National Coalition for Homeless Veterans
top
In May 2005 Kildee Herring (center) was presented with an award for Outstanding Personal Achievement at the Community Action of Laramie County Recognition Banquet.
He has turned his life around, and has gotten off the street, has his own apartment, quit drinking, and will soon undergo surgery
to correct damage to his right hand that occurred when he fell into a campfire. CrossRoads Clinic, the Health Care for the Homeless Clinic in Cheyenne has linked him up with the
necessary medical help. He has been a client of WCH for several years, and now is a volunteer and a good friend. It is good to see someone turn their life around and become a contributing
member of society.
top
Connie Miller, Cheyenne's Health Care for the Homeless Crossroads Clinic, Wins Award
NETWORK TO PRESENT AWARDS FOR MEMBERS' WORK, DEDICATION
On June 2, 2005, the Health cae for the Homeless Clinicians' Network
presented a Local Hero Award to Connie M. Miller, MSN, RN, FNP-C, CDE, BC-ADM.
Ms. Miller is the clinical director for the Cheyenne Crossroads Clinic, a
program of Community Action of Laramie County, Inc., in Cheyenne,
WY.
The Network developed the Local Hero Award in 1996 to recognize creative
and visionary work that positively affects the health and quality of life of
homeless people. Ms. Miller received the award during the 10th annual
Network membership meeting, which was held in Washington, D.C., in conjunction
with the 2005 National Health Care for the Homeless
Conference.
According to Paul W. Wright, BA, BSW, Cheyenne Crossroads Clinic Program
Director, Ms. Miller is an ideal role model for clinicians who serve homeless
people nationwide. He writes, "Connie Miller demonstrates a deep
understanding and respect for her patients, modeling the values of dignity,
integrity, service and compassion. She shows a respect and responsiveness to
her patients' needs nd values, ensuring that patient values guide clinical
decisions. Through her exemplary patient care, Connie embodies the spirit of
the mission to improve the mental and physical health of those who are
homeless."
Ms. Miller is one of five clinicians who received Local Hero Awards from
the Network in June. In addition, the organization presented its 2005 Award
for Outstanding Service to Marilyn Wegehaupt, MSN, RN, a shelter nurse with
the Visiting Nurse Association in Omaha,
Nebraska.
The HCH Clinicians' Network is an association that fosters professional
growth among a diverse membership comprised of almost 700 nurses, physicians,
social workers, nurse practitioners, outreach workers, case managers,
physician assistants, substance abuse counselors, mental health therapists,
dentists, pharmacists, psychologists and students. Dedicated to improving the
health and quality of life of homeless people, the Network provides peer
support, shares information and experience to enhance clinical practice,
promotes practice based research and collaborates with others working with
homeless
people.
top
Report on 6th Annual Walk In My Shoes
The 6th Annual Walk In My Shoes got off to a great start in spite of the cold and rainy weather. A few
walkers who had registered early did not show up, but quite a few new registrations arrived with rain coats,
and umbrellas and promptly at 9:00 the walkers made their way to Holliday Park. There was an area of the
park that was flooded, but they managed to go around that without losing a single walker!! This year was the
best ever and the Ghost Walkers far outnumbered the walkers. Arriving back at the WCH building the walkers were
treated to hot dogs, chips, pop, hot coffee and donuts.
DOOR PRIZES AND WINNERS:
Avon Mirror - Lara and Brian Schnick
Avon Mirror - Lynda Zerangue
Avon Mirror - Nurieh Glasgow
Baskin Robbins Gift Certificate - Tiny Burger
Double “T” Tee shirt - Johnny Davis
Double “T” T-shirt - Judy Pannator
CD by Earl Janack - Ilse Sorensen
CD by Earl Janack - Mickey Lucas
Poster by Earl Janack - Glenda Davis
KFC – 1 free dinner - Joyce Cochran
KFC – 2 free dinners - Denise and Zane Martin
Kum and Go Gift Certificate - Kevin Best
Madelyn Scents Candles - Brianna Best
CD by Michael Riversong - Judy Bair
CD by Michael Riversong - Sylvia Warsaw
Avon Gift Bag - Marge Creech
Millie Patzke, perm,Bess Arnold
Millie Patzke, Shampoo/set, Gigi Keihl
Papa Johns, 1 large Pizza - Ed Warsaw
Papa Johns, 1 large Pizza - Melanie Burger
Papa Johns, 1 large Pizza - Ron Cochran
Zen's, 2 free coffee drinks - Andrew Ming
Special thanks go to:
SPONSORS:
Beacon Hill Baptist Church
Clayton Northcutt Retreat Center
Climate Control
D & J Hearth & Home
Fisher T's
Holland and Hart
James and VIcki Medina, State Farm Insurance
Jim Ward - Equality Realty
Knights of Columbus
Murray Properties
NEWCO
Sierra Springs Water
Theresa Ward - State Farm Insurance
Timberline Insurance
Trader's Publishing
Yeoman Electronics
MUSIC:
Slow Trucks Turning
Michael Riversong
FOOD:
Mitchell's Bar-B-Que
Pioneer Safeway
The Chandlers
SECURITY:
Shy Wy Amateur Radio Club
VOLUNTEERS:
Glenn Martin
Kathryn Flandera
Betty Ann and Woody Absher
Kildee Herring
Richard McCullough
Dave Morea
Steve Eixenberger
Jose Castro
Shea Lucas
top
More than just 'Band-Aids'
Ambitious plan would address root causes of decades-old problem
Stuart Steers
Rocky Mountain News
Homelessness, a festering problem in Denver for more than 20 years, can be eradicated here within a decade, say backers of an aggressive plan Mayor John Hickenlooper embraces.
The heart of the plan is a proposal to build 3,000 units of affordable housing and provide services for the mentally ill and addicted. The cost could be as much as $30 million per year.
Hickenlooper said Denver already is spending tens of millions on the homeless, with little to show for it.
"We're wasting so many resources in applying Band-Aids instead of addressing the root causes," he said. "Someone who's sleeping under a bridge is less likely to get a cold and more likely to get pneumonia. We put them in the hospital for $800 a day when for $1,400 a month, we could put them in an efficiency apartment with wraparound care."
