Stream of consciousness, random thoughts on deep poverty

Dallas' "Tent City" mushroomed over night because of two things:  trash dumpsters and port-o-potties.  Homeless people spend their days looking for food, a place to rest/sit, restroom facilities and a bed.  When the city provided a place to manage biological realities and a place to throw away trash, it didn't create new homeless persons.  It simply provided the solution to one major problem and it provided for trash management at the encampment that grew up nearby.  Tent City reminds me that homeless persons are just that, persons.  Persons who, like me, need a restroom every day, several times.  Remove that basic need and I'll camp out near the solution. 

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Landlords and property owners contribute to the problems facing homeless persons because they routinely discriminate on the basis of "payer source," that is from what source a person pays the rent.  Housing dollars go unspent monthly--I estimate between 25-30% of what the local Continuum of Care has to spend on housing the homeless because those in charge of the housing units won't rent to our homeless neighbors with whom we work. Closing this gap would provide housing if not for all, for almost all who live in Tent City.  Something to think about:  is this a civil rights issue?  

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Dallas definitely needs to include funding for permanent supportive housing development in the upcoming 2017 bond issue.  And that provision needs to be to the tune of $100 million. 

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Homerless shelters need to become extremely aggressive "triage" centers with established goals to move people into permanent housing in no longer than 30 days.  This system change would turn 100 shelter beds into 1,200 over a year.  Prerequisite:  ample supply of permanent supportive housing that employs a Housing First strategy.

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Apparently, the Texas Rangers Baseball club no longer advertises for payday lenders!  No signs on the outfield walls or anywhere else in the building.  Progress!

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Downtown Dallas, Inc. could really help the homeless presence in the CBD by reinstating homeless outreach workers as a part of the strategy to care for the very poor and the very rich investors.  Just sayin'.

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The more I am around Dallas City Council member Casey Thomas, the more I like him.

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Living without a home is a genuine trauma crisis.

 

Enough.