Thanks to the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), I spent Monday and Tuesday of t his week in Seattle, Washington with a group of housing developers from Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston. CSH organized the meeting so that we could "go to school" on Seattle's 10-year plan to end homelessness.For this city ending "chronic" homelessness--the national goal, is not enough.
This community intends to wipe out homelessness of every type.
As a matter of fact, I sat in on a community task force meeting where it became clear that the group's goal is to eliminate all shelters in the city by 2015.
Amazing!
As might be expected, Seattle's plan is bold, comprehensive, unrelenting and clear.
The results to date have been remarkable.
Working together, the city and its housing partners have produced thousands of new units for formerly homeless persons.
A couple of aspects of their strategy stand out.
For one thing, they have identified the most expensive homeless persons in the city--those who make frequent visits to emergency rooms, end up in the criminal justice system time after time, depend on shelters and use large amounts of other community services due to their homelessness and associated problems.
By targeting this subset of its homeless population and by investing strategically in these men and women, Seattle is on a track to saving the community millions of dollars.
Most remarkably to our Texas group, the citizens of Seattle have voted four times--count 'em--four times to tax themselves to insure that the poorest persons in the city are cared for and directed toward lives of self-sufficiency and productivity. As a result of this community-wide commitment and smart leveraging of this consistent funding source, the City of Seattle is able to spend $40 million annually on housing development!
I left the city inspired and sobered. I'll post again about what I perceived of the "spirit" of this very special community from just one person I observed in the hotel where I stayed.
Dallas needs to build on the recent success we've managed around our new Homeless Assistance Center.
Amazing!
As might be expected, Seattle's plan is bold, comprehensive, unrelenting and clear.
The results to date have been remarkable.
Working together, the city and its housing partners have produced thousands of new units for formerly homeless persons.
A couple of aspects of their strategy stand out.
For one thing, they have identified the most expensive homeless persons in the city--those who make frequent visits to emergency rooms, end up in the criminal justice system time after time, depend on shelters and use large amounts of other community services due to their homelessness and associated problems.
By targeting this subset of its homeless population and by investing strategically in these men and women, Seattle is on a track to saving the community millions of dollars.
Most remarkably to our Texas group, the citizens of Seattle have voted four times--count 'em--four times to tax themselves to insure that the poorest persons in the city are cared for and directed toward lives of self-sufficiency and productivity. As a result of this community-wide commitment and smart leveraging of this consistent funding source, the City of Seattle is able to spend $40 million annually on housing development!
I left the city inspired and sobered. I'll post again about what I perceived of the "spirit" of this very special community from just one person I observed in the hotel where I stayed.
Dallas needs to build on the recent success we've managed around our new Homeless Assistance Center.
But our goals going forward should focus primarily on the development of high-quality, permanent housing for the poorest people in our community.
We can and must do much better as a city.
We can and must do much better as a city.
7 comments:
Welcome to my city! I am more than a little biased, I LOVE Seattle! We've got loads of challenges...but open your eyes a little bit, and just like Dallas, you will find AMAZING people. Larry, I think I heard you use the word "amazing" in reference to people more than any other word when I visited CDM last December. You are absolutely right. People are amazing. COME BACK SOON!!! Bring all your friends! Stay at my house! The floor is carpeted and the dogs don't bite. I'll bake a cake. But most of all, I'll introduce you to some amazing people.
I'm impressed. I knew Seattle was cool, but didn't realize it also had a heart.
So what would stop other cities from "solving" their homeless problem by giving everyone a one-way bus ticket to Seattle? I know that's cynical, but someone would try it.
Also, you mentioned Austin developers - is there a group to get involved with down here?
Thanks!
Charles
Way to go Seattle!! I bet the majority of these folks don't even claim to be christian . . . it should put us all to shame!
Belinda,
Seattle is one of the least churched cities in America! Second,( I think?) to Portland OR where there are also some mighty Christ-like things being done to fight poverty. I guess being churched does not necessarily corrolate with living according to Christian principles.
On a somewhat unrelated note, this article about helping out unemployed people with a new model of service...
