0 Perverted Reality: Shelter ‘System’ Is No System

Homeless people have shelters to go to, a common belief comforting those who don’t know better. 

Having just come from Carlisle Cares, the community-based shelter where my friend and colleague Pat LaMarche works, having run shelters for 15 years myself, having seen shelters across the country for the past 9 years of my HEAR US traveling, I find myself seething at the perverted reality of what our shelter “system” is in this affluent country.

Pat’s shelter is probably average (no offense!). It’s in a middle-income borough in sort of central PA. Hundreds of similar communities dot the Keystone State. This community is quite unusual, with 3 shelters—one in a fixed site, this one which rotates to different places of worship—and a Salvation Army shelter for families. Shari Bellish, the shelter founder, fights hard to keep this meager operation going, knowing that 55 people a night will have a safe place to sleep. 

I listened as Pat answered one of many phone calls she and other staff get during the day. “I’m sorry, we’re full,” was the gist of it. The caller, a woman staying in her car. It’s below freezing tonight. Pat referred her to a neighboring community’s rotating site “shelter” program. At least she has a car, and gas is cheaper. Maybe she’ll get a spot to sleep.

Many shelters operate on paltry budgets, forcing them to creatively get around the lack of space and staff by setting hours that minimize the operations’ expenses. Pat’s shelter busses people to the night site which opens at 9:30 p.m. Everyone has to be out by 7 a.m., bussed back to this modest base so everyone can go on their way.

Imagine life for school kids—to bed by 10 if they’re lucky, up at 6:30, on a bus at 7 to go back to shelter headquarters to wash up and grab breakfast before heading out to school. Not a lot of quality time for homework, much less sleep and normalcy. The pads on the floor squeezed together don’t allow for privacy, or sleep. 

Volunteers and a skeleton staff make this emergency arrangement possible. And it’s much better than everyone cuddling up on the street. In Phoenix, the county is contemplating shutting down their overflow shelter—a bleak warehouse that offers nothing but a place on the floor for hundreds of desperate men.

Reading Bill Moyer’s post on homelessness, I found myself torn. His valid perspective is tainted by the use of wildly-delusional statistics provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD’s official report to Congress, which determines funding for homelessness programs, was that 578,424 people were homeless last year.  

This extremely narrow enumeration hardly counts homelessness at all. It’s a one-night point-in-time count that, despite sincerely stalwart efforts by professionals and volunteers, documents a mere drop in the vast sea of people—adults and kids, oldsters and babies and those in between—with no place to go.

Case in point, the U.S. Department of Education reported that almost 1.3 million students without homes were identified in the 2013 school year, a staggering 72% increase since 2006. T America’s Youngest Outcasts reports over 2.5 million CHILDREN are homeless, not including parents or single adults. So, HUD’s report…just a tad under-representing the crisis.

I left as Pat headed down the garbage bag-lined hallway, holiday clothing donations. Folks were quietly waiting at tables. If you’d could ask, you’d hear about boredom, frustration finding housing or jobs, regrets about burned bridges and family alienation, and gratitude that at least they have some place to turn to on this cold Pennsylvania night where they’ll be safe. 

It’s perverted that they should feel grateful. It’s perverted that many communities have no shelters. It’s perverted that HUD is pushing “Housing First” with inadequate resources to help those who need it, and we’ll see the perverted action of the 114th Congress, which doesn’t begin to have a clue as to the staggering scope homeless Americans, as they likely slash spending for human needs.

Detail: Perverted Reality: Shelter ‘System’ Is No System

0 Homelessness Sucks 4 Kids

In my wildest dreams, I can't imagine what it would be like to be a homeless teen. I met "Mandy" yesterday who is homeless with her mom. They seem very close and say they're coping but, I dunno, really, spending any part of your early teen years homeless? Sucks doesn't begin to describe it.

They stay in a rotating-site shelter program that relies on volunteers from local faith communities, sleeping on floors of basements, halls, gyms and other religious facilities once a week at each location. It's far from perfect, but it's been the emergency housing model for dozens of communities for dozens of years (so much for "emergency"). 

