Homeless in the big cities

I suppose some people would say that anything is better than being homeless, but fortunately the New York City City Council doesn't agree. The council announced it intends to bring an end to the practice of sending the city's homeless from shelters to illegal and unsafe boarding houses being run for a profit by unscrupulous owners. This follows two years of pressure from homeless advocacy groups, including Coalition for the Homeless.

Lindsey Davis, a director at the Coalition for the Homeless and the author of the 2008 report, described conditions that she said she had recently observed at overcrowded boarding houses.

In one building, Ms. Davis said, an external wall had collapsed while people were living inside. One room was filled with 12 bunk beds. “There was mold covering the walls, and the floors and ceilings were not structurally sound,” she said, adding that people were sleeping in beds placed within feet of stoves. New York Times.

Another bit of help for New York's homeless comes from singer/songwriter Cyndi Lauper, who is opening a homeless shelter for LGBT youth with funds from her True Colors Fund.  Of the 20,000 young people homeless in New York City, a quarter of them identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered.

In Tampa, FL, it's OK to solicit donations from passing traffic as long as they don't disrupt traffic AND, since a new ordinance was passed in January, they wear reflective vests or risk being cited and fined.  Not everyone who solicits donations is homeless; one mother of two who lost her job is trying to avoid homelessness by alternating her days job-hunting and soliciting donations. Tampa Bay Online.

Now that the risk of dying from hypothermia is diminishing, many homeless people in Washington, D.C. are leaving the shelters, many of which are due to close, and heading back to the streets.  12,000 people are estimated to be homeless in D.C., although that number is expected to climb when the results of the latest homeless census are released.  Washington Post.

Photo of homeless D.C. man from winged photography's photostream at Flickr.

Homeless girl tells her story in new street newspaper

The Philadelphia Enquirer has a story about a thirteen year old girl who kept the fact she lived in a homeless shelter a secret-- until she was asked to write her story for a new street newspaper, One Step Away.  Then she was able to have the kind of opportunity for personal empowerment and political growth that we would wish for every homeless kid and adult.  You can read her story here.

St. Petersburg, Florida has a new street paper, also, the St. Petersburg Homeless Image.  The blog Pushing Rope covers the story.

What's a street newspaper?  According to the North American Street Newspaper Association:

A street newspaper is a newspaper that primarily addresses issues related to poverty and homelessness and is distributed by poor or homeless vendors. Vendors sell the newspaper for a set price, usually $1, and have to pay the organization a fraction of the price (20% to 40%) for each paper up front. The self-employed vendor sells the papers on the street and keeps the money he or she makes. For many people, this is the opportunity they need to get back on their feet and into permanent housing.
 

The benefits of street papers go far beyond economic opportunity. For the vendor, they offer a positive experience of self-help that breaks through the isolation that many homeless people experience. They offer the public a means to reach out with their dollar to help a homeless person directly and, over time, form a caring relationship.

Most street newspapers also provide homeless and/or those living on the margins of society the opportunities for expression by publishing their articles, letters and artwork. These publications build a bridge between the very poor and the wider public by helping people to understand the issues and the personal stories of those on the lowest rung of the economic ladder.

For a look at street newspapers around the world, check out Homeless Street Newspapers.

Photo from debcha's photostream at Flickr.

Homeless are the canaries in the coal mine

New England papers like the Boston Globe have been following the horrendous story of the slaughter of a Manchester, New Hampshire nurse and the maiming of her daughter by four teenagers for no apparent reason. Of course there is a reason, it just doesn't make sense to most rational people.

On the face of it, attacks on homeless people don't seem to make a lot of sense, either. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, between 1999 and 2008 there were 244 deaths of homeless people and 636 victims of non-lethal violence perpetrated by housed people. Many assaults go uncounted.

A Eugene, Oregon man was "lucky" this week-- he did not become the city's third homeless murder victim when he was set on fire from behind by an unknown assailant; he survived with burns to his hands and face. 35 year old Brian Armstrong of Monroe, Louisiana didn't fare so well-- picked up and incarcerated for being drunk and disorderly, he was found beaten to death in his cell the next morning. His three cellmates are being questioned in what is being treated as a murder. The motive for last Saturday's shooting death of a homeless white woman in Pheonix, Arizona may be clearer-- she was walking with a homeless Black friend when a bald, tattooed white man hollered at the Black man because he was walking with a white woman. Moments later, he shot at them, wounding the man and killing the woman.

