9/25/2015 The Pope Speaks for the Homeless and Impoverished: The Tribune newspaper ran a nice front page article "A Powerful Message for the Powerless" that encouraged those with more to help those with less, including the homeless. A few highlights from the article:
• I want to be clear: We can find no social or moral justification whatsoever for lack of housing.
• The son of G*d came into this world as a homeless person. The son of G*d knew what it was to start life without a roof over his head.
• The Pope addressed both houses of Congress before meeting with the city's homeless.
• Included in the core of the Pope's message was that we must grapple with the difficult challenges of poverty.
• All political activity must serve and promote the good of the human person.
9/23/2015: This was sent as an email to the SLO City Council (Carlyn Christianson, Jan Marx, John Ashbaugh, Dan Carpenter, Dan Rivoire), the SLO County Board of Supervisors (Bruce Gibson, Frank Mecham, Debbie Arnold, Adam Hill, Lynn Compton) with a cc to Becky Jorgeson of Hope's Village of SLO.
Becky Jorgeson of Hope's Village of SLO pointed out this article that ran in the 9/23/2015 Tribune newspaper in San Luis Obispo (the article was sourced from the LA Times). LA officials decided “enough is enough” (or are they just trying to sweeten their bid for the 2024 summer Olympics? Good Question for us jaded folks who couldn't really believe that politicians were "doing the right thing" when it comes to the least fortunate amongst us). When will our local politicians say that and then take action?
Los Angeles Homeless
LOS ANGELES TIMES — It's no secret to people who walk or drive the streets of Los Angeles that homeless people — tens of thousands of them — are everywhere.On Tuesday, having looked at numbers showing the city's homeless population has increased more than 10 percent over the past two years, officials announced they have decided enough is enough.
Mayor Eric Garcetti and several other elected officials stood outside City Hall — a few feet from several homeless people dozing on a lawn — to announce they plan to declare a state of emergency on homelessness and spend $100 million to eradicate it.
"These are our fellow Angelinos," the mayor said. "They are those who have no other place to go, and they are literally here where we work, a symbol of our city's intense crisis." Six blocks away, on the city's notorious Skid Row, thousands more live permanently in tents, makeshift cardboard shelters and sometimes just on the sidewalk itself.
"If you walk five blocks south and one block over, you'll enter the largest concentration of homeless in the country — about 4,000 homeless living in Skid Row," said Councilman Jose Huizar, who co-chairs the City Council's homelessness & poverty committee.
"Unfortunately, that is just a small percentage of the city's homeless population," he continued. "Yes, 85 percent of the city's homeless population lives outside of Skid Row, throughout the city."
The emergency declaration and the funding will require action by the full City Council. Officials didn't say exactly where the money will come from, but Council President Herb Wesson promised it would be found "somehow, some way."
Huizar spokesman Rick Coca said afterward that officials anticipate it will come from the city's general fund, adding "a more robust financial forecast for the city" is anticipated in the months ahead.
Councilmembers said they hope to have a draft strategic plan on homelessness by December.
[I cut out the middle of the article because it was too long. You might be able to find it at www.LATimes.com]
Callaghan said she fears this latest initiative is aimed more at "reducing the visibility" of the homeless ahead of a proposed bid to bring the Olympics to Los Angeles in 2024, rather than getting homeless people off the street permanently.
"They can spend billions on getting the Olympics," she said of the proposal that anticipates spending $6 billion in public and private financing to bring the Games to LA. "But not on getting people off the sidewalks."
It's no secret to people who walk or drive the streets of San Luis Obispo that homeless people — thousands of them — are everywhere.
Yes, our growing homeless problem constitutes an EMERGENCY. Statistically, SLO county has way more homeless people than Los Angeles county - BY FAR.
As I’ve explained to every local politician that will speak with me (not many):
Where is the sense of urgency?
