Homelessness: Chances for Houston and USA
When is the last time you looked at Downtown Houston? I mean really looked. One of Houston's liveliest hotspots, Downtown is considered a haven for many of our nation's homeless. These severely destitute people walk from street corner to street corner searching for help. As successful businessmen and women converse on their cell phones and drink their three-dollar Starbucks coffee, not a single hand or smile makes their way to our pitiful counterparts. Most people would wonder why most of these homeless just don't make their way to the nearest shelter. Well, some of our homeless prefer not to stay in shelters because of the hazardous conditions. An example of this is in San Francisco's most notorious shelter, the Multi-Service Center South, where drugs were prevalent on the grounds. The extremity of homelessness was exemplified during and after the episodes of Hurricane Rita and Katrina.
In the year 2005, we have 727,304 homeless nationwide, in Texas 39,578, and in Houston 14,000 (Kasindorf, pars. 2, 13, 20). Downtown Houston is not a residential area. Yet in the brunt of these storms, homeless people had to "brave out 60+ mile an hour winds and driving rain under parking structures and bus canopies" (Heim, pars. 2, 4).
Being homeless is no laughing matter, no matter how homeless a person is. Now-a-days it's hard to distinguish whether a person is homeless or not. Your classmate, friend, or relative could be homeless and you wouldn't even know it. Homeless people can have great articulation or can appear mentally inept. One seventeen year old girl was ashamed, after being seen by a friend who was volunteering at a local Montgomery homeless shelter, after her mom had lost her job (Rice, par. 2). Try imagining how a homeless person who has been without a home or job for months or years must feel.
Homeless and homelessness are words all too familiar but adverse in meaning. Being homeless is not just about having a home. The effects of homelessness are present in our neighborhoods and affect our children. Generally, in comparison to low-income children, "homeless children have higher levels of child behavior problems" (Stephens iv). It's hard for us to picture our children homeless in America but true.
Adults' mental health is also at risk from being homeless. Some of these adults subject themselves to crime and put us at risk of being robbed and harassed. Protecting our society from mentally-ill homeless is a tough job but the Houston Police Department (HPD) is up to the task. The HPD has to subdue these homeless offenders but also not harm them. We do have a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) that is looking to train the HPD officers on how to calm mentally-ill homeless without "escalating the situation" (Feltz, par. 7). But the big obstacle standing in the way of curing the homelessness crisis is prevention.
It is a shame that our police department has to intervene because of a "financially strapped mental health system" (Feltz, par. 4). Brandon Moeller, August 23, 2002, reported, "Texas ranks 43rd in the nation on mental health spending, which puts homeless people that rely on public assistance for help in a bad situation" (Feltz, par. 1). After Hurricane Rita and Katrina in 2005, Texas is probably further down the list and homeless people are less likely to receive help.
Even with attempts at prevention, laws preventing the homeless from receiving aid are uprooting in Houston. "There's a new law in Houston, banning offensive odors in libraries...Two council members voted against the ordinance, saying it was a direct attack on the homeless" (TalkLeft, par. 1).
"In Gainesville, the police threatened to arrest University of Florida students for giving food to homeless in a public park. In Milwaukee, a church was declared a 'public nuisance' for giving food and shelter to the homeless. In Santa Barbara, it is illegal to park your motor home on the street in one place for more than 2 hours and illegal to rest against the front of a building or store" (Whitehead, par. 1). These laws obviously target the homeless.
Many differing views toward the causes of homelessness all portray the seriousness behind the crisis. The lack of monetary distribution to the poor is a path that leads straight to homelessness. The shortage of "low-rent housing" in America is one reason we need federal intervention to prevent homelessness (Huttman 84). Along with housing shortages, welfare recipients are not receiving adequate benefits from the government. Data from a survey by the Rice University (The Houston Area Survey 1997) resulted in 51.6 percent of respondents saying Texas welfare recipients did not receive enough money from the government to raise them above the poverty line.
Once homeless, most people that don't bounce back are the mentally unstable. The primary factors for becoming homeless are mental illness and being under the influence of drugs (Feltz, par. 8). With almost 300 million citizens, we should be able to support the homeless who make up 1/6th of our population. Public psychiatric services are also part of the reason we can't prevent homelessness (Torrey, par. 11).
There are many programs proposed to solve the homelessness crisis but motives of diverting and limiting funds halt total prevention. The Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program seeks to end our homeless problem once and for all. The Emergency Shelter Grants Program (ESG), a component of the HUD program, suggests grants to renew buildings that service the homeless ("Housing" 1-2). The grants, called "in-kind" contributions, are from local business and other sources other than the state that match their own locally generated incomes. The "grant-system" they propose does not promise funds for the homeless. The "Continuum of Care", another HUD component, acknowledges the persistence of homelessness even with "non-for-profit" services ("United States" preface). But their business-based grant system conflicts with the needs of the homeless and the idea of capitalism.
With no surprise, the Continuum of Care had to revise its plans after figuring thousands of homeless non-profit and private agencies as being unreasonably unable to end homelessness (National Alliance to End Homelessness 57).
Smaller programs have been around before HUD and have been lending a non-for-profit hand. The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) is doing their part to assist homeless veterans. The Veteran Affairs program is directed at homeless veterans but has donated $15 million dollars available to Houston services like the Salvation Army ("VA Announces" 1). "The Salvation Army rehabilitates adults by way of donated 'used goods, cash donations, and shopping at their resale shops'. There is also the Star of Hope Mission in Houston that 'helps 5,000 people each year-including 1,600 children'" ("Homeless" 1). The Star of Hope Mission and Salvation Army help children and adults but still serve as limited support for the 14,000 Houston homeless.