Poverty (and addiction) is getting a lot of people in trouble with the law these days, but homeless people are particularly at risk. When you hear about a man with 50 prior convictions arrested yet again for theft, a 15 year sentence might not seem excessive. But then when you hear that the man was homeless and stole a box of cereal and a can of evaporated milk, and that most of his prior convictions were for charges such as trespassing and public intoxication...The 13th Juror has a good story about Mark Anthony Griffin of Bartow, Florida..

And thank you, Officer Michael Hennessey of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, for blowing the whistle on a police department incentive program that he believes unfairly targeted homeless people. The incentive program, which offered days off and gift certificates, included a scavenger hunt for actions such as arresting a homeless person who violated the Open Container law with a drink other than Natural Ice beer. Broward County prosecutors dismissed claims of prejudice last week, but at least the incentive program is now dead.

Photo from Matt from London's photostream at Flickr.

Dangerous to be homeless: an apology

I wrote a post last month about the death of homeless Northampton resident Arthur Polier. Later I found a comment about the post on BlogoWogo that includes the following:

My son, the son of Arthur Polier read this story and took offence to you implying that his father should die...that is a terrible thing to say.

Despite whatever circumstance anyone person may encounter in their life, we as a society have no right to pass judgement and for your information, Arthur...affectionately known as David, his middle name was a warm and giving person who succumbed to his alcoholism and that does not give you or anyone the right to say they should die.

So let me say first that I apologize to Arthur Polier's family for any offense my post caused. I think the offending portion of the post was: "Police are saying he died of natural causes. What I guess we can say is that it's natural that a 50 year-old man living in a swamp on the edge of society, should die."

There's no such thing as a natural death when you're living on the streets. It is just plain dangerous to be homeless.

Homeless women are at quadruple the risk of sexual assault. Maybe that was in the mind of the homeless woman from Joliet, Illinois when she saved a 10 year old girl from being kidnapped and assaulted last month.

Homeless people are often robbed and beaten-- sometimes by each other. That's what happened when a homeless woman was beaten with a piece of wood last Saturday in Raleigh, NC. She's now listed in good condition at the hospital. (Hope they keep her a few extra days.)

Homeless people are the victim of accidents. Melissa Sjostrom, 33, was crossing the street in Tampa, Florida when she was hit and killed by a 17 year old driver who then fled the scene of the accident. Something very funky's going on with why it the case was closed without an arrest and then opened two months later after queries by the St. Petersburg, Florida Times.

Homeless people can die from exposure not just from the cold but also the heat. Pheonix, Arizona officials and agencies are opening cooling centers and handing out water to homeless people this week, where temperatures are expected to be about 115 degrees.

Sometimes homeless people just die. Back in Tampa, Florida, a homeless man was found dead last week only one day after another homeless man was found dead less than a block away. Neither death is considered suspicious by the police. In Anchorage, Alaska, yet another homeless man was found dead-- the eighth in just a few months-- and this death, unlike the others, appears to be a murder.

Each year on December 21st, the longest night of the year, cities across the country commemorate Homeless Persons Memorial Day, a remembrance of all those who have died without a home during the year. I wait for and works towards the year when the numbers decline-- but it won't be this year.

Reviled, tolerated, bulldozed, born again: tent cities just keep on coming

What's it really like to be homeless? To live in a tent city, or a homeless shelter or a car? Do you really have to want to know? You can't find out just by looking; you have to be willing to dig, and that's just what Mark Horvath of InvisiblePeople.tv is planning to do over the next six weeks. According to Change.org, he's going to twenty different cities in forty-nine days to "unearth the modern-day realities of homelessness while providing a venue for "invisible" people to tell their story, raw and unedited."

Mark won't be going to the tent city in East Palo Alto, California because bulldozers cleared out the dozen or so people living in dry-grass marshland at the end of June so the owner can sell the property. the owner says that he fears fire, because two years ago a homeless woman died when her campfire set the grass ablaze. The two dozen people camped by a creek in Merced, California will probably be gone by then, too, because the Merced Irrigation District (MID) needs to clear brush.

"I don't think it's up to MID to solve the homeless problem. We've got enough problems supplying the water," MID board member Jack Hooper said. Merced Sun-Star.

