Detroit effort puts priority on ending homelessness...

[Dan Wesson]

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/donatio...ry?id=31050102

One way is to get out there in the media...

[SDCC]

I was homeless for 6 months – did my time @ the NSO Tumaini Center. Hard time it was, but I stuck it out and received my voucher; I celebrated my 30 day anniversary last weekend.

Several agencies were involved and I’m grateful to all of them.

I will say this the most seriously in need of assistance don’t to have the presence of mind to get the required documents and attend important appointments. They just sort of drift in and out of the shelters.

[darwinism]

I was homeless for 6 months – did my time @ the NSO Tumaini Center. Hard time it was, but I stuck it out and received my voucher; I celebrated my 30 day anniversary last weekend.

Several agencies were involved and I’m grateful to all of them.

I will say this the most seriously in need of assistance don’t to have the presence of mind to get the required documents and attend important appointments. They just sort of drift in and out of the shelters.

From the mouths of many such individuals, previously homeless, or resorting to crime, we can gather a few common threads to begin making a dent in the situation.

#1 - The problem is similar to catching a disease, because early intervention often results in better outcomes. People fall on hard times, and typically need 6-12 months to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Once the situation exceeds 12 months, we may end up with a case of chronic homelessness. As a society, regardless of how conservative and Republican you are, chronic homelessness is very difficult to battle, even for the churches and religious organizations. The longer someone remains in that state, the more dire the problem becomes. So, the key is early detection and rapid assistance.

#2 - Giving anyone unable to sustain themselves with something material in nature is often a waste of money. Give them a house, they'll likely end up being foreclosed. The key here is to give them skills and knowledge instead. Help them become self-sufficient. [[http://www.skillman.org/Knowledge-Ce...reclosure-risk)

#3 - Programs such as [[http://dogtaginc.org/) in Washington DC, and a similar upstart [[http://ProjectNeighbors.us/) here in Detroit, are absolutely crucial in the small-scale, sustainable approach, to helping a few people at a time, every 6-12 months on a rotating cohort basis.

[Jimaz]

From today's Free Press:

How the poor stay that way

... What Michigan needs is a serious course correction. Let's stop pretending that "punishing" the poor by shredding government investment in opportunity will yield benefits for everyone else. It won't.

When people who work can't get ahead, it's not just an economic disincentive, but a betrayal of faith in our moral and cultural foundation.

We can do better. All of us, together.

---

We dance round in a ring and suppose,
But the Secret sits in the middle and knows.

[G-DDT]

As a former homeless person, I can honestly assess that 50% of all homeless are drug addicted-whether mental illness plays a hand in it or not, 35% are just plain mentally ill or impared. However, 15% are folks who have just had a string of bad luck, bad decisions, had betrayal and backstabbery occur to them, they were just too trusting or didn't know the right resources to go to, and then, some things are just untimely for them. Yet, I have more to add....for you can give someone a home, but the immediate needs need to be met, first.

I saw way too many "housed" folks in Boston [[the worst scenrio is to be in a SRO-sharing a building in a bad neighborhood with drug addicts and criminals who will break in and rob you and no one is there to monitor it like a shelter) faring far worse than in the shelters. They just get plopped into a building with little to no resources. I can elaborate quite heavily on that....

How long one has been on the streets may cause a wearing down and debilitation in many, but there are those who find the right environments to persevere. They can be homeless for years, and then, zing!-they up and get their housing [[be it a long Section 8 wait or benefits or what have you) or employment.

I've had follow-up visits to some towns and found many who pulled up into a stable situation. This is mostly due to the efforts of the many charitable [[yes, religious ones like St. Vincent's, also) organizations who do not take a cold and "social Darwinistic/Ayn Rand" B.S. attitude towards helping. I've heard many folks refer to Michigan as the "not my problem" state. I have to admit, unless one is impared, has ties to family and friends, or is part of the street drug industry [[which for them, may be their only misperceived view of "charity" given to them), one may not want to consider Detroit to be a place to be homeless in and around [[than again, the same could be said of many large cold cities like L.A. or Chicago).

[Wesley Mouch]

As a former homeless person, ...

Very interesting story and viewpoint. Thanks for sharing.

As a former homeless person, can you share your thoughts on the Minimum Wage laws currently being passed? Will they help the homeless, or will they make it harder for the homeless to get a job since they would be competing with a larger pool for entry-level jobs?

I'm not asking whether more money helps an individual, but whether mandated higher wages will get to those who need the income most.

