Posted on May 4, 2010
Two weeks ago during Affordable Housing Awareness Week, Homeward held a Homeless Simulation where people could experience what it was like to be homeless and get the services that are needed. Participants in the simulation were given real life situations and were asked to assume the role of a homeless person or family. One situation also included someone who was on the brink of homelessness and needed prevention services.
Homeward did a great job planning and carrying out the event. I attended the de-briefing at St. Paul’s Church and the responses of the participants indicated that the simulation was an enlightening experience. The participants really got a sense of what people who are homeless go through just getting basic services like food and health care. Participants also got a taste of what it’s like trying to get from downtown to southside without a car. (Read one person’s account of his experience during the Homeless Simulation, including the trials and tribulations of trying to find the right bus.) Participants were overwhelmed with the paperwork that was required in order to receive services at a government agency. Why is that not surprising?
The participants gave all of the service providers a gold star for their responsiveness to people in need and the respect that everyone received as they waited for services or got help. When asked during the de-briefing if there were other services that were needed, no one could think of any.
I have to say that at that point, my heart sank. No one mentioned the critical need for permanent housing. After considering the characteristics of the simulation and its participants, I decided to give everyone at the de-briefing the benefit of the doubt. I believe participants were simply overwhelmed with obtaining the very basic needs for survival. People experiencing homelessness have to do so much just to get the basics: food, clothes, a bed for the night and if they’re sick, health care.
A permanent place to stay may not have been in the forefront of the simulation participants’ minds while they were standing in line to get food, bus passes etc. They were most likely thinking about the moment; bemused by the challenges they faced just to eat or travel a few miles.
As evidenced by the simulation, we as a community do a great job with the basics. Now, what more can we do? More importantly, how can we surpass expensive emergency services and solve the root of the problem?
When I finally had a turn to speak I talked about the other solution, besides prevention, to homelessness … permanent housing. Participants around the table nodded their heads and understood that this was the end game. Emergency housing and services are needed, but perhaps the most basic need of people experiencing homelessness is a home — a permanent place to live.
One participant asked me what they could do to help, which was a wonderful question. Here are some things that we (VSH) said:
- Learn more about the need for permanent housing — VSH gives tours.
- Educate others about how permanent housing is a solution to homelessness.
- Advocate for permanent housing at the federal, State and local level. Rental subsidies are very much needed in order to obtain and maintain permanent housing, especially for people who are disabled and have been homeless for a long time.
- Talk to landlords about renting apartments to people who may not have good credit and may have criminal histories.
These are just a few things that we can do so that we can begin to focus our efforts on the solutions to homelessness and transform our system. While VSH fully supports the Homeless Simulation, maybe we need a segment of the day to focus more on the permanent solutions to the problem. It could be titled “Walk in Their Shoes and Then See Those Shoes Under Their Beds”.
Posted on April 27, 2010
Born and raised in Richmond, Va., Anna Ray began her adult life as a waitress, single mother of three and victim of an abusive relationship. Overwhelmed by work and physical abuse, Anna lost custody of her children.
“I lost my mind and my income” Anna said.
Without any income, Anna was quickly forced to live on the streets. She slept at bus stops, abandoned buildings, balconies and friends’ houses. Anna recalls feeling very vulnerable as a woman.
Abusive relationships and gang rapes are just two of the many traumatic events Anna Ray* endured during her life on the streets.
Although it’s very difficult for her to talk about it, she goes into detail about how she was forced to trade sex for shelter. Anna recalls one instance when she slept with a man for shelter. That particular night he returned with a group of his friends who proceeded to take turns raping her.
During the days, Anna did temp work to get money for food. She said she would beg for food when she had to but never money as she feels it’s degrading.
Anna tried to get back on her feet financially by staying at a local shelter but said it was difficult to get temp work that was compatible with their (the shelter’s) rules and schedule.
She finally found hope when she spoke with a friend who was staying at New Clay House. Ready to do anything to get off of the streets, Anna contacted VSH immediately.
“VSH gave me a chance when no one else would,” said Anna.
Anna moved into New Clay House (NCH) soon after she contacted VSH. She said NCH finally gave her a place to go home to, a place that is hers and most of all, a place where she feels safe.
Anna feels like she now has the support she needs to lead a fulfilling life. Staff are there for emotional support and to help her obtain needed medications.
When asked what others should know about people experiencing homelessness Anna replied, “If you see a homeless person, help them out. Buy them food or at least treat them like they are human; smile and say ‘Hi’.”
*Name has been changed to protect program participant’s identity.
Posted on December 23, 2009
For many people, this is a season of hope and fulfillment. While many of us take the simple gifts of food, housing, health, and income for granted, Virginia Supportive Housing extends a message of hope to some of our most vulnerable citizens who struggle to satisfy even these most basic of human needs. Stories like Sam’s (below) remind us that when compassion translates into action, the gift of hope can be fulfilled. Hope is what Virginia Supportive Housing is all about.
Sam has been a resident of New Clay House since 2002. Now in his late forties, Sam struggled for years with intellectual disabilities and the challenges of independent living. Throughout school, he was in special education classes and eventually dropped out in the 11th grade. Due to his cognitive impairment (his IQ measures at 50), he has never been able to consistently support himself although he would occasionally do farm or yard work. Without a reliable source of income, he was dependent on periodic assistance from local churches.
