0 Holiday Homelessness Reports: Poppycock!

Sure as Santa replaces Halloween costumes on store shelves, pseudo-heart-wrenching reports about homelessness pummel us between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Tis' the season of befuddling accounts “documenting” our nation’s "progress" fighting homelessness.

With decades of paltry federal homelessness-abating efforts failing to stem the tide of individuals and families finding themselves roofless, HUD’s recent claim that homelessness is decreasing might cause a raised eyebrow or two. But no, mainstream media dashes off a drivel-filled dab pronouncing: Mission accomplished. Tomorrow, the US Conference of Mayors releases their annual hunger and homelessness report. With decades of perusing these documents, I could save them the money and write it myself:

Hunger and homelessness is decreasing for some, increasing for others. Federal investments in programs to address these crises are decreasing. Economic conditions continue to worsen. More people are suffering.

One might be inclined to ask, with the dramatic loss of affordable housing, record un- and under-employment, brutal sequester-related cuts to social safety net programs, decades of ravaging federal support for anything to do with keeping people from the worst of poverty…how do the numbers of homeless people decline? This, after all, is the era of epitome Scrooge-like behavior on the part of government, ebbing corporate generosity, and, oh yeah, those pesky paychecks can't keep pace with the cost of living either.

How do HUD officials pass off their Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress with straight faces? Why doesn’t the headline “Homelessness Down, but Poverty Up” get attention for the absurdity factor?

Little consideration gets paid to how the majority of the 99% struggle to pay for essentials, like housing, health care and food. The recent NYT article describing struggles of working stiffs unable to pay the rent points out some indisputable facts: “Today, millions of poor Americans are caught in a similar trap, with the collapse of the housing boom helping stoke a severe shortage of affordable apartments. Demand for rental units has surged, with credit standards tight and many families unable to scrape together enough for a down payment for buying a home. At the same time, supply has declined, with homebuilders and landlords often targeting the upper end of the market.”

What about those dire circumstances would allow homelessness to recede?

A recent report by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies confirms the impact of the shortage of affordable housing on the legions of income-challenged households. As Bryce Covert on Moyers & Co. points out, “There is very little affordable housing available. These low-income renters who make $15,000 or less would have to find housing that costs less than $375 a month, yet the median monthly cost for housing that was built in the last four years is more than $1,000. Less than a third of those units rents for under $800, and a mere 5 percent go for less than $400. There were just 6.9 million housing units that these renters could afford in 2011, but there are 11.8 of these renters, and to top it off, 2.6 million of the affordable units are occupied by higher-income people.”

She adds, “The availability of low-cost housing has been declining for decades — in 1970, there was an actual surplus of 300,000 low-cost rental units, but by 2011, there was a shortfall of 5.3 million units.”

So, ‘splain it to me like I’m a 6-year-old. How do decades of declining availability of low-cost housing units, rising long-term unemployment, inadequate wages, slashed government investments in human essentials, long-lasting global economic demise, increasing numbers of renters, sequester government spending slashing, and a growing population combine to REDUCE homelessness?

Seems like the same folks foisting Santa on unsuspecting lil’ kids are at it again, making believe that a housing fairy is flitting about as the bamboozlers steal cookies from the plate on the kitchen table. And the US Mayors Conference drank the kook-aid. Fa-la-la-la-la….

Also posted on Diane's AlterNet, Speakeasy page.

Detail: Holiday Homelessness Reports: Poppycock!

0 Burning Crisis In America--Ignoring Poverty

Smoldering out of sight and out of mind in this attention-deficit country is a disaster far exceeding the media attention it gets--fatalities due to house fires. Over 1,600 men, women and children died in residential fires during 2010. Most deaths receive a mere blurb in the local paper.

Poverty in America bloggers Rich and Elizabeth Lombino called attention to the ongoing post-Katrina humanitarian disaster in New Orleans, tragically underscored by the recent fiery deaths of 8 homeless youth trying to stay warm in an abandoned building. I've hammered on the 9 lives lost in Starkville, MS attributed to "hard times," the 3 women and 6 little kids crowded together in an apartment to avoid life on the shelter-less streets. For all our hammering and yammering, few will pay attention to this poverty-related loss of life.

If you have the stomach to look at the US Fire Marshal's fire fatality report, you'll notice a pattern: lots of fires in manufactured homes. Trailers. As one who lives in a trailer, an Recreational (ha!) Vehicle, I am frighteningly aware of their vulnerability, and I'm not coping with abject poverty and the multitude of issues accompanying life in the much-maligned trailer parks.

Fire is one issue. Legal and illegal evictions are others. Hopewell, VA is the scene of a massive trailer park eviction leaving residents with few options besides homelessness. The substandard condition of these tin can homes is yet another story. Trailer residents struggling with poverty can't afford upkeep, much less home heating oil.

