Activist brings attention to homelessness

A CNN story highlights the work of an activist who has been using twitter and the web to show the faces of those he encounters who are currently homeless.

Mark Horvath was homeless himself fourteen years ago, but found himself looking away from those on the street once he got back on his own feet. He decided to change that by using social media to film people he met and tell their stories via social media.



You can find Horvath on Twitter at @Hardly Normal. His web tv station can be found at InvisiblePeople.tv

Former homeless addict , now a church pastor, advocates for homeless

He talks about the ways faith groups helped him get off the streets and now works toward finding housing and reaching out to those still homeless.

Criminalizing homelessness

When the Safe Cities Initiative began in 2006 in Los Angeles, it targeted behaviors such as sitting on the street,littering, sleeping past 6 a.m. on the streets and jaywalking in an attempt to better Skid Row. Police say their goal is to provide a temptation free area for the homeless addicts who are trying to go straight. In a piece by NPR, however, it says:

According to a study at UCLA, police officers wrote about a thousand tickets a month during the first year of the program. LAPD records indicate that they're writing fewer of them now. Still, even a single ticket would be one too many for Casey Horan. She's the executive director of Lamp, a Skid Row organization that works with the mentally ill.

"They're targeting people who are on the street," she complains. "It's the whole premise of this Safer City Initiative to invest enormous police resources into very, very petty things, which are really a consequence of someone's illness or a consequence of having to survive on the streets."

The article talks about Jason Diamond, a 31 year old former crack addict. He claims that he's received from 10 to 15 tickets for littering, jaywalking and drinking in public. Since he can't afford to pay the fines, warrants are issued which means he can be picked up and processed through the jail system, an experience others are going through as well.

Yesterday homeless activists were at the LA City Council meeting, chanting Shame on You and holding upside down American flags to protect the Safe Cities Initiative. They testified about the effect of the program, saying it "had resulted in the harassment of Skid Row residents and an exodus of homeless residents out of the area."

The NPR article asks: so where have those homeless people gone?

A better question is whether programs like this go to the root of the problem. Do they result in just moving the homeless population to different areas? How about offering treatment options for addiction and housing? How about the high percentage of homeless people who have disabilities?

In the NPR article, the mayor claims that over the past three years since the program started, 796 housing units have been constructed, but most are not completed.

On page 24 of a 2008 report on homelessness, statistics show that two fifths of sheltered homeless adults have disabilities, under the broader definition used by HUD which includes those with substance abuse. (See chart on page 25).

The report notes on page 27 and 28 that the average annual SSI payment is 44 per cent below the poverty level, creating deep poverty among those unable to create a work history. It also notes the greater difficulties with acquiring accessible housing among the disabled population. In 2008 , over 39% of long term stayers in shelters were disabled, the report indicates on page 52.

The rest of the report shows where homelessness is concentrated in the U.S. It should come as no surprise that Florida and California cities are listed, due to their climates. Nor, after reading the statistics, should it come as any surprise that providing housing is a necessary and humane solution if the goal is to do more than shift the homeless population around.

Laws changed in some states to protect restaurants donating food

As food pantries struggle to provide meals for increasing numbers, some states have recently passed laws to protect donor restaurants from civil liability, which makes "it easier for restaurants to donate leftover food to charities", according to USA Today.

Ross Fraser of Feeding America, a national association of food banks, says the demand for free meals rose by an average of 30% in 2008, but some areas saw an increase of up to 70%.

The article discusses changes in laws in Mississippi, Nevada, Massachusetts, California, and Florida. It is also noted by USA Today that

Food donors are protected from liability by the 1996 federal Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, but it does not supersede state and local restrictions on food donations, says Maureen Ryan, spokesperson for the National Restaurant Association.

The homeless in Philadelphia

After the recent death of Margaret Jones, Philadelphia is changing the way it tracks homeless people with mental illnesses. Jones was found dead in a transit stairwell in January 2009. Although Philadelphia's mental health system knew she was missing and a homeless shelter knew her whereabouts, neither agency was in contact with each other.

