http://www.hud.gov/homeless/index.cfm
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
House of Charity Episode Nine 5.11.09
Folks, I'm back.
The long hiatus from articulating experiences at the House of Charity can be summed up in four letters--MCAT. But, for the next twenty-one days, I'll be here, or more specifically, there, at the House of Charity.
But some links before we get started.
Catholic Charities Spokane's Blog:
http://www.catholiccharitiesspokane.org/blog/
Maybe even more interesting, the 'Faithworks' newsletter this past month featured an article from the House of Charity's very own Chris Heinrich (of http://lifesspice.blogspot.com/ fame) and, as soon as it's been scanned, will be online here:
http://www.catholiccharitiesspokane.org/?page=165
(also, Chris produces some excellent writing outside of his House of Charity work. I like his 101-word submission for the Inlander--there's a link somewhere in his blog to 'That One Guy')
But where were we. Oh yeah, twenty-one more days until my time at the House of Charity comes to an end. Incidentally, that's the exact number of days until the sleeping program closes.
Just for the summer, but still.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. The House of Charity is about people. But usually, I'm talking about clients/patrons/guests. But the staff are people too. Some blog with panache, like Chris. Or there's our director, that received a police report of a body that was found, and from the approximate description and date of death, found out who it was--the person passed away three years ago.
And he remembered him. Jeff. His funeral was a few weeks ago, and his family finally knew what happened. After three years.
Then there's the staff member that patrons generally call the boss man, or, "You know, the one that walks around." He's our head of security, and when a tour I'm giving isn't quite impressive enough, I tell kids that he once trained with Chuck Norris. Which is true.
When he started a couple of years ago, the House of Charity was a very different place. Frankly, it was more dangerous--this I've been told--as people used to loiter about on the rocks near the House of Charity, in and about the abandoned buildings in the area, moving to and from the boardwalk, and Dick's Hamburgers. His work, for the past few years, has been not only buiding a rapport with some of the most dangerous people we serve, but with the local law enforcement as well.
Something about a silver-haired retired Marine, LAPD (south-central) police officer, and EMT conjures up quite a bit of respect in folks, and the best part about our security director is that he gives respect to everyone. Without exception.
And he's seen just about everything.
So, when he's worried about the sleeping program closing for the summer, that maybe more than anything else made it sink in. When someone with over thirty years of experience in law enforcement is talking about the changes that will happen in the community--even I know that I need to clam up and listen.
See, one of the things that happened the year after the boss man started working at the House of Charity was the sleeping program stayed open for the summer. Traditionally, its last night until fall would be the 31st of May, then it would re-open come October (or September, I'm not sure which), and be open for the colder winter months. The reasoning was, patrons would rather sleep outside--despite the level of danger, instability, and health problems that are avoided by sleeping in a warm bed, wearing clean pajamas, and having a hot shower every night.
And having your belongings locked away safely while you slept.
But, this year, as the vice-grip of the "great" recession tightens, the sleeping program is going to close again. Which is ludicrous. The funding necessary for the program came from a state grant, which carried with it stipulations toward ending homelessness, which are difficult for our staff to quantify. Despite nearly every week someone from our sleeping program, having their basic needs of food, shelter, and security met, finds housing on their own.
A few weeks ago it was a slight man with a conductor's cap that had an omnipresent parakeet on his shoulder who, on his last day, almost teared up in thanking us for treating him like a person, like that wasn't what he expected.
Last week it was an old electrician from Detroit, and an insightful man (I think Italian) that I really have no idea where he's from.
But past the respecting innate human dignity that is the centerpiece of what we do as an institution, let's throw some argument towards why closing the sleeping program is financially a poor move.
1. Providing access to basic shelter, saftey, and hygiene in our sleeping program cuts down on emergency room visits caused by lack of proper care, not to mention the number of E.R. visits that will occur due to trauma suffered while sleeping outside or from the effects of increased self-medication with drugs/alcohol to mitigate poor living conditions (for example, camping out in people's park). Keeping the sleeping program open will keep emergency room visits from skyrocketing.
