What can we do to help the homeless?

[Serenity]

Re: What can we do to help the homeless?

In The StarBulletin today: http://starbulletin.com/2006/04/24/news/story02.html

"Massive Clean-up Starts tomarrow at Ala Moana Park!"

Auntie Lynn

Yeah, I was wrong in the date, it starts tomorrow, then.

Thanks for the weblink.

Aloha.

[1stwahine]

Re: What can we do to help the homeless?

Yeah, I was wrong in the date, it starts tomorrow, then.

Thanks for the weblink.

Aloha.

You are correct Serenity. Whoever is left staying there must pack up and leave for good. I'm surprised they were still people being allowed to stay after the big eviction and hoopla which was created over it in the first place.

Auntie Alyn

btw: I led the group outta there that night!

[Menehune Man]

Re: What can we do to help the homeless?

Thanks Auntie! You're a blessing to all that have the luck to run into you.
That's what life is really about, eh?!

[1stwahine]

Re: What can we do to help the homeless?

That's what life is really about, eh?!

It sure is! In another Chapter of my Life...my children and I were once Homeless too. I never forget the past and always try to help those who are less fortunate than myself.

Auntie Alyn

btw: Mahalo, Menehune Man for the kind words!

[1stwahine]

Re: What can we do to help the homeless?

In The StarBulletin this morning: http://starbulletin.com/2006/04/25/news/story11.html
"3 sites for homeless studied"

Bravo! Wait. It is only a "STUDY!"

...at least it's sumting!

Betta den NUTTTIN!

It's about TIME!!!

Auntie Alyn

[smeed]

Re: What can we do to help the homeless?

http://starbulletin.com/2006/04/10/news/story02.html

Auntie Alyn

That's pretty hopeful. It seems like the homeless do best in a situation where they can set up rules and an organization that is self-run, gaining security and a place to sleep in a no drug/alcohol environment. There's a tent city in Ventura that is run along similar lines.

It seems like it doesn't take much to get people moving on an upward path, but they have to have a safe place to sleep and store some property, and they need some say in how their environment is operating.

Shelters don't really do this. They are in the people warehousing business. My two cents worth.

[timkona]

Re: What can we do to help the homeless?

The homeless do best in a situation that is "self-run". Now that is funny.

To become homeless requires a series of bad decisions over the span of several years. It's not like you just wake up one morning and say "Hey, I'm moving out to the beach". So if you are in favor of allowing people with a proven track record to "self-run" their lives, then yours is the hardest heart I have ever heard of. You sound like Ronald Reagan.

The mere fact that they are homeless implies a decision making process that is flawed at some level. Therein lies the main reason why they need structured environments where they have very little control, except the freedom to come and go.

[smeed]

Re: What can we do to help the homeless?

The homeless do best in a situation that is "self-run". Now that is funny.

To become homeless requires a series of bad decisions over the span of several years. It's not like you just wake up one morning and say "Hey, I'm moving out to the beach". So if you are in favor of allowing people with a proven track record to "self-run" their lives, then yours is the hardest heart I have ever heard of. You sound like Ronald Reagan.

The mere fact that they are homeless implies a decision making process that is flawed at some level. Therein lies the main reason why they need structured environments where they have very little control, except the freedom to come and go.

That's your solution? Controlled environments where people can come and go and make no other decisions? Sounds like the shelter system, something the homeless tend to not want to be inside of for obvious reasons that they are not free in any sense of the word to control their lives. And, the shelter system actually tends to work against people getting independent again.

I am in favor of tent communities that have a chance of actually happening and being successful, unlike most government solutions with endless studies and expensive solutions that help only a few at a time.

The homeless themselves say they need a place to sleep, and a place to keep their stuff without it getting ripped off. Not all homeless made a series of bad decisions. Sometimes it's just losing a job. They aren't all that easily categorizable.

The success of tent cities run by homeless with strict rules self-imposed by the inhabitants seem to say it works. The authorities often cannot provide either the funding or the physical elements of regular housing for anything like the total numbers of homeless. Tent cities provide a sense of community, self-discipline and a chance to save some money and look for work without having to go through a bureaucratic labyrinth imposed by most shelters and government solutions.

The chronics who cannot abide by the rules, and the criminal element cannot abide by the rules which typically specify no drugs/alcohol, so tent cities tend to be quiet and relatively peaceful IMHO. So, to get a leg up from the place a homeless person has landed in, they have to start by following the rules.

Of course, the initiative has to come from the homeless like that group organizing at the church. Those are the kinds that will form a community that helps themselves.

[1stwahine]

Re: What can we do to help the homeless?

The homeless do best in a situation that is "self-run". Now that is funny.

To become homeless requires a series of bad decisions over the span of several years. It's not like you just wake up one morning and say "Hey, I'm moving out to the beach"

How totally UNTRUE, CRUEL and UNJUST! So many families are just one check away from being Homeless. All it takes is a disabling disease, an accident or some unfortanate circumstance in which Life delt one's way.

Those that are strong will survive. Those that are weak will succumb even further in the the horrors of which Homelessness can bring.

For those that make it they are unsung Heros because no matter what pain and suffering they went through...they never forget those they left behind.

Auntie Lynn

[timkona]

Re: What can we do to help the homeless?

Now come on Auntie Lynn, I'm not that mean, and you know it.