If Mark goes to the Catholic Worker House in Champaign, Illinois, he'll find himself in the middle of dispute inside and out: the neighbors aren't happy with the eight tents occupied by homeless people in the back of the CWH property. Inside the house, the nineteen people who live there permanently find themselves bitterly criticized by the homeless, advocates and some volunteers because they discontinued a Sunday lunch for more than 120 homeless people. Of course they're still providing lunch on the other six days of the week--the residents just wanted one day for themselves.

The tent city in Lakewood, New Jersey might not have turned into a little farming community by the time Mark arrives, but it's one of the options on the table. Five months after the city ordered the camp cleared and residents placed in housing, none of the relocation possibilities have actually happened. One community group helping the tent city residents is asking for a little piece of land where residents can raise chickens and vegetables and live in peace. Matzav.

The Catholic Church-run tent city in St. Petersburg, Florida will probably seem like a little bit of heaven to Mark. At the end of a dead-end street, 250 people live in 250 tents and the camp, called Pinellas Hope has showers, a dining hall and a laundry room. Thank God it doesn't get cold in St. Petersburg.

Back in California, Mark will have missed the march of 25o homeless people protesting at City Hall in Sacramento because the city destroyed their tent city three months ago. Loaves and Fishes, the non-profit agency that is helping to organize the march, is being treated with quite a degree of cynicism by some in the homeless community. Tom Armstrong of Sacramento Homeless wants to know why, if the Loaves and Fishes Director was so opposed to the closing of the tent city, she wasn't willing to risk arrest before the tent city was closed, rather than after?

Tomorrow was supposed to be the deadline for the last of Fresno, California's tents (and homeless people) to be cleared from its H Street encampment, but the 50 or so remaining residents have been given one more week. About a quarter of the tent city's original residents have been placed in housing, another two dozen found housing on their own, many have just disappeared, but many remain. Fresno is waiting for stimulus funds to implement plans to target smaller encampments around the city.

If Mark Horvath could move at nearly the speed of light, and was willing to spend a year on his quest, he could talk to every one of the 3.5 million people who are expected to spend at least part of the calendar year without a place to live.

If you have suggestions for where Mark can stop on his journey, email him at roadtrip@invisiblepeople.t.v

Photo by Lisa James from the Merced Sun-Star.

St. Petersburg homeless stand up for themselves

St. Petersburg city officials got themselves a bit of a bad reputation last year when they ordered cops to cut up the tents of the homeless while destroying a homeless encampment. Since then, the city has passed a number of ordinances which make life difficult for homeless people, including the amount of personal belongings people can have beside them when sleeping out.

Now, six homeless people and a group of advocacy organizations are suing the City of St. Petersburg.

"What has been happening in St. Petersburg over the past couple years is one of the worst examples nationally of widespread abuse of homeless persons' civil and human rights," said Tulin Ozdeger, civil rights director for the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, one of three organizations representing the city's homeless. The Southern Legal Counsel and Florida Institutional Legal Services have also sided with the homeless.
The lawsuit, filed in Tampa, claims the city's ordinances violate various constitutional protections, including freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, freedom from unreasonable searches and free speech.
Ozdeger said the ordinances also fail to provide sufficient guidance for police officers, which encourages arbitrary enforcement.
"We feel that we have a very strong case," she said. Tampa Bay.

Photo from OB Rag.

The Homeless Life: four tidbits, many ironies

Marriages: Joe and Joyce met and fell in love when they were both volunteering at an Illinois homeless shelter, and so they decided to get married there last month. More than a hundred people, including shelter residents, attended. BGViews.

Nhiahni and Dante were both homeless when they met in Washington D.C. nine years ago. They've been attending a meals program and Bible Study class at Grace Episcopal Church. After Dante confided to a parishioner how much he wanted to be able to marry Nhiahni, the chutrch helped arrange a wedding and even sprung for a two-night honeymoon in a local hotel. AFP.

Auto fatalities: A Chicago woman was moved to write a letter to the Chicago Tribune after observing a homeless man attempt to rescue a scared and confused dog on the highway who was then hit by a car. "At that moment the homeless man picked up the dog's body and carried him away to a gas station on the corner. I was so impressed by the compassion this man showed towards the dog. It was an automatic reaction on his part and I admire him, as I don't know if I would have been able to do what he did. To that man, I say "thank you" for giving that poor dog a last moment of respect."~Lori McDaniel

Poor Charlie Shafer-- he was 56 and homeless, just released from the Orange County Jail in Orlando, FL when he was struck and killed by an Orange County deputy's patrol car. He had been held on a contempt of court citation. "He's my buddy," said One-Eyed Charlie, a homeless man who didn't give his last name. "He tried to help people out. If someone needed something done, he'd do it." Orlando Sentinel.