We've long given up on the idea people in this country are entitled to a decent, affordable place to live. We let people struggle to survive in substandard conditions--crappy trailers, abandoned buildings, tents, the great outdoors. We stereotype and disparage "street people" and ignore the house-less reality of human beings --including homeless families with young children--as told by 3 parents in a Christmas day NPR story.

If a 1,600 passenger plane crashed, I'd like to think we'd pay attention for a short time anyhow. Is it the lack of value we put on some people's lives?

When possible unsafe conditions led to deaths of 32 infants since 2000, we recall cribs. That's the right thing to do.  I'd suspect not many wealthy families live in trailers or abandoned buildings. So we (as a nation) don't give a rat's ass about those who die trying to keep warm because they're not wealthy. Congress won't get involved. We have too many other "priorities."

Home heating prices are soaring. Rents skyrocketing. Evictions and foreclosures spiraling. Fire and carbon monoxide fatalities surging. (I'm running out of verbs before I'm running out of reasons that people are losing housing.)

While Congress is poised to slash programs serving those most vulnerable in our country, most of us feel powerless. One way to have a slight, though important, impact on poverty policies is to rattle the cage of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the body that issues an annual "report" on homelessness. I've decried this document as a bogus waste of time and money. It bamboozles the mayors, media, and mainstream public by distorting homelessness statistics. It's inaccurate, but since media look for a homelessness story around the holidays, this drivel fills the gap. Even the astute Maria Foscarinas of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty got pulled into seeming to validate the report.

Will you sign my petition to urge mayors to either strengthen their reporting or skip it?

Seems to me that our national strategy of ignoring poverty hasn't worked. Maybe it's time we all sit around the campfire outside the U.S. Capitol and roast marshmallows over campfires fueled by burning bogus reports.

Detail: Burning Crisis In America--Ignoring Poverty

0 Poverty and Homelessness: Call It What It Is!

A family having "hard times" (translation, homeless because they lost their housing due to hardship) in Starkville, MS was taken in by a mother who understood what "hard times" does to a family, as she was not far from that pernicious condition. On Monday, Dec. 28, in Starkville, a fire rooted in poverty and overcrowded living space took their lives, 3 women and 6 small children.

Having known "hard times," India Williams, the 25-year-old mother of 3 small children, squeezed the other 2 women and 3 children into her humble apartment because they needed a place to stay. I'm not sure of the exact circumstances, but having seen this tragic story unfold countless times, I would guess that a domestic disturbance, money problems, and/or neighborhood violence caused the loss of housing.

The fire that took their lives, sadly, is not unlike a mostly unnoticed nationwide house fire epidemic (certainly getting less attention than H1N1), as winter's wrath has frozen even Florida. The Red Cross reports a 200% increase in house fires in this country, and utility shut-offs cause a good number of those fires as impoverished and desperately cold households turn to unsafe methods to stay warm. (Does your Red Cross do more than put house fire survivors in a motel for just a few days? Enlighten me.)

I've noticed an interesting, and revealing, phenomenon when it comes to news stories about these tragedies. "Hard times" is a common term. The Tulsa World just ran a story with the headline "Tough Times" that described poverty among families in the OK state. The Denver Post just ran a superb feature on CO childhood poverty, people "trying to get by."

"Hard times," "tough times," "trying to get by," are euphemisms for abject poverty and homelessness. I want to call it what it is so thick-headed legislators and policymakers get a clue. Poverty causes a dreadful ripple effect through all communities. It costs more to maintain poverty than it does to holistically address it.

So HEAR US is launching a campaign, "Up the Food Chain," to challenge mayors to look at hard times for what it is--poverty. We're setting up a simple way for people to petition mayors to go up the "food chain" to urge legislators on state and national levels to seriously address poverty. We're targeting communities where poverty-related house fires occur, hoping to in some small way make sense out of these tragedies.

Why mayors? Well, the US Conference of Mayors is an influential body, and they have ties--formal and not--to other politicians. Petitions get mayors' attention, as demonstrated with the successful campaign HEAR US launched in Grand Junction, CO that improved daytime options for homeless families otherwise left out in the cold.

Seems to me that it's time to put significant energy--or at least a few keyboard clicks--into something worthwhile, reducing hard times, before we all get to know first-hand what it means to experience hard times. I urge you to join our effort, share this campaign, and do what you can in your community to make lives of homeless children, families living in poverty, and those having hard times just a little easier. We'll all be better for it.

Detail: Poverty and Homelessness: Call It What It Is!

0 Sweet Victory for a Monday Morning!

Being connected is a good thing sometimes. This weekend I received an email via the HEAR US website.

Hello I currently reside in Houston Tx and I thought I had a clear understanding of a child with no permanent address being allowed to go to school where ever obviously I was wrong. On Dec 4 2009 my granddaughter was withdrawn from school after being interrogated and left tearful.Before the school year started my daughter checked with the district and they said it was fine for her to be enrolled in school out of the area where we were staying with no permanent address bu to notify them when we did have an address

It's these kind of situations that make me glad I do what I do, and that we a strong, simple law that guides school districts on the right course of action. After playing phone tag, we finally connected late Sunday evening, after midnight in Houston. I only hesitated a moment when calling that late, knowing this grandmother was going to need help in a few short hours.

