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Community House in Lions Park
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Homeless Living on Rooftops Downtown
By Josh Brodesky
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona
If you're seeing fewer homeless people Downtown these days, look up.
That's what Asylum nightclub owner Stephen Holder did a few months ago. As Holder emerged from his Congress Street cabaret he noticed a man camping out in a tent on his neighbor's rooftop.
Unfortunately for Elizabeth Mead, owner of the Silver Sea jewelry store, she didn't look up soon enough.
"Somebody was living on the roof and using the drain pipe as a trash can," Mead said. As a result, on the Friday before Christmas, 55 gallons of water crashed through her roof, shutting down her business for the day.
Holder and Mead are among a number of Downtown merchants discovering they're frequently, and unknowingly, sharing their buildings with some uninvited guests.
In recent months, dozens of homeless people — no one yet has a handle on how many — have taken to the rooftops, taking them off the street, out of sight and perhaps a little more out of harm's way. But in the process, they're subjecting the aging rooftops to damage, and the owners to concerns about such things as liability, theft, vandalism and repair costs.
The water damage at the Silver Sea, near the corner of Sixth Avenue and Congress Street, was enough to inspire a cautionary note in the February newsletter for the Tucson Downtown Merchants.
"Be forewarned," the newsletter says. "This idea may be being copied by other homeless on other buildings."
Just how long homeless people have been sleeping on Downtown rooftops is unclear.
Officials with the city and the Tucson Police Department said they had never heard of such rooftop residents. But Margo Susco, who owns Hydra Leather and More, an alternative-clothing boutique on Congress Street, said that for the past few years it's been a regular occurrence.
"It very much exists," she said, adding that she checks her roof periodically.
The appeal for someone sleeping on a rooftop is hardly surprising. It's safe.
"Out of sight, out of mind," said Bob Stubblefield, who sleeps in a homeless camp near the Tucson Convention Center.
It's not uncommon, he said, to have rocks thrown at him or to be harassed by passers-by.
Stubblefield said he has been in the Tucson area for five years, and he's known others to sleep on rooftops.
He chooses not to because he's afraid he might fall.
"You have to go up, and find your way down," he said.
If one were looking for a rooftop to sleep on, the shops on the north side of Congress Street between Sixth and Scott avenues would be a natural choice.
They are only a few stories tall, and there is plenty of easy access from the alley. The rooftops rise and dip, making it hard to see people from the street.
For example, when Holder spotted the rooftop resident on his neighbor's property, he didn't at first see the person, he saw a tent.
"He had a tent and everything," Holder said. "But we got him out of here."
Mead, owner of the Silver Sea, said that to get on the roof most people shinny up a network of electrical boxes behind the Screening Room, an independent movie theater on Congress Street.
Wednesday and Thursday night, no one tried to climb to the rooftop, but there were certainly signs that people had in the past.
A small number of blankets, piles of garbage and empty beer bottles dotted the rooftops.
The phenomenon of people sleeping on rooftops comes at a time when Tucson's homeless population is growing. It's estimated at about 4,500.
For the city, the rise in population poses a particular challenge as officials try to buck the perception of Downtown as an unsafe place with a high concentration of homeless people — something having homeless people sleeping on rooftops does not help to change.
In fact, Downtown has the lowest crime rate of any part of the city, accounting for about 5 percent of total calls from July through January of last year, police say. There are 70 police officers who work the area, some of whom patrol by bike or by foot.
"Without a doubt, the visibility of homeless in the Downtown area adds to the perception of crime," said Capt. Michael Gillooly of the Tucson Police Department.
"It's one of the top complaints that we hear from people who come Downtown," said Rio Nuevo Director Greg Shelko, speaking of the homeless population. "Perception is reality, as the saying goes."
In many ways Mead is emblematic of this dynamic.
She moved her business from Tucson Mall to Downtown three years ago hoping to ride the Rio Nuevo wave to prosperity. She had about 800 customers who were willing to follow her to Downtown. These days, about 20 of those clients are now coming to her store.
