The Feds Are Stepping Up

I've been doing a lot of reading recently and as time permits I will read articles posted from all over the country using the keyword "homeless" in my news reader program.

An interesting development that makes a lot of sense has cropped up. Several federal departments and agencies are stepping up and pushing back against cities and local governments that outlaw homelessness. We have all probably heard about or seen our own cities ban things like loitering, sleeping outdoors, feeding homeless people in public and several others that directly affect homeless individuals.

For example, in one certain city they were confiscating micro homes specifically built for homeless people that had wheels to allow the micro house to be moved out of the way during the day. Or the family that was penalized, fined and threatened with jail time for regularly feeding homeless people. In several cities homeless encampments were torn down even though there was no reasonable or safe place for the residents to move to.

One of the federal agencies specifically involved is HUD or The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. They provide much of the funding to assist local homeless service agencies, such as the shelters and the local homeless coalitions, to provide housing and other assistance for homeless individuals. One of the ways HUD decides how to divide up the federal funding designated for homeless assistance is a rather lengthy questionnaire that all recipients of HUD funding for the homeless must complete. What has or is going to happen is the questionnaire will have some additional questions regarding whether there are ordinances or laws in the local area that make some form of or homelessness in general illegal. By asking these questions they will then adjust the local HUD allocation.

Even the Department of Justice has stepped in. One instance had the DOJ stating that it was unconstitutional to prohibit outdoor sleeping thereby forcing a certain city to reconsider it's ordinance against homeless people sleeping outdoors. In this case, I'm not sure where they are in the legal process or if the city in question will be willing to repeal the ordinance without a fight.

Some other federal agencies or departments who are stepping up in pushing back against local governments making homelessness illegal are the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S, Interagency Council on Homelessness.

It is good to see that our country's leadership is beginning to make a definitive move towards combating homeless even if it means they have to tell local communities how to administer to the local homelessness problem. On the other hand having the federal government involved can assist in the implementation of actual working programs such as "Housing First" on a far larger scale and the creation of more affordable housing.

As many of you now know, in January I decided to retire so that I can pursue other things. One of the most important was to work on myself and my lifestyle. Between work related stresses and several other related factors I was gradually thinking about using drugs again. This was the major reason I decided to retire. I needed to get back involved in things that are not quite as stressful and away from some of the people who I did outreach with in the homeless community. Some other factors were that where i had been living several people who I knew to use or sell drugs had also moved into the apartment complex. Some of whom even started knocking on my door to see if I wanted anything. It was not a good situation all around.

Now with that being said, I still plan to do what I can with the homeless community and the people who I may be able to assist while at the same time going home to my safe place where I don't have the temptations around all the time. In past posts I had talked about the fine line I had been walking, while working and doing homeless outreach, between relapsing and using again or not. Luckily I have not had a relapse. I have in the last couple of months been able to talk to people I know who have been where I was. Gradually I am now becoming more relaxed and enjoying my new adventures.

Lately I've been exploring the city and discovered several enclaves of homeless people in places that I did not expect. I have so far reached out to a couple of them and have started the process of developing their trust, discussing what they may need to do or accomplish to improve their situation and who to see that can help them.

It's not just a matter of throwing a bunch of information at them. None of their problems are simple or straightforward. But once I got a fair handle on their problems I can then give them good advice or assistance. In most cases they had tried and failed to get away from their homeless situation. They kept hitting a brick wall and not having any success at all. The problem in each case was that if their problems were not dealt with in a certain order or sequence they were bound to fail.
One person who I will call Jim has some legal problems ( mostly tickets ), no identification, little money, lives in a tent and wants to work. Now we all know that trying to get a job without ID is extremely difficult and getting IDs replaced costs money. His legal problems will cost money too or so he thought. He also wants to get in touch with his family again. All the money he is able to obtain goes to pay for his food and supplies. Once all these issues were discovered  it was a simple matter of making a list with priorities and specific goals then working out exactly what he needed to do in a specific order. In this case he needed to work out the legal issues which were just some outstanding tickets. We talked about the homeless court and got him started on that path. Turns out it looks like he will do some community service and the tickets will be taken care of. Next he will need to contact one of several organizations who can assist him with getting his identification and social security cards replaced but first he had to be recognized within the homeless system and obtain a homeless ID card from the Tarrant Area Homeless Coalition. See where all this is going? He had in the past tried several of these things but if they are done out of order he will keep hitting road blocks.

Once he got it all worked out and established his priorities then things started falling into place. Today Jim has recently gotten his Id cards replaced and is going to start the process of getting his Social Security card. He now knows exactly what he needs to do, where to go and who to see. All he really needed was someone who was familiar with the process and had the information he needed to deal with the issues he was facing instead of becoming completely overwhelmed with the complexity of the tasks ahead of him.

Much of what I went through when I was homeless was similar to what Jim is going through. I too thought that my problems were insurmountable and complex. Until I broke them down into smaller problems was I able to see what I had to do. Finding out how to solve my personal issues was a matter of locating the correct people that could assist.