For the past 18 months, the Denver Commission to End Homelessness has been working on the plan that will be officially presented to the mayor Monday.
One idea being discussed is asking metro voters to extend the 0.1 percent sales tax that funded Invesco Field at Mile High to pay for affordable programs for housing for the homeless.
Hickenlooper said it's "premature" to talk about a tax vote but emphasized that homelessness isn't a concern for Denver alone.
"There's a recognition this is no longer just a center city issue," Hickenlooper said. "The mayors in the suburbs recognize homelessness is an issue in their communities."
The tragedy of homelessness unfolds every day at 10 a.m. at Samaritan House, the largest shelter in Denver.
One recent morning, a dozen parents showed up, all of them putting their names in the lottery that the downtown shelter holds for space in its family area. Several brought their children, including a 2-year-old girl and a 4-week-old baby. Only one room opens up daily, and there are always more families in need than rooms available.
That is why Monique Strous, 36, and seven months pregnant with twins, is sitting on a plastic chair with her hands folded over her belly. She comes every morning, trying to get a room.
"I've been here several times trying to get in," she said. "There's usually eight to 10 families when I come here."
Strous has been staying with her 6-year-old son at a small shelter in Englewood. Some parents are staying at motels on East Colfax Avenue, which is where Denver sends families that have no other place to go.
'Crisis is grave here'
In a way, the parents are lucky. If they don't get a shelter room, they'll at least get a voucher for a place at a motel. A similar daily lottery is held for single women and single men, but if they don't win a bed, they may have to sleep outside.
"The homeless crisis is grave here," said the Rev. John Lager, a Catholic priest and director of Samaritan House. "People are camping out on the street."
The city that Denver officials chose as a model for dealing with homelessness is Philadelphia. That city once had almost 900 people camped out downtown but has managed to get almost all of them into housing. Philadelphia built housing and provides extensive mental health and substance abuse treatment at a cost to the city of $17 million a year.
"They've definitely been the leader in addressing the issue," said Hickenlooper, who visited Philadelphia in October.
Denver's homeless population is roughly half the size of Philadelphia's. Several key players in Philadelphia's success story came to Denver last fall and were shocked by the lack of services - especially for families in crisis.
"Our jaws dropped," said Ed Speedling, who coordinates homeless outreach in Philadelphia. "You have a lot more youngsters on the street there. We wouldn't tolerate a child on the street."
This month, a survey of the homeless in Denver found that there are 10,268 people without homes in the metro area - an increase of 18 percent over last year - and half of them are families with children.
Most of those people, however, are staying somewhere, either doubled up with friends or family or living in shelters or motels. While there are instances of children living with their parents in cars or makeshift shelters, there have been no reports of children wandering the streets alone.
The study estimated that about 1,000 people are actually living outdoors in Denver at any given time. Many of those are the chronically homeless, people who have been on the street for years and often have severe mental illness or addictions.
This is the group that most alarms the public by panhandling or behaving oddly, and they tend to congregate downtown, where their presence troubles the business community.
"There's been a marked increase in the perception downtown is unsafe, and that's related to panhandling," said John Desmond of the Downtown Denver Partnership. "There's a growing perception of a homeless problem. It has a major impact on how people perceive downtown, even though the crime rate is low."
The partnership, as well as the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, have been active on the homelessness commission. The partnership is funding a full-time outreach worker and case worker to assist the homeless on the 16th Street Mall. It also has 13 full-time "ambassadors" who walk the mall and discourage aggressive panhandling.
A recent survey of convention bureau members found that 87 percent thought panhandling was a problem and that 57 percent believe it has a negative impact on their business.
Heavy financial burden
Denver's homeless have been visible downtown since the 1980s, when several factors came together and sent people onto the streets. A real estate boom eliminated dozens of "single room occupant" hotels that once catered to the poor. At the same time, under former President Reagan, funding for public housing was slashed, and de-institutionalizing became a buzzword for Colorado and other states that discharged hundreds of mentally ill patients from state hospitals.
"We created a perfect storm," said Roxane White, manager of the Denver Department of Human Services and chairwoman of the homelessness commission.
The financial burden of dealing with the homeless has been dropped in the laps of cities such as Denver. The city's public health agency, Denver Health, spends more than $48 million per year treating the homeless, who cycle in and out of the emergency room, outpatient clinics and psychiatric ward.
The 1,074 homeless patients who required hospitalization last year cost Denver Health $32.1 million. On an outpatient basis, 6,388 homeless people were seen, many of them making multiple visits and costing Denver Health $16.3 million.
"It's difficult for someone to maintain their health while they're on the street," said Linda Lenander, director of clinical social work for Denver Health. "They're exposed to the elements and poor nutrition. You can't maintain good hygiene. If you have a wound, the chances of infection are great."
Many of the homeless people Denver Health sees have chronic mental illness.
"They may or may not be in treatment," Lenander said. "It's hard for them to live without the support that comes from mental health centers and case management."
Lenander has worked at Denver Health for 26 years and said the number of homeless coming for treatment has risen significantly.
"The number of families with kids has increased," she said. "It's not just the homeless guy on the corner flying a sign."
Many of the chronically homeless are arrested repeatedly, usually for minor violations such as panhandling or urinating in public. The sheriff's department doesn't track how many homeless or mentally ill people are in jail but said there is a substantial number. Arresting and jailing someone costs the city $174 a day.
Denver Fire Department crews make about a dozen trips a day responding to medical emergencies involving the homeless.
"In downtown, a considerable amount of our runs are providing medical care to indigents," Division Chief Juan Gutierrez said.
Keeping someone in a shelter is also expensive. The average daily cost of a shelter stay is $25. For those with mental health problems, providing treatment while they're in the shelter can cost more than $1,500 per month.
"Right now, we're spending at least $72 million a year (in Denver) on homelessness," White said. "The costs for health care won't come down until we get people in housing."
To begin building permanent housing for the homeless and providing them with mental health and substance abuse treatment, White said Denver will have to come up with several million a year.