She said many have stopped coming because of aggressive panhandling, and she now posts signs outside her shop telling people not to panhandle or loiter.
She also lost quite a bit of business when the water damage forced her to shut down at the height of the holiday season.
"I don't even want to think about how much I lost," she said.
As such, she'd like to see more enforcement of the panhandling laws, which she thinks will limit the number of surprise rooftop residents and possibly filter the homeless into social service agencies.
She, Holder and Susco all said it's not that they don't care about the well-being of the homeless Downtown. They just wish the presence wouldn't cut into their businesses.
"Initially I didn't do anything about people camping out," Mead said of people on rooftops and people who camped in her store's recessed entrance. "The thing is, you have to deal with people in a humane way."
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The Homeless Deserve a Tougher Law to Deter Attacks
Howard Goodman, Sun Sentinel
Over the last few weeks, Stephen Johnson, administrator at Westgate Tabernacle Church, has been seeing them come in, bloodied and bruised.
There was the man on a bicycle who was knocked down by a car. Two other guys jumped him and beat him with beer bottles, Johnson said.
The pregnant woman, walking back from a nighttime hospital visit, who was attacked by a man and woman who knocked her down, kicked her and stole her handbag. It contained all of two bottles of prescription pills and $6 and change.
The 14-year-old boy who was grabbed by three men, broke his skateboard and "picked him up and punched him like a ball," Johnson said.
Johnson has seen six to eight such cases in recent weeks.
The common denominator: The victims are homeless.
Easy targets.
Beaten up "just for the fun of it," Johnson said.
The attackers know that homeless people, often fearful of authorities, will rarely report an assault. Even when an attack is reported, the consequences are light for what's usually regarded as a misdemeanor.
"If you're insignificant, you don't get the attention of a normal person," said Joseph Duby, 37.
Duby, broke and ailing, has been living at Westgate Tabernacle for about six weeks. The sturdy church west of West Palm Beach is the county's emergency homeless shelter by default.
Duby said he has seen "lots of friends coming back in here with black eyes or stitches under their eyes."
Indeed, beating up on the homeless has become a sick kind of national sport. Last year, there were 142 violent crimes against homeless people, including 20 deaths, five rapes and six people set on fire, according to a new report from the National Coalition for the Homeless.
Florida accounted for 48 of those 142 crimes. That was far more than the second-ranking state on the coalition's survey. That was Arizona, with 16.
More than half the known assailants were teenagers. "The attackers repeatedly cited their motive of attack as boredom, committing the crimes for the `thrill' or `fun,' because the victim is homeless, or perhaps even more harrowing, because they simply `can,'" the report states.
That was certainly the case in Fort Lauderdale last year when two teens were caught on surveillance camera beating a sleeping man with a bat. Two other homeless men were also beaten that night. One of them, Norris Gaynor, 45, died.
State Rep. Priscilla Taylor, D-West Palm Beach, was among the nauseated who saw it on TV.
"It was almost unbelievable," Taylor said, "that this could be happening here in this culture."
She spoke Saturday at a news conference at Westgate Tabernacle, joined by church leaders, homeless advocates and two members of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
Reacting to that Fort Lauderdale attack, Taylor has drafted a bill that would make crimes based on the homeless status of the victim a hate crime. The proposed law would elevate an assault from a misdemeanor to a felony and carry a minimum 3-year prison sentence.
It's her second year trying to get the bill passed. Similar bills are pending in five other states, though no state yet includes homeless status in its hate-crime laws, according to the coalition.
Taylor's bill should become law. Whether you think homeless people deserve pity or you think their presence is a blight, we can all agree on this: It's not OK to treat vulnerable people as punching bags.
People like Jack Cobb. He's 44. Rail-thin and bearded, he's been homeless off and on for about seven years.
Eight days ago, Cobb was walking to a convenience store for cigarettes.