She was awake and glad I called. She explained the situation, that she, her daughter, and granddaughter live together in an apartment temporarily provided by her pastor who couldn't stand the thought of them sleeping in their car. This arrangement is coming to an end soon; the place is being sold.

But in the meantime, in snowy Houston on Friday, the granddaughter's school made plans to close at noon so no one would be snowed in. Calls and emails went to parents to pick up the kids. The grandmother usually provided transportation but was unable to be reached, and some confusion unfolded at the school with the granddaughter and school staff.

It is usually the confusion that "tips off" the school that something is askew with residency. Evidently that's what happened. Sadly, I've seen this happen; vigilante mentality takes over. It can be ugly.

The grandmother she hid this withdrawal decision from her granddaughter and got on the Internet. Somehow she found the HEAR US website, and figured that HEAR US might be able to help, thus her email to me.

Talking to her that evening, she shared some of her struggles--loss of housing due to mental illness that caused her to lose a job. Both she and her daughter, the girl's mother, work. Between them they try to pull in enough to make housing payments, but once you get behind, it's tough to catch up.

They've stayed in her car, in motels, and with friends. Now they're in this apartment, outside the district where the girl attends school. GM drives her to school. I could tell school was important--to both of them.

Based on what the GM described and according to the McKinney-Vento law, the girl appeared to be homeless. Since this school was where she attended before, she should be able to stay there if the family chooses. And, the district should provide transportation, free lunch, and supplies, among other things. I directed the GM to our REACH film, available for free viewing online, which outlines the M-V law in a mere 11-minutes. And I gave her language to request the "dispute resolution" process if things went bad.

I wished her luck and asked her to call to let me either intervene if necessary or to tell me how it went. And I crawled into bed.

Early that morning, the GM called. She was ecstatic! She succeeded in asserting her granddaughter's rights. OH YEA! She felt so good about this, and was so grateful for my help. Me, I was extremely grateful that she found me, and delighted to help.

Such a sweet experience, which makes today's release of the 2009 US Conference of Mayors annual homeless/hunger report so pathetic.

Knowing what I do about how these things go, this report, for whatever good intention might be behind it, does nothing but add more confusion to the definition of homelessness.

You see, this GM's family doesn't fall under the definition of "homeless" because they're not staying at a HUD-funded shelter or sleeping on the streets. So they don't count.

Seems to me this nation's mayors need a lesson in Homelessness 101. I know just the teacher. She's a GM from Houston, and she knows her stuff. If you're so inclined, sign our online petition (and spread the word!) to strengthen this law further. You'll be easing the way for some grandparents, parents and caretakers have tools to fight for their kids' education. Maybe the kids will run for mayor....

Detail: Sweet Victory for a Monday Morning!

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 Ho-Hum-Homelessness Report

I forgot all about the annual US Mayors' homelessness report which was released mid-December. So I looked it up and ho-hum...Plenty of disclaimers turn a good idea into a fairly useless document. It's only a survey of cities represented by Mayors on the hunger and homelessness committee. They don't have any statistically valid way of gathering the data. It's only 23 cities and, gosh, they don't cover rural communities.

They've been doing this report since 1982. So why bother? How much does a report like this cost? Do they just take last year's report, change a few things and release it in time for Christmas each year? Happy Holidays! Homelessness and hunger are increasing. Have a nice day, and SPEND, SPEND, SPEND!

I'd have to say the media has caught on to the worthlessness of this report, based on the fact that I didn't hear anything or read anything about it.

You never change something by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. Buckminster Fuller

Wonder what the tone of the report would be if a committee of homeless adults and teens, given essential resources, compiled the report?

I suspect that most mayors on the committee are far removed from hunger and homelessness. Most of us are. Which is one reason why things continue to worsen for the "have-nots" while those with a little piece of the American Dream hold on tightly.

For the close to 37 million in our country who live at or below poverty level (Census Bureau), and the millions who are above the magic--but unrealistic--poverty line who can't begin to make ends meet, they're staring homelessness in the face. That's adults and kids, rural, suburban and urban.

A study by the Urban Institute is credited for estimating that about 10% of people in poverty will experience homelessness. I couldn't find the study, but it seems to be a safe, conservative guestimate. I'd point out that the poverty levels by some experts' evaluations, are extremely low, and probably should be doubled. People in poverty would agree with that. Politicans in office would pooh-pooh the idea. Me? I flunked college statistics twice so I'll stay out of the numbers arena.


Seems to me that we spend a lot of time and money hashing about irrelevant reports and too little time talking to those who know the issue, like 9-year old Deshaud (left) in Ohio, who observes, "We weren't exactly poor, we just didn't have a home to live in..." (from the HEAR US documentary My Own Four Walls)

OK, that's a clear statement of a problem.Now, what can we do to fix it?

Detail: Ho-Hum-Homelessness Report