"It's not cheap; it's an investment," she said. "I think we can do what Philadelphia did. We're at the tipping point."
She said a program such as Philadelphia's would cost $30 million annually, with much of that coming from federal matching funds. White says that the city would need to kick in about $7.7 million per year to launch the effort. She says as much as half of that can be raised from foundations and other private sources, but the city would have to commit tax dollars for the remainder during tight times.
Such an ambitious program requires a dedicated source of funding, hence the attraction of extending the metro area's stadium tax.
Affordable housing has become a big issue in most metro cities.
Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer said the tax extension idea was "interesting" but that city officials would want to know more about how the plan would work before endorsing it.
"We're trying to find ways to support affordable housing in tough economic times," Tauer said. "I think you'll see more cities discussing this as the (stadium tax) proposal moves forward."
Hickenlooper said it is too early to talk about a possible election but concedes that ending homelessness will require a substantial financial commitment.
"It's reasonable to expect funding will come from a variety of sources and represent a broad collaboration of local governments and the nonprofit sector," he said. "What voters have shown is that if you can deliver a product that does what it says it will do, they'll support it. What voters don't want to do is throw money at a problem with no results."
Hickenlooper said he is awaiting the completion this fall of a comprehensive report on affordable housing in the city before making a commitment to go to the voters.
"You have to define the problem and figure out how to solve it and see what it costs," said Hickenlooper, whose victory at the polls to build a new justice center is still fresh.
Daily heartache
Under prodding from the homelessness commission, several efforts already have been made. The number of outreach workers has been doubled to eight; a municipal court to hear cases involving the homeless is being created; the St. Francis Center opened an all-night coffeehouse; the Denver Rescue Mission added 100 beds; a 30-person shelter for homeless families opened at Fort Logan; 5,000 voice mailboxes were made available to homeless people looking for work; and a database to track all of Denver's homeless is being developed.
None of that is much comfort, however, to losers of Samaritan House's daily lottery for a family room.
It isn't Monique Strous' lucky day. She has taken four bus lines to attend the lottery and looks exhausted and sad when the one available room is won by Terry White, 35, and Patrice Vassel, 34. The couple have a 4-week-old son, Terry Jr., who is nestled in Vassel's arms wearing a tiny knit cap.
"I was praying for the pregnant lady to win the lottery," said Vassel, nodding toward Strous.
Vassel and White said they have been homeless for several months after getting into an argument with family members they were staying with. Recently, they've been living at a motel on Colfax.
"With a newborn, you can't stay outside," Vassel said. "It's not fun being homeless. A lot of times even your own family won't give you a leg up."
The couple hope the training programs offered through Samaritan House will help them get jobs and a place to live.
"We're sick and tired of being sick and tired," White said.
For the Rev. Lager, the daily lottery is a constant heartache. He vividly remembers the day he saw a mother and her 6-year-old daughter walking down the street towing suitcases, the girl in tears and struggling to keep up.
"You hear the kids saying, 'So where do we go now since we didn't get in?" he said.
A class at the shelter teaches children how to deal with anger.
"Some of these kids have lived in the alley or in a car," he said. "It's just not good for children to be in this situation."
top
A Day on the City’s Streets
Jim Sheeler
Rocky Mountain News
In the early morning mist after another cold night, Ed Valerio spoke to a dirty red sleeping bag, hoping to hear it talk back.
"Gloria, is that you?" the 60-year- old Denver police officer asked.
"Mmmmph," came a voice from the bag as it began to move.
In the past several years, Valerio has started each shift this way, with people whose names he knows by the color of their covers. If a sleeping bag doesn't respond, he knows he'll be headed to another funeral.
"You OK, Gloria?" Valerio asked.
Under the bridge near the South Platte River path, a dazed woman emerged from the bag, wiping her eyes, checking her watch.
"Mmmm OK," she mumbled, still wiping her eyes.
On this day, Valerio's visits began a typical morning for Denver's homeless and the people who care for them. Few of them knew that a few miles away, a group of advocates for the homeless was about to begin its annual meeting to discuss ways to help. Nearby, officials in government buildings prepared to complete a plan that they hope will end homelessness.
Meanwhile, on the street, the people who live there started their day the same as any other - trying to stay warm and dry, expecting a wake-up call from "Officer Ed."
Valerio's shift started in the dark around 6 a.m. as he pedaled his mountain bike downtown, stopping in dark alleys, shining his flashlight into urban caves that few others know about, hoping all the sleeping bags woke up.
For his first 25 years as a police officer, the Denver native patrolled the streets in a squad car. For the past four years, he's pedaled a mountain bike for 30 miles a day through snow and sleet and sweat, realizing what he missed from the patrol car.
"Now I'm out here. Now I know how cold they are. Now I know who they are," he said through the drizzle as he locked his bike with a pair of handcuffs. "You look at it completely differently."
He said he's seen homeless people after they've been pelted with eggs or rocks from people coming out of the bars. There's a guy in a high-rise apartment building who periodically dumps buckets of water on people camping on the street below, he said.
"Even in winter, when it's freezing outside, he'll do it," Valerio said, looking up at the building. "I'm going to get that guy someday. I'm going to get that guy."
As a cop, he treads a fine line of trust. He's arrested plenty of the people he checks on every day, but he said it's always a last resort. He said he knows them better than they think.
"I grew up in the Lincoln Park projects, so I know what hard times are," he said. "My mother had to take care of seven of us. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for these people."
Along the South Platte path, he pedaled past an old refrigerator box taped with notes for its resident, like people tape notes to their kitchen refrigerators.
"You think, 'That could be me.' You lose your job, you get hurt, you can lose everything. It happens so quickly, and it can happen to anybody," Valerio said. "And if it was, I would just hope that someone would show me a little bit of kindness."
He rode on for another mile, then stopped near a man sleeping on a pile of rocks - a man who refuses to talk to anyone - and spoke quietly.
"That guy, I've heard stories about him. I don't know if they're true, but I've heard the stories," Valerio said.
"They say he used to be a police officer."
The new guy
Just off the 16th Street Mall, the new kid was still learning from the man nearly twice his age - learning to search for the key to get inside the people on the street.