Despite their best efforts to remain positive, moving forward from their situation will be more than challenging. Mom works, apparently a valuable employee, in a fast-food place not known for fat pay checks. Therein lies the rub....

Problem #1, mom earns about $1000 a month. DuPage County (IL) is one of the most affluent counties in the country. The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates Illinois renters need to earn about $2900 a month to afford a 2-br unit at 30% of the household's monthly budget, an affordable rent.

Even fudging on affordability and squeezing into an efficiency unit (if she can find one), their income is far short of what's needed to get and maintain housing (the most basic part of escaping homelessness).

Problem #2, no car. DuPage happens to be a public transportation desert. Yeah, they have a few bus routes, but the routes are not geared for the 24/7 workday. And it means this family needs to be up and getting ready to leave their cozy single-pad-on-the-floor accommodations about 3:30 to get to work and school on time.

They have deliberately avoided owning a car which they rightly deem a huge budget-buster. One housing-assistance program they'd like to apply to almost requires a car because of the need to get to work, school and appointments.

Problem #3, they're a non-disabled family. That seems like a good thing. But it's not because hardly any post-homelessness subsidized housing is available for this segment of the population.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD, is asinine about how they define homelessness--not considering as "homeless" families/youth who've lost housing and are living temporarily with others and/or staying in motels--so Congress has been tight-fisted about resources. Ergo, DuPage County organizations lack subsidized housing options for non-disabled homeless families. It's one reason why so many motels are now the housing of (non)choice for working low-income families. Decent motels in this county are $300+ a week, exceeding this family's total monthly income.

Problem #4, the shelter season winds down May 1-October, cutting the available "interim" beds from an inadequate 140 (3 sites) to a super-inadequate 65 (1 site).

This is going to complicate their lives enormously. I've been at the summer shelter sites. They turn away women, families, and men. When they're full, that's it. And the large, transportation-challenged county makes it nigh unto impossible to get to the very scattered sites. Yikes. One site is so far from mom's work that they're just not going to be able to go that night.

Problem # 5, it's not getting better anytime soon. I'm a great believer in miracles. But this is a stretch. Mom and Mandy are hopeful, willing to work hard and to take something less than ideal.

But at this income, without subsidized housing, they simply can't afford to live in DuPage County. Or most other suburban areas, or just about anywhere.

Sad Sub-Story
One of the sad sub-stories here is that the shelter, a respected organization that really tries to do the best they can with the resources available, does not support the need to pass HR 32, the Homeless Children and Youth Act. 

Maybe they've bought the argument that HUD's resources are inadequate for an expanded homeless census. Well, yeah, because HUD continues downplaying the numbers of people experiencing  homelessness. Congress hears that 630,000 or so people were tallied during the "point-in-time" count. That number is probably closer to 10% of the actual homeless population. But instead of fighting for more resources by aligning the definition of homeless to other federal definitions that better reflect homelessness, HUD sticks their collective head in the sand.

So kids like Mandy, and her mom, and hundreds of thousands of kids and adults get strangled in red tape because HUD doesn't count homelessness as it's happening. They're using old-fashioned definitions based on stereotypes which totally ignore the reality of homeless families and youth. I filmed this interview (4-min) of a family in a motel that gives a pretty good idea that staying in a motel is not a vacation.

Ironically, Republican Congresswoman Judy Biggert (13, IL) represents DuPage County. She introduced HR 32, a simple and sensible 2-page bill, that would make HUD improve their definition of homelessness. Biggert's been in Congress long enough to know how things work. She's championed several significant bills to help homeless kids. Sure, Congress will need to find more money to meet a 10-fold increase in numbers of homeless people. But what's the option? Ignoring it?

Seems to me that families like Mandy and her mom will either move forward or backwards. Forward means Mandy might get to worry about things like homework instead of homelessness. Backwards sucks.

Detail: Homelessness Sucks 4 Kids

0 Learning Disability in Congress

I took this pix of Congressman Foster (guy with the suit) who recently met with constituents who stood in line on a Saturday morning in a freezing cold grocery store's bakery department. Despite the discomfort, it was worth it because he admitted to me that he "blew" the issue of the definition of homelessness.

