Do you notice that the homeless sleep under lamp posts? Did you ask yourself why? If we go by your rationale, then it is because they have succumbed to the streets. No, it's so they don't get killed where nobody sees them. If you really be;even what you say "It's not dangerous"You won't stay homeless for long" Then, why don't you come on down to Colfax for one night and when you decide everything is safe and nice, close your eyes and we can see how long you last.
*Despite the government spending 17 percent over the 2015 total budget, the presence of homeless people has become more pronounced, by many accounts, both downtown and in outlying neighborhoods.
*Denver is preparing a $150 million housing initiative for homeless to families struggling to make rent.
In 2015 the Denver Department of Human Services gave vouchers to the homeless for rooms at hotels, so they don't die in the streets. This is Denver, Colorado 5-points between the rescue mission and the Samaritan House., those are homeless people laying in the freezing cold trying not to die or get frostbite and lost toes.
The homeless are coddled by giving them soup? Are you kidding me? https://www.denverdonate.com/featured-denver-news No wonder they can't fix their problem because they don't actually know what they are saying. Giving attention to "housing" is what the Housing First, the Ready to Work Boulder Program and to some extent, the New Genesis models use.
Housing First - YES Housing https://www.denverdonate.com/boulder-ready-to-work-with-bridge-house-vs-housing-first-colorado-programs/boulder/boulder-ready-to-work-vs-housing-first-colorado-programs
Ready to Work in Boulder - YES Housing
New Genesis - YES Housing
Here are homeless shelters programs "without" housing built in:
Samaritan House - No Housing https://www.denverdonate.com/denver/denver-news/the-samaritan-house-homeless-shelter-in-denver-reviews Step 13 - No Housing Salvation Army - No Housing https://www.denverdonate.com/denver/denver-news/homeless-shelter-staying-open-247-during-storm https://www.denverdonate.com/denver/denver-news/609k-going-to-salvation-army-homeless-shelter
The majority of people that are experiencing homelessness have a small job, but they cannot afford housing, services, food and health bills. All these issues push them to live and sleep on the streets, in cars, or any other place to stay at night.
On April 3rd, 2012, the first public meeting to talk about the urban camping ban took place. There were two big sides. The first side is the Downtown Denver Partnership, which leans towards the camping ban, basing their argument on the oversized homeless population that is bugging the business owners and the city’s appearance. The second are the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and the Colorado ACLU which are against the ban.
The urban camping ban prohibits homeless people from sleeping in public or private areas in Denver downtown such as alleys, sidewalks, city parks or outdoor malls. On May 28th, 2012 the urban camping ban was signed and the preparation started. So far, this situation is pushing homeless people out of reach of the places where they can get help, and making them run away into hiding places. The urban camping ban is not an adequate solution to prevent people from sleeping in downtown Denver, reminding us that getting rid of the homeless takes care of the symptoms, but doesn’t help the problem.
The enforcement of the ordinance does not help people from sleeping out in the elements, resulting in having homeless people hiding and moving out of Denver.
For instance, the article Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness by the Denver Commission to End Homelessness states that: “There are 1,358 shelter beds and family units available in the City and County of Denver. This number has remained static since 1990, despite a dramatic rise in the number of people who are homeless in the metro Denver area. In 2003, 120 emergency shelter beds were lost when one shelter closed… The current disparity between need and supply in shelter beds is 1,453.”
The lack of shelter beds and adequate spaces for homeless people is remarkable. The evidence shows that there is a lack of shelter beds, so where are they supposed to go? Due to the urban camping ban, hundreds of homeless families with little kids or single people are usually trying to find a place every night, and it is sad to know that at least half of them won’t find a shelter bed.
Hence, these people don’t have anywhere else to go when the shelters are full but go camping on the streets which can expose them to big problems with the law and they even can go to jail. Putting homeless people in jail won’t help in getting rid of homelessness either; this action will make the number of homeless people rise. This is explained in the article Denver Police Now Enforcing Homeless Camping Ban by Sara Simms: “The ban, which went into effect May 29 (2012), prohibits anyone from unauthorized camping on public or private city land and carries a potential $999 fine and a year in jail… With enforcement beginning, many homeless people say they are looking to move outside the city.”
Based on this evidence the ordinance won’t work. How can homeless people afford $999 if some of them can barely afford some of their real basics needs? If they are arrested and put into jail what will they do after they are released? If the person pays the money and goes to jail for 1 year, what happens next, will they stop being homeless? I think it is an injustice and not respectful to have homeless people go to jail if they don’t have any place to go at night because the shelters are all full.