But I come from a poor family. And I stayed in high school. Then I worked 3 jobs at night and ate a rationed portion of day old bread & throw away bologna from Costco (where i worked) while I went to college. Paid for every minute of it by myself. I been hungry. Real hungry while sitting in class trying to take a test, then standing up feeling dizzy from the low blood sugar, and dragging myself off to work all night long in the freezer section. Just recently I spent 4 years of my life acquiring my appraisers license. Almost lost my wife and my house along the way. But I perservered doing whatever it took.

I bust my nuggets on a daily basis. 7 days a week. I am scared to death of poverty and homelessness. I buy insurance till I'm blue in the face to protect against disease, disability, and the like.

But if my daughter comes home with an acceptance letter from MIT, I want to look her dead straight in the eye and say "Sure honey, I've got the $170,000 per year tuition. Oh, and heres an apartment, and a car, and some pizza money, and some book money, and some lab fee money. Now go have fun and learn something along the way"

Life is a bitch. Then you die. I'm a hard ass by circumstance. Only the strong survive. Get over it.

[Tiabla]

Re: What can we do to help the homeless?

Has anyone read this article by Malcolm Gladwell (author of Tipping Point and Blink) about the homeless problem?

The subtitle is "Why problems like homelessness may be easier to solve than to manage."

“We came up with three names that were some of our chronic inebriates in the downtown area, that got arrested the most often,” ...

The first of those people was Murray Barr, and Johns and O’Bryan realized that if you totted up all his hospital bills for the ten years that he had been on the streets—as well as substance-abuse-treatment costs, doctors’ fees, and other expenses—Murray Barr probably ran up a medical bill as large as anyone in the state of Nevada.

“It cost us one million dollars not to do something about Murray,” O’Bryan said.

The article looks at surprising statistics concerning the homeless and also explores a controversial Denver program which essentially provides free apartments to the homeless.

I also found an NPR interview with Gladwell about this topic.

[1stwahine]

Re: What can we do to help the homeless?

Now come on Auntie Lynn, I'm not that mean, and you know it.

But I come from a poor family. And I stayed in high school. Then I worked 3 jobs at night and ate a rationed portion of day old bread & throw away bologna from Costco (where i worked) while I went to college. Paid for every minute of it by myself. I been hungry. Real hungry while sitting in class trying to take a test, then standing up feeling dizzy from the low blood sugar, and dragging myself off to work all night long in the freezer section. Just recently I spent 4 years of my life acquiring my appraisers license. Almost lost my wife and my house along the way. But I perservered doing whatever it took.

I bust my nuggets on a daily basis. 7 days a week. I am scared to death of poverty and homelessness. I buy insurance till I'm blue in the face to protect against disease, disability, and the like.


But if my daughter comes home with an acceptance letter from MIT, I want to look her dead straight in the eye and say "Sure honey, I've got the $170,000 per year tuition. Oh, and heres an apartment, and a car, and some pizza money, and some book money, and some lab fee money. Now go have fun and learn something along the way"

Life is a bitch. Then you die. I'm a hard ass by circumstance. Only the strong survive. Get over it.

Yes, only the strong survives. However, there is such a term as remaining HUMBLE!

I know of three young adults who lost their father at a young age. They became Homeless and had to take care of their mom who suffered a major stroke two weeks after burying their dad. When she recovered she didn't want to live and succumb to Drugs. She has fully recovered. They moved into Low Income Housing. They could have taken the easy road and become just like the others in the area but chose not. Instead they excelled in school and made something of themselves.

Each of them became Heros in their own right. Today, they stand tall as Military Soliders and Mentors for others of where they grew up. These young adults knew what it was to suffer first hand and yet they are humble and respect others.

They know what it is to apppreciate and be ready if anything should happen. They've been there, done that.

How do I know?

I am their MOTHER!

Get over it!

Auntie Lynn

[smeed]

Re: What can we do to help the homeless?

Has anyone read this article by Malcolm Gladwell (author of Tipping Point and Blink) about the homeless problem?

The subtitle is "Why problems like homelessness may be easier to solve than to manage."



The article looks at surprising statistics concerning the homeless and also explores a controversial Denver program which essentially provides free apartments to the homeless.

I also found an NPR interview with Gladwell about this topic.

I think that article neatly illustrates the difference between chronic alcoholic or drug users and the other homeless, who may be temporarily down and out, or had some financial problem leading to homelessness. The two groups need different solutions.

[Miulang]

Re: What can we do to help the homeless?

The people in the tent cities up here DO self-govern their encampments. They also have strict no drinking/no drug rules and even keep known sex offenders out. Their rationale? If they have to live in communities which already are biased against them because of their homelessness, the way to keep from being chased out of town is to abide by the law and work with the communities to prove that they are worthy of being guests in that community. Many times, these tent cities are invited back into communities because they have proven themselves to be model citizens. The tent city residents also know that local law enforcement will bust their chops at the very first sign of trouble because that is what the taxpayers of that community expect (distrust them until they prove they can be tristed).

The homeless people who run into trouble (either by preying upon or preying upon others) are those who don't want to or can't join a tent community. They are the ones who are the drug dealers and alcoholics who chose to live their lives in that way; many of the tent city people are working people who just can't afford to keep a roof over their heads.

Miulang

[timkona]

Re: What can we do to help the homeless?

There is no doubt that the MILITARY is an exceptional "out" for those that are looking at few desirable choices. I'm a big fan, and though I never served, I have numerous friends, relatives, and acquaintenances who all say that it was a worthy experience. Some of those are still lifers.

I encourage a lot of youngsters in my sphere of influence to give the military a serious look. It's not all blood & bullets - theres Coast Guard, Air Force, and Navy for those that arent the uh rah type. Military is full of jobs that require all kinds of training besides killing folk.