 WYOMING WINDSNovember 2007 A publication of The Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless (WCH) 907 Logan Avenue, Cheyenne, WY 82001-5247 phone: 307-634-8499 fax: 307-634-9089 email: wch@vcn.com © 2007
Thanks to all of those who have volunteered to work at the WCH Welcome Mat during Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year holidays. All of the dates have been filled except noon until 3:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Donations needed during the holidays include special holiday foods, and items to be used for Christmas gifts for all of those coming in to the Welcome Mat on Christmas eve and Christmas Day. These items would include NEW knit hats, gloves, sweaters, flannel shirts, white socks and personal care items. Donations may be brought to the WCH main building at 907 Logan Avenue between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. on week-ends. Please let the on duty person know that the items you are donating are for holiday gifts. For more information contact Virginia at 634-8499.
Participating in National Homelessness Awareness Week not only brings greater awareness to your community, but also helps to promote the national endeavor to end hunger and homelessness. The plight of those without a home can be both lonely and difficult. Addressing their struggles by participating in this week may bring greater solidarity and understanding to Cheyenne. Please join The COMEA House, NEEDS Inc., The Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless, The Cheyenne Community Clinic and The Salvation Army this week to help educate homeless individuals and low-income families to register to vote. Information will be provided in English and Spanish. Tours will be offered from 9-3 at the COMEA House on Monday November 12th, at The Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless Welcome Mat and Richards Center on Tuesday, November 13th, The Cheyenne Community Clinic on Wednesday, November 14th and on Thursday, November 15th from 9 am to 12 pm at NEEDS. Please take this opportunity to take a “Wish List” when you tour the facilities to find out what is in need for this holiday season. Volunteering information will also be provided. For further information, please contact Emily Downey or Teresa Garrido of the COMEA House at 307-632-3174 Monday through Friday 9am through 3pm.
For the 17th year The Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless will be sponsoring Homeless Memorial Day on December 21 at 12:00 noon in front of the State Capitol Building. There will be music and speakers honoring those who died homeless on the streets of this country during the past two years. In Cheyenne in 2007 there were 2 who died and in 2006 there were 12. Because of bad weather in 2006 that caused cancellation of the event those who died in 2006 will be remembered in this year's event with those from 2007. Pastor Bill Jividan of Beacon Hill Baptist Church will lead the event. Speakers will include Mayor Jack Spiker, Rev. Jon Laughlin, Grace United Methodist Church, Richard McCullough, Crossroads Clinic, and Rev. Elizabeth McVicker, Cheyenne Interfaith Hospitality Network. Earl Janack, Slow Trucks Turning, will provide music. Please plan to attend this memorial. For more information contact Virginia at 307-634-8499. 
The Associated Press
"We haven't found anything that will work," Lisa Raterman, president of the board of the Emergency Cold Shelter of Northern Kentucky, said. "It's either space constraints, or cost, or neighbors don't want us. Unfortunately, the shelter has a pretty bad reputation." The shelter shutdown earlier this year amid complaints from local officials and the neighborhood. Raterman's group has pledged to run a managed shelter, but has yet to find a location. It may be impossible to resettle in Covington after the city commission changed the zoning code last year, specifically banning homeless shelters within city limits, said City Manager Jay Fossett. "That was their intent, so I don't think it's likely that they would change their mind and allow a shelter," he said. Those operating now are grandfathered in, but they cannot expand, and if a program closes, a new one can't open in the same place, Fossett said. The Elohim Christian Center that hosted the cold shelter for five winters in Covington closed the program in March after the church received warnings from the local housing code enforcement department. Also, The minister who had spearheaded the effort moved to New Jersey to accept a new position at a church there. Covington has been a center for social services, including the Parish Kitchen offering free meals, programs offering support and counseling for people with mental health and substance abuse problems. "A lot of the people who would need (a shelter) are already there," she said. The closest other shelter, the Drop Inn Center in Cincinnati, is operating beyond capacity, said general coordinator Pat Clifford. "All of the shelters are full in the winter, from the end of November through March," Clifford said. "There really is no where to go." His own shelter often exceeds its 250 limit, averaging 270, with guests sleeping in the center's lobby, and that was when the Emergency Cold Shelter in Covington was open. "Communities on both sides of the river understand there is a need for shelters on both sides of the river," Clifford said. "Everyone thinks there should be 'somewhere' for people to go" he said. "But its always somewhere else." Information from: The Kentucky Post
By KIM HORNER The Dallas Morning News
