Hurry up. . .for what?

My new friend, Terry (see post from yesterday) told me a somewhat amusing story last week when we met. He described for me the approach of one organization that feeds the homeless and then leads them in a worship service. 

"While you are eating, the staff comes through urging you to 'hurry up and eat, hurry up now and eat your food!'" he reported. 

"Every time I've taken a meal from this group, they come through and rush you up before you  go to the church service," he explained.

"Well, one time when they came by rushing us, I shouted back, 'Well, you sure don't rush up the sermons in church!" he told me. 

"They rush the meal and then have us in preaching for two hours!" 

I had to laugh. 

It is said that Jesus preached "good news" to the poor.

I'm wondering what really "good news" might sound and look like for folks on the streets today? 

Is it a sermon filled with religious doctrine to be believed? 

Or, might it be a leisurely meal accompanied by encouraging table talk, unrushed among friends? 

From "the Corner"--June 21

Today I witnessed one of those breakthrough moments at "the Corner." 

The heat rose to oppressive levels.  The crowd that huddled in the shade under Billy's tree in front of his old, delapidated, abandoned house resembled a congregation in the fellowship mode. 

During the two-and-a-half hours that I sat there, I heard countless stories and enjoyed conversations with many people. 

But the sea change that occurred happened very quickly. 

Isaac Nelson, a man who migrated here from New Orleans, ended up in the "walk in" around the corner (an emergency homeless shelter down and around the block from "the Corner) thanks to a fairly tough illness.  About mid-way through our time together I went to my car to get bottled water to replinish the supply in my ice chest.  Upon seeing me lugging the case of water, Isaac sprang to my aid.  He grabbed the water and began filling the ice chest.  Two other men quickly rose to assist him.

"Man, I haven't seen guys jump around on a job like this out here, ever," one of our friends razzed them. 

As we settled back into the comfort of the  porch, two or three other passerbys came down the sidewalk.  Isaac opened the cooler and he invited people to help themselves. 

Isaac was in charge.

Today, the community took over "the Corner" in a brand new way! 

It was a "mission accomplished" moment! 

Just before I had to leave, George, another friend, reminded me of a conversation we had about a month ago.

"You know, I haven't been able to forget what you told me the first day we met," he offered.

"What was that?" I inquired.

"When you said there were enough of us to elect a city council member--I haven't been able to stop thinking about that, man." 

"As many of you as there are and as few folks as actually vote in Dallas, I'm convinced it's something that you all should keep thinking about.  You just need to get organized," I told him.

What a day.  I'll keep coming back here.

If you're on the street. . .

In recent conversations with Dallas City Council Member Angela Hunt concerning the challenges of homelessness in Downtown Dallas, our outreach workers at CitySquare researched and compiled a listing of resources for persons without housing in Dallas.  What follows is a summation of the report on that research.  These are the emergency shelter assets of the city along with their varying schedules. 

As you read, imagine what it would be like to "live" on the streets of a city like Dallas, Texas. 

Additional note of reality:  yesterday the temperature reached 113 in parts of the city. 

Dallas Life Foundation and The Salvation Army are allowing the residents in the shelters to stay there all day if they already have a bed. At both facilities, new folks can come in at 4:00 pm to try to get a bed until the facilities are full.


The Salvation Army has a cooling center from 11:30 am to 4:00 pm each day for those not staying in their shelter.

The Bridge opens at 5:30 am each morning for breakfast and day services. Folks are allowed to come and go with their Bridge ID or a day pass until 5:00 pm. The Bridge closes its doors at 5:00 pm for new mats. Those that have mats have until 10:00 pm to check back in.

Union Gospel Mission takes the overflow from The Bridge. New folks line up at 4:30 pm at The Bridge and are then transported to Union Gospel to get a bed until they are at capacity. Union Gospel lets all their folks go at 5:30 am, transporting them back to The Bridge for breakfast. Only those 55 and older are allowed to stay at Union Gospel all day.

Austin Street Centre allows women to check in at 11:00 am and men to check in at 1:00 pm until they reach capacity. They let out at 6:00 am each morning and then go through the check-in process again each day.

The Stewpot opens at 8:00 am and is open all day as a cooling center until 3:45 pm Monday through Friday.

Street Stuff

My friend Roger once told me that his life on the street was like one, long, unending parade from morning until night.  I'll always remember how he described the "parade route." 

If in a night shelter, awakened at about 5-5:30 a.m. and rousted out of the facility. 

On the sidewalk now the day's journey begins. 