I'm back. A week's vacation, tech issues and an unplanned week dealing with a family emergency knocked me out of the box for the past month. Hope I was missed! For those who can't get enough of my insights, I'm still doing a weekly piece for Change.org's Poverty in America blog.

A while back I decided to take advantage of a Google feature that lets me be notified once a day of stories and blogs on the topics of my choice. My keywords: homeless children, homeless teens, homeless students.

I rightly figured that those 3 would keep me busy. Since doing that, I've been astounded about the fairly significant news coverage of these issues. No reports of a dearth of homeless kids, quite the opposite, to no surprise. Some stories report gallant efforts, some tragic happenings. Accounts filter in from across the nation, from places I know and those I've never heard of, despite 4 years on our country's backroads.

I've found myself pondering one question: With what seems to be common knowledge of the existence and plight of America's homeless kids, why is the learning curve so steep for Congress?

I just left for my vacation when Congress passed and President Obama signed the reauthorization of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, the piece that governs HUD's homelessness efforts. While some improvements have been made, I was glad I was out of town and without phone/internet access.

The key issues some of us were hoping for did not pass, despite a herculean effort. Instead, a much-flawed version is set to become law, fortunately for just 2 years instead of the customary 5 year period.

A good story about a house-less family in a no-tell motel in affluent DuPage County (IL) ran this week on Chicago's Fox TV. Mark Saxenmeyer, the reporter, put together a compelling piece that included a poster-child family (mom, dad and 2 boys) who have spent a year in a motel. Chicago Coalition for the Homeless rep and my friend, Rene Heybach, did a superb job emphasizing the issues.

Seems to me steep learning curves need special vehicles. HEAR US plans to be that vehicle. Soon I will announce the game plan. But in the meantime, I'll be glued to my computer, reading about the problem some in Congress think we don't have--kids living without homes in our great nation.

Detail: Learning Disability in Congress

0 Ho-Ho-Ho...hum...

Pardon my cynicism. Releasing their report on homelessness on a Friday, the US Conference of Mayors completed their annual ritual, a token nod to millions of homeless children, teens and adults who, by virtue of their homelessness, aren’t considered a part of any community.

For the past 22 years, USCM has issued this report. In the 20+ years I’ve been working on the issue of homelessness, I can’t recall anything that evolved from the time, money and minimal fanfare connected with this tradition.

Miami’s Mayor Manny Diaz talks about the cities being the “front line” of the war on homelessness. I’d like to suggest a good research project: dredge up the past USCM press releases and reports and see if anything is different. Investigate how “mayors have been proactive and implemented local initiatives to combat hunger and homelessness in their communities.”

As a vocal critic of HUD’s 10-Year-Plan to end Homelessness, I automatically question the motivation of elected officials who boast about efforts to address hunger and homelessness. Sorry, but I’ve not seen or heard of the impressive results that these efforts have yielded. My 65k miles of travel in the past 3 years, talking to homeless children, teens and adults, and to those who try to help them, despite dwindling resources, I can’t say things look better (that's the best I can do for a positive spin!). And this economic free-fall will be more disastrous than I want to even ponder.

And to point out something USCM, with their membership criteria of cities of 30k or more, fails to address, or even mention: if cities are the “front line” then a massive guerrilla war is happening in rural areas and small towns across the country. Hunger and homelessness are rampant, and solutions are scarce because no one (other than those experiencing it and the ill-equipped "medics” trying to help) knows that the problem is out there, or perhaps no one is willing to look that far.

Gallant, but insufficient, efforts to feed and house families, teens on their own, and single adults in non-urban areas barely touch the population needing help. Congress has been kept in the dark about the explosion of homeless families and youth by the very federal agency, HUD, charged with providing housing assistance to those most in need. HUD seems in the business of protecting Congress from the bad news of a failed housing and hunger war in the hinterlands. Oh yeah, and lots of those out there are kids and struggling families.

So, if lawmakers rely on the ho-hum report from the USCM, then the ho-hum response will continue to foster ho-hum non-solutions and, ho-hum, ho-hum-lessness and ho-hum-hunger will be around to give next year’s ho-hum-Hunger and ho-hum-Homelessness committee something to do.