[ThunderTrap]

I am impressed by the fact that this Canadian travel broadcaster that I heard about on a Facebook share is raising funds to combat hunger and homelessness as a therapeutic way to recover from a robbery and attack in the city last year. Rather than dump on Detroit, he is doing something to help. Apparently he was robbed near I-75 and 7 Mile, so he will do his food card distribution in the area bounded by I-75 and Woodward, 8 Mile to 6 Mile, from what was being discussed in a live on-line message chat. http://www.gofundme.com/DTWrecovery

[G-DDT]

I am impressed by the fact that this Canadian travel broadcaster that I heard about on a Facebook share is raising funds to combat hunger and homelessness as a therapeutic way to recover from a robbery and attack in the city last year. Rather than dump on Detroit, he is doing something to help. Apparently he was robbed near I-75 and 7 Mile, so he will do his food card distribution in the area bounded by I-75 and Woodward, 8 Mile to 6 Mile, from what was being discussed in a live on-line message chat. http://www.gofundme.com/DTWrecovery

That is what I like to hear: Someone who doesn't shriek away and hide over being in or witnessing a bad experience [[even bad experiences I had in Louisville or Cincinnati didn't keep me away from revisiting those places). The "Food card distribution" part has me a bit off....

I just have to add, as a former "Food Stamp" recipient and frequenter of food pantries and community meals, I can tell you quite honestly, that I needed [[and "ate") every dollar amount value of those "Food Stamps" in full necessity to stay alive long enough until I found "legitimate" work [[which may take over two weeks to do for many of us busting our humps out there to find it; some shelters in college towns only give you approximately two weeks to find "full time/over-the-table/non-temp" employment if you want continued stay until you amass enough money-usually through some 60/40 banking program with them-so, you better hope you are looking just as school is picking up in late summer. This is going on while one may have other issues: unsettled health matters, waiting in social service areas across town, making it to this community meal across town, dealing with legal issue, marital issues, sobriety meetings, etc.-with too much hustle one can end up getting run down-as I have many times-and get knocked out sick in a new town for three or four days, and that means finding a good "free clinic" to sit around all day in...). Yes, you see, I have a blood sugar condition [[not diabetes) that requires I stop and eat a small meal every 3-4 hours [[something some jobs are cool with, but something many of the faster paced jobs like food service don't give respect to...)-AND I have many food allergies including sugar, MS.G. [[right up to there, that's 60% of a grocery store I can't eat), artificial sweetener, eggs, milk, and some meat products.

So, I am what you call an extenuating circumstance-a true test of the system at large that caters to a pre-fab hedging and pigeon-holing and classifying folks in the predictable 90%, but shafting the different [[not special-just different). Imagine slogging all the way over to a community meal, you are shaking and sweating because it's 45 minutes past the time you are supposed to eat and finding out they got nothing for you. As much as you wanted a "hot meal", you got to keep munching some crackers or seeds [[that slows the glycogenic reaction in the liver), pray, and then sit down to another stale granola bar from your bag. You get known as "that guy carrying the bag" or the "crunchy kid with the food issue".

So, yes, I lived off that government assisted program authorized to me [[and me only-I never sold my "stamps", and I never let a program try to coerce them away from me) the right to feed myself the way I needed to [[not wanted) to stay on the same cognizant and healthy par as anyone else in my situation. The same program many conservatives rail against and want to limit. The same type of program Reagan cherry picked and blew out of proportion about "criminal welfare mom scammers" to spur folks into having a colder heart against the poor.

I had no need for "money hand-outs" or "disability" [[as the whole city of Boston was sluiced into taking as "dual diagnosis" to be drug guinea pigs for M.I.T. and the military-industrial complex). All I needed was food and raiment [[never panhandled, either) sufficiently necessary to sustain me in my different situation. I followed it's rules. I looked actively for self-sustaining work [[discontinued use, when certifiable work was to be had), and I am not the only one. I met others who were respectful to such a program [[and had to be tight-lipped about it around the others who would pester and try to scam them into some scheme).