"They let you know," said Bernie O'Connell, 47, as he scanned the lunch crowd of homeless people, searching for the next one to approach. Alongside him was Evan Raymor, 25, his second day on the job as a homeless outreach worker.
"You look out at their eyes," O'Connell said, "and they let you know."
Inside his pack, O'Connell keeps a portable aid office crammed with information about all the homeless shelters as well as information on obtaining identification, addiction recovery programs and a slew of other solutions to constant questions. As an outreach worker for the St. Francis Center, he's scoured the mall for the past 17 months, guiding people off the streets.
The outreach efforts - using the carrot instead of the stick on homeless people and panhandlers - have succeeded enough to hire three more outreach workers, funded in part by the city and the Downtown Denver Partnership.
During his second day on the job, the newest outreach worker said he already was overwhelmed.
"I've realized how little I knew about homelessness. I didn't know the reasons. I didn't know the resources," he said. "So many of these people just want someone to listen."
Inside the Trinity Methodist Church during a free lunch, a man walked in with several bandages on his forehead and face after being mugged the night before for $12. Arthur Paul Esquibel said the lunch line is one line he never believed he would find himself in.
"I worked all my life," the 54-year- old said. "I probably could go to work if I had the education, but I come from the old school, when we went to work at 16 years old. I'm a laborer. Now it's hard to find a job when you're an old, uneducated Mexican."
His eyes welled.
"I'm never this weak," he said, shaking off the tears. "I don't know, it must be from these bumps on my head. I'm never this weak."
As they filed in for lunch, 75-year-old Josie Collins also worked the line, handing out inspirational sayings she had printed up herself and placed in decorative Easter baskets. Most were biblical quotations, but only the ones she said made sense.
"You know how sayings from the Bible are so confusing? These are written so I can understand them," she said. "They're translated."
On his second day of work, she offered the new kid his next lesson.
"Do Not Judge Me Too Soon," the saying read.
"God Is Not Finished With Me Yet."
Winning the lottery
As the sun dipped toward the mountains, Toni Al-Hendi sat in her room at Samaritan House, thinking of the day she won the lottery.
"I cried when I won the lotto," she said. "Until then, we had been staying in motels; then I came here one day, and they chose me."
Winning the lottery at the Samaritan House means being able to stay temporarily in one of the 21 family rooms - rooms that are so sought after that administrators have to choose new families at random when a room becomes available.
With seven children, Al-Hendi and her husband needed all the room they could get.
The family of nine ended up in a room half the size of many hotel rooms, where the children - ages 4 to 15 - share mattresses. Then they head off to school, telling nobody where they live.
The couple owned a house until her husband was hurt and couldn't work, Al-Hendi said. Now that he's healed and working as a cook - double shifts, six days a week - they're still trying to catch up. Through the programs at Samaritan House, they hope to have saved enough money for their own place soon.
On a small bulletin board are Al-Hendi's Mother's Day gifts from her children: hand-drawn paper flowers folded in a doily, and a homemade card, scrawled in crayon. On the other side of the room is the window, where each night the family looks out on people - the ones who didn't win the lottery - sleeping on the streets.
"At least we have something," Al-Hendi said, then looked over at her kids.
"I teach them, 'Never forget where you come from,' " she said. "One day we'll move on, but one day they'll look back at these people and say, 'I've been there. And I'll never forget.' "
top
Generosity Saves Homeless Shelter
By KOMO Staff & News Services
SEATTLE - A run-down shelter for homeless men in downtown Seattle that was damaged in the Nisqually earthquake has been saved.
After the earthquake in 2001, administrators didn't know if the Compass Center would ever reopen.
Now, thanks to $16 million in grants and contributions over the past three years, it's expanding.
Center director Rick Friedhoff calls it a "small miracle."
The five-story brick building by the Alaskan Way Viaduct has stood as a haven for the homeless since 1941.
But the 6.8-magnitude earthquake cracked its west side and sunk a stairway. The center closed. Its residents were shipped to other shelters, and the city also set up temporary beds at Seattle Center.
But then the money came pouring in. The Federal Emergency Management Agency gave $1.6 million, and the city of Seattle gave $2 million. The Compass Center also received numerous city, county, state and federal grants.
About a dozen other foundations contributed. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave $800,000 and the Paul G. Allen Foundation kicked in $500,000. The shelter also received more than $1 million in individual donations.
top
Study: Homeless Shelters Inadequate
Area failing to cope with growing problem
By Christina L. Esparza
SGVN Staff Writer
BALDWIN PARK -- The San Gabriel Valley is the worst-equipped region in the county to deal with homelessness, according to a study discussed by the Office of Education.
Of eight service planning areas, the Valley ranks third in total number of homeless, but last in terms of emergency shelters, according to the study highlighted at a conference at the Courtyard Marriott in Baldwin Park. With 29,000 homeless, the region -- which stretches from Pasadena to Pomona -- is equipped with only 216 shelter beds.
In contrast, West Los Angeles, which has the fewest homeless at 5,000, has 1,188 shelter beds.
"The only thing people want less than a homeless facility is a toxic-waste facility," said Mitchell Netburn, executive director for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.
Also, an alarming number of those homeless are children, Netburn said.
"Many of the resources have gone to single people," Netburn said. "One of the trends include homeless families. ... It's become way too common."
Thirty-nine percent of the homeless in the Valley are children 17 or younger, according to the study.
Jan Cicco, chairwoman of the East San Gabriel Valley Coalition for the Homeless, said the study may not include bed counts for shelters that are tailored for a specific sect of homeless, such as those leaving a domestic violence situation.
The Coalition, she said, is very active in dealing with the homeless issue, and is in the process of bringing an emergency shelter to the East San Gabriel Valley.
The Coalition brings together nonprofit agencies and city officials to find ways to eradicate the problem. However, one of its biggest problems is getting cities to get over the "not in my backyard" mentality.
"There are people who get frustrated with the homeless issue," Cicco said. "I would just like people to recognize this could be dealt with; it is solvable. If we can send a man to the moon, we could overcome this homeless problem. It's worth the effort. It's worth the time."