These emergency room visits by people that cannot afford them must be paid by the hospitals, and will act to drive up health care costs and increase wait times in the emergency room.
2. Downtown Spokane businesses are going to have to put up with an increased presence of our patrons, from an increased level of panhandling, to increased levels of crime, both petty and violent. Petty crime from individuals lacking adequate housing and falling back on drugs/alcohol as coping mechanisms, and violent crime from individuals in the same situation. Increasing levels of danger is going to drive consumers, already hit hard by the recession, away from downtown, which will become increasingly dangerous. Keeping the sleeping program open is good for business, that can use all the help it can get in these times.
3. The increased levels of petty and violent crime as our patrons are put in more dire situations will cost the city more in police officer time, department resources, and will take officer presence away from other neighborhoods, making everyone less safe. Not to mention the increased expenses from all the jail time that will occur due to the increase in petty and violent crime.
On this one, it might be time to remember Malcom Gladwell and 'Million-Dollar Murray', the chronic inebriate that cost a Nevada city over a million dollars in the course of a few years in police time, emergency room visits, and detox.
Or if you're more inclined towards local's making the argument:
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/may/01/house-charity-could-cut-summer-hours/
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/may/02/house-of-charity-faces-funding-bind/
Local's like the director of Catholic Charities Spokane pointing out that it costs about $8 a night to house guys here, as opposed to about $81 nightly at Spokane County Jail.
It might be time to remember that the poor are always with us, and if they're not going to be sleeping at the House of Charity, they may be sleeping on the doorstep of downtown businesses. Or they might be drinking because life seems hopeless, fall down, and have to go to the emergency room, and you may have to wait longer to be seen for your appendicitis.
It might be time to think of our "boss man," and how the House of Charity was when he started. How much more dangerous it was, and think of what happens when people aren't treated with respect to the dignity that isn't ours to take away. It can get ugly.
It might be time to think about what we can do to keep the sleepin program open.
Because it seems like our state just tried to save money by getting rid of an ounce of prevention, and is forgetting what a pound of cure will cost--and who's going to foot the bill.
And we've got twenty-one days to change that.
The long hiatus from articulating experiences at the House of Charity can be summed up in four letters--MCAT. But, for the next twenty-one days, I'll be here, or more specifically, there, at the House of Charity.
But some links before we get started.
Catholic Charities Spokane's Blog:
http://www.catholiccharitiesspokane.org/blog/
Maybe even more interesting, the 'Faithworks' newsletter this past month featured an article from the House of Charity's very own Chris Heinrich (of http://lifesspice.blogspot.com/ fame) and, as soon as it's been scanned, will be online here:
http://www.catholiccharitiesspokane.org/?page=165
(also, Chris produces some excellent writing outside of his House of Charity work. I like his 101-word submission for the Inlander--there's a link somewhere in his blog to 'That One Guy')
But where were we. Oh yeah, twenty-one more days until my time at the House of Charity comes to an end. Incidentally, that's the exact number of days until the sleeping program closes.
Just for the summer, but still.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. The House of Charity is about people. But usually, I'm talking about clients/patrons/guests. But the staff are people too. Some blog with panache, like Chris. Or there's our director, that received a police report of a body that was found, and from the approximate description and date of death, found out who it was--the person passed away three years ago.
And he remembered him. Jeff. His funeral was a few weeks ago, and his family finally knew what happened. After three years.
Then there's the staff member that patrons generally call the boss man, or, "You know, the one that walks around." He's our head of security, and when a tour I'm giving isn't quite impressive enough, I tell kids that he once trained with Chuck Norris. Which is true.
When he started a couple of years ago, the House of Charity was a very different place. Frankly, it was more dangerous--this I've been told--as people used to loiter about on the rocks near the House of Charity, in and about the abandoned buildings in the area, moving to and from the boardwalk, and Dick's Hamburgers. His work, for the past few years, has been not only buiding a rapport with some of the most dangerous people we serve, but with the local law enforcement as well.
Something about a silver-haired retired Marine, LAPD (south-central) police officer, and EMT conjures up quite a bit of respect in folks, and the best part about our security director is that he gives respect to everyone. Without exception.