In his twenties, he moved to Richmond with no real plan or means of support. He spent time in shelters and on the streets, occasionally living with friends. Despite the critical impact that Sam’s disability was having a on his daily functioning, his attempts to apply for disability income were repeatedly denied until Virginia Supportive Housing came into the picture.
Thanks to VSH support services staff, Sam’s SSI claim was approved within 90 days. He now has a safe place to live and a steady income that meets his basic needs. For the first time in his adult life, Sam can share in the hope and fulfillment of the holiday season. Happy Holidays from Virginia Supportive Housing!
Posted on June 24, 2009
“You did what?” I remember my husband asking me incredulously when I told him I had given $20 to a woman asking for money outside the grocery store. “But, she really seemed genuine. I mean it was a very believable story,” I retorted defensively, all the while secretly kicking myself for being a sucker and realizing I had just been taken.
I have always considered myself a level-headed person with common sense and not a bleeding heart. So his reaction deeply bothered me. Why had I given the woman $20? Like thousands of other good-hearted Americans would — I believed her story, felt sorry for her and wanted to help.
I no longer give money to people who ask me on the street; and I don’t feel bad about it. Whether it’s triggered by substance abuse, mental illness, con artistry or honest misfortune, panhandling is not a healthy lifestyle. It doesn’t help the panhandler, sympathetic citizen or community. There also can be serious and deadly consequences of panhandling. A few years ago, one of the residents of the supportive housing apartments we operate was killed while panhandling. A motorist struck him on the median of a busy street. His needless, wasteful death could have been avoided.
So, why are people in our community still panhandling? The answer is not simple. Over the last fifteen years, our public income safety net for low-income single adults has been eroded. Many panhandlers have disabilities that prevent them from working, but they also have trouble navigating the bureaucratic maze to secure disability benefits. Others have multiple barriers to employment (limited education, lack of transportation) and have difficulty securing jobs that continue to migrate into the counties. Some have active and untreated problems with addiction. Lastly, the presence of con artists who see an easy mark in the sympathetic public cannot be discounted.
What can be done about it? Many communities have passed ordinances banning panhandlers, resulting in some arrests and upsetting civil libertarians. (Isn’t it our right as Americans to stand on a corner asking for a handout?) But that hasn’t stopped the problem.
Homeward, our regional coordinating body, whose mission is to reduce homelessness by initiating creative solutions and coordinating regional resources and services, recently got a grant for a marketing campaign to try and stop panhandling. They have launched a multi-level media campaign, trying to get citizens to stop giving to panhandlers and to invest in local non-profits like VSH who are providing solutions for people with very low incomes.
For panhandlers who are homeless, some community resources exist. Richmond has 1,000 shelter and transitional housing beds for those who are homeless; we serve meals daily; and we have a program for people with substance abuse problems, The Healing Place, that is peer driven and takes into account the fact that people relapse numerous times before they become serious about recovering. VSH also has an array of permanent supportive housing programs for individuals who’ve experienced homelessness.
Panhandling actually undermines the work that we do. So, if you do feel the need to help panhandlers, tell them where they can eat or sleep for free, get them to one of the many non-profit agencies that exist to help folks like them, or donate to a non-profit to invest in providing real solutions to these difficult community problems. We are here, not to enable people, but to empower them.
Posted on May 20, 2009
While I was at recent meeting talking about how to make our homeless system better and/or how to solve the problems of homelessness, a shelter provider made the comment that some people “need” transitional housing—that is, many are not ready for permanent housing. I said that I disagreed, but what I didn’t say is that I used to believe the same thing.
As one of the founders of the first emergency shelter in Richmond—the shelter at Foushee and Main Street, which opened its doors in 1981– I’m not proud of the fact that, as businesses go, we’ve grown our shelter system to where we have around 1,000 beds of emergency and transitional housing. On the surface, that sounds like a good thing. We’re keeping a lot of people out of the cold and giving them a safe place to sleep every night. But at what costs and is this what people need?
According to Homeward (the regions coordinating body on homeless services), the lowest shelter cost are the ones for single adults. It costs no more to permanently houses a single adult in one of the Virginia Supportive Housing’s (VSH) supportive studio apartments. It does cost more to permanently house a single adult with a serious mental illness in the VSH A Place to Start program because of the intensive services provided by a team of professionals. But, if you add up what these individuals were costing the community in terms of hospital costs, ambulance services, jail time, food pantries, health clinics; it is saving the community more by having a person permanently housed.
So, if cost is not an issue, do people need to stay in shelters or transitional housing because they’re not “ready” for housing—they need the time to “get it together”? Here’s a novel approach—why can’t people “get it together” so to speak while they’re in permanent housing? Of course they can! As a matter of fact, the permanent housing stabilizes an individual or a family and starts them on the road to improving their lives.
We have proven this with the VSH supportive studio apartments and especially with A Place to Start. We have taken people directly off the streets, some of whom had been living there for years, and placed them in permanent housing, and guess what? It works! If you ask someone living on the streets what they want most, 99% of them will say “a place to live”.
Do I think that we need to eliminate shelter? No, but, we need to re-think what we’re doing and focus our money and our efforts on viable solutions that work. Instead of 1,000 emergency shelter and transitional housing beds and only 400 permanent supportive housing beds, it should be just the opposite.
If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you keep getting the same results. Richmond, are you ready for a paradigm shift?
