Homeless camps for homeless vets on the grounds of military bases. Even for just a few weeks in winter. Offer help with employment search and housing search. A young GI getting in trouble would be a great volunteer to help the vets get on their feet and prevent future homelessness by waking up the young men to the realities of taking the wrong path.
Monthly Archives: December 2014
“The Woman On The Corner”
I can’t imagine being a parent of a homeless person. Yes, there are some good people on the street, hope they will take care of her. T.J.
Trial of homelessness strikes close to my heart
It’s so difficult to put down in part
My poor baby daughter, a ghost on the street
For a bottle, a meal, she’d screw men she’d meet
This is such a dangerous way
To live a desperate life everyday
The hardest part was watching her die
Not the life I’d have chosen, I wonder why
She was a very hostile and hurtful drunk
Tough love on my part, how low had I sunk
Muscular dystrophy was part of her plight
She saw only darkness, was too tired to fight
She had seizures while downing her booze
Early scerosis, extended abuse
Cried for her at night, I worried all day
She called from jail, detox, a hospital stay
I once had to search for her as Jane Doe
In a panic I found her, back out she’d go
I felt destroyed and damn…
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Oops!
Recently something popped up in the newspaper. Homeless people can not qualify for Housing First because the state discarded many homeless individuals ID information when they dismantled camps and threw possessions away. What idiots run this state!
How to address Panhandling Without the SSA
Supportive housing for people with mental health issues and addiction issues is a proven way of effectively combating homelessness. By focusing on these programs communities can address panhandling effectively without using the SSA
“IF WE REPEAL THE SSA HOW WILL BUSINESSES AND COMMUNITIES BE ABLE TO ADDRESS UNWANTED PANHANDLING?”
It’s a fair question here is the answer
1. Other legislation exists to deal with behaviour that is problematic
Sections of the Highway Traffic Act (HTA) can be used to police dangerous behaviours.
The SSA creates the offence of “Soliciting on a roadway”, which carries with it a maximum penalty of 6 months in jail and $1000. Panhandlers who walk in live lanes of traffic can be a safety concern. This dangerous behaviour can be addressed by section 140(4) of the HTA which makes it an offence for a pedestrian to move into the path of a vehicle. The maximum penalty for this offence is $500, no jail time. Individual cities in Ontario also have by-laws that prohibit pedestrians from using roadways unsafely. By using these laws the dangerous behaviour can be addressed…
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Housing First
The housing first concept (which we support)—first developed by Pathways to Housing http://pathwaystohousing.org/ —method of dealing with the homeless, works, as this story from the San Jose Mercury News reports.
An excerpt.
We hear a lot about the great divide in Silicon Valley — the gap between the rich and the poor. Nowhere is that more evident than in the 300-plus homeless encampments in Santa Clara County, some not far from million dollar homes and billion dollar corporations.
Nobody should have to live like that — not in Silicon Valley, not anywhere.
We were reminded of this cruel reality with the closing of the Story Road encampment, sometimes called the Jungle. It was a heartbreaking scene as those who have been living there — some for years — tried to pack up their belongings, wet and muddy from the rain.
For me, homelessness is not something that happens to other…
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It’s Always My Fault
Good read.
Another side to the Aplogetic Depression is how willing we are to take the blame for just about everything.
The capacity for taking responsibility for stuff that doesn’t even have anything to do with you amazes me, so much so that you actually believe it to be true.
We let people off with their bad behaviour and not only apologise for it, we also take on the full blame of whatever circumstance occurs at that time, what stuns me is that people let you do it, let them off the hook.
They don’t realise that your ill and the very nature of your illness, is lack of self-worth, confidence ,happiness, all the things they take for granted, and when you take on the extra load of blame you crumble a little more.
We lose the ability to articulate how we feel, thusly when situations arise we rush to the front…
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Why Media Representations Matter
Damn straight.
Stereotypes in the media often focus on the actions of a person who is homeless instead of explaining the structural causes of homelessness. In examining the cycle of poverty we, as media professionals, can begin to acknowledge that public policies and structural issues are largely responsible for the increasing populations living in poverty and experiencing homelessness in the U.S.
Journalists often emphasize and rely on common stereotypes of the homeless community to characterize individuals. Media professionals should work to humanize the people living in poverty. By neglecting to address problems that lead to homelessness journalists are telling a one sided story of an entire population. For example, media coverage will often use negative characterizations such as substance abuse, aggressive, unruly, homeless people flooding the streets.
Instead of discussing issues such as: “lack of affordable housing” – “lack of shelters” – “lack of facilities for the mentally ill” – “lack of…
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What to ask your political representatives…
“What are you doing to help homeless people who want to get off the streets?”
Not “What are you doing to end homelessness?” This is impossible and also takes a sinister turn when certain people feel that all homeless people are garbage and better off dead.
Not “What are you doing about the homeless problem?” This question (actually a statement) makes political leaders feel that the inconveniences felt by tax payers are somehow being elevated above the rights of every homeless person. If you have four walls and a roof, your problems, compared to many homeless people, are minor.
The question “What are you doing to help homeless people get off the streets?” acknowledges that there are some homeless people who WANT TO GET OFF THE STREETS, and puts the political leader in the position to talk about job creation, shelter options (and availability), economic equality through strengthening civil rights, and keeping costs of housing and basic living expenses under control. They can do those things, to benefit those who need the help, make them accountable.
#StreetPlaques
“…especially when you consider the terrible statistic that people who are homeless have a life expectancy of just 48 years.”
Homeless helpers ===> Homeless Bashers (reprint)
Please read this post I wrote about the subject last year:
brainsections 