The ad, also to appear on buses and movie screens, aims to raise awareness about homeless teens who move from sofa to sofa of friends, relatives and strangers. "These are not someone else's kids. They are very much like our own," said Joyce Mazero, chairwoman of the board of directors for Promise House, an Oak Cliff nonprofit agency that helps homeless youth. "However, these teens are invisible." Promise House estimates that 1,000 homeless teens are in Dallas on any given night and that 6,000 teens run away from home each year. But they are difficult to find because most do not live on the streets or shelters or gather in a central spot like in many major cities, said Harriet Boorhem, Promise House's president and executive director. She said the agency wants to get the word out that help is available. The ads will appear throughout November, which has been designated as National Runaway Prevention Month. Many homeless teens have either run away or been kicked out of their homes, officials said. Others have aged out of the foster-care system. Up to 40 percent of the runaway population are lesbian or gay youth who have been kicked out because of their sexual orientation. And 5 percent of runaways are teen parents who have a child with them, according to Promise House. The sofa-surfing campaign should not be confused with couch surfing, a term used by travelers who coordinate accommodations in other residents' homes, Dr. Boorhem said. "Sofa surfing is not fun," she said. "It's all about survival, not travel." Mayor Tom Leppert, who spoke at the campaign kickoff, said the city needs more solutions for homeless teens. "They're dangerously vulnerable to exploitation, injury or even death," he said, adding that adult shelters are not appropriate for them. "Without intervention, they'll become the next generation of chronic homeless." In addition to unveiling the ad campaign, Promise House officials announced that Dallas fire stations will take part in Safe Place. Teens can go to sites in the program, including libraries and police stations, for help. Two weeks ago, Promise House became home to 16-year-old Jerica, who asked that her full name not be published. She said she brought her 10-month-old daughter to the shelter because she was having arguments with her mother. "Most of all I like the staff because they're nice and they show care," Jerica said. "They try their best to help you and I like that."
By JIM BARON
Those are the findings from a pilot program called Housing First, sponsored by the United Way. Eric Hirsch, a Providence College sociology professor and co-author of a study of the program's first year, said the concept of "supportive housing" services saves "a tremendous amount of money," by cutting down on the use of hospitals, emergency rooms, jails and shelters by the homeless. Hirsch pointed to statistics in the study estimating that in the year before joining the program, a group of 48 homeless would spend 534 nights in the hospital, 73 in mental health facilities and 538 in alcohol or drug treatment centers, 919 nights in prison and 9,600 at a homeless shelter and make 177 emergency room visits. The total cost was approximately $1.5 million, or $31,617 per person. "That's the cost of allowing people to be homeless," Hirsch told a Statehouse news conference Thursday. In the year after joining the program, which started in the summer of 2005 at the House of Hope's Fran Conway House, the same number of individuals spent 149 nights in the hospital, 16 in mental health facilities, 43 in drug or alcohol centers, 149 in jail, 640 in shelters and made 75 emergency room visits. The total cost for those services, Hirsch calculated, was $366,483, or $7,835 per person. Add in the $9,500 in supportive services the program provided and the $5,643 cost of a housing subsidy, and the total cost was still $22,778 per individual, for a total savings to various government agencies and programs of just under a half-million dollars. Armeather Gibbs, chief operating officer of the United Way of Rhode Island, cited the example of one homeless man she called "Million Dollar Rhody," a 50-year-old who is mentally ill and finds it difficult to remain on his medicines. Because he is unable to work, he qualifies for Social Securit, disability and receives Medicare. "Dec. 15, 2006,through April 15, 2007 is unfortunately, a typical four-month period in Million Dollar Rhody's life," Gibbs told the gathering, which was packed with advocates for the homeless and workers from various social service agencies. "During that time he consistently spent night after night in the hospital to avoid sleeping on the streets or in shelters. To get to the hospital, he alerted first responders and was transported via ambulance daily - and on two occasions, twice a day. "Also during that period, she said, the man was transported by ambulance to the hospital a total of 98 times in a 96-day period." Medicare was charged $37,096 for those rides. For that period, Medicare also received 65 hospital bills totaling $63,827 on behalf of Million Dollar Rhody. Medicare also received 164 bills for tests, X-rays, and doctor's visits during this time period - and- the total for those bills was $33,954. "All of these services combined totaled $134,877 - during just a four month period!" Gibbs said. Comparing those numbers with those of the Housing First program, Gibbs said, shows that Housing First "is part of the solution." Richard Godfrey said success along the lines that Housing First has seen would help Rhode Island's structural deficit, currently estimated at anywhere between $200 million and $300 million. "This is all