Paul Philips, city manager for Covina -- which expects soon to receive a grant for its first transitional-housing unit -- said the Valley has been virtually overlooked by county officials with regard to homeless issues.
The Valley "has been under-funded for quite a long time," Philips said.
Shirley Abrams, the homeless consultant for the Los Angeles County Office of Education, said the Valley's biggest problem is the fact there are a lot of cities and its officials don't band together to address homelessness.
Also, most officials in most cities in the region tend to shuttle homeless outside the area.
"They don't address the problem in their own area," Abrams said. "They're referring (people) to some place else."
The only full-time shelters in the San Gabriel Valley are in Pasadena and Pomona.
However, the Coalition for the Homeless is looking to remedy that, Philips said.
Many advocates said the biggest challenge facing homeless families in the region are transportation, motel-living and racism.
Gil Nelson with the Union Station Foundation in Pasadena --the largest food and shelter provider for the homeless in the San Gabriel Valley -- said he has run into many property owners who won't rent to someone with a thick accent because they fear they won't be good tenants.
top
Don't Put Homeless Shelter Here, Hemet Says
HEMET: A county supervisor clashes with city officials over the site of the facility.
By HERBERT ATIENZA
The Press-Enterprise
HEMET - Selecting a site for a new homeless shelter that would serve a large swath of Riverside County just became more complicated.
A regional homeless shelter serving the county's 3rd District should not be located in the San Jacinto Valley, according to a resolution approved unanimously by the Hemet City Council on Tuesday.
Representatives from other area cities agree the shelter is a good idea, but they don't want to say where it should be located.
Supervisor Jeff Stone, who is proposing the creation of the shelter, described the city's resolution as "political" and as pre-empting the work of a regional panel that he hopes would determine a feasible location for the shelter.
Hemet city leaders say they plan to participate in Stone's homelessness initiative, but they also want to firmly state the city's position.
"By passing this resolution, we're saying that we just don't want it in the San Jacinto Valley," Hemet Mayor Roger Meadows said.
He said there are fears among city leaders and community members that the proposed shelter could end up serving an area bigger than the 3rd District, becoming a magnet for homeless people.
"If the county falls into hard times and decide they don't want to build a shelter for each district, there's a fear that this shelter could become the regional facility for the entire county," he said.
Stone said the city's concerns were unfounded.
"I think what you saw was a political decision. There's been a lot of political pressure on the city of Hemet on the homeless issue," he said.
Hemet officials have long complained of the city being the dumping ground for homeless people from throughout the county; it is home to Valley Restart, a nonprofit homeless shelter that is the only shelter in the district.
Stone has proposed building a $5 million homeless shelter to serve the cities and unincorporated areas in his district. Plans call for the proposed county-owned shelter to be run by operators of Valley Restart, with the Hemet shelter being shut down and the property sold.
Stone said a "joint-powers committee," made up of representatives from the cities of Hemet, San Jacinto, Temecula, Murrieta and Canyon Lake, would determine a centrally located site for the proposed shelter.
"It's my goal to make the decision as unanimous as possible," Stone said. "Obviously it's not going to be a popular decision. ... There's going to be some opposition no matter where we put it."
Officials in other district cities say they respect Hemet's decision. They said they're willing to discuss potential locations, but they fall short of saying they would welcome a shelter in their own communities.
At present, none are considering a similar resolution.
"I don't fault Hemet taking a position ... but I think more important is getting together at the table to discuss the problem," said San Jacinto Mayor Chris Buydos. San Jacinto, she said, has "very little homelessness."
She said a regional shelter would ideally be located closer to the Interstate 215 corridor, where there's better access to transportation, jobs and health care.
"I'm somewhere in the middle," Murrieta Mayor Warnie Enochs said. "I don't want to throw (the homeless out), but I don't want (a shelter) in the middle of town."
He said the high cost of property in Murrieta might not make it feasible to locate a shelter there.
Temecula Mayor Jeff Comerchero said he's open to "any proposal that makes sense" but doubts his city would be a good candidate for a regional shelter because it's "the last place that could be considered central."
www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/05/26/squatters_in_suburbia?pg=full
Squatters in Suburbia
Slayings spotlight the rise in people living on the edge in area towns
By Carolyn Y. Johnson
Globe Staff
HINGHAM -- The slayings of David Lyon and William Chrapan -- whose bodies
were found early this month in an old World War I bunker just outside Bare
Cove Park -- cast a grim spotlight on the little-known plight of the
suburban homeless.
Contrary to the stereotype of the homeless as urban street dwellers, shelter
census counts indicate there are 100 people in communities south of Boston
who avoid the shelters and the cities, braving record low temperatures or
blistering sunburn while they squat behind strip malls, on beaches, or in
parks in towns such as Weymouth, Scituate, Hull, Marshfield, and Whitman.
''People say, 'Oh, no, not in Hingham,' but there are people struggling
everywhere," said Hope Wilson, a nurse at Father Bill's Place in Quincy.
Twice a week, she straps on a bright orange backpack filled with medical
supplies and drives through area towns in her yellow SUV, scouting for
homeless people who might need medical care.
Suburban homelessness in Massachusetts is a relatively new development. It
did not exist, at least not in any definable way, as recently as 1980, says
John Yazwinski, executive director of Father Bill's Place. But that changed
as state hospitals closed, and other state-sponsored social services were
cut back. Over the past three years, the state has cut half of its 900 beds
in alcohol- or drug-addiction treatment centers.
While these local squatters lead rough lives, they also have distinctly
suburban qualities. They don't like a long commute, so people often camp
just far enough off footpaths or parking lots to have a little privacy, but
still be near commercial areas.
And they find great views. ''It's waterfront property for free," said Wilson
as she hiked through Great Esker Park, an open space area on the edge of the
Back River in Weymouth, with camps holding about 20 people on a recent
visit. ''I'd build a house here."
She finds homeless people everywhere: in the field behind the Brookdale
River Bay Club in Quincy, in Great Esker Park or behind the CVS in Weymouth,
and in Hingham's Wompatuck State Park and Bare Cove Park.
