Solution to homelessness? Landscaping!

The following snip is an excerpt from an interview my local newspaper had with a leading figure in the community who is throwing piles of his own money toward the "Renaissance" of our decaying downtown area. He has funded the construction of a block-long performing arts center, where the philharmonic plays and where touring companies stage tired, old Broadway productions that everyone and his brother has seen a thousand times. He also lives in one of the luxury condos that are on top the the arts center; costs of those range from the six figures to upward of $1 million, I believe. This, in a town that is bleeding jobs because of the declining manufacturing base. This, in a town where the biggest obstacle to most homeless is finding safe, decent, and affordable housing.

Keep in mind as you read that the biggest roadblocks to solving the growing problem of homelessness here have been local government and local businesses, including one of the biggest hospitals (not the one mentioned here) in the area. It is through their decisions and directives that the part of town this man talks about has become the equivalent of the Warsaw Ghetto for the homeless.

The snippet:

>>And your sense is that the city government is inadequate to the task of solving this?

Absolutely. I'll give you another example. We're trying to entice businesses to come downtown. Every day when I drive to Kettering Hospital, I drive along Patterson Boulevard and I look at the homeless people. My heart goes out to them. I really feel for them, but what gets me is they're lying on the streets, they're lying against the building, they're in groups, and we don't even have proper screening, we don't have any trees or bushes which can shield these people from people driving downtown, because they get the wrong perception of what the city is really like. As you get closer and closer to downtown, the picture gets a little worse in my opinion.>>

And guess what, dude? IT'S ONLY GONNA GET WORSE. The nightly stats from the overnight shelter where I work (which is a block west of the area he mentions) are constantly at 130 men, 42 women, and 20 families (which brings about 50 parents and kids into the equation, and that is what we consider a GOOD night in the summer).

I was absolutely enraged that someone who has the means to actually do some good in this community is only looking out for himself and his money. Sorry the homeless are just so ugly and unpleasant to look at as you drive past for an evening of Bach and Beethoven. Life sucks. If you need confirmation, just ask that poor soul "lying on the street." And save the bullshit about your "heart breaking." You're just pissed because they're ruining your huge financial investment. At least be honest here.

:mad:

No, sir. The perception is 100% correct-- you have a heartless, cold city, and it shows.

And, you're being judged by that. Whether now or when you "meet your maker", you're being judged.

Yeah, I can tell you "really feel for them". Uh huh....

Thank you for trying to help people, Angry Old Dem! I'm one of those without a home, and it's so crazy, yet... even "liberals" don't get what it's about. I got told to go sleep in the stairwell of a college, in order to "go to school". Liberal? Geeeez!

Are you okay?

I'm over here in the 'Burg :hi:

It really is sad and I fear things will get worse here as the auto jobs go too.

Most developers are more concerned about tax benefits than solving social problems. But, what is the answer to lack of real housing? Mentally ill and addicted people are not capable of keeping a house or apartment. The prison industry enjoys the supply of clients or inmates. What can be done to even start solving this sad problem for a technically advanced society?

from where I sit.

1) Ronald Reagan did many of the mentally ill a great disservice by deinstitutionalizing many of them back in the 1980s, and making mental health care difficult for many to get by closing and consolidating many facilities in order to save money. We have to recognize that there are many mentally ill people who cannot function well by themselves, and need inpatient care. For this reason I will NEVER EVER consider Reagan to be a "good," let alone "great," president.

2) The organization that I am affiliated with runs two other programs in addition to the homeless shelter. One is a supportive housing effort that places people in apartments and homes for one year, where hopefully they will become stable financially and otherwise, so that they can move out and get a place of their own. This has been highly successful and I know many people who have transitioned from the shelter to supportive housing, to places of their own. It is most gratifying to see.

The second is a program wherein we try to identify the "chronically homeless" by using HUD's definition of being homeless "at least four times in the past three years." When we identify such people -- many of whom are also mentally ill or with addiction problems -- they are referred to our group home where they receive intensive help. This just started so I don't think we have any success/failure rates yet, but I think this may be a help to identify the reasons behind chronic homelessness.

We also have inpatient treatment centers around town, but as usual it takes awhile to get in those programs, but their track records are also very good.

Some of the people I see at the shelter are, sadly, society's "throwaways." There is no place else for them to go, other than the streets.

As an update to my original post (which I was surprised to see was still drawing breath here): We had a scare about a month or so back that the neighbors were going to try to get us shut down because of an obscure zoning law. The zoning commission ruled in our favor, though. We also got the okay to do additional expansion work on our building in order to house more families. We are still not exactly welcome in the neighborhood -- a recent local TV piece cast all homeless as criminals, for instance -- but we are there, like it or not. Much like the homeless people we serve.