Street roots
Aug. 1, 2014
The feds are redefining homelessness to make it disappear
Paul Boden is the
executive director o f
the Western Regional
Advocacy Project, or
WRAP. Street Roots
is a proud member o f
the West Coast
coalition o f
organizations.
BY PAUL BODEN
HUD’s restrictive definition of
homelessness has created a cruel and
hat kind of a cold, mean, and even
vicious cycle. Once families lose their
sadistic homeless service provider
homes, they scramble for any place to stay.
would you need to be to tell a
If they sleep in a vehicle or remain on the
family of three, four or five people living streets
in
(which is a criteria for being
a single room occupancy hotel or “illegally”
considered homeless), they risk being
sleeping on the floor of a friend’s apartment
categorized as “unfit parents” and losing
that is desperately asking for emergency
their children to public agencies. Hoping to
shelter “No, you ain’t homeless enough,
avoid that, families will stay with other
your just poorly housed. Go sleep in the
people, often in unstable and unhealthy
streets for a while, come back and mâybe
situations which render them ineligible for
we’ll put you on the waiting list And
homeless assistance. As if that ain’t cold
remember when you do come back you <
enough (and it is) HUD also requires that
better stay homeless and be able to prove it. these rules apply to unaccompanied youth
Since 2009, this would be the only kind off as well.
homeless service provider the federal
Sen. Diane Feinstein and Rep. George
department of Housing and Urban
Miller, both Democrats from California,
Development (HXJD) is willing to fund. In
have introduced legislation in their
fact they are so serious about this issue that respective chambers to overturn these
in 2011 they put out a 105-page memo
draconian critera.
detailing to local communities the severe
Why this Ebenezer Scrooge approach to
penalties incurred for providing any services addressing homelessness?
with money you may get from them (HUD
Because families and unaccompanied
is, by far, thé largest funder of homeless
youth cost too damn much money, that’s ‘
services) or not thoroughly documenting
why.
thé new eligibility requirements before
HUD and some of the national homeless
families or youth can be served. And not
groups, are trying to sell everyone on the
•just served butidentified as a priority or ‘ 5
amazing success of their lO-year plans to
counted in the ridiculous poirit-in-time head
end homelessness. Yes, their head count
counts HUD reqüires communities to
numbers have gone down (through
perform.
redefinition, not reality) and yes, thousands
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T
■
of single adult homeless people have been
housed in hotel rooms. When fewer visible
heads in the streets and getting people into
hotel rooms becomes your measuring stick
for success, you really can’t be wasting
money caring for or protecting people who
aren’t in a safe position or vulnerable
enough to be visible in the first place.
It’s about selling a product and if the
product is expensive to produce, the
production goes down. Simple business.
They can room 25 single adults in a hotel
for the cost of housing three families or
helping out seven unaccompanied youth, so ;
the single adults become the business of
HUD. The human math is pretty simple too.
In 2006, we had 600,000 homeless students
in public schools across the country. In
2009, we had 930,000, and in 2012 it was
1.168 million. Yet in 2012, only 247,178
homeless people in families were eligible to
receive services through HUD homeless
assistance programs.
Call it poorly housed or call it the
invisible homeless. No matter what you call
it, this is incredibly heartless public policy.
For updated information and to fin d your
elected representatives contact info, visit
www.helphomelessyouthnow.org. This
column also was published fo r WRAP in the
San Francisco Chronicle.
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A thought for a thought
Time edges on the brink of,
The road like a ticking time bomb
Petrol fuel
Infuses the brain of the mechanics of clockwork
Beginning inspirations..
From day to day
It’s a daily humdrum
Of the cycle of life
Keep walking, stay alive
Genesis Redux
b y D h a rm a B u m
The first man
Urban and wild..
I
The hum of traffic B
The music of the city'
Rivers of asphalt
Canyons of concrete
This is the jungle
This is Eden
Under skies of wonder
We stand at the crossroads
With Infinity below out feet
As we wiggle our toes in a dream.
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