about delivering services better and saving money," Godfrey said. The results of Hirsch's study, Godfrey said, "are no surprise to us. We knew it. But it is hard to prove it" to people who don't see the state's housing situation up close every day. "It is incredible to go out and interview people in this program," Hirsch said, "It is absolutely inspiring. People are so grateful, so happy. It is almost beyond their own capacity to believe that they are in permanent housing after eight years of being homeless. (The average resident, he said, had spent 7.6 years, often sporadically, without a home.) Just that, to me, makes it necessary to fund this program, even if it didn't save money." A program participant who identified himself only as "Robert" said he was homeless for about a year in 2004 and spent a lot of time in shelters. "I had a tough time being homeless," he said. "It was a very degrading experience and shelters, when you could get a bed, were pretty much horrible." The Housing First program, he said, "changed my life dramatically, restored my dignity, gave me a clean, safe place to live" at the Conway House in Johnston. "I'm so happy and grateful to be there. I really don't know where I would be without the House of Hope and this supportive housing program. It works." The Housing First program was funded with a $175,000 grant from the United Way and $325,000 from the state of Rhode Island. That money, said Don Boucher, Housing First program director, all goes toward services - everything from hiring staff, to having clients see doctors or psychiatrists to getting them transportation to the supermarket. Rents for apartments at the Conway house or in scattered-site units managed by Riverwood Mental Health Services are paid for with Section 8 subsidies or with shelter plus care vouchers from Rhode Island Housing, he said. Boucher said there are plenty of available apartments if the program could get more vouchers for the homeless.. "I have landlords calling me every day," he said. "The idea of supportive housing is, you don't just get housing, you get whatever you need to stay in the housing so you don't become homeless again," Hirsch said. "The distinctive aspect of Housing First is, trying to get people in housing as quickly as possible, and keep them there. "Other programs might send them to drug treatment to get them treated for their drug problem and worry about housing later," he explained. "Those people end up back on the street again."
The measure would make it a misdemeanor for hospitals to move a patient anywhere but home without written consent. It is expected to come before a City Council committee for discussion in December. The measure by Councilwoman Jan Perry and City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo follows several reports of people being treated at hospitals as far away as Orange County and then winding up on Skid Row. In June, the city attorney's office filed civil complaints against two hospitals and a transportation services firm for allegedly dumping homeless patients downtown, including a paraplegic man who was found crawling in the gutter near a Skid Row park. Last year, city attorneys filed false imprisonment and dependent care endangerment charges against Kaiser Permanente - the nation's largest nonprofit health maintenance organization - after a 63-year-old patient from its Bellflower hospital was recorded on surveillance video wandering Skid Row in a hospital gown.
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Each day, there are men, women and children who do not have a place to call home. A simple comfort most of us enjoy. In Wyoming alone, 50 percent of the homeless consist of men, 22 percent women, and 26 percent children. Many of the causes of homelessness in Wyoming is made up of domestic violence, physical disabilities, mental health and substance abuse. During National Homeless Awareness Week, we realize that the above cannot be solved in a simple week. It takes community awareness and education of the facilities available. That is why this week we join with the community to work towards abolishing homelessness in our own back yard.
New classes at the WCH Richards Center are starting on Wednesday October 24.
Computer classes will held on Wednesday from 10:00 a.m. until 11:30 a.m.
Classes are limited to 4 students a session. As the need arises other classes
will be offered on Saturday mornings and Thursday evenings. Job, Living
skills and Nutrition classes will be held on Thursday evenings, and Saturday mornings.
Those interested in participating in these classes will need to sign up in the
WCH office, 907 Logan Avenue. For more information contact Virginia 307-634-8499.
COVINGTON, Ky. -- Homeless people could be left in the cold this winter, as organizers looking to re-establish northern Kentucky's only emergency shelter have been unable to find a suitable facility.
New billboards around town are likely to turn heads with their image of an unhappy teen lying on a couch and the question: "Who's sofa surfing tonight?"
PROVIDENCE - By putting a homeless person into a permanent residence first, then providing the mental health, medical and other social services he or she needs, taxpayers could save millions, the homeless would get better and more effective services and communities would benefit by getting transient people off the street.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Hospitals that dump homeless patients on Skid Row would face $25,000 fines under a proposed ordinance.
Views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless, its staff or board.