The article states that 70 percent of homeless people have mental illnesses.

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Witnesses to Hunger, a group of homeless women who were given digital cameras to photograph their lives, traveled to Washington DC this week. They worked with Drexel University's School of Public Health to create the project and were followed by a documentary crew. The exhibit was displayed at the Russell Senate Office Building. A video of the project is below.

Since The Inquirer published a story about their photos last fall, news organizations in Asia, the Middle East and Europe have written about the women and the North Philadelphia world they photographed.
via philly.com

Investigation of homeless crime will emphasize whether motivated by discriminatory attitudes toward disabilities

A few miscellaneous homeless videos and articles in the news, first.

Students at FGCU spent the night on campus in boxes as part of raising awareness for homelessness. One student couldn't use the box - she had experienced homelessness already.


The students now plan to take action on the issue.

In Baltimore, where homelessness has increased by 12 per cnnt over two years, the city council approved a proposal for a 275 bed shelter. Services for the homeless are needed in rural areas.
In other places, tent cities are sprouting up. Homelessness is increasingly becoming a problem for schools and their students.A promotional campaign will "encourage more compassion for people living on the street" in L.A. to cut down on crime against the homeless.

In the hate crime training it provides to law enforcement agencies, the commission will also place an emphasis on investigating whether a crime against a homeless person is motivated by discriminatory attitudes toward mental and physical disabilities.

National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week

This week is National Homelessness and Hunger Awareness Week. For suggestions on five actions you can take in five minutes, click here.

For five things you should know about homelessness, click here.

For a guide on how to get involved, click here. From their site:

Why is National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week so important? Participating in National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week not only brings greater awareness to your community, but also helps to promote the national endeavor to end hunger and homelessness. The plight of those without a home can be both lonely and difficult. Addressing their struggles by organizing and participating in this week may bring greater solidarity and understanding, as well as promote future involvement. Events, such as "One Night Without a Home," help people realize the difficulties that homeless persons daily face. Talk about these issues with your coordinators and discuss what impact such an event might have on your community. It is imperative to dispel myths that label homelessness as someone else's problem or claim that an end to homelessness is impossible.

VIa YouTube:
"This is a slide show we did using a song Tyler wrote called Sister of Mercy.We hope it will help raise awareness of the homeless problem in our country and disspell the many misconceptions about homeless people.
According to The National Alliance to End Homelessness, (www.endhomelessness.org) 50 percent of the homeless population are families. Sources estimate that between 23 and 40 percent of homeless adults are veterans.
An overwhelming majority (80 percent) of single adult shelter users enter the homeless system only once or twice, stay just over a month, and do not return. Approximately 9 percent enter nearly five times a year and stay nearly two months each time.
This group utilizes 18 percent of the system's resources.The remaining 10 percent enter the system just over twice a year and spend an average of 280 days per stay—virtually living in the system and utilizing nearly half its resources. Many of these individuals are defined as chronically homeless.They often cycle between homelessness, hospitals, jails, and other institutional care and often have a complex medical problem, a serious mental illness like schizophrenia, and/or alcohol or drug addiction.Chronically homeless people use up more than 50 percent of the services.
It may surprise some people to find that there are more shelters available for animals than there are for people. Due to the bad economy and funding cuts,most homeless shelters are constantly full. And those shelters are in constant need of supplies and donations."
To find out more about the homeless problem and what we can do to help, go to:
http://www.endhomelessness.org

See also Summary of HEARTH Act, passed by the US House of Representatives October 2008

Homeless allegedly used in fraud scheme...

..by hospital executive and homeless shelter director, among others, in L.A., this article reports, after an investigation by authorities of the dumping of homeless patients which led to discovery of the fraudulent scheme.

They enticed homeless people with the promise of payments to act as hospital patients, an indictment alleges. The homeless people allegedly received medical treatment and the government was billed for the services.

