We enjoy the friendship of lots of people who have no home. We are working as hard as we can to provide, develop permanent housing for as many of our friends as we can.
Thanks to many factors, our work is far from easy.
But, we keep moving forward because we know the people involved out on our sidewalks and on our back streets.
Lots to consider here:
Wow. This is good. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteLarry, 'questions for you. Maybe the answers are obvious, but if I knew them, I wouldn't ask. All of these closed-up downtown properties - i.e. the Statler Hotel, old Dallas High School, and etc. - why not just break in, build lots of beds and living spaces, and move the hundreds (thousands?) of area homeless and others in? 'Worst case scenario - correct me if I'm wrong here - everybody gets arrested and spends a night or two in jail, INSIDE with FOOD and ETC. 'Best case scenario? The system is so overwhelmed that there's no way that they can hold everybody, and the subsequent attention forces the 'powers-that-be' to readjust their priorities. Has this been tried before? If so, what was the result? If not, why not?
ReplyDeleteAppreciate what I think I hear from your heart, Anon 10:51, but there are public health issues and legal issues and basic credibility and order issues here. The abandoned buildings have owners and there is a process and a way to get these buildings into adaptive reuse plans, if the city had the will to see it through. The civil disobedience you suggest would be dramatic and newsworthy, but in my view not the best way to go forward in any sustainable manner. Mabye I'm getting conservative in my old age!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a job for Shane Claiborn...
ReplyDeleteAwesome work you are doing!!
ReplyDeleteEveryday it seems that my little Californian town sees more and more homeless people. I guess if I were homeless, I'd come here to. The weather is so mild. But thankfully I have a job (for now) and a place to stay (for now) but statistics show that many of us are one paycheck away from homelessness. The rich just seem to be getting richer, and the poor, younger. It's not right, it's not fair!
I'm a photographer on a mission to change the world, starting with my community.
Check it out please:
http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/starla/homeless-in-america-a-womens-plight/
Thanks,
Star
PS Thank you for all that you are doing for the homeless!!