Public service: Daniel Fore, a homeless resident of Oak Park, ILL, was barred from running for public office because he didn't have an address, but that didn't stop him from receiving 39 write-in votes. Better luck next time. KWQZ.

Faron Hall, aged 44, was just sitting by the riverbank in Winnipeg, which also happens to be his home, when he heard a lous splash and saw a young boy has fallen into the fast moving river. Although he hadn't swum since he was 13, he jumped in and brought the young man most of the way to shore, where his buddy pulled both of them in.

Since then Mr. Hall has received the medal of valor from Winnipeg's mayor and other offers of help.

"Hall recognizes the attention and offers of help have put him at a "crossroads" that might allow him to turn his life around.
"I believe I gave that little guy back his life. I've got to get my life back as well. That's what I plan to do." The Canadian Press.

Money: Miley Cyrus was approached by a homeless man while in London making a movie. Apparently she passed up the opportunity. Chatty Kathy.

Food poisoning attorney Bill Marler has offered to donate $2,500 to a Washington, D.C. homeless resource center if he can get 2,500 more Twitter followers. Sustainable Food/Change.org.

Finally, Na Hae-dong, a homeless South Korean man with more than $100,000 in the bank died on the streets last month without access to any of his money because he couldn't prove to the bank that the money was his-- even though he'd been depositing small amounts into the account for years. New York Times.

Some tent city news

"If it were left to George Taylor, homeless veterans living in wooded areas around Brevard County would be in one large "tent city," where they would tend vegetable crops until they could move into a home of their own." So begins a story at Florida Today about a former vet who is now president and founder of Veterans Homeless Support, reaching out to some of the estimated 600 veterans camping out in Brevard County, Florida.

Mr. Taylor was homeless himself, and rootless for a number of years until he tackled the PTSD that had plagued him since Vietnam. For the last fifteen years his mission has been to help homeless vets. Read more about him to see what good intentions can accomplish.

Good intentions haven't been enough to keep the River United Methodist Communities Church in Woonsocket, RI from being cited by city officials after the church put up four tents for homeless people in their courtyard. The six homeless men who had been staying in the tents are staying elsewhere for the moment, but the tents remain while the church decides what to do. Providence Journal.

Not quite sure to make of this next piece of news, but the Housing Predictor, which does real estate market forecasts, did a survey (sample number unknown) about whether or not the government should, because of the current housing crisis, close down tent cities and more residents into housing. 58% say the government shouldn't do this, 42% say the government should.

What do people's answers really mean? And what odd phrasing! For example, I'd disagree that the government shut shut down tent cities and agree that the government should have housing available for homeless people. Of course most of the time the government does one but not the other.

Photo: Amanda Stratford, Florida Today.

Seeing homeless people is a downer at the Super Bowl

If you're homeless in Tampa Bay, make sure you don't loiter or trespass this week-- because nobody wants to think about homelessness during the Super Bowl.

Shannon Moriarty over at End Homelessness has a post about the homeless sweeps going on in Tampa Bay. Police deny it, but advocates say the homeless are being targeted.

Of course, this is nothing new. During last year's Olympics in Beijing, not only were homeless people hidden, the government actually created homeless people, displacing up to a million and a half. Vancouver, BC has been planning on how to deal with homeless people for its 2010 Summer Olympics. Unfortunately it's still more about hiding homeless people than housing them.

Anything big happening in your city, where the national spotlight will shine? Watch what happens.

Photo from United Way Tampa Bay

22 points of view: Homeless bloggers speak out

Once a year, at Christmastime, housed people give homeless people a little more thought-- and a little more charity-- than usual.

As appreciated as that charity is, the end of December and the beginning of the New Year is sometimes bitter and sometimes sweet for homeless people and their closest allies.

On or near the longest night of the year, cities and towns around the country commemorate the lives of homeless people who have died. The Nashville Homeless Power Project lost one of their own leaders this year so their memorial on Dec. 13 was especially poignant. The New Hampshire Under the Bridge Project has a list of people who have died in New Hampshire every year since 1994. This year's list has 36 names.