The county of Denver should create and work on more projects to help homeless people instead of just blaming them for being homeless and try to stop them from camping in the streets. For instance, the article Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness by the Denver Commission to End Homelessness states that: “Denver’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness has three critical components: goals and action steps to address key issues; a funding plan to direct future investment and a management plan to monitor progress and provide direction for the future improvements. The Denver community will not support an effort increasing public and private capital without tangible outcomes demonstrating progress toward eliminating homelessness.” This evidence shows that if the city focuses on projects in order to eliminate homelessness it would work out better than just pushing people out onto the streets. This 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness promises to eliminate almost all the homeless people and rehouse them with some knowledge about how not to be homeless again, so in that way, they can have the needed defenses in order to keep themselves and family off the streets.
If a homeless person has a job and he is arrested because of the ordinance, he has to leave his job which generated him a little money to pay some of the basic things needed to survive. Although, most homeless people may have a job to survive, they cannot afford to house on their salary. After being released from jail, it will be really hard for a homeless person to find a job because of his or her police record.
We should create more projects like the plan I mentioned because homelessness can be eliminated and people don’t have to hide from the police officers and end up in jail. I think that the county of Denver should be aware that if they only enforce the ordinance and act in a rude way it won’t help the situation. But creating better and strategic ways to solve this issue can make a huge difference. People who are supporting the urban camping ban think that this is the best thing they can do to get rid of homeless people camping on downtown streets at night and bugging business owners. They believe the urban camping ban should be helping the city to not lose customers because of homeless people camping downtown, resulting in a better looking Denver for our tourists and investors. Mayor Michael B. Hancock in his article Denver Camping Ban Will Help Deliver a World-class City says that the city has to get rid of homelessness because it is giving a bad look to downtown Denver. We need to be aware that these people want to invest their money in our city which will increase profits for the county of Denver (M.B. Hancock, 2013).
The group that backs the urban camping ban believes that this ordinance will be helpful to reach their achievements and that both the homeless and business owners will get what they want. This ordinance does not have a strong base to rely on, because instead of spending money to enforce the urban camping ban they could use it on other projects to prevent people from being homeless or to help people already homeless. There are many places where homeless people are being helped and projects where that money can be spent on such things as Housing First. As stated in the article Housing First Works by the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless: “Housing First employs crisis intervention, rapid access to housing, follow-up case management, and support services to prevent the recurrence of homelessness.”
I agree that we should get rid of homelessness and that it is important for us to have people interested in spending or investing their money in our city, but the best way to make it happen isn’t by pushing homeless people to move into a different place in order not to go to jail. This action will only make the city appear like it doesn’t have homeless people while they are just hiding. The number of homeless won’t decrease because the problem would be only hidden but not gone.
The best way to help get rid of the homeless sleeping in downtown Denver is to help prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place, and by aiding those already homeless. The action of just blaming the homeless or criminalizing them won’t help at all, instead, it could be counterproductive. We need to get a balance between the welfare of the homeless and the business owners which are just as important. The right actions could result in cleaner and safer streets without the homeless sleeping on them, and more people attracted to this beautiful town.
https://www.denverdonate.com/featured-denver-news
Chronically homeless means:
A “homeless individual with a disability,” as defined in section 401(9) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11360(9)), who: [An individual who can be diagnosed with one or more of the following conditions: substance use disorder, serious mental illness, developmental disability (as defined in section 102 of the Developmental Disabilities Assistance Bill of Rights Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 15002)), post-traumatic stress disorder, cognitive impairments resulting from brain injury, or chronic physical illness or disability]
Lives in a place not meant for human habitation, a safe haven, or in an emergency shelter; and Has been homeless and living as described in paragraph (1)(i) of this definition continuously for at least 12 months [one year] or on at least 4 separate occasions in the last 3 years,[where each homeless occasion was at least 15 days] as long as the combined occasions equal at least 12 months and each break in homelessness separating the occasions included at least 7 consecutive nights of not living as described in paragraph (1)(i). Stays in institutional care facilities for fewer than 90 days will not constitute a break in homelessness, but rather such stays are included in the 12-month total, as long as the individual was living or residing in a place not meant for human habitation, a safe haven, or an emergency shelter immediately before entering the institutional care facility;
An individual who has been residing in an institutional care facility, including a jail, substance abuse or mental health treatment facility, hospital, or other similar facilities, for fewer than 90 days and met all of the criteria in paragraph (1) of this definition, before entering that facility; or A family with an adult head of household (or if there is no adult in the family, a minor head of household) who meets all of the criteria in paragraph (1) or (2) of this definition, including a family whose composition has fluctuated while the head of household has been homeless.
[link] [comments]
from Ready to Work Boulder https://www.reddit.com/r/readytoworkboulder/comments/4puqq8/jobless_homeless_hopeless/
via the best Colorado work program
No comments:
Post a Comment