You walk in circles often.  Your mission simple:  find a place to eat, find something to eat, find the money needed to do both of those activities. 

Find a place to stop and rest--try walking all day long he told me.  Find a place to rest where you won't be targeted as a nuisance by the police or business owners.

Find a place to take care of the necessities of the day--toilet, sink, mirror, etc.  Find such a place where you won't get into trouble with anyone. Find even a moment or two of privacy, a scarce commodity on the street.

Keep walking and time the parade so that you find lunch and dinner before retreating into a shelter at an appointed time, The Bridge or an alley, often the night lodging of choice by homeless persons really weary of being told what to do about everything.

Through it all, keep up with your possessions.  Stolen possessions is a major problem on the street before, during and after the parade. 

"Larry, people just don't know," he told me as he concluded a much more graphic description of his daily "parade." 

Of course, he's right. 

We don't know.

Good reason to listen, I'd say.

Doonesbury on the homeless and charity. . .

A friend sent me clipped copy of the June 7, 2009 Doonesbury comic strip.

Take a look at it here.

Let me know what the takeaways are in your opinion.

The disconnect of "No!"

Last Friday evening, just after I stepped onto the Red Line train to North Dallas, a homeless man approached my area of the car with a cup in his hand.

"Can you spare me a little change, brother," he asked the fellow standing just in front of me.

The guy ignored the beggar, so, he moved to me.

I saw him coming, in more ways than one, so I greeted him and exchanged a lively handshake.

"So, where are you staying?" I asked.

I heard the word "bridge," and assumed he meant The Bridge, Dallas' new homeless assistance center Downtown.

"Oh, you're at The Bridge," I followed.

"No, man," he responded, "The Bridge is too crowded and they won't let us stay there. Me and my old lady live under the bridge," he explained. "I'm trying to get about seven bucks to buy us some dinner."

"Oh, I see," I replied.

"Can you spare me some change," my new friend pressed--he had the rest of the train to work and needed a decision from me.

I dropped the change I had in my pocket from the train ticket vending machine into his paper cup.

"Thanks, brother, God bless you," he said with a huge toothless smile.

As he shuffled down the aisle, looking for others to approach, I began to think about the impact of a "No."

People ask me all of the time, "What should I do about panhandlers on the street?"

I gotta tell you, I don't have a clue. I understand all of the arguments on both sides. And, I have no consistent position or track record in terms of how I respond. At times, I give freely. At other times I have turned away with a short "No," or worse, I have simply pretended not to see or to hear.

But, as I rode the train up the rail without the burden of navigating the heavy traffic, I thought about the power and the nature of "No" when spoken to another human being.

"No" is about judgment.

"No"--there is no possible way that verdict can be endearing, connecting or anything but total rejection in a moment.

"No," especially, I think, in a chance encounter does not help any one.

I have no answer for the gentleman who approached me Friday night as we cut through the growing darkness of a busy city. I don't understand how he got to the place in life that his best option is begging on a commuter train and sleeping under a freeway bridge. I have no brilliant intervention to offer. I have no chance to really do much with him.

But it occurs to me that "No" is not what he needed to hear, and it's not what I needed to say.

As I was lost in my thoughts, the train made a stop.

Another homeless man boarded. He carried a large, thick, well-used study Bible of some variety. A backpack attached to his back, he struggled to unfold and to count a wad of dollar bills that he clutched in his hands. I suppose he had made his supper money for the evening. He asked for nothing as he settled into the ride north.

I wondered how many "No" verdicts he had dealt with before collecting the treasure that would make his night a bit less harsh.

For a personal perspective provided by a homeless young man from the streets of Denver on the whole matter of how it feels to encounter rejection on the streets, take a look here.

(Matthew 5:42--Jesus)

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Shelters or Permanent Supportive Housing

Our recently commissioned study of the "business case to end homelessness" in Dallas contains an important and insightful section comparing emergency shelters and permanent supportive housing. Seems worth repeating here.
______________________________

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SHELTERS AND SUPPORTIVE HOUSING

Different types of homeless people have different types of needs. Most people who become homeless are only without a home for a short period of time due to unforeseen events or financial circumstances. For these individuals, shelters and emergency supports are appropriate to help them get back on their feet quickly. Most citizens never notice these temporarily homeless individuals and families.

The homeless you see on the street corners are likely to be chronically homeless individuals. Supportive housing provides a permanent solution to this most visible and costly element of the homeless population.