Our homeless population is GROWING! The 10 year plan to end homelessness is well-intended, but a cruel joke - just ask any homeless person (I have).
During the January 2015 homeless count (Point in Time Survey), my team found 27 active homeless camps in the creak bed between Prado and LOVR alone. Our homeless people already live here - IN THE CREEK BED - UNDER THE OVERPASSES, ETC. They are already here amongst us. Hiding in plain site.
Declare it an emergency, set up a legal, temporary tent camp somewhere on city or county land. Maybe Laguna lake park. Put up a non-see through chain link fence, some porta potties, trash service, and turn us volunteers loose. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. However, there is no political will to do so. NIMBYism. etc. I’ve seen the city to allow firefighters to set up camp (sleep and kitchen facilities) right in the middle of the shopping center. Why? Because the fire is an Emergency. It is a fact that people are dying from being exposed to the elements due to homelessness. Fact: The 50 Now program was designed to save the 50 (out of 2,300) SLO County homeless who were most likely to die due to homelessness.
Too many people are cruel and say the homeless did something to deserve their fate. To that I say, “So What?” and “Who are you to judge?”. What about the fact that a HUGE percentage of our homeless are children - do they deserve it too?
One of our local politicians told me: “we are doing everything we can”. I told them: What a joke. The homeless problem is GROWING. Nothing meaningful is being done. All that is happening is that there is a bureaucratic mash-up and gnashing of teeth that results in a few lucky ones getting to come in out of the weather (at great cost to the government / taxpayers), leaving the bulk of the homeless to be treated as criminals for just "trying to live".
This guy in LA is doing more than any local official that I am aware of:
http://timwaagblog.blogspot.com/2015/05/los-angeles-tiny-house-huge-purpose.html
A society can be judged by how it treats those with the least amongst us. How are we doing? Just wander on down to your local creek bed and ask one of our homeless.
What response do I expect from this email? Crickets. Like always.
For anyone out there who wants to say: well, why don't YOU do something? Well, we already do: run the homeless shelter overflow, personal help to the homeless, advocate for homeless causes and affordable housing, donate money to homeless service charities and the food bank, etc.
The problem is that the GOVERNMENT holds the keys to solving these problems, because they control most of the LAND and all of the REGULATIONS that prevent solutions. In addition, the government often has more MONEY than private charities, though it is debatable whether they use it efficiently.
Government regulations inhibit solutions like:
- managed tent cities (get people out of the creek beds)
- managed "tiny home” villages (like Hope’s Village of SLO)
- more mobile home parks - not less
- living in RVs
- affordable green micro-housing (120 to 200 square foot living units)
- cooperative living (shared cooking, bathroom and meeting room areas)
- more living units: granny units, converted garages, etc.
Yes, our growing homeless problem constitutes an EMERGENCY. Statistically, SLO county has way more homeless people than Los Angeles county - BY FAR.
As I’ve explained to every local politician that will speak with me (not many):
Where is the sense of urgency?
Our homeless population is GROWING! The 10 year plan to end homelessness is well-intended, but a cruel joke - just ask any homeless person (I have).
During the January 2015 homeless count (Point in Time Survey), my team found 27 active homeless camps in the creak bed between Prado and LOVR alone. Our homeless people already live here - IN THE CREEK BED - UNDER THE OVERPASSES, ETC. They are already here amongst us. Hiding in plain site.
Declare it an emergency, set up a legal, temporary tent camp somewhere on city or county land. Maybe Laguna lake park. Put up a non-see through chain link fence, some porta potties, trash service, and turn us volunteers loose. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. However, there is no political will to do so. NIMBYism. etc. I’ve seen the city to allow firefighters to set up camp (sleep and kitchen facilities) right in the middle of the shopping center. Why? Because the fire is an Emergency. It is a fact that people are dying from being exposed to the elements due to homelessness. Fact: The 50 Now program was designed to save the 50 (out of 2,300) SLO County homeless who were most likely to die due to homelessness.