''A lot of towns reported no homeless" in a recent survey, said Dennis
Carman, executive director of the MainSpring Coalition for the Homeless in
Brockton, ''but we're skeptical. We think they're either being undetected by
the police departments, or towns don't want to acknowledge they have a
homeless population."
Many homeless stay near the neighborhoods where they grew up, like Weymouth
natives Lyon and Chrapan, said Wilson.
As she walked through Chrapan's emptied bunker last week, with a solitary
bouquet propped in the corner, she recalled his meticulous habits. He folded
his clothes just so, lined up his shoes, and carefully laid a pile of
blankets on top of the cold, concrete floor for a bed. One bunker down, the
remnants of Lyon's mess were still everywhere -- his pasta, his sneakers,
the Walkman he always kept near, even the comb he kept in his back pocket to
untangle the beard that reached down to his waist.
As with all her patients living in the wild, Wilson was constantly trying to
coax the men into the shelter with offers of a hot meal, a shower, and a
doctor's appointment; or bringing them food, bug spray, or blankets. It is a
long process of building trust over the years, and the outreach budget grows
smaller every year. She remembered how upset Chrapan got when she demanded
that he get rabies shots after a skunk waddled into his bunker and bit him
one night. She recalled the moment that Lyon reluctantly agreed to stay at
Father Bill's for the winter after she helped treat his frostbitten hands.
'' 'I'll stay in,' he says, and then he goes out and gets killed."
Last week, police sealed the bunkers where Lyon and Chrapan were living, but
the problem is much bigger than the two men -- as evidenced by Wilson's
regular trek through suburbia, leaving her card at numerous active campsites
across the South Shore.
Her rounds one recent day took her from the dead men's bunker across the
river, to a campsite in Weymouth's Great Esker Park where she'd recently
seen a couple. She found a mess. Their campsite had been raided, with the
woman's high-heeled shoes scattered around, sopping clothing draped over
tree branches, personal items -- razor, a salt shaker, a floral throw
pillow -- tossed in the leaves. She imagined the couple coming back to see
their campsite destroyed, and feeling distraught. ''It's like their home was
broken into," she said.
Like with any homeless population, some stay away from support services out
of fear, shame, or because they disagree with the rules.
But most often, they are people with severe mental illnesses or substance
abuse problems who feel too anxious to sleep in a room with 90 other people,
or need more care than the current warehouse-style shelter has to offer. For
privacy reasons, staff at Father Bill's Place -- where Lyon, 46, and
Chrapan, 44, both occasionally stayed -- could not comment on the men
directly, but said they most likely fell within that category.
''Because of the lack of residential and treatment programs to assist these
people, they're falling through the cracks," said Yazwinski. ''The idea they
would try to stay outside while it's zero below, or stay outside without
amenities and bathroom and nutrition and companionship, means they're really
struggling."
top
Why are People Homeless?
James Baetke
Colorado State CollegianUnlike the stereotypical images of homeless, those in Larimer County,
including Fort Collins, actually includes men and women of all ages and
children.
People who live on the streets are in that situation for various reasons,
local officials said, including mental illness, alcohol and drug addiction
and job loss.
"I am really shocked at how many families are homeless, and it is
accelerating," said Kathy Snell, director of the Larimer County Health and
Human Services Department.
The number of homeless people in the United States, according to the 2000
Census, is approximately 1 percent of the population. Exact statistics for
Larimer County were unavailable but officials' estimate of homeless is more
than 2,000. They estimate the number of homeless children at several
hundred. In fact, school officials stop at shelters throughout the county to
pick up students for school.
Communities across the nation, including Larimer County, struggle with how
to adequately address the issue of homelessness. Snell said the county gives
funds to several organizations that help the homeless, including the
Salvation Army. In addition, the county also owns a piece of land that some
officials would like to see become a new homeless facility.
While officials deal with finding more funding for the homeless, the
Salvation Army, 3901 Mason St., is helping people every day.
Ruth, a former homeless woman with thinning salt-and-pepper hair and a
wrinkle-creased face, is a frequent visitor to the Salvation Army center in
south Fort Collins. At the day center Ruth interacts with people to whom she
can relate. Although no longer living on the street, she still maintains
relationships with people who go to the center for help.
Ruth, like numerous homeless people interviewed, would not give her last
name, but she told the detailed story of how she became homeless after
moving to Colorado from Florida last year. After 10 years of sobriety she
began to drink again. One evening in March 2004 she got drunk and almost
died when an oxygen tank inside the trailer she was living in blew up and
engulfed her trailer in flames.
Instantly Ruth and her dog, Blue, were homeless.
The Red Cross put her in a motel for three days, but then Ruth was left to
find shelter on her own, she said. A self-proclaimed pianist, published poet
and mental health speaker, Ruth has now found a home.
Trish McBroom, an associate with Salvation Army's day center, said addiction
is a very common part of why people become homeless. Once an addict herself,
McBroom "knows both sides." McBroom knows what it is like to face hard times
and wants to help those who are homeless now.
"Everyone is addicted here. It is a never-ending story," McBroom said.
Dave Eliason, a Salvation Army volunteer, said that while some people stop
being homeless, others do not. People with a strong work ethics impress
Eliason.
"The success stories keep me coming back," Eliason said.
Northeast of the Salvation Army center is the Fort Collins Public Library,
201 Peterson St., where homeless people often hang out in the shade.
On a recent day, several men who said they are homeless were dressed in
clean clothes. One man talked on his cell phone while wearing a watch and
black sunglasses. Another man had unshaven beard patches on his face, and
unseasonably warm clothing layered his body.
The men said that not enough is being done to curb homelessness. They
complained that one local shelter is too strict and demands a small cash
payment of about $5 to spend the night. Some of the guys have been homeless
for years, some for only weeks, but they all do not want to live the lives
homeless people.
Jobs are scarce in the city, they said. They get through their daily routine
by supporting each other - they said it is like a community within a
community. Police are usually respectful of them, but some are not as nice.
Drugs are everywhere, they said, and many people on the streets suffer from
some physical or mental disability.