Shelters that operate on an emergency basis are inappropriate for these individuals because their homelessness, and the problems that caused their homelessness, are chronic and long-term, not a temporary emergency.

SHELTERS
 Treat homelessness as a temporary problem that can be solved with temporary assistance.

 Are necessary and appropriate for individuals experiencing temporary homelessness in need of emergency assistance.

 Cannot effectively serve the emergency needs of temporarily homeless individuals and families if their capacity is being strained by chronically homeless individuals who have little hope of ever "landing back on their feet" without significant assistance.

 Are designed to serve a continual flow of different individuals, not the same individuals day after day, year after year.

 Rarely provide 24-hour operation, privacy, or secure space to store personal belongings—hallmarks of freedom that chronically homeless individuals need and want.

 Often impose strict rules on guests and alcohol; while understandable from a group safety perspective, these rules are more likely to alienate chronically homeless people with substance abuse problems than produce instant sobriety.

SUPPORTIVE HOUSING SOLUTIONS

 Recognize that some homeless individuals will never return to mainstream society without permanent supportive services.

 Aid residents in securing unclaimed benefits for which they are eligible, such as social security, thereby offsetting the costs of the project.

 Provide flexible supportive services that maximize each resident’s ability to live independently without mandating participation in specific classes or treatments.

 Integrate caseworkers and programming to assist residents in dealing with and overcoming addiction, mental illness, chronic health problems, and physical disabilities; developing money management and other life skills; and securing and retaining gainful employment. Residents with jobs are asked to contribute a portion of their income as rent, just like other subsidized housing programs.

 Provide a long-term solution centered on individuals, not a pipeline. Supportive housing does not impose caps on the length of stay nor try to push residents towards moving out.

 Empower homeless individuals to make lasting changes in their lives by providing the ultimate symbol of dignity: a key to their own place. Building rules and policies are flexible and incorporate tenant input, further respecting that dignity.
______________________

Without a doubt, emergency shelter beds are essential in any comprehensive strategy to address the problems associated with homelessness in a community like Dallas. At the same, no lasting or substantive solution will be found without the development of permanent supportive housing.

What has been your experience in working with homeless persons when it comes to housing and shelter? I'd be eager to know both your experience and your reaction.

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Business case for ending homelessness

Several months ago, Central Dallas Ministries and the Central Dallas Community Development Corporation engaged the J. McDonald Williams Institute to conduct a different sort of study on homelessness in Dallas. Our intent was to "prove up" the business case for ending homelessness in our city. In other words, what would be the positive economic impact on our community if we could eliminate homelessness?

The study is titled, "The Business Case for Ending Homelessness: Moving From a Scattered and Costly Scheme of Emergency and Revolving Door Care to a Coordinated, Managed, Permanent Solution to the Local Costs of Homelessness" (statisticians go for long titles!).

In 2000, the City of Dallas, Dallas County, other government agencies and charitable organizations spent a total of $20,341,000.00 serving the homeless population in our community. By 2006, that total had more than doubled to an estimated $43,785,577.00 annually. $10,773,649 $9,256,082

Recent "point in time" census counts of the homeless population indicates that there are somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 homeless individuals on the streets of Dallas at any one time. About 1,000 are chronically homeless.

The chronically homeless use 50% of the shelter capacity of our community.

Almost half (43%) of those surveyed in 2006 reported that they were homeless due to the lose of a job. In that same count, 12% reported that they had been homeless on four or more occasions in the past three years.

Here in Dallas more than 45 agencies offer housing, food, medical care and counseling/employment services to the homeless population.

The chronically homeless tax, not only the limited resources of emergency shelter providers, they also put a strain on hospital emergency rooms, police, ambulance and other public services. Excessive numbers of homeless persons in a given area--on the streets without permanent housing--can depress property valuations and tax revenues. A study conducted in 2000 estimated that the City of Dallas and other local jurisdictions were losing $4.1 million per year due to low property valuations in the southern section of Dallas' Downtown area.

What would be the actual costs associated with effectively ending homelessness in Dallas?

The development of 1,200 units of supportive housing would effectively end homelessness as we know it in Dallas.

The cost of providing 1,000 single resident occupancy (SRO) units would be approximately $25 million or $25,000 per unit. In addition, 200 family units could be developed for a cost of $7 million or $35,000 per unit. Additional operating funds for developing these properties would be about $3 million or $2,500 per unit. Total development costs for the needed endeavor would come in at around $35 million or $29,166 per unit. Spread over a 30-year period the annual costs would total $1.6 million or $972 per unit.

