Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 21, 2009)
HUD, from page 10 homeless but for other homeless i f populations, including homeless families. This administration intends to. have more engagement and collaboration through the USICH with federal agencies to solve homelessness. T.T.: While many people experiencing homelessness live in city streets or in emergency shelters, countless others spend their, nights in the homes of friends and family, in campgrounds, or in low-rent motels. How will this administration reach out and provide needed services to those households? Under The Bridge By A nn Preston-Paris Under the bridge, if I’m especially lucky, I might come across a fire to warm, the cement I live on. I might imagine, its heat melting the hard frigid block into a soft warm mattress. I’d do the devil a deal to taste warmth and comfort again, even for just one night. But, no, I take that back. One night would never be enought to fill me up. It’d ,be like an almost climax during sex,. There you are, strung up, high, and stranded. I’d weave this one night into one thousand^ and one story after story. After dream, after delusion. To be warm and leave a safe place to lay my head. Better than food,'sex, or drug. “ And só I wander on passing tents and boxes on and on? I see people eating from cans children and dogs closing in to share the* meal. Cats calmly perched on laps and shoulders. Whats for them? Some lovely sardines maybe, sans oil, or a can of “people’’ tuna? Yum! Ño one’s cooking tonight it seems. I make my way around ourvillage of the poor Norte Ville des paures. It’s dark and so quiet out. Not a whisper of any car on thé freeway next door. Suddenly a small burst of red-orange! There’s an 11 oz coffee can in front of me next to the curb; flames are reaching from it. Tips flickering up and down like dancers practicing jumps in place and a group of men pressed close are sitting around the fire warming their freeze-burned hands- they aré; telling stories^ Seeing them, I might dream of a room in a sixteenth century English hotel Its dwellers gathered in front of thefire entertaining themselves of a mean winter’s night while minstrels pass on the way I side to finer places of welcome and rest. I join these modern-day men on thé damp grass and listen to their tales of hunger, cold, aches, and pain; of wondér, hope and warmth that began with the flick of a lighter or a strike of a match. S.D.: People are often forced to live with family and friends because they can’t find an affordable home to re n t This is why i t i? critical that we do everything we can to | stimulate the production of affordable rental housing. The Recovery Act’s Homeless Prévention and Rapid Re housing Program will help thousands of families to avoid homelessness by offering moving expenses^ security deposits and temporary rental assistance. HtID is making significant contributions toward the capitalneeds of local housing authorities so they, in turn, can sérve more families. And we’re reaffirming HUD’s support for our voucher programs by proposing nearly $18 billion in the 2010 budget, an increase of $1.8 billion over current levels. It’s clear that President Obama is intent oh making sure that lower- income families, and specifically those at higher risk of homelessness, must-not be forgotten as we seek to put this nation back on the path of sustainable economic growth. 'T.T.: Homelessness is not just à housing issue, of course, but an issue pertaining also to health care, incomes, civil rights, education, jobs. In what ways do you, plan on coordinating your efforts at HUD with the - efforts o f the other departments in combating homelessness? S. D.: To solve homelessness requires not just housing but access to an array of supports. The sèrvices by agencies such as the U.S. departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Education are absolutely vital to help ensure that once persons are housed they have the services they need to become stably housed and improve their lives through éducation and employment. Clearly the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness will be playing a key role in coordinating government agencies on the issue. T.T.: Why do you believe it is important for the government to play a role in providing and attaining affordable housing in this country? Do you believe that the federal government can really make a difference in preventing and ending homelessness? S.D.: The resources of the federal government can help as no other entity can, either through direct investment, tax credits, hond financing or a combination of th e se to o ls.B u t government can’t dti iT*^* T. T.: During your years as commissioner o f alone. The only reason we were so the. New York City Department o f Housing -•successful in New York was because we marshaled the combined resources of a Preservation and Development, what role did you play in providing housing resources for the number of public and private players. I also think we have to change our general city's homeless population? What lessons did you learn from that experience that will inform approach to. Affordable housing and endeavor to create sustainable communities your work as HUD Secretary? > ; ’ that are transit-Oriented and energy efficient. That’s why HUD is working S. D.: In one of the most expensive closely with the departments'of housing markets in the country, we were Transportation, Energy, Labor and able to make significant progress toward Education to cultivate a more building and preserving 165,000 units of comprehensive and holistic approach to affordablé housing, the largest municipal development We just have to think smarter affordable housing plan in the nation’s about how we build the communities of history. One of my proudest achievements tomorrow. inNew. York was the New York/Nèw York In the same way, I think the federal III, a $1 billion agreement between the government tan make a real difference in state and the city to finance and develop preventing homelessness as we work to end 9,000 new units of supportive housing in homelessness for those experiencing long New York City. The lessons I learned are term or chronic homelessness. As you that if you hope to develop affordable know, there has been a shift in how the housing, you have to be nimble and you federal government, as well as state and have to gatheir a collection of partners to local communities, in how we confront help, make it happen. chronic homelessness. All across the i country, you’re seeing the creation of T. T.: How did you become involved in the thousands of new permanent supportive issues of homelessness and lowlncome bousing units and a noticeable decrease in housing? ’ our reliance on emergencyshelters. I anticipate that we will continue to see this S.D.: As an 11-year-old, I was sitting in , paradigm shift in the years to come. Yankee Stadium during Game 2 of the 1977 World Series when Howard Cosell uttered his famous words: “Ladies and gentlemen, Dynamic Drupal customization training media Shome the Bronx is burning.” The Bronx burning on the city skyline was just one of the many visible signs that government institutions and urban programs were failing. P eo p le" were asking if our cities weredead, and American families moved but of urban cores to the suburbs in record numbers. It was a ' frightening and eye-opening time to live in New York. But it was a time that also sparked a deep interest in me, an interest in how I could play a-part in changing the policies that shaped the urban landscape and the built environment around me I k remember very vividly walking oh my way to school in the morning and seeingpeople sleeping on the streets. I remember constantly asking myself why.-Why was The world like this? And what can I do to It's now time to use that change it? I worked for a community ’ same process and see what housing developer in can be done not just for the New York City after studying public policy chronically homeless but for and architecture in other homeless populations, graduate school. Then including homeless families. one of my professors from graduate school asked me to join him at HUD in the Clinton administratibn. Site Design & Development K V ris tin a S m o c k Q „ o H sylfln g Research & Evaluation « Policy Analysis ■ FacHitaling diverse, stakeholders www.kristl na smock consuHi ng .com .com Street Roots is forever grateful to all of its incredible volunteers. Thank you for all you do!