Too many people are cruel and say the homeless did something to deserve their fate. To that I say, “So What?” and “Who are you to judge?”. What about the fact that a HUGE percentage of our homeless are children - do they deserve it too?
One of our local politicians told me: “we are doing everything we can”. I told them: What a joke. The homeless problem is GROWING. Nothing meaningful is being done. All that is happening is that there is a bureaucratic mash-up and gnashing of teeth that results in a few lucky ones getting to come in out of the weather (at great cost to the government / taxpayers), leaving the bulk of the homeless to be treated as criminals for just "trying to live".
This guy in LA is doing more than any local official that I am aware of:
http://timwaagblog.blogspot.com/2015/05/los-angeles-tiny-house-huge-purpose.html
A society can be judged by how it treats those with the least amongst us. How are we doing? Just wander on down to your local creek bed and ask one of our homeless.
What response do I expect from this email? Crickets. Like always.
For anyone out there who wants to say: well, why don't YOU do something? Well, we already do: run the homeless shelter overflow, personal help to the homeless, advocate for homeless causes and affordable housing, donate money to homeless service charities and the food bank, etc.
The problem is that the GOVERNMENT holds the keys to solving these problems, because they control most of the LAND and all of the REGULATIONS that prevent solutions. In addition, the government often has more MONEY than private charities, though it is debatable whether they use it efficiently.
Government regulations inhibit solutions like:
- managed tent cities (get people out of the creek beds)
- managed "tiny home” villages (like Hope’s Village of SLO)
- more mobile home parks - not less
- living in RVs
- affordable green micro-housing (120 to 200 square foot living units)
- cooperative living (shared cooking, bathroom and meeting room areas)
- more living units: granny units, converted garages, etc.
- this is just a partial list...
Government also makes being homeless illegal and creates a downward spiral into homelessness. Government gives out tickets, fines and jails people who live on the street for daily activities required to survive. Government requires sobriety and overall good behavior before a person can be helped, through overly restrictive Case Management. Government even makes it harder to hand out food to hungry people. Yes, this is all true - they just don't want to admit it.
If you don't believe me, read more here:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/10/22/357846415/more-cities-are-making-it-illegal-to-hand-out-food-to-the-homeless
http://billmoyers.com/2014/08/13/no-safe-place-how-cities-are-making-it-illegal-to-be-homeless/
Are our politicians well meaning? Yes, I absolutely do not question their good intentions - only their results. I wish I were a politician, but I’m not - I’m not a glad-hander that could ever get elected by telling people what they want to hear - I’d be honest and get shot-down immediately.
Just remember: eventually, the homeless community will take matters into their own hands and set up a homeless community on government land, much like the “Occupy SLO” movement did recently.
Responses to this Email
**********Sent on : 09/23 10:57:28 AM PDT
Subject : RE: IN TODAY'S TRIBUNE - WANTED TO BE SURE YOU ALL SAW - Hope's
Village can help
Thanks, Becky. I salute LA City for taking the bull by the horns! While LA has a horrible problem with unaffordable housing and homelessness, an even higher percentage of the population is homeless in San Luis Obispo County. In addition, a far higher percentage of our homeless live on the street or in their cars than in the City of LA. SLO County and its cities need to make a proportionate commitment to house our most vulnerable residents.
Offering surplus land to Hope's Village would be a step in the right direction.
--Jerry Rioux
**********
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2015 10:05 PM
Subject: RE: IN TODAY'S TRIBUNE - WANTED TO BE SURE YOU ALL SAW - Hope's Village can help
Jerry, were it that homeless services in our community — both within and outside of government had better leadership and weren't so bureaucratized and top heavy with detached decision makers who fight turf wars in both the literal and figurative ways of control, we might actually better understand how greatly we are failing. But alas... Please forgive my syntax, I'm tired.
—Adam (Hill, SLO County Board of Supervisors)
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