The test for us as a nation is to know what to do for the homeless as the "United" States. Homeless people need intervention on a large scale because America doesn't know how many are homeless or not. The Urban Institute conducted a study of six states and their degree of programs and activities. The results showed that there was "not enough management of programs, a lack of information about the programs, long waiting lines, hard-to-understand applications for help, offices of program inconvenient to shelters, and not enough widespread reach to homeless" (Burt and Cohen 8). The many programs these states provided were blocked by an onslaught of inefficiency.
There is a Healthcare Houston service that provides medical care for homeless. The much needed program is very important to the prevention of homelessness but it is not in direct connection with HUD ("Homeless" 1). Wouldn't it just be better and easier to combine the services?
"The government has actually done more where a state's volunteers have done more for themselves. 'Government action is needed both short term, to fund emergency and transitional services for homeless people, and long term, to prevent homelessness'" (Burt and Cohen 7). We each need to do our part to prevent homelessness but with federal control.
The government suggests we need a bigger, more efficient system to finally resolve the homelessness crisis but obviously don't know how to get it. "Homelessness is a temporary condition, if we all do our part" ("Homeless" 1).
Because of our disregard for the homeless in Houston and around the nation, limited programs, and lack of state funding, we now require a Federal Welfare Homeless Restoration program that promises permanent federal support to our less fortunate citizens.
I'm proposing a Federal Welfare Homeless Restoration (FWHR) program to reach out and end homelessness at its roots. The program is designed to not only help the homeless but intensely aid them in returning back into society. Particulars concerning my program are: registration-based aid, food stamps/housing/and job distribution, progress incentives, psychiatric referrals (based on a 6-month evaluation), and a clause requiring routine visits/pursuit of GED equivalent if not already obtained. My program is federally paid by the citizens through a graduated income tax based on salary. It will not require grants or business-based support. The motives for this program are to end homelessness for the people by the people. So support the initiative.
We need to come together financially, emotionally, and morally to make sure we extend our hearts to those who need our help. "There's no safe place to which to flee. There's no hiding place. You can't shrug it off. It's you. It's your situation. It's the situation of the nation as a whole" (Lyndon LaRouche PAC 4).
References:
Burt, Martha R. and Barbara E. Cohen, "America's Homeless - Numbers Characteristics and Programs that Serve Them." Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute Press, 1989.
Feltz, Renee, "Homeless are often in need of mental help." KPFT News Houston 23 Aug. 2002. 27 Oct. 2005. URL: (http://www.kpft.org/news/083202story5.html.)
Heim, Katie, "Downtown Homeless Forgotten Again." Online posting. 23 Sept. 2005. Houston Independent Media Center 27 Oct. 2005. URL: (http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2005/09/43964_com ment.php)
"Homeless Houston - There but for the grace of God go I." Houston - About.com. 2005. About.com. 27 Oct. 2005. URL: (http://houston.about.com/cs/familyresources1/a/aa01 0702.htm)
"Housing and Urban Development (HUD)." Federal Homelessness Resource Guide. Oct. 2005. FIRSTGOV.gov. 27 Oct. 2005. URL: (http://www.hud.gov/local/tx/homeless/2005- 7-27b.cfm)
Huttman, Elizabeth D., "Homelessness in the United States - Volume II: DATA AND ISSUES." Ed. Jamshid A. Momeni. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989.
Kasindorf, Martin, "Nation taking a new look at homelessness, solutions." USA TODAY.com. 11Oct. 2005. 27 Oct. 2005. URL: (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-10-11-home less-cover_x.htm)
LaRouche, Lyndon., "The Great Change of 2005." Lyndon LaRouche PAC 16 Sept. 2005. 26 Oct. 2005. URL: (http://www.larouchepac.com)
Rice, Harvey, "Coalition director tackles rising homeless problem." Houston Chronicle 03 Dec. 2001. 27 Oct. 2005. URL: (http://projects.is.asu.edu/pipermail/hpn/2001-Decem ber/005031.html)
Stephen, Nannette., "Mental Health Characteristics of Homeless Children." Texas: University of Houston, 1992.
TalkLeft.com, "Houston Targets the Homeless." Online posting. 28 Aug. 2005. 27 Oct. 2005. URL: (http://talkleft.com/new_archives/010518.html)
Torrey , E. Fuller, "Who goes homeless? We can't begin to solve the problem of homelessness until we realize that it isn't about homes." Online posting. 26 Aug. 1991 National Review 7 Oct. 27 2005. URL: (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_ n15_v43/ai_11162550#continue)
United States, "Department of Housing and Urban Development. 2005 Continuum of Care." Washington: HUD, 2005.
United States, "National Alliance to End Homelessness." 2002 Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Washington: Roman, 2002.
"VA Announces Homeless Assistance Award to Houston Group." MEDVAMC. Apr. 2004. Houston VAMC. 26 Oct. 2005. URL: (http://www.houston.med.va.gov/HOUSTON/pressreleases /news_20040413.asp)
Whitehead, Donald., "Illegal to be Homeless." Online posting. 08 Feb. 2005. Houston Independent Media Center 27 Oct. 2005. URL: (http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2005/02/37288.php )