Snell said Larimer County recognizes homelessness in the city, but local
government officials disagree on the severity of homelessness and how to
decrease the rate of it.
"It is very fair to say we are not keeping up with up with the problem,"
Snell said.
top
Homeless Gravitate Toward Public Buildings
By Sarah Arnquist
Daily Republic
FAIRFIELD - They read at the library, drink coffee at the senior center and on hot days they seek air-conditioned relief at the mall just like everybody else.
Except they are homeless.
Public facilities such as libraries have always been "safe and neutral" places for the homeless to go, said Ann Cousineau, director of Solano County Libraries.
"It's kind of the nature of working in a public building," she said.
In the last few years some public building directors have noticed an increase in homeless people using their facilities.
The Continuum of Care - a Solano County task force designated to house the homeless - estimates that between 4,800 and 5,000 people are homeless on any given night in Solano County, and 12,000 people experience a period of homelessness each year.
Fairfield used to have a day shelter for the homeless on West Texas Street where the Park Crossing Apartment complex is now located. People lounged all day at the shelter, and it created problems with surrounding businesses until it closed in October 2001.
The Homeless Day Center provided basic services that included showers, mail, telephone, transportation, case management and shelter during the day.
Mission Solano, the county's largest homeless shelter located in Fairfield, works closely with public offices to provide services to the homeless, but it does not offer a day shelter, said spokesman Kevin Miller.
The Mission provides a bed, breakfast, dinner and a sack lunch but not a place to lounge for the day, because "if you're jobless and homeless, your task is really to look for a job and a home," Miller said.
Those not inclined to search for a job spend their days in public parks and buildings.
The Fairfield Senior Center is a public building where many homeless seek refuge. Facility Director Ted Stine said more homeless people are using the facility now than a few years ago. Six months ago some people were living around the center, but that has ended and for the most part there are no problems, Stine said.
John Young, 74, spends most of his days playing pool and socializing at the senior center. Young raised his concerns at the last Senior Advocacy Committee meeting that more homeless people are using the facility. Committee president JoAnn Fenton reminded him that the senior center is open to all, including the homeless.
"This is a public building and if they are seniors they are to have access to this building, but they are to abide by the same rules," Fenton said.
Young said he paid taxes all his adult life and also pays for many of the services at the senior center. It irks him to see homeless people abusing services at the senior center, he said. For the most part, Young said, though, they do not create many problems.
The community should understand that homeless people do read, and there are homeless seniors, Miller said. As long as they do not bother people, they have the right to access those community services available to them, he said.
"You kind of have an issue of people's personal comfort zones," Miller said. "If it is a loitering problem then you have a police issue."
Mission Solano wants the community to send people who need services to the shelter, Miller said. Mission Solano has a full mail service and a phone available to the homeless for outgoing calls and takes incoming calls as messages.
Libraries are open to the whole community - for those with and without homes, Cousineau said. On any given day, four to five homeless people might be in the Fairfield library, and as long as they abide by the same rules that apply to the general public they are welcome, she said.
"We don't turn them away," Cousineau said.
top
Report on the 2nd Annual Home Buyers Fair
Rain was still coming down when 1:00 p.m. the time for the Home Buyers Fair rolled around.
A couple wanting to move up to a larger house were the only people that braved the rain. However,
they got the extra attention they needed and within a realitively short time should be moving into
that larger house. Thanks to Steve Eggleston, HUD, Toby Hytrek, American National Bank, Tina Carroll,
City of Cheyenne for the help they were able to provide.
The next fair will be in September at the WCH building.
top
Hope for Affordable Housing
By David S. Broder
Washington Post
Amid all the talk about the boom in real estate prices and the concern about the "housing bubble" some day bursting, one fact tends to be forgotten. Far too many families are simply being locked out of decent shelter by the shortage of affordable housing.
The latest official estimate is that the country lacks 1.6 million units of low-income housing. According to the 2003 American Housing Survey, 7.5 million households were "severely burdened" by their housing costs, meaning that more than half their income went for rent or mortgage payments
It has been 10 years since the federal government put any substantial sums into building affordable housing for families, but last week a glimmer of hope appeared from an unexpected source. A bipartisan bill emerged from the House Financial Services Committee that could generate $400 million a year or more for low-income housing.
The measure's main purpose is to provide new, more stringent regulation for the two giant government-chartered mortgage finance agencies, best known by their nicknames, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Their mandate is to increase the availability of housing. These GSEs, or government-sponsored enterprises, got into hot water because of their accounting practices, and Congress has been figuring out how to keep closer tabs on them.
When the bill was being drafted last week, the two key Republicans, Ohioans Michael G. Oxley and Robert W. Ney, the chairmen, respectively, of the full committee and its housing subcommittee, decided that to lock in Democratic support, they would include a proviso from the committee's top Democrat, Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, to earmark 5 percent of Fannie and Freddie's annual profits for preservation, rehabilitation and construction of low-income housing.
It's estimated that this would produce at least $400 million a year, and perhaps as much as $1 billion, depending on the way the two mortgage giants eventually work out their accounting problems. Economists at the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the leading advocacy group in this field, calculate that with construction costs estimated at $70,000 to $100,000 per unit, the program could build between 4,000 and 14,000 units a year.
Sheila Crowley, the group's president, said that would be "an important step forward in our fight to make sure that safe and decent housing for all Americans, regardless of income, is once again a national priority."
The step is not guaranteed. Committee conservatives tried to knock out the 5 percent set-aside. Their amendment, sponsored by Rep. Ed Royce, a California Republican, failed on a 53 to 17 vote, but backers expect more support when the bill reaches the House floor. They contend that the potential billion-dollar sum would be better applied to lowering the costs of mortgages underwritten by Fannie and Freddie, rather than creating what they term "a slush fund" for the politically well-connected GSEs.
A spokesman for Ney told me that even though he represents a largely rural area, his constituents are all too familiar with the problems of affordable housing, so he joined Oxley in lining up most of the committee Republicans against the Royce amendment. What will happen on the House floor remains to be seen.