Operating costs to provide the supportive services for such a development strategy would total $4.2 million annually or $5,189 per unit.

In short, for less than the cost of one year's service expenditures for our current system of managing and serving the homeless population in Dallas, we could develop all of the housing needed to take every chronically homeless person off the streets and provide exactly the supportive services they would need to maintain themselves in the new housing! In addition, we would be able to sustain the plan for 1/10 the cost we are now spending each year. These savings could insure the development of more fit and affordable housing.


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Watch 60 Minuties Sunday. . .please pass this on to friends

Plan now to tune in to 60 MINUTES tomorrow evening on CBS televison. A segment of the program is entitled "Dumped on Skid Row."

Here is an advance publicity piece that we received from CBS television describing the segment:

Are some Los Angeles hospitals simply throwing homeless patients out on the street after discharging them, literally dumping them on Skid Row --even if they come from other places in Los Angeles and are in no condition to fend for themselves?

While there have been allegations of hospital dumping for years, people only started paying attention recently, after several shelters installed special cameras on the street to try to capture the practice.

Anderson Cooper’s investigation will air this Sunday, May 20, on 60 MINUTES (7PM ET/PT on CBS).

For more details you can check out the CBS News website at:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/07/08
/60minutes/main13502.shtml.

If you have any further questions, please contact Robin Sanders at sandersr@cbsnews.com.

I continue to be amazed at just how expendible the poor have become in this country.

I hope you'll watch the report.

Please pass this post on to your friends, family and associates.

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Homeless: The Dallas No One Wants to See

Central Dallas Ministries produced this video for use during our recent mayoral forum and prayer breakfast.

It tells part of the life story of five people who have struggled with homelessness for many years. Some have been on the streets of Dallas for years. All of these people are becoming our friends, all have been regular attendees at our monthly Urban Engagement Book Club.

At present, we are working to secure permanent housing for each of them. Their words are more than worth your time.



If you experience difficulty playing the video here, please visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N616cwdxAoE

Remember our friends today.

Thanks to Justin Malone and Malone Media for their devotion to CDM, and for the many hours that they spent on this project.

Seattle's soul

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.

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.

Freedom and respect

When you were a kid, did you ever go to summer camp?

Or, as an adult, have you ever participated in a retreat where you shared a bunkhouse with a group of other people?

Across the years I've done my share of "retreating" and I've bunked with lots of guys in camp settings.

If you've been there, you know the drill.

Everything responds to the schedule.

Lights out at a certain time.

Breakfast, if you intend to eat it, is at the crack of dawn!

Every meal involves waiting in line.

Every meal soon begins to taste the same.

The routine for the days is clearly spelled out--sometimes in triplicate, depending on the mental health of those in charge.

In almost every case there is a good bit of sitting and listening to others talk or teach or tell you what to do or think.

Once you're in the camp, you have to abide by the rules, the process and the "mission" of the week or the weekend.

I have to confess, at around day two I've usually had about enough of such experiences!

I like to go to bed, in my own bed, whenever I choose. I like to get up early, have a cup of coffee, read the paper, meditate a bit or whatever I decide I need to do on a particular day.

Hey, I'm into freedom and choice and self-directed living. How about you?

For some reason my summer camp and adult retreat experiences came rushing back to me last week as I thought about what I should say to a local conference on homelessness. I had been asked to speak to the group about "community" and the challenges of homelessness in Dallas.

People wring their hands a lot in this city about why homeless men and women are so "shelter resistant."

My camping, bunkhouse experience tells me the answer to that question is not rocket science!

Homeless shelters are no more an answer to the housing crisis facing our homeless brothers and sisters than are summer camps or adult retreats an answer to the daily challenges facing me as I live my middle class life!

Both have their place for very short periods of time--you know, in an emergency or for some special reason.

But no one wants to live on someone else's agenda or schedule. No one.

No one can actually consider a bunk bed or a cot "home."

Check me on this, but my favorite time at summer camp or during retreat settings was always "free time." I've never read a retreat or camping evaluation that didn't say something like, "Next year build in more free time!"

Don't ever wonder why people prefer camp grounds under bridges, park benches or down in urban creek beds to shelters. It's all about freedom and maintaining a sense of control over one's life.

Everyone desires freedom and respect.

Any proposed "solution" to the problem of homelessness that does not major on those indispensable values will fail.

This is why we must build more permanent housing.

The answer to the challenges presented by homelessness is not more shelters, social workers or case management, as important all these resources can be.

The answer to homelessness is more homes.