Combining Food Stamps, Food Banks, and Soup Kitchens

Combining the resources of these public and private services may be a good idea:

1. If someone uses their food stamps to “buy” a hot meal at a soup kitchen, those facilities will be funded AND the homeless person will have a hot meal (hot meals are currently not allowed under food stamps ).

2. If people using the food banks and soup kitchens are required to have a food stamp card to get services, there would be a system to track the people getting food. Then cases where people who “double and triple dip” into the system will be discouraged and more people can be served. I know a man who has food stamps, disability checks and every day he eats 3 meals at the free feedings at shelters, etc. AND he goes to the food bank for snacks. He is 400 pounds, at least!

3. If people were at the food banks to assist the homeless in filling out applications for food stamps, there would not be cases where homeless people are falling through the cracks.

4. Food stamp fraud would be greatly reduced, because people would have only a portion of the amount they get in food stamps available for shopping at grocery stores. Maybe 20%. The rest they would have to get at food banks. No more people paying homeless drug addicts to use their food stamps. No more people buying junk food and unhealthy food on Uncle Sam’s dollar. No more steak and lobster on food stamps.

Sound good? Write your congressional representative or senator.

Glad that more people are interested in the small time…

I see that more people have been clicking on my Small Houses Resource Guide post. It would be great if the mayors of our cities would take an interest in providing small housing options for people who do not want or need a large house, but who do want to feel like they have a house and a piece of land to work on and grow food.
I know, I know, we are all supposed to live in apartments, if we can’t afford big monstrous homes. That’s our punishment, right?
When did housing your body get so complicated? Lots of people only need one room and can only afford it. But does that mean they should be cramped into an apartment slum? Think about it; land that is just going to waste somewhere. Lay some plumbing and a road. Some street lights. Then divide up lots. 25’x25′ or 50’x50′. The people can move in with just tents, if the climate permits, and then move around in the space to find neighbors that they are comfortable with. No assigning and locking people in. Too George Orwell. When they find their spot and keep peaceful for a trial period (about a year)… then they get to meet with charities who can help them build their safe, affordable, snug home. Whooo ray for us, we helped stop homelessness.

Kind Carpenter Helps Homeless Men Get Back On Their Feet…

Ideas to help are all around. We just need the courage to implement them.

Kindness Blog

Georgia native Brian Preston lost his remodeling business, his house and the family cars when the recession hit back in 2008, but he never lost hope. The resilient builder came up with a new plan – to make furniture from reclaimed wood like dismantled barns and shipping palettes. He needed employees to start his venture and he found his first in an unusual place – living in the woods behind a shopping center. The homeless man had a story similar to Brian’s – he had been in the housing business and lost everything when the recession hit.

“I swore I would never come back,” Curtis said as he went again to the woods where he lived in a tent for ten months. He remembered the day he left the site for good: “It took me four trips to get all my stuff outta here.”

Curtis can now afford to rent…

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Help is just a phone call away at StreetLink

Good ideas that can be used in more places to help more people. — T.J.

Broadway Blogs

Words by Lisa Miller, a volunteer at the StreetLink rough sleeper referral line, in London.

Throughout me career, I’ve had the opportunity to live in Los Angeles and New York City, in the US, and in London, here in the UK.

And as jaded as I have become from years in the rat race, I’ve never got used to seeing rough sleepers on the streets as I rushed around town. Their relentless struggle to survive – on full public display – and my lack of power to offer any real help hits me like a kick in the gut. Indeed, the complexities of their needs are beyond my capabilities and comprehension.

All I do know is that everyone deserves a safe and stable place to call home. 

Winter 2012 in London was especially brutal so I was thrilled to find out about StreetLink via a weblink that went viral on…

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Joshua Duerk on Helping Those in Need of Housing

….”Though there are many helpful organizations, perhaps most important in the fight against homelessness is ensuring the availability of low-cost housing.” Ain’t that the truth! — T.J.

Joshua Duerk's WordPress Blog

With the steady increase in homelessness in America over the past two decades, the need for housing subsidy programs has become especially resonant. Maryland is no exception—Baltimore-Towson ranked 23rd in a survey of homelessness in America’s highest-populated metro areas. Fortunately, there are programs in existence that can help.

The federal government’s Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8) offers financial assistance in the form of vouchers to very low-income families and individuals, the disabled, and the elderly to help cover housing costs.

Another program, the state of Maryland’s Rental Allowance Program, provides grants to local governments, who then subsidize low-income or homeless individuals’ and families’ housing needs.

Baltimore-based Alliance, Inc. offers help to veterans who are either homeless or near homelessness by providing access to housing resources and financial assistance for permanent housing.

Though there are many helpful organizations, perhaps most important in the fight against homelessness is ensuring the availability…

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KeyBank volunteers help Millionair Club Charity workers with job hunting

Hey, great idea. Before serving the hot meal… help someone write a resume. (It is better to teach someone to fish then to just keep handing them fishes.) — T.J.

Updates and Success Stories from Millionair Club Charity

The Millionair Club Charity put KeyBank to work the morning of May 22, 2013 when 12 volunteers reported for duty as part of Key’s 23rd Annual Neighbors Make the Difference Day.

The KeyBank team met our program participants and provided job searching assistance – delivering resume tips, interview coaching and practice navigating online employment opportunities.

We help rebuild lives by providing job opportunities—daily work assignments, temporary jobs and permanent employment—to Seattle-area men and women seeking employment. We also provide essential wrap-around services, including connections to housing, hot meals, showers, laundry services, eye care and preventive medical care to support our workers’ success and help address unemployment and homelessness in our region.

“Thousands of men and women in our area are still affected by the recession and are looking for work,” said Jim Miller, executive director of the Millionair Club Charity. “It was great to have these business-savvy volunteers on hand…

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One Way To Fight Homelessness: Cooperate!

I’ve heard it more than a few times, shelter employees and directors stating that their shelter is the only one that should be serving their community. If you look beneath the self-serving promotion, you realise that the shelters in each city and state are all competing for federal money. The lack of which means loosing jobs. Their jobs. Meanwhile, homeless people are trapped in the middle. Such practises as barring shelter residents from moving from one shelter to another, voluntarily, are common. They don’t like “shelter shoppers” they say. They might have to upgrade their services (and attitude) if people were given freedom of choice.

When I hear a shelter staffer or director trash talking another shelter, I ask them: “What if the other shelter is closer to a job?” “How about if a homeless person has a dispute with another resident and wants to move?” Shouldn’t homeless people have the right to freedom. Many of them were in the armed forces and fought for those rights. Why not give it to them, and stop competing for business at the expense of those you are being paid to serve.

That’s all I have to say about that.

Shelter report: shocking claims on gatekeeping

I experienced ‘GateKeeping’ myself. The public housing people try to make it very hard for the homeless to get a unit.

Related articles

• Homeless Shelter Population Reaches Record 50,000 (nbcnewyork.com)
• The City is for All: “We are not asking for free housing” (Budapest) (brainsections.wordpress.com)
• Dufty: Homelessness won’t be solved (sfgate.com)

Good Read

http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/blog/entry/the-right-to-shelter-and-proven-solutions-to-the-problem-of-homelessness/#.UT0NjKe2LpI.wordpress

The Street Has Now Hit The Stage

Remember that line from the movie The Help? “You want stories? I’ll give you stories!” Street life goes on stage in Portland.— T.J.