And he's seen just about everything.
So, when he's worried about the sleeping program closing for the summer, that maybe more than anything else made it sink in. When someone with over thirty years of experience in law enforcement is talking about the changes that will happen in the community--even I know that I need to clam up and listen.
See, one of the things that happened the year after the boss man started working at the House of Charity was the sleeping program stayed open for the summer. Traditionally, its last night until fall would be the 31st of May, then it would re-open come October (or September, I'm not sure which), and be open for the colder winter months. The reasoning was, patrons would rather sleep outside--despite the level of danger, instability, and health problems that are avoided by sleeping in a warm bed, wearing clean pajamas, and having a hot shower every night.
And having your belongings locked away safely while you slept.
But, this year, as the vice-grip of the "great" recession tightens, the sleeping program is going to close again. Which is ludicrous. The funding necessary for the program came from a state grant, which carried with it stipulations toward ending homelessness, which are difficult for our staff to quantify. Despite nearly every week someone from our sleeping program, having their basic needs of food, shelter, and security met, finds housing on their own.
A few weeks ago it was a slight man with a conductor's cap that had an omnipresent parakeet on his shoulder who, on his last day, almost teared up in thanking us for treating him like a person, like that wasn't what he expected.
Last week it was an old electrician from Detroit, and an insightful man (I think Italian) that I really have no idea where he's from.
But past the respecting innate human dignity that is the centerpiece of what we do as an institution, let's throw some argument towards why closing the sleeping program is financially a poor move.
1. Providing access to basic shelter, saftey, and hygiene in our sleeping program cuts down on emergency room visits caused by lack of proper care, not to mention the number of E.R. visits that will occur due to trauma suffered while sleeping outside or from the effects of increased self-medication with drugs/alcohol to mitigate poor living conditions (for example, camping out in people's park). Keeping the sleeping program open will keep emergency room visits from skyrocketing.
These emergency room visits by people that cannot afford them must be paid by the hospitals, and will act to drive up health care costs and increase wait times in the emergency room.
2. Downtown Spokane businesses are going to have to put up with an increased presence of our patrons, from an increased level of panhandling, to increased levels of crime, both petty and violent. Petty crime from individuals lacking adequate housing and falling back on drugs/alcohol as coping mechanisms, and violent crime from individuals in the same situation. Increasing levels of danger is going to drive consumers, already hit hard by the recession, away from downtown, which will become increasingly dangerous. Keeping the sleeping program open is good for business, that can use all the help it can get in these times.
3. The increased levels of petty and violent crime as our patrons are put in more dire situations will cost the city more in police officer time, department resources, and will take officer presence away from other neighborhoods, making everyone less safe. Not to mention the increased expenses from all the jail time that will occur due to the increase in petty and violent crime.
On this one, it might be time to remember Malcom Gladwell and 'Million-Dollar Murray', the chronic inebriate that cost a Nevada city over a million dollars in the course of a few years in police time, emergency room visits, and detox.
Or if you're more inclined towards local's making the argument:
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/may/01/house-charity-could-cut-summer-hours/
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/may/02/house-of-charity-faces-funding-bind/
Local's like the director of Catholic Charities Spokane pointing out that it costs about $8 a night to house guys here, as opposed to about $81 nightly at Spokane County Jail.
It might be time to remember that the poor are always with us, and if they're not going to be sleeping at the House of Charity, they may be sleeping on the doorstep of downtown businesses. Or they might be drinking because life seems hopeless, fall down, and have to go to the emergency room, and you may have to wait longer to be seen for your appendicitis.
It might be time to think of our "boss man," and how the House of Charity was when he started. How much more dangerous it was, and think of what happens when people aren't treated with respect to the dignity that isn't ours to take away. It can get ugly.
It might be time to think about what we can do to keep the sleepin program open.
Because it seems like our state just tried to save money by getting rid of an ounce of prevention, and is forgetting what a pound of cure will cost--and who's going to foot the bill.
And we've got twenty-one days to change that.
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