home repairs and $1.5 million for financial assistance to landlords. Such programs can keep people from moving out of their homes and into public housing, the report says.
People with HIV/AIDS and their families could receive about $4 million in rental assistance and other services, under the plan.
The proposal calls for spreading resources to prevent intense concentrations of poverty.