Out of nowhere, he says, a four-door sedan pulled up and four men poured out. One beat him with a baseball bat, hitting his back, legs and the wrists that were protecting his face. The others were punching and kicking.
They stopped when another car approached. Before running off, they told him they'd kill him if he told police.
"I have no idea why they did it," Cobb said.
His glasses, broken in the attack, drooped at one ear when I spoke to him Saturday. His wrists were swollen and scabbed. "I still can't move this one," he said, trying to rotate his left wrist.
Now he's afraid to walk down the street.
Instead, he spends all day in the church.
"I'm just staying right around here," he said.
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Words That Defame or Disadvantage Others Are The Real Disability
By Jeff Murray
Star-Gazette
Beth Allen of Montour Falls knows she isn't like everyone else.
Allen, 43, is a longtime client of the Arc of Schuyler County, which works with people who live with various levels of developmental disabilities.
Allen doesn't mind questions about her own limitations, but she has one simple rule -- just don't call her retarded.
"We are human beings like you guys. We want (people) to treat us like them," Allen said.
"Treat us the same like they would like to treat their friends."
Even professionals who work with people with disabilities get confused about what words and phrases are appropriate and which ones aren't, said Jim Wilson, executive director of the Arc of Schuyler County.
Using the proper terminology isn't just political correctness.
Certain words convey negative connotations and reinforce common but incorrect stereotypes about people with physical or emotional disabilities, he said.
"I'm a firm believer that language is so critically important to all of this," Wilson said.
"Words mean something. It gets heard when words are hurtful. What really bothers them is the word retarded."
Thus, it's more acceptable to refer to someone such as Allen as a "person with a developmental disability."
The same holds true for physical disabilities.
Words such as crippled, lame, deformed or handicapped have been replaced by "person with a disability" or a "person who is physically challenged."
"As a person with a disability, I despise the words handicapped and crippled. That's a negative connotation," said Kimberly Walters, a paraplegic who is also advocate/executive assistant for the AIM Independent Living Center in Corning.
"When I think of the word 'handicap,' I think of golf or bowling. The definition is to be put at a disadvantage," Walters said.
"Having a disability is not a disadvantage. There's a big difference.
"The only reason people with disabilities are at a disadvantage is barriers in our society," she said.
"If you don't break down people's attitude about disabilities, you won't break down other barriers."
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Britain Likely to Need 5 Million New Homes by 2027
Angela Balakrishnan
The Guardian
About 5m new homes will be needed in Britain over the next 20 years to keep up with soaring demand. An updated government forecast released yesterday showed that the annual rate of household growth in England to 2026 is now 223,000 compared with the 209,000 calculated in 2003.
The new figure, based on population growth estimates by the Office for National Statistics, prompted fears among housing organisations that house price inflation will be driven higher by a bigger than forecast housing shortage and strong demand from migrant workers and City employees with hefty bonuses. House prices have already seen annual increases of 11% over the past 10 years, according to the Halifax, Britain's biggest mortgage lender.
Latest government data showed new house building rose only 0.5% last year to 160,000, well short of demand. If this trend continues, the shortfall of houses will hit 1m by 2026. Shelter, the charity for the homeless, said the new figures meant the "housing crisis" would deepen. Many buyers, especially first-time buyers, are already struggling to get on to the property ladder as soaring prices and higher interest rates squeeze affordability.
Graeme Brown, director of communications at Shelter, said: "With one in seven children in Britain growing up homeless or badly housed, and almost 90,000 homeless households trapped in temporary accommodation, there is an urgent need to build more homes."
Stewart Baseley, chairman of the Home Builders Federation, said local authorities needed to cut red tape to release more land for building.
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Florida Most Perilous State for Homeless
By Jamie Malernee
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Florida is the most dangerous state in the country for the homeless, with 48 attacks last year, about one-third of all attacks registered nationwide, according to an advocacy group's report released Tuesday.