The unnecessary hospital treatments were then billed to Medicare and Medi-Cal in a scheme that began in August 2004 and lasted until about October 2007, the indictment states.

....the scheme was discovered in October 2006 by police officers who initially believed they were witnessing homeless patient dumping, a common practice of temporarily removing homeless people from an area to a hospital or another location.

via cnn.com

Three Southern California hospitals are named in the indictment and thousands of homeless people were allegedly recruited to receive unnecessary medical treatment costing millions of dollars.

Mental health crisis in New Orleans

The mental health crisis in the city has been highlighted due to the recent school shooting at Louisiana State University and eight shootings of police officers. The legislature has approved funds to address the issue, which is resulting in sending people with mental health issues to jail rather than getting them treatment.

Now, instead of being treated at Charity, mentally ill criminal suspects often are arrested, burdening the city's overtaxed judicial system, Rouse says. That worsens the problem for patients, who may not get proper medication or monitoring in jail, he adds. The patients usually suffer from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or depression.

"When your regular mental health treatment system collapses, the patients become criminalized," Rouse says.via UsaToday.com

This article highlights a number of issues causing the crisis:

*Charity Hospital, which used to treat those with mental illnesses, is no longer open.
*Those with mental health issues are being jailed, rather than placed in appropriate treatment facilities
*More people have untreated mental health issues since Katrina
*There are more homeless people, a number of whom have untreated mental health issues

In other news, the House is scheduled to vote on a bill that would require insurers to provide equal coverage for mental health issues as for other conditions. {Update: the bill did pass in the House.}

"Someone would have done something"

In this short film entitled "Eulogy/Obverse",  a young filmmaker films a homeless man laying on the street, then discusses how he was really filming people walking by a homeless man laying on the street.  After becoming cold and hungry, he and his friend go to get something to eat and the question arises: was the homeless man dead?  He says "Someone would have done something". This seven minute film raises thought provoking questions about how we distance ourselves from other human beings.

"The Mentally Ill - Jailed and Desperate for Help"

In this CNN article, the plight of those on the ninth floor of the Miami-Dade county jail - the mentally ill who await their court dates -is discussed. Most of them face drug charges or charges that result from a run in with police. Judge Leifman speaks about why the situation has become so desperate for so many.

"Leifman says 200 years ago people were considered "lunatics" and they were locked up in jails even if they had no charges against them. They were just considered unfit to be in society. Over the years, he says, there was some public outcry, and the mentally ill were moved out of jails and into hospitals. But Leifman says many of these mental hospitals were so horrible they were shut down.
Where did the patients go? Nowhere. The streets. They became, in many cases, the homeless, he says. They never got treatment.
Leifman says in 1955 there were more than half a million people in state mental hospitals, and today that number has been reduced 90 percent, and 40,000 to 50,000 people are in mental hospitals.
The judge says he's working to change this. Starting in 2008, many inmates who would otherwise have been brought to the "forgotten floor" will instead be sent to a new mental health facility -- the first step on a journey toward long-term treatment, not just punishment."

Via CNN

Hearing Our Voices: A documentary on schizophrenia and homelessness

The website (click above) for this documentary is worth visiting. It's beautifully done, with photos and stories introducing the participants and explaining what home is to them. I tried to recap what they said but I simply can't - you need to see their words over there - and hear them.

A poster on the site is simply entitled Searching for Sanctuary. It is a sanctuary most people take for granted, yet our society still needs to overcome the many barriers it has toward providing opportunities for housing for schizophrenics and many others with disabilities.

Video clips are available.

Homeless man with mental illness spends 17 months in jail - for allegedly stealing a soda

[Visual description: This is a photo of the top of an open can of soda.]

Jail officials in Indiana stated that they thought the man had been released, so when a psychiatrist came to interview him, the doctor was told the man was no longer there. He was sent to a mental health facility on February 7 when the mistake was discovered by a new warden who was reviewing all of the inmates' files.

Via FoxNews

Street Church...

offers outdoor worship for the homeless. Click above to read an article about these church services.