On the other side of the Capitol, Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, has sponsored similar legislation -- an outgrowth of an interest in housing issues he told me he developed in the 1980s as a young member of the state legislature. The Reed amendment became part of a housing bill that never came to a floor vote in the last Congress. A new bill will be crafted in committee, perhaps later this month.
So far the Bush administration has not weighed in for or against the low-income housing fund, but Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson said in a statement that his priority is "enforcing the affordable housing goals" for Fannie and Freddie -- something that would not necessarily provide new construction grants.
Over the years, the federal commitment to affordable housing has shrunk steadily, with the only remaining large-scale program being Section 8 vouchers, which help qualified families with rent subsidies but do not expand the supply of housing.
It is more luck than anything else that has made Fannie and Freddie plausible sources of new affordable-housing construction money. Were it not for the regulatory problems that they brought on themselves, it's doubtful this Republican Congress would have thought to tap their profits for such a purpose.
Call it the silver lining in this cloud of financial scandal.
top
Homeless Violence Common
By DEBORAH CIRCELLI and LYDA LONGA
News Journal Staff Writers
Jerry Behnke still has flashbacks and cold sweats when he thinks about
waking up last year at his homeless camp with his tent on fire.
He raised his hand in time to keep the tent from melting on his face, but he
spent weeks at Orlando Regional Medical Center getting skin grafts for burns
on both sides of his legs and his right hand.
The 51-year-old believes someone intentionally came to his camp after
midnight last February off Beach Street near the Water Club Apartments, lit
the entrances and doused his body with a flammable liquid. Officials with
the Daytona Beach Fire Department said the fire could have been
intentionally set or caused by winds stirring up ashes from the campfire.
"I woke up with the plastic tent melting on top of me," said Behnke, who was
attacked about four times in five years while on the streets but now lives
in an apartment. "Most homeless just want to be left alone. We don't want
violence done against us. We just want to live our life in peace."
Homeless advocates believe Behnke's case was intentional and just one
example of violence against homeless, either by teens, adults or within the
homeless community. The beating death of Michael Eugene Roberts last week is
just one indicator they say of a bigger problem of the dangers of living on
the streets and an increase in cases homeless advocates say they are hearing
about youths attacking those on the street. Two 18-year-olds and a
14-year-old have now been arrested in Robert's beating in a patch of woods
behind a car wash on Nova Road.
"There's rarely a day that I don't walk the line and see someone who has
been beaten up, whether their mouth is busted open or they have stitches,"
said Del Hillman, program coordinator of the Homeless Assistance Center in
Daytona Beach.
Hillman said such abuse against the homeless is not new but only recently
has he started hearing stories about attacks by youths. He said typically
one youth will approach them from the front to distract them and then a
group will come up from behind. Many homeless don't report the incidents,
Hillman said, because they want to protect their anonymity or they don't
believe the police will do anything.
Violence by homeless against homeless also is prevalent. John Michael
Householder, living in a campsite in Edgewater, was killed earlier this
year. Another homeless man was charged with killing him with a hatchet.
Daytona Beach police said two homeless men were walking along the railroad
tracks in Daytona Beach near Kingston Avenue on Feb. 27 when they were
attacked by five or six young men who started throwing rocks at them.
Calling the two homeless men names, the assailants beat the victims with
their fists and a blunt object, then fled after rifling their pockets,
according to police.
Both homeless men were treated for cuts and other injuries at Halifax
Medical Center.
Larry, 51, who would not give his last name, lifted his sunglasses at the
Homeless Assistance Center on Wednesday and revealed a black eye. He said a
group of eight or 10 male teens approached him on the beach near the Daytona
Beach Pier on Saturday night while he was grieving the death of his mother
from breast cancer.
"They jumped me, beat me down and robbed me of $16," said Larry, who added
he didn't report the incident because he has a record for possession of
drugs.
Pamela Mosley, who works at the Homeless Assistance Center, said her now 22-
year-old son was accosted twice by youths while they lived last year at
Tuscawilla Park.
"It's not safe," said Mosley, who now lives in an apartment. "But I had no
idea it was this bad where people are being beaten for no reason at all --
just for the sake of it."
The National Coalition for the Homeless states from 1999 to 2003 there were
131 homeless people killed from violent acts by people who are not homeless.
Professor Jeffrey A. Butts, a research fellow at the Chapin Hall Center for
Children at the University of Chicago, was not surprised when he learned the
suspects in the case are teenagers.
"A common feature of adolescent violence is a complete lack of empathy for
the victim," Butts said.
Butts said one of the methods used in attempting to help children at risk
for violent behavior is to teach them that their victims do have feelings,
they are not just objects.
"Some children do respond to intervention," he said. "But other children
never learn empathy."
Stan Wise, 46, who said he knew Roberts and camped out with him recently,
said Roberts never hurt anybody. He said he's been jumped before, but by two
other homeless adults while in a homeless camp.
"You sleep with one eye open and you sleep with an open knife," Wise said.
"That's how you do it. You have to."
top
Recent Attacks on Homeless Individual in Cheyenne
Virginia Sellner There has been a rash of attacks upon homeless people in Cheyenne. Something that we were hoping would miss our community. These attacks have been carried out in Martin Luther King Park, and under the nearby bridge. It seems that most of those carrying out the attacks and/or harassment have been in their teens or early 20’s. The Police recently did a sweep under the bridges, and that cleared people out for maybe 24 hours, but they are back under the bridges and should be allowed to be there as long as they are not causing problems for anyone – surveillance by the Police in the area of the park in the bridges needs to be tightened – not to make sweeps of the homeless, but to catch these wandering gangs of young people who are attacking the most vulnerable population in Cheyenne.
See related article above.
top
Wyoming Winds is published by the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless
907 Logan Avenue
Cheyenne, WY 82001-5247
phone: 307-634-8499
fax: 307-634-9089
email: wch@vcn.com
Views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless, its staff or board.
Editor for this issue: Virginia Sellner.
Copyrights revert back to the author upon publication.
WCH is a 501(c)(3) all volunteer non-profit agency depending upon the community for funding.
© 2005.
Articles from other papers are published with permission of the paper listed with the article.
**In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.**
top
