HOMELESS SHELTERS

 

Dear Mayor Jones:

Our City Hall is known for its Dickensian look, and our streets as well.  How cold and uncaring our downtown appears to tourist and local alike, and especially for a city so small.  A city with the population of the 1937 Grand National in Aintree, England, and not even half the size of the annual Summerfest music festival in Wisconsin. Why aren’t city leaders able to find sustainable solutions?

It’s time to stop pointing fingers at the people in the streets.  That only makes it worse.  This winter especially, public health and public safety needs to be strong.  And with a little forethought, solving the crisis with the unhoused this winter could be transformative for the city.  Solutions have a way of increasing.

Estimates are that at 150 people that are currently homeless will be without secure shelter this winter. The weather is expected to be severe.  Also, given the recent evictions, that number could easily double by the time the cold sets in.

Preparation is key to keeping costs down.  Many funding sources are available, and many local and community resources could be mobilized with little effort.  Larry Rice and Sunshine House, and other places that closed, had donors and staff.  Also, there are many people that are employed, or volunteer their time, to helping the homeless.  Why hasn’t the city organized all these forces?  All the resources necessary are already available.

City of Hope is currently running Biddle House, but costs are opaque.  (Why?) Homefull claimed $10,000 per year, per person, translated for our purposes to “bed.”  That’s $28 per night.  For the 96 days between Thanksgiving and March 1^st, that is $2688 per person.  2688 x 150 = 404,000 and up to $800k.

Biddle House has 98 beds.  Temporary shelters may have slightly higher costs, particularly if they house only 12-20.  Extended periods of weather mean more time spent in the shelter, and smaller units are more hygienic and manageable for staff and guests.  (In the 80s and 90s on Los Angeles Skid Row, the biggest complaint I heard from the unhoused population was the bigger the crowd, the more drugs.)

Again, these costs can be reduced by employing the activists that already do outreach and bringing them together to form units throughout the city- not just downtown and downtown adjacent.

There is an opportunity now to really make strides in working with individuals to get what they need to obtain stable housing, and anything else: job training, health issues, documentation.  Make sure everyone has ID.  If there is any sort of jobs that can be offered, especially if there is room for workspace at the shelter and coordinating with the Unemployment office and Economic Development Department.

Police and First Responders will have fewer calls, and calls originate from fewer locations, and known locations.  There will be fewer fires in abandoned buildings. An eye towards proximity of shelters to emergency services might be good. It will also be helpful if everyone has I.D. and is enrolled in Medicaid when there are emergency situations.

Safety will improve and tourism will increase.  I am happy to assist in anyway.  But please, address this problem while the weather is still good. Before it gets too cold, and too heartless.