Transcript Slide 1

By: Christine Moutrey
Community Service and Leadership
Seminar
Homelessness dates back
to when society first
began..
*In England they set up
Bridwells where people
could receive shelter up to
seven days.
Set Up By King Henry
the VII
Federal Definition
an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence;
and an individual who has a primary nighttime residence that is–
*a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide
temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels,
congregate shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill);
*an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals
intended to be institutionalized; or
*a public or private place not designed for,
or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.
*The Chronically homeless are those who may be
physically or mentally disabled,
addicted to drugs or alcohol, have little or no income or have poor health.
*The acutely homeless are temporarily out of work,
have insufficient income, have been evicted from housing,
are experiencing a financial setback from medical
or other expenses, are transient, or experiencing domestic violence.
Why are people homeless? There are a million reasons.
-Some lost jobs and thought it would be a good idea to camp out to
save money.
-Some are injured or disabled and have not been able to find work.
-Others are substance abusers and can’t straighten up long enough to
break the cycle and find employment.
-There are heartbreaking stories of women who were abandoned by
abusive husbands.
-People with epilepsy, who had no insurance, couldn’t get medication
to control seizures, and resorted to alcohol to control their conditions.
-And there are people who simply like the freedom of not having to
work, living off handouts, and keeping a steady supply of beer.
When rough (homeless) sleepers were asked
what the trigger was for them first becoming
homeless, the most common reasons given
were:
*relationship breakdown=39%
*heavy drinking=21%
*losing job=18%
*having no money to pay for housing=13%
Sleeping outdoors
Sleeping in a vehicle
Sleeping in a public place
Sleeping in a derelict structure
Friends or family
Jungles
Hotels
As many as 3.5 million people experience
homelessness in a given year
(1% of the entire U.S. population
or 10% of its poor),
and about 842,000 people on any given day
40% are families with children
(fastest Growing Segment)
41% are single males.
14% are single females.
5% are minors unaccompanied by adults
49% are African American (compared to 11% of general population).
35% are Caucasian (compared to 75% of general population).
13% are Hispanic (compared to 10% of general population).
2% are Native American (compared to 1% of general population).
1% are Asian-American (compared to 3% of general population).
December 2005 homeless estimates from major U.S. cities (single day estimate)
Boston - 5,819 (total area population 569,165)~1.0%
Chicago - 6,715 (total area population 2,862,244)~0.2%
Denver - 5,000 (total population 580,000)~0.8%
Detroit - 14,827 (total area population 900,198)~1.6%
***Los Angeles - 91,000 (total area population 3,300,000)~2.7%
New York - 48,155 (total area population 8,104,179)~0.5%
San Francisco - 6,248 (total area population 744,230)~0.8%
Seattle - 8,000 (total population 560,000)~1.4%
Washington DC - 5,518 (total area population 553,523)~0.9%
Skid RowLos Angeles, California
To the east of the Historic Core lies the Wholesale District and
Skid Row. This area is characterized by a mix of warehouses
(mostly fish and produce), light retail (mostly toys) and an
extensive cluster of missions, shelters, drop-ins and Single
Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels, the largest service-dependent
ghetto in the. nation
•http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/st
ory?id=1761873&page=1
National Coalition for the Homeless
Mission- End Homelessness
-National Coalition for Homeless engages in public education, policy
advocacy, and grassroots organizing. Focuses on working in the
following 4 areas:
1.)housing justice
2.) economic justice
3.) health care justice
4.) civil rights
-Finances: NCH receives its support from individual contributions, the
Combined Federal Campaign, foundation grants, special events, and
telemarketing
-Homeless Veterans Reintegration
Program (HVRP)
-Continuum of Care
-Health Care For the Homeless
-McKinney-Vento Technical Assistance (TA)
-Transitional Living Program (TLP)
-FORMULA GRANT PROGRAM
-Child and Adult Care Food Program
-Projects for Assistance in Transition from
Homelessness
-Emergency Food and Shelter Program
Safe Harbor/ Compassion Center
-”In 1991 a need to serve the homeless
population that was not served elsewhere
was recognized. Safe Harbor began
operating on the 2nd floor of The Salvation
Army at 212 N Roosevelt Street during the
winter months. Residents would pull
out cots at 10:00PM every night and put
them away at 7:00 AM.”(Compassioncenter/history.com)
- Private non-profit
organization
THE NEW CENTER WILL
HAVE
-Increased capacity for men,
the ability to again house
women, and a separate area
of rooms and dining hall for
families with children
- Accommodations for 112
people
-Onsite Day
Center- GED, life
skills, job
placement and
other services
offered at The
Compassion Center
will move into the
new Safe Harbor.
Debt
Illness
Abuse
Could it
happen to
you??
Buskingperforming
tricks, playing
music, drawing
on the
sidewalk, or
offering some
other form of
entertainment
in exchange for
donations
• according to the National Coalition for the
Homeless
• some cities in the U.S. have laws such as
• "anti-lodging" (preventing camping
outdoors)
• "anti-panhandling" (preventing begging)
• "loitering and vagrancy laws" which allow
for arbitrary enforcement by law
enforcement officials
Second Chance ActThis bill would reauthorize and revise an existing
program within the Department of Justice, providing
money to states for reentry programs, create a
federal interagency task force to study and
coordinate policy, commission a number of research
projects including a study of barriers in federal policy
to successful reentry, and authorize grants from the
Justice Department directly to nonprofits for reentry
program.
SELHA-The Services to End Long-Term
Homelessness Act (SELHA)
authorize funding for a flexible array of
services in permanent supportive housing,
focused on helping people move toward
recovery and self-sufficiency. The Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA) within the
Department of Health and Human Services
would administer the program. Services
would include mental health and substance
abuse assistance, health education and
referral, self-sufficiency and case
management.
Strategies For Helping the Homeless
1.) Creating Data
Systems.
Almost all of the plans (91 percent) outline
strategies to create Homeless Management
Information Systems (HMIS).
Strategies For Helping the Homeless
2.) Homelessness
Prevention.
(e.g., one-time rental or utility assistance,
help negotiating an eviction with a landlord,
etc.), and 91 percent of the plans outline
systems prevention activities, such as
discharge planning from correctional
facilities, foster care systems, or mental
health facilities.
An overwhelming majority of the plans (79 percent) address
emergency prevention
Strategies For Helping the Homeless
3.) Outreach.
Outreach efforts to engage people
living on the streets.
outlined in 79 percent of the plans.
Strategies For Helping the
Homeless
• 4.) Shortening Time of Homelessness.
• Shortening the time that people spend homeless
by providing permanent housing to homeless
people. In total, the plans call for creating
approximately 196,000 units (or subsidies), of
which 80,000 units are permanent supportive
housing.
•
included in 67 percent of the plans; 57 percent call for rapid re-housing.
Strategies For Helping the
Homeless
• 5.)Links to Services.
Once individuals or families are in housing. Outline
strategies to link them with mainstream services
so they can earn enough money to pay rent and
avoid homelessness.
• Included In 81 percent of the plans
Why should I care about the
homeless??
Works Cited
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www.wikipedia.com
www.hud.gov/homeless/index.cfm
www.nationalhomeless.org
www.endhomelessness.org
www.homelesscoalition.org
http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/fb
ci/grants-catalog-homelessness.html#005