One would be surprised just how many poor folks out there have legitimate allergy issues. Imagine staying at a "prison shelter" in Terra Haute run by a "celebrated" man [[in the local media-like so many of them are, but only the residents who have stayed at such shelters know the real situation as folks in Cambridge and Bloomington, IL. can attest against the misinformed beliefs of the average folks who read about them-average folks like the folks on DY-who believe how great these guys are who run their facilities) "of God" who defies the golden rule and develops a Procrustean stipulation that to stay in his shelter you must be a part of a six month religious program [[could be rabidly Pentecostal or Dispensational or Health and Wealth or cult-like or worse....) where you are not allowed to find outside work [[?!) but only work in his thrift store [[even Dubuque and Bloomington were not that bad with their "chore" shelter-and believe me, I'm not against doing my part to stay in a shelter). Residents there can only leave one hour in the day, with prior 24-hour notice and supervisor approval, and if you are on their good side. Now, if breakfast is the most important meal of the day, then imagine finding all that they feed folks staying there is stale glazed blueberry Entemanne [[sic) donuts [[high in sugar), and you can't event microwave yourself up a plain packet of oatmeal. So, you The added line to "never bite the hand that feeds you" is "unless it prevents you from feeding yourself" [[which in my case, "foodstamps"-which nobody put a gun to my head to take-allowed me to do-to sustain myself).

Sorry to sound off, but looking back is a difficult thing for many of us who survived war [[which you volunteered for), prison [[which you did your time for your error), or homelessness [[which you most likely never volunteered for nor "had coming to you"). When I do, a lot more details come into sharp clear [[and bitter-but necessary) focus as they pertain to challenging the cold and compassionless and all-too-convenienced voices of affluent Boozh-wah culture who made my situation bad then and continue to rail in ugly, fetid litanies against " no-good bums" "robbing their tax-payer pockets.

[G-DDT]

Also, regarding the Minimum Wage Laws, I have much research to so about it [["got "Nickeled and Dimed", but seeing as I am entrenched in other research, it may have to wait). Finances and economics were never my finer points [[yet, that doesn't stop me from seeing that no amount of wealth is worth disregarding another human and the right to leave free and uncontrolled). Yet, I can tell you that a majority of folks in America are only one paycheck away from total and abject poverty. All it takes is one [[or a series) of disasters....

A lot of homeless folks work. They are the homeless you don't see. Large caravans of them get up at 4 am. [[you get slightly jarred awake when they rustle up in the wee hours of the shelters) to hit temp places like Manpower. A lot of homeless take bad jobs [[like the meek kid from Nebraska sluicing gore off the vat walls in a Louisville rendering plant with a high-power corrosion cannon-despite the protective suit, he was coming back sick every night). I can go into a long diatribe [[believe me!-with many examples) of how as a homeless person, you may have to turn down more opportunities than what are accepted [[as odd as that may seem to many folks), because the high incidence of exploitation is that vast and heavy for us poor.

I'm very disappointed with the Obama regime doing very little to protect the consumers and workers alike from big and exploitative businesses. I've actually gotten far more job opportunities in his vigil then the previous President [[which usually meant finding work outside of Michigan), but I see very little encouragement to get employers to be more open in their hiring policies then say, the '90s. If anything, our techno-age has made it easier for exploitative employers to know who is desperate and can be bowled over. Little is being done to protect the rights of workers, nowadays.

[Jimaz]

Need I warn "strong language"?: George Carlin - Dealing With Homelessness

[Wesley Mouch]

Also, regarding the Minimum Wage Laws, I have much research to so about it ....

Here are some stats from the Pew Center based on Bureau of Labor Statistics stats:

People at or below the federal minimum are:
1) Disproportionately young: 50.4% are ages 16 to 24; 24% are teenagers [[ages 16 to 19).
2) Mostly [[77%) white; nearly half are white women.
3) Largely part-time workers [[64% of the total).

Read more: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank...-minimum-wage/

Read liberal Warren Buffet's suggestion to use Earned Income Tax Credit instead: http://www.wsj.com/articles/better-t...age-1432249927

Read a conservative think tanks take that tell us that a minimum wage high mostly helps white, suburban teenagers, not the poor: http://www.heritage.org/research/rep...single-parents

[Jimaz]

What's the motivation of those who work too hard to avoid mentioning "living wage."

Are they not "pro-life"?

[Wesley Mouch]

What's the motivation of those who work too hard to avoid mentioning "living wage."

Are they not "pro-life"?

The motivation is to avoid using pejorative terminology. Much like Pro Life or Pro Choice, living wage infers that a lower wage isn't suitable for living. Well, that might be true -- absent other household income, investment income, social security income, rental income that is received in the majority of households.

Calling something a 'living wage' is intentionally misleading. Its been a very successful politically-loaded term. Score one for the left.

[Jimaz]

Well then, by all means, replace "dying wage" with "minimum wage."

It's sanitized for your protection. >DING!<

[Wesley Mouch]

Well then, by all means, replace "dying wage" with "minimum wage."

It's sanitized for your protection. >DING!<

Thank you. Now you can return to your confidence that wage controls can help the poor, rather than distort the market in favor of white, suburban teen and financially-secured but bored senior citizens.