Rewarding Community Service with Increased Benefits
This is a novel idea out of Germany where the unemployed in one community are being awarded increased benefits in exchange for community service. Obviously this is not a long-term solution to the problem of building a thriving economy but, as this article notes, it may serve to help the long-term unemployed gain a more positive attitude that could aid them in their job search. The article is short and offers a different view of what's possible with regard to community service.
For all my friends at CDM:
A Franciscan Benediction
May God bless you with discomfort…
at easy answers, half –truths, and superficial relationships,
so that you may live deep within your heart
May God bless you with Anger…
at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people
so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless you with Tears…
to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war,
so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness…
To believe that you can make a difference in their world,
so that you can do what others claim cannot be done. Amen.
Interesting article on CNN.com today:
By Roland Martin
CNN Contributor
Editor's note: Roland Martin is a CNN contributor and talk-show host on WVON-AM in Chicago, Illinois. He is the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith."
NEW YORK (CNN) -- When did it come to the point that being a Christian meant only caring about two issues, abortion and homosexuality?
Ask the nonreligious what being a Christian today means, and based on what we see and read, it's a good bet they will say that followers of Jesus Christ are preoccupied with those two points.
Poverty? Whatever. Homelessness? An afterthought. A widening gap between the have and have-nots? Immaterial. Divorce? The divorce rate of Christians mirrors the national average, so that's no big deal.
The point is that being a Christian should be about more than abortion and homosexuality, and it's high time that those not considered a part of the religious right expose the hypocrisy of our brothers and sisters in Christianity and take back the faith. And those on the left who believe they have a "get out of sin free" card must not be allowed to justify their actions.
Many people believe we are engaged in a holy war. And we are. But it's not with Muslims. The real war -- the silent war -- is being engaged among Christians, and that's what we must set our sights on.
As we celebrate Holy Week, our focus is on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But aren't we also to recommit ourselves to live more like Jesus? Did Jesus spend his time focusing on all that he didn't like, or did Jesus raise the consciousness of the people to understand love, compassion and teach them about following the will of God?
As a layman studying to receive a master's in Christian communications, and the husband of an ordained minister, it's troubling to listen to "Christian radio" and hear the kind of hate spewing out of the mouths of my brothers and sisters in the faith.
In fact, I've grown tired of people who pimp God. That's right; we have a litany of individuals today who are holy, holy, holy, sing hallelujah, talk about how they love the Lord, but when it's time to walk the walk, somehow the spirit evaporates.
A couple of years ago I took exception to an e-mail blast from the Concerned Women for America. The group was angry that Democrats were blocking certain judges put up for the federal bench by President Bush. It called on Americans to fight Democrats who wanted to keep Christians off the bench.
So I called and sent an e-mail asking, "So, where were you when President Clinton appointed Christian judges to the bench? Were they truly behind Christian judges, or Republican Christian judges?
Surprise, surprise. There was never a response.
An African-American pastor I know in the Midwest was asked by a group of mostly white clergy to march in an anti-abortion rally. He was fine with that, but then asked the clergy if they would work with him to fight crack houses in predominantly black neighborhoods.
"That's really your problem," he was told.
They saw abortion as a moral imperative, but not a community ravaged by crack.
If abortion and gay marriage are part of the Christian agenda, I have no issue with that. Those are moral issues that should be of importance to people of the faith, but the agenda should be much, much broader.
I'm looking for the day when Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Joyce Meyer, James Dobson, Tony Perkins, James Kennedy, Rod Parsley, " Patriot Pastors" and Rick Warren will sit at the same table as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Cynthia Hale, Eddie L. Long, James Meek, Fred Price, Emmanuel Cleaver and Floyd Flake to establish a call to arms on racism, AIDS, police brutality, a national health care policy, our sorry education system.
If they all say they love and worship one God, one Jesus, let's see them rally their members behind one agenda.
I stand here today not as a Republican or a liberal. And don't bother calling me a Democrat or a conservative. I am a man, an African-American man who has professed that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that's to whom I bow down.
If you concur, it's time to stop allowing a chosen few to speak for the masses. Quit letting them define the agenda.
So put on the full armor of God because we have work to do.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the writer. This is part of an occasional series of commentaries on CNN.com offering a broad range of perspectives, thoughts and points of view.
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