"The Homeless Problem"

I'm frustrated, angry, and depressed to see how people in my community are reacting to our "homeless problem". People are not looking for a way to house and help the people. The problem being addressed in countless meeting is that they view the homeless gathering anywhere as a dangerous blight on the community.

Our community offers many resources for the homeless and has a reputation elsewhere in the U.S. for being a good place to go to when homeless. As a result these services and the community are overrun.

Beyond our current economic crisis that has left people financially desperate, there are other factors that contribute to homelessness. People dealing with mental illness, PTSD (I list this specifically because it is very very common in the homeless population both as a cause for loss of housing and as a result.), alcoholism often as a means of self-medication, disenfranchisement from the general population, and a lot of anger at their situation, society, and their limited options. These things can mean someone will have trouble working within society's expectations. Maintaining a home let alone employment can seem an insurmountable challenge. It's hard enough to find a job with an impeccable resume. In addition, with people facing these problems on the streets not everyone is going to behave in a way that fits with societal norms and in a way that makes others around them feel safe.

I work at a clinic as a crisis counselor serving a 24-hour crisis line as well as a walk-in crisis center. This building offers many services that aid people who are homeless in addition to crisis counselors and ongoing counseling. Our organization also has low-cost drug and alcohol treatment next door. This clinic I work in is in a residential neighborhood. There is an outcry that we are drawing undesirable people to the neighborhood. It's true people who are homeless feel safer here than in other neighborhoods. Some seeking resources or just a safe place to exist will hang out here.

It's not okay that some of these people act in a way that makes people feel unsafe. People who live here, homeless who stay here, businesses and customers around here, and my clients who want to come here in crisis and feel like it's not a safe place to be. It is scary for many people to approach a building or neighborhood with someone or multiple people yelling and screaming, drunk and disorderly. This is a real problem. The question is how exactly do we deal with it?

My answer would be to make more resources available in a perfect world. People can spend some time on our clinic's property if behaving within acceptable parameters (no drugs, no alcohol, no yelling, no violence or threat of violence, etc.), but we're not a community center. There are no housing options to offer. The one homeless shelter in town is overrun, too crowded for people with PTSD or sever mental illness, not an option for people with substance abuse problems, and requires attendance to religious sermons. Beyond that we have a sobering station which is not an option for someone not under the influence of a substance and still has limitations for people unable to comply with behavior restrictions. While many of these restrictions make sense in trying to do the best they can to offer some service it leaves many out in the cold. Local churches open their doors in the winter on nights when temperatures below 27 degrees are predicted. It's great that that's available but only a few nights a year and well below temperatures that can be lethal.

I can't imagine exactly what I would do if I weren't so lucky as to not have these obstacles to deal with. Can you? Spending the night in a neighborhood where I believed I would not be robbed or hurt would probably be a pretty big goal. The reality is, if you're homeless, and you don't fit into the limited shelter options you aren't allowed to be anywhere. There is no place that you are welcome, completely safe, warm/dry, and aren't doing something illegal by sleeping unless you can get permission from a property owner. That creates a pretty terrifying, exhausting, and frustrating day to day life. Imagine tackling all this with some of the issues I mentioned before that are statistically a contributing factor to homelessness.

So arguably our clinic draws people to this neighborhood with resources and a safe place. Though not a place they can sleep. People do try to sleep and hang out in the neighborhood. Some of these people exhibit undesirable behavior.

Solutions proposed:

1.) Our clinic needs to police our property and the neighborhood better.

We do police our property but people move onto other properties where we don't have a legal right to have them removed for unlawful behavior. Other properties allow them to stay there and don't continue discouraging behavior like fighting, yelling, drinking, and public urination.

2.) Our clinic needs to move.

This just moves the issue to a different area. Moving things to the outskirts of town makes those without transportation have a difficult time seeking resources from the library to job opportunities, to counseling services. People will still be drawn to areas with people they can ask for money and homes with cans they can collect as well. Besides that our clinic has been here for over 30 years. There is a greater problem of homelessness but our clinic playing a role in this part of the community is not new.

3.) People actually proposed moving the "problem people" (those few that can't exhibit acceptable behavior) on to some other town.

Really? It sounds to me like a bad joke. Out of sight out of mind. It solves things for people here, but not the people being moved but left with the exact same problems they began with, and not the other communities trying to figure out solutions as well.

I hear: "You deal with it." & "Move it someplace else."

I respect the difficulties of people who live here (I lived in the neighborhood for 6 years myself.)
I respect the needs of businesses.
I respect the need to address this.

I don't respect not seeing each of these people as people but as problems to be patrolled or removed to someplace else to deal with it. The problem has increased in severity not because this clinic has changed but because jobs and resources for people have diminished. Losing compassion is only going to make things worse.