It seems to me that the excitement of Ho-Ho-Ho-Obama coming and dropping some “Ready-to-Go” big bucks under the tree took all the pizzazz out of the ho-hum-hunger and homelessness report. Maybe they can use some of the Main Street Recovery money for Tent Cities so the poor grunts on the streets and the guerrillas out in the backcountry can have a place to sleep. I’ll bet the tents won’t be allowed in any USCM members’ cities.

Detail: Ho-Ho-Ho...hum...

0 Get Hope (non-political) Here

Some of us in the room of 600+ attendees at this year's NAEHCY conference had the same thought--wishing we had forcibly kidnapped congressional staffers who oppose expanding HUD's definition of homelessness to include families and teens who have lost housing but are not staying in shelters. We wouldn't kidnap them for ransom, but to have them sit through the agonizingly painful, but beyond-inspiring testimony of 17 young LeTendre Scholarship winners given to college-bound teens who have experienced homelessness.

Why is it that some young people can go through so much--horrible abuse, repeated rejection, extreme neglect, abject poverty, and more--and still have hope? We adults aren't that resilient. We're wimps. These teens were rich in hope--someone believed in them, instilling a sense of belief in self, which kept them from giving up on themselves. They are the reason we fight so hard to level the playing field for kids without homes.

Each of these students stood courageously before a full crowd and shared deeply personal accounts of loss of housing and their typically patchwork quilt of survival, moving from place to place, friend's house to someone's car, nomadic lifestyles weaving patterns of street-smarts and school-smarts that shame the rest of us "silver-spooners." They spoke of how they value education as a ticket out of poverty and a way to give back for all they've been given.

These kids, with the exception of 2-3, were "unaccompanied homeless youth," a specific population that Congress seems determined to ignore, heeding HUD's warning that they can only save so many people from homelessness, so let's concentrate on "chronically" homeless adults.

They're not considered homeless enough. Or maybe they just don't count. Or maybe Congress is going to eventually get it right and look at housing from the ground up--and decide that everyone deserves a place to call home.

Seems to me that we should just kidnap the staffers and somehow arrange a big switcheroo. Let the staffers experience this highly-mobile, unpredictable lifestyle when you don't know if or where you'll be able to sleep each night, or worse yet, if you'll be sexually abused by an adult you trust, powerless to fight it because it means you have a place to sleep. Insert these wise-beyond-their-years teens who understand that homelessness comes in different packages into congressional offices to advise their bosses about the real needs of Americans. These determined young people are virtual hope machines. I vote to turn them loose on this confused country.

Detail: Get Hope (non-political) Here

0 KUDOS to the champions!

It's hats-off time at HEAR US.

Today's mark-up session in Congress is the first major step in the grueling legislative process. Through the "magic" of technology you can watch/listen to the hearing (it won't be available till tomorrow but I don't want to forget to post it).

The champions, a partial roster, are those on the side of we who believe that families and teens should be considered when HUD funding is given out to local Continuum of Care groups. Among my champions:

Congresswoman Judy Biggert (R-IL) led the charge. She listens to experts who actually talk to homeless families and teens--and to families and teens themselves. She gets it that people's lives are not in the neat boxes of "homeless" or "not homeless," and that sometimes their realities don't fit ridiculously pristine definitions thought up by Congressional staffers and their advisers.

Kathy Lydon, Judy Biggert's chief of staff, has put a lot of energy, brainpower and passion into this and other homeless children's issues. Big thanks!!

Nicole Austin, JB's legislative staff, has been astoundingly insightful on the need for changes in the current policy and law. She's been ardently on top of this from the beginning and she will not quit!

They've all been fortunate to work with my friend and colleague, the most honorable...

Barbara Duffield, policy director at the National Education for Homeless Children and Youth, who has wrangled and negotiated, twisted, turned and hung on in the insane process of hammering out a negotiation. She's amazing.

I'll share her email of today's proceedings. That will be enough fuel to stoke our fires of advocacy needed to move this issue forward apace.