Many homeless groups are organizing and fighting back against community antipathy. In Sacramento CA, the People Project reports on a Deccmber 23rd march organized by the homeless themselves against discriminatory laws that make their lives miserable. Take Back the Land in Miami, FL is reveling in some good publicity about their movement, has been liberating public and foreclosed land and homes since 2006. The 13th Juror reports on a lawsuit filed in Laguna Beach CA charging the city with a campaign of harassment against homeless people. Ordinances prohibit homeless people from sleeping out anywhere within the city yet Laguna Beach only provides an overnight shelter between december and March. Save Feral Human Habitat is supporting an effort by the homeless and advocates to seek an extension to the city's planned January 23rd ordinance forbidding the city's homeless from sleeping out on the grounds they have nowhere else to go. Victoria BC,'s A Room of My Own is posting the minutes of organizing meetings to get a tent city established. But in the tradition of "One step forward, one step back," Chosen Fast lambasts Des Moines IO's destruction of wooden huts built by Hope Builders and the homeless themselves, because one of the huts was slightly damaged by fire.

Again, this time of year, homeless blogs pull their thoughts together to think about the policy-- and lack of policy-- that affects homelessness. Diane Nelin at Invisible Homeless Kids discusses a new report on the increase in child and youth homelessness. Wandering Vets has the 2nd part of an in-depth look at homeless veterans. SLO Homeless has a painful look at increasing family homelessness. The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty analyzes how Ontario's government "has led the way in the deterioration of income adequacy for people on assistance. "

Is passing out $13,000 in $10 bills to residents of LA's Skid Row doing people any good? Joel John Roberts at LA's Homeless Blog doesn't think so, and he explains why. Tim Harris at Apesma's Lament remarks on how policymakers just have to stay positive about the progress being made to end homelessness, even when they have to stretch the truth, and the Homeless Family's Blog isn't buying the line that homelessness is decreasing, either.

Last but not least, this is at least one time of the year when homeless people allow themselves to wax philosophical about the ending of the old and the beginning of the new. At The Adventures of Homeless Girl, the author thinks about the pursuit of happiness and what it takes to catch it. Kevin Barbieux at The Homeless Guy is not feeling too good about his life these days. Jamie's Big Voice from London has a poem to share, as does an anonymous author at Stone Soup Station. Ryan Garou at On Homelessness in America looks at an article about how to democratize powerwhile Homeless in Abbotsford BC explores the idea of generosity. Finally, the author of Homeless Man Speaks posts the plain words of his homeless friends and paints a picture with them.
Please take the time to learn something directly from homeless people by visiting these incredible blogs. Remember that thoughtful comments are always appreciated. It means somebody is listening.

Photos: Tony shoveling snow from Homeless Man Speaks; mourners from Nashville Homeless Power.

Court rules OK to feed hungry people

It may have taken more than a year for a decision, but The 13th Juror reported this week that according to the U.S. District Court, Orlando FL Division, sharing food with the hungry and homeless is a form of expression protected by the First Amendment.

The decision came about because of a lawsuit filed by Food Not Bombs and several other plaintiffs last September after groups were diened a permit by the City of Orlando to feed people in a public park.

To establish that their conduct is expressive and protected by the First Amendment, the members of Food Not Bombs had to prove that they are conveying a message that is likely to be understood by the public. The city tried to argue that their message – that society can and should provide food for all of its members, regardless of wealth – wasn’t likely to be understood. But Mayor Buddy Dyer testified that he believes that Food Not Bombs provides food to the homeless only to convey its political message – not necessarily to help the homeless. 13th Juror.

How sad that Mayor Dyer thought that people wouldn't understand the message that we all need to take care of each other. I know that much of selfishness comes from fear but it is not each other we need to be afraid of.

Homeless Cleveland man beaten to death by teens

Only 48 hours ago, down on his luck welder Anthony Waters still had hope-- that he could get out of the shelter, that, instead of working odd jobs at a beverage store, he might get a job in his trade.

But Wednesday evening, three teenagers guessed to be between 14 and 17 beat Mr. Waters so severely that he died at the hospital.

Portions of the attack were caught on surveillance tape and show cars slowing down to watch the attack; none of the drivers interfered. Mr. Waters managed to get himself into the parking lot of a towing company, where he was assisted by employees.

"It was just horrifying the way he looked," said Marlo Massey, Waters' sister, who saw her brother's body after the attack. "They beat him to death and I just can't stop thinking what was on his mind while it was happening." Associated Press.

The attackers have not yet been caught.