The report also found that violence against the homeless is spiking across the country. It was the second year Florida ranked first in the statistics complied by the National Coalition for the Homeless, partly because of the now-infamous January 2006 beatings of three Fort Lauderdale men by assailants wielding baseball bats and a golf club. One victim died, and three teens have been charged with his murder.
In Fort Lauderdale alone, seven acts of violence against the homeless were reported last year. Only one U.S. city, Phoenix, reported more.
"South Florida has really become the capital of vicious attacks on the homeless," Hollywood homeless advocate Sean Cononie said.
The coalition's report cited 142 violent acts nationwide in 2006, compared with 86 in 2005. Last year's attacks led to 20 deaths, five rapes and six people set on fire.
The count, the highest since the group began compiling data in 1999, comprises only acts of violence perpetrated by nonhomeless people against the homeless. Information for the study was obtained from media reports and local advocacy groups.
Why Florida leads the nation is unclear. California has double the number of homeless, yet reported only 10 violent acts last year.
Jessica Schuler, a policy analyst with the coalition, a homeless advocacy group, said it is likely Florida does a better job of reporting injuries and deaths. She suggested the state may have experienced a rash of copycat crimes.
But she also said Florida cities had become increasingly unwelcoming to the homeless and that this could be sending a message that "perpetuates dehumanization."
Cononie said rules in many South Florida neighborhoods make it difficult to operate shelters or distribute food, increasing the chances the homeless will be more exposed and vulnerable.
In Palm Beach County, a church near West Palm Beach sued the county -- and lost -- this month after being fined more than $30,000 for helping shelter about 100 homeless people a night.
Police in St. Petersburg sparked controversy in January when they raided tent cities occupied by the homeless days after two homeless men were shot to death.
Orlando recently made it illegal to feed groups of homeless people downtown without a permit. And in Sarasota, officials came under fire last year for a no-camping rule that makes it easy for police to arrest the homeless.
Gerald Murphy, 52 and homeless, said four men robbed him in downtown Fort Lauderdale in December, before officials found space for him at a Hollywood shelter.
"If you're disabled and you're homeless, you're open season," said Murphy, who is blind in his left eye. "You're an easy target."
In Murphy's case, his attackers were adults. However, in most cases, according to the coalition's report, the assailants are teenagers who say they wanted to beat street people for fun or out of boredom.
On the increase, Cononie said, is young men filming their attacks to mimic "Bum Fights," a controversial series of videos and DVDs sold online that depicts homeless people fighting or performing degrading stunts for money. Last month, Lauderhill police arrested four Lauderdale Lakes teens they said beat, robbed and dragged a homeless man while videotaping the assault.
Marti Forman, chief executive officer of the Cooperative Feeding Program in Fort Lauderdale, said people can combat the violence by talking to their children.
"It's a good place to tell kids about bad choices ... and how they can have long-term consequences," she said. "There is no shame in telling your buddy, `That's wrong.'"
In an unrelated announcement Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved $1.4 billion in funding for local charities and governments for programs that serve the homeless. About 16 percent of that is new money. Most of the funds will go toward housing. South Florida's share is expected to top $37 million.
Jamie Malernee can be reached at jmalernee@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4849
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City Vows to Improve Aid to Homeless Families
Leslie Kaufman
The New York Times
With the number of homeless families at a record high halfway into Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's five-year plan to reduce the homeless population by two-thirds, city officials are acknowledging missteps in their approach and are looking to revamp a controversial rent subsidy program geared toward poor families.
Officials from several nonprofit agencies said that Robert V. Hess, commissioner of the city's Department of Homeless Services, told them in a meeting last week that he was considering changes, including stabilizing the value of vouchers given to homeless families under the Housing Stability Plus program.
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To learn more about the priority issues of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights/Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund, contact info@civilrights.org.
Attacks on Homeless Prompt 'Hate Crime' Bill Proposals
By JIM SAUNDERS
Tallahassee Bureau Chief
TALLAHASSEE -- With more homeless people getting attacked in Florida than in any other state, lawmakers are considering increased penalties for such assaults by labeling them "hate crimes."