From Barbara Duffield:
Legislative Update: HEARTH Passes Committee; Definition Debate Continues

BACKGROUND: Today, the House Financial Services Committee approved H.R. 840, the Homelessness Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act (HEARTH), after first adopting a substitute amendment.

Congresswoman Judy Biggert (R-IL) and Congressman Geoff Davis (R-KY) offered an amendment to include children, youth, and families who are verified as homeless by federal program personnel (including school district liaisons, Head Start programs, Runaway and Homeless Youth Act programs) in the HUD definition of homelessness. After an intense and emotional debate, the amendment was withdrawn in an exchange for a commitment from Full Committee Chairman Frank and Housing Subcommittee Chairwoman Waters to continue working to improve the HUD definition of homelessness before the bill moves to the floor in September. The Committee leadership of both parties also agreed to send a letter to the Government Accountability Office, next week, requesting a study on expanding the HUD definition of homelessness.

NEXT STEPS: Today’s markup was an important step forward in an ongoing effort to ensure that the HUD definition of homelessness is expanded to accurately reflect the full range of people experiencing homelessness in this country. Almost the entire debate was focused on the issue of the HUD definition and the needs of children, youth, and families. While the Biggert-Davis amendment was not approved, we believe that its introduction and today’s spirited debate will result in meaningful improvements to HR 840 before it is considered on the House floor. And we are deeply grateful to Mrs. Biggert and Mr. Davis for their leadership and commitment to children, youth, and families. Thanks to everyone for the calls, faxes, and letter, and ongoing advocacy.

A more detailed summary of the legislation will be forthcoming next week, including additional provisions related to children and youth (including provisions related to education).

Today’s markup can be viewed on the web site of the Financial Services Committee at:

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/financialsvcs_dem/mu073008.shtml

**************************************

If you read this far and wonder why the above people are the champions, I'll tell you.

Issues of injustice--no shortage of big and lesser ones--if they are going to be righted, require steadfast effort when the odds are so against you that even your own mother would bet against you.

The small band of integrity-filled advocates and their legislative crusaders are working to right the terrible wrongs that occur to countless children, teens and adults who find themselves without a home, no matter what their temporary accommodations.

This fight is against those whose organizations and agencies might give the impression they are on the side of homeless families, children and teens, but whose actions speak frighteningly contrary. Their argument that the "flood" of homeless families would overwhelm the available resources falls flat.

Seems to me that we might want to issue name tags--"For Homeless Families and Teens" or "Against Homeless Families or Teens." It would be interesting to see who would be on what side.

Detail: KUDOS to the champions!

0 Slow On the Uptake

I'm not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but 4 years ago when I encountered a teacher, her husband, and their 2 kids (a high school senior and a 25-year old who had been brain damaged in an accident), and heard how they were illegally evicted by a sleazy predatory lenders, and heard how they tried to get help but no one seemed to care, and heard how this was getting to be a huge problem in certain (read minority and low income) neighborhoods, well, I figured something was wrong.

It was a textbook preview to today's subprime mess. Except today it's not just poor neighborhoods, it's all income levels.

Now I don't want to alarm any of the rocket scientists, er, economists who are looking at this bucket of greedy sleaze, but perhaps they better tip off someone in Washington that homelessness is going to be on the rise, much like, say, a tsunami that builds way out to sea, unbeknownst to most people, and slams the coast hard, doing tremendous damage.

The formula for homelessness is simple, despite what HUD thinks.
Lose home + no home to live in = homeless

HUD, the U.S. Department of HOUSING and Urban Development, prides itself on addressing homelessness. But it doesn't consider families described above as homeless because they were living in a motel room. I can assure you, as one who has been in countless motel rooms of homeless families, they weren't on vacation.

Seems to me that Phil Mangano, the President's point person on homelessness, HUD officials, and members of Congress balking about changing HUD's definition of homelessness should spend some quality time in a cheap motel worrying about how to get a real place to live, how to not lose this place, how to feed your family using a microwave and a box of non-microwave friendly food from a food pantry, how to go to work when you have no money... Never mind...it's too depressing to wish on anyone.

Detail: Slow On the Uptake