Meanwhile, in Tampa, Florida, two more members of the white racist organization Tampa Blood and Honour have been charged with the murders of two homeless men in 1998. The beating deaths were part of an initiation rite. Tampa Bay.

Winter shelters close, homeless encampments grow

"The Amherst, MA Survival Center is starting to get more calls as emergency shelters are closing. People need tents," the email began. "Do you have one hanging around that a homeless person can use until they get on their feet? Please... we only have 2 left and the phone is ringing off the hook!!!"

Thus begins the annual ritual of closing winter-only shelters, not only in Massachusetts but around the country. For the most part, homeless people won't be moving from the shelters to housing, although Springfield, MA's homeless coordinator says 7 of the 12 people in the overflow shelter do have housing waiting for them. Elsewhere in the state, Northampton's Cot Shelter will close on April 30. There are already 50 to 90 people sleeping out on the Cape, according to Cape Cod Today, in 40 or so small encampments.

In Plano, TX, many of the homeless people that had to be turned away by the Samaritan in this winter have been sleeping in their cars in the parking lot of the local library-- at least up until now. The City Council passed an ordinance on April 14 forbidding any parking in the lot between 11 am. and 5 pm. See if you buy this one: "Joyce Baumbach, the director of libraries, said the ordinance isn't just targeting homeless people. "Some of the neighbors do use the lot for extra parking or if they have company overnight," Baumbach said. "They will also not be allowed to park overnight anymore." NBC5 Dallas/Fort Worth.

Pinellas Hope shelter in St. Petersburg, FL has raised enough money to stay open through the summer, although on a greatly reduced basis-- 75 guests a night rather than the 250 it's housed over the last five months. Turlock, California's winter shelter closed at the end of March, but not quietly:: 150 homeless people and allies protested on the steps of City Hall. Earlier in March, "Vice Mayor Kurt Vander Weide, Councilmen Ted Howze and Kurt Spycher voted against extending the B Street shelter in downtown by 30 days, citing reasons of political ideology and the weather." (!!) Modesto Bee. When Springfield, Illinois closed its SOS shelter, also at the end of March, one option the homeless there used to have is now denied to them: camping on the library grounds. The city made it clear it's not going to be allowed this year.

Sleeping out isn't always very safe. Two homeless men burned to death in Olympia, WA when a canopy strung between two trees caught fire and fell on the men during the night.

Half of Madison, WI's homeless population of 3,400 is unsheltered and walking the streets, but they're not feeling very welcome these days. Two unsolved murders in two months.has put the community on edge and a lot of suspicion is focused on homeless people. Chicago Tribune.

As cities and towns and the people who live in them struggle economically, seems like there's not much left for the people who have theleast.

Wasted no more: Florida restaurants can give away food

We've all thought of this: why do restaurants have to throw out all their prepared food at the end of the day? Why can't they just give it away to shelters and meal programs? Then we answer our own question: because they don't want to get sued. (Guess food taken from dumpsters is lawsuit-proof because it was thrown away.)

These same thoughts went through the mind of 12 year old Jack Davis after eating out at a Tallahassee restaurant last year. His dad is a lawyer and they drafted a bill exempting restaurants and other eateries from any liability associated with their food. There's more at the Miami Herald.

Colleges also throw out a tremendous amount of good food from dining halls. Sounds like a good project for a campus student group. Tip from the 13th Juror.

By the way, the London Mail reports that families in the UK throw away about a third of the food they buy. I'm sure it's not different in the U.S. "Buy one, get two" sales take some of the blame-- the food goes bad before it can be eaten.

In order of importance: strawberries, fish, utilities, homeless

I was just reading an article in Tampa Bay Online about how the region was faring during its recent overnight freeze.

• Strawberries and other produce: first twenty paragraphs. Produce is fairing well except for the strawberries.
• Tropical fish: next five paragraphs. 95% are expected to survive
• Utility demand: next three paragraphs. No problems expected.
• Homeless: final three paragraphs. Blankets, mattresses, coffee and hot chocolate were passed out to the 230 residents at a local tent city.

I was doing research on tent cities when I found this article. A few weeks ago I set out to write a three part article on tent cities (now probably to be four parts)-- what they're like, why they're growing, and how they are a part of an international movement. I thought I'd have the second part last weekend but didn't, and spent much of this weekend doing more research. But soon.

Looks like residents of this city won't be going much of anywhere tomorrow: six to twelve inches of snow starting after midnight, heaviest during morning traffic hours. Well, I have plenty of work I can do from home if we really are temporarily snowed in.