Proposed hate-crime bills have been filed in the House and Senate after a series of high-profile attacks across the state, including the deaths of homeless men in Volusia and Flagler counties.
Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, pointed to Volusia-area attacks as she debated the issue last week, calling the violence "horrible, horrible, heinous." She said many homeless people have no protection.
"They're out there, in most cases, totally vulnerable," Lynn said.
If the bills pass, Florida would become the first state in the country to classify violence against homeless people as a hate crime, said Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.
The classification would apply in cases that involve prejudice against homeless people, such as past incidents when groups of teens have attacked the homeless. It would not apply to cases that aren't based on prejudice, like a fight between two homeless people.
Florida already has hate-crime laws that increase penalties when crimes are based on other factors such as race, ethnicity, religion or disability.
It's too early to know whether lawmakers will pass the hate-crime bills during this spring's legislative session. A similar proposal failed last year.
The Senate Criminal Justice Committee approved the idea last week, but some lawmakers questioned whether the state should single out attacks on homeless people for increased penalties.
Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, said the state should prosecute all attacks the same, regardless of whether the victim is homeless or lives in a mansion.
"I'm against the bill for the people it excludes, not for the people it includes," Bennett said.
But House sponsor Priscilla Taylor, D-West Palm Beach, said homeless people need protection. She said, for example, that many homeless people have mental-health problems.
"We are able to take care of ourselves," Taylor said. "These people can't."
Senate sponsor Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, said protecting homeless people also fits with the purpose of the state's current hate-crimes law.
"They're only being attacked because of one thing -- because they're homeless," Joyner said.
Volusia and Flagler counties have had a series of attacks on homeless people during the past two years. The highest-profile case came in 2005, when four Holly Hill teens killed 53-year-old Michael Roberts in a wooded area off Nova Road and 13th Street.
The National Coalition for the Homeless released a report last month showing that Florida had more attacks on homeless people in 2006 than any other state. It found that Florida had 42 incidents that resulted in eight deaths.
If the bills pass, an attacker who commits aggravated assault or aggravated battery against a homeless person would have to serve at least three years in prison.
Also, the severity of criminal charges could be upgraded when homeless people are attacked.
As an example, State Attorney John Tanner said one potential effect could be reclassifying crimes from first-degree misdemeanors to third-degree felonies. A third-degree felony carries a maximum of five years in prison, while a first-degree misdemeanor carries up to one year in jail.
Tanner said the bills also could focus attention on crimes against homeless people. But he said he doubts whether youths would be aware of the changes and that the bills would "probably have little to no effect as a deterrent."
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Eugene's Streets House More Homeless
A study found an increase in homelessness in Lane County, up 10 percent from last year
By: Calvin Hall
Daily Emerald
In Lane County, about 2,278 people are homeless on the streets or living in temporary shelters on any night, according to a day-long count of people living on the street and in homeless shelters.
The count, conducted on Jan. 25 by the Lane County Human Services Commission with the assistance of about 20 service programs, found that 1,500 people stayed in shelters that day while 184 people were turned away from shelters and 594 people stayed on the street.
The numbers are an increase from a shelter count in 2006 that found 1,246 people stayed in homeless shelters. The 2007 count found a 10 percent increase, from 49 percent to 59 percent, in the number of people who are considered chronically homeless.
Commission Supervisor Pearl Wolfe said the numbers indicate that more people are homeless and that they're homeless for longer periods of time. She said she was not surprised by the number because of her work with homeless programs and the steady decrease in service funding.
Homeless counts have been collected once a year for the past 12 years, but they've only counted homeless people in the shelters and not people on the street. Wolfe said the number is more accurate this year because of the street count and because they were able to count more people in the rural areas with help from the U.S. Forest Service, schools and food pantries.
She said 94 percent of the homeless people counted were local to Lane County.
"The good thing about this kind of information is that we're able to create a better description of what the need is," Wolfe said. "I'm hoping that what the number does is give the community a better picture of the amount of homeless we have locally and see it as a community priority."
As far as providing services, officials are looking to hold a second annual Project Homeless Connect, where homeless people receive free food, health care and other services. The first event, held on Feb. 8, provided services to 1,007 homeless people.
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Sunrise of Hope: Home Sweet Home for the Homeless
Tribune Editorial
There are 541 chronically homeless persons in Salt Lake County, advocates estimate, each with a sad, sad story to tell. Some can't stay sober; some are drug addled or mentally ill; others are just down on their luck.
Many of us try to look the other way, but we've all seen them. They've lost their homes, their families, their dignity. Some stand on our street corners with cardboard signs around their necks: "Homeless. Please help."
It's not that we don't try. They sleep in our shelters, shower at our day center, eat at our soup kitchens.
But try as we might, it's not working too well. We need to ask ourselves how, in a place where so many have so much, can homelessness still exist? There's got to be a better way to address the problem. And the Salt Lake City Housing Authority - with assistance from the state, the county and area churches, businesses, foundations and non-profit organizations - has found it.
Sunrise Metro Apartments, the first large housing development for the homeless in Utah, is the centerpiece of a state and county plan to end chronic homelessness. A second, smaller facility is planned by the county for South Salt Lake.
The four-story Sunrise complex sits at 580 South 500 West, casting a shadow over the railroad freight yard that some of our chronically homeless call home.
There's nothing unique about the building. There are 100 one-bedroom and studio apartments, small - 420-square feet - but comfortable. But the concept, modeled after a national program, is something new.
Instead of turning away persons with alcohol problems, like shelters sometimes do, Sunrise wisely welcomes them. Instead of setting time limits for residents, like traditional transitional housing requires, it gives them permanence.
The program is called "Housing First," a nod to the fact that if you're worried about where you're going to sleep at night, it's hard to set other priorities.
First you give them back their dignity, a home, a place to call their own. You give them the street address that potential employers demand. You give them the stability they need to find a job, beat their habits, solve their problems. And studies show that, with help, many can take it from there.
Help will come via on-site case managers, substance support groups and job fairs. Residents will pay 30 percent of any income for rent. And if they regain their footing and decide to move on, another will move in.
The apartments will provide structure, support, self-confidence, but above all, they will give the homeless a home.
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Shelter in club district called `disaster'
Plan to locate homeless in entertainment area leaves resident `flabbergasted'
Raju Mudhar
Toronto Star
The city of Toronto is considering putting a homeless shelter in the heart of the Entertainment district at the corner of Richmond and Peter Sts.
The plan is to turn the old Fez Batik club space into a 24/7 assessment and referral centre. The on-site shelter would have a 40-bed capacity. The plan has both residents and businesses, particularly club owners, concerned.
The new location is needed because the current centre at 110 Edward St. closes at the end of April to make way for 300 units of affordable housing, says Phil Brown, general manager of the shelter, support and housing administration division of the city.
"A building such as this is very good for conversion into an assessment and referral centre and shelter because it has high ceilings, wide open spaces and it also has a commercial kitchen," said Brown. "These are the kinds of things we look for."
The site also meets municipal bylaw standards for shelter locations, such as having the correct zoning, and being close to major roads and public transit. The plan also accords with the city's streets-to-home program, which has moved more than 1,000 people into permanent housing in the last two years. Brown said the plan is to have the shelter open by end of summer.
"I'm speechless and flabbergasted," says Liz Sauter, a prominent member of the King Spadina Residents Association. "I am not against homeless people having a place to go where they feel safe and get proper assessment and be put into proper housing ... but I have to wonder why you would put them into the epicentre of the nightclub district, which is what that corner is," she says, citing the access to alcohol and drugs.
Sauter, who says she has worked with the homeless in the past, is planning on taking Brown on a tour of the area tonight.
"I want to show him what takes place between 12 and 4 in the morning. With the challenges that we already have in this area, I think he needs to be aware of what he's getting into," she said.