During last week's thaw, I found myself forgetting that winter is not a third over yet-- seemed like spring was just around the corner.

Winter is the longest season for homeless people.

Brief News About Homelessness

A Charlotte, North Carolina woman takes in the homeless but the city wants to shut her down: The Charlotte Observer. The city of Fresno, CA has bought a lot to be used for a homeless encampment. BCS47.TV. A homeless Seattle man in a sleeping bag was killed by a brushcutter. NBC12.TV. Freemont CA is using its Project Connect to give homeless people voicemail. Maybe Springfield's Project Connect could do this? Grand Central.

St. Petersburg, FL cops cut up the tents of homeless people this week. Acting at the city's request, police cut about 25 tents down Friday afternoon.

"They came in in about four different vehicles, the police department did, and they immediately started cutting off the tops of the tents," a homeless man said. "They cut the tops off and left with them. They never said anything to us or anything." Anonymous 1%.

A fellow blogger also picked up on the amount of attention given to the mother and baby whales who'd gone astray and compared it to the media attention given to homeless people. Humanity for Homeless.

MEDIA: Thought-provoking photo essay in Time on what families around the world buy/grow and eat. Vegetables are abunant in some and lacking in others. Matt Silady has a new graphic novel, The Homeless Channel, about a producer's struggle with her conscience after she successfully launches a program of webcams of the homeless.

One Man Protest at Gainseville Tent City

Francis "Pat" Fitzpatrick sat in City Hall on Thursday and declared he was starting a sit-in.

Thinking aloud, he debated if he would chain himself to the front door.

Fitzpatrick, an outspoken local homeless advocate, said he decided to do the sit-in to prevent a raid on Tent City, a group of homeless people living in the forests near south Main Street. More at Alligator Online.

Meanwhile other homeless people among the 150 who live at the tent city took advantage of outreach services to try to get out of homelessness. Alligator Online.

Gainseville Tent City - guess who said this?

llenge for cities around our country has been to capture the [sense of] community and the camaraderie that often occurs in a tent city, that self-organizing principle that takes place. We need to ensure that we keep a good grip on ... the effectiveness of organizing that the homeless people themselves have done, but to then transfer that to housing that provides security they need."

It's Phil Mangano, executive director of the federal Interagency Office on Homelessness, and promoter of the Ten Year Plans to end homelessness that some 300 cities are now in various stages of designing and implementing. His statement is right on target with what I saw at Springfield's Sanctuary City. Thanks to the 13th Juror for finding this quote. Phil Mangano, in his trip to Springfield for our plan's kick-off, said we had one of the best plans he'd seen. Of course, I'll bet he says that to all the cities.

I talked to Gerry McCafferty today about the 100 vouchers (starting to take on a mythical nature, like the Hundred Blows or the Hundred Year War) that are supposed to make a serious dent in our homeless population and make the Warming Place shelter unnecessary.. Thirteen apartments will be ready to rent in July and another 30 are supposed to be ready between July and September. So we are way behind.

On the good side, Gerry says the city will now be looking for service providers willing to buy small buildings-- 6 to 8 units-- to provide both housing and services to the homeless folks who occupy them. The best thing about this is not the idea per se (great in theory, devil in the details) but that the city is willing to develop new strategies where older one haven't fit the bill.

Back to tent city-- The Gainseville Sun has done two excellent articles about why homeless people form tent cities, what they get out of it, their impact on the broader community and their future. Redjenny has a post about Edmunton, Alberta's homeless encampments. The photo is from her site.

Some Homeless News

Tasered Homeless Woman Dies: 35 years old, mentally ill, handcuffed. Houston Chronicle

Tent Cities: A dozen homeless people in Edmonton, Alberta stood up to the police and refused to move from their encampment.. Corus Radio

Meanwhile, the city's plans to disrupt a tent city of about 100 people in Gainseville, Florida were brought to a temporary halt when homelessness advocates protested. There are only about 350 beds available for homeless residents in Alachua County on any given night, out of an estimated 950 homeless people in the county. Offtopicz

Now that a federal judge in Fresno, CA has ruled it is unconstitutional for city police to destroy the belongings of homeless people that they roust from encampments, advocates and city officials have to figure out who will store the belongings and how the belongings can be reuinited with their owners. Redding.com

Camp Quixote residents have settled in for a stay at the United Church of Olympia, WA. Olympian Online