Sauter and other residents in the area have worked on the many issues arising from more than 50,000 people who go clubbing in the district every weekend. The nightlife has led to bitter disputes over noise violations, crime and disorderly behaviour. Ironically, Sauter and some club owners have talked about how to fight the shelter plan.
"It's a recipe for disaster," says
Jan Wrowbell, a proprietor of Cantina Charlies, across the street from the centre's proposed location. "A couple of the nightclub owners who are more cynical than I am think this is a way for the city to kick the nightclubs out. I don't think that ... but it is going to chase off the customers, and there's a lot of money being invested in these places. It's going to reduce the worth of the investment substantially."
Area Councillor Adam Vaughan has met with business and residents associations, and says they have generally been supportive.
"The most serious concern that was raised ... (was) there were worries about the homeless with all the hooligans from the entertainment district and whether or not these people would get a good night's sleep," he says.
The city is holding a meeting next Wednesday at Metro Hall to discuss the plan.
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Change Attitudes About Homeless
Opinion Page – Denver Post
Stephen Terence Gould,
an independent scholar in Denver.
With the Democratic National Convention coming to Denver in August 2008, our city leaders are shifting into a higher gear. For some, that means makeovers for Denver's parks and people - as in Civic Center and the homeless.
Of course, it's understandable that our city leaders would want to present a sparkling vision of Denver to the world. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that, near the beginning of their urge to give Denver a nice makeover, they'll ask - again - "How do we deal with the homeless?" It's already been asked, repeatedly, in terms of Civic Center.
Recently, at a meeting of Denver's Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, a presentation was made of a Parks and Rec survey taken about the Civic Center redesign proposed by celebrated architect Daniel Libeskind. Libeskind's design was rejected, but the survey was informative, showing that, after security and maintenance for Civic Center, the No. 3 concern gleaned from the 577 respondents was: "Deal with the homeless."
"Deal with"? To me, that phrase is offensive. It implies that homelessness is a human blight, a contagion upon our society, as though the homeless are to be eradicated like rats.
That sounds harsh, I know. But there are precedents in Colorado history of such treatment of the helpless. These days, regarding the homeless, there are mostly small, well-intentioned ordinances aimed at cleaning up Denver's downtown. They seem to be working. No more drunks lying in alleyways off the 16th Street Mall.
And less begging. A recent report from Denver Police Department records found that, around the 16th Street Mall, arrests for begging had decreased from 104 in 2005 to 82 in 2006, for the same nine-month period. In other words, for 2006, fewer beggars to bust.
That's good for the Democratic National Convention. Good for business. No harm in that.
But when all those conventioneers' spouses wander through Civic Center over to the Denver Art Museum, what will they see? If the Civic Center Conservancy is true to its word - that the park should be "for all the people" - there might actually be some homeless-appearing folks reposing there.
Some think the police should rid Civic Center and the library-museum complex of the apparently undesirable. For "undesirable," substitute "visually unseemly." From there, it's just a short hop over the Constitution to "profiling."
That's basically the issue. The homeless will continue to exist as a visually identifiable population over the next two years, and Civic Center should continue to be "for all the people." Having the Democratic National Convention in town shouldn't change that. But some will try.
Last year, according to the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative, we had about 9,000 homeless men, women and families in metro Denver. The draw-down of the homeless by Denver's Road Home is planned over a 10-year period - which means that, even with intensive annual housing activity, there won't be enough low-income housing to get the homeless off Denver's streets by 2008. Not hardly.
So there's a need for some innovative thinking. Here are two ideas, simplistic perhaps, but at least a start:
If, to many, outward appearance indicates homelessness, change the outward appearance of the homeless. For those who'll accept it, provide a makeover. During the second half of August 2008, have a shelter-instigated offering of haircuts, hairdos, shaves, and some neat, clean, summer clothes.
And I'd have a makeover of attitude among those in Denver who, given their own gifts of relative wealth and health, should show generosity and warmth not only toward our convention visitors, but toward Denver's less fortunate citizens as well.
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