A New Year

Once again I'll say THANK YOU to all of the people who have reached out to the unsheltered homeless over this past year and especially during this holiday season...
Now that's not to say that the sheltered homeless need your help and compassion too, it's just that with the shelters here running at or near capacity, the number of unsheltered folks is steadily increasing. In addition, the unsheltered people don't have access to the resources, for a number of reasons, that are available to those in the shelters.
Thanks again to all of you who help all the homeless out there, both sheltered and unsheltered.

We are now beginning a new year. The need for assistance within the homeless community is greater than ever because of the steadily increasing homeless population. Housing is of greater and greater importance. This past year homeless assistance networks all over the country, even here in Fort Worth, are saying that they have all but eliminated or greatly reduced the numbers of homeless Veterans. It's now time to look at another goal. How about senior citizens?
Technically I am homeless. I'm a retired senior and receive Social Security. Ever tried to find reasonable housing when your available income for housing is that limited? I'm not the only retired senior citizen with this dilemma. Social Security is a great thing don't get me wrong but affordable housing is just not available for many seniors on that sort of income. With that being said, the number of seniors going homeless is increasing too.
Now that the homeless veteran problem is almost solved, why not start addressing the homeless senior citizen problem?
I'm going to continue to discuss that dilemma in future posts as well as homelessness in general.

I hope all of you have a great holiday season. Let's continue this discussion.

Merry Christmas!!! and I hope you have a great New Year.

Thank You...

While I'm going to stay home and scrounge up something for my Thanksgiving meal, I want to thank all the volunteers and organizations who will or are now providing a good Thanksgiving meal to the homeless and disadvantaged people in Ft Worth. I know it will be welcome 😀.
THANK YOU!!!

Just Rambling

Here it is the day before Thanksgiving. Ive got to see if I can get something from one of the food banks. Tomorrow I hope to visit and have a meal with another homeless person who is not going anywhere.
Lately I've been looking at the housing situation here in Ft Worth. Homeless people, people on a small fixed income (like me) and many others just can't afford housing costs assuming you can find something suitable. My search alone looking for a room or small apt. have not worked out well. Mostly because the possibilities that I did look at were in unsafe areas (drugs, gangs, etc.) or were where there was no nearby public transportation and other problems. Those were just the places I could afford. I'd rather live in a tent. Homeless folks have the same problem not to mention folks who work but at low wages.
Then I remembered a village just outside of Austin, Texas created by Mobile Loaves and Fishes. They have tiny homes, rv's and other structures for those who for one reason or another don't have housing. Recently they started on an expansion to almost double in size. That being said, when the expansion is complete they will be able to house up to 40% of the unsheltered homeless in the area. Search for them on your favorite search engine and take a look at their web site. There are quite a few published articles about them too.
Could something like that be done in or very near Ft Worth????
Many of you have probably noticed that I write mainly about the unsheltered homeless here. There are several reasons for not writing much about those who live in shelters. The biggest reason is that the shelters are full. I'm not knocking the shelters. They do an amazing job with limited resources.
I am going to start writing here again concentrating on the folks living in tents, under bridges, abandoned buildings or just on the streets. They are the ones who always fall through the cracks.

Anyway, I'm winging it this Thanksgiving and need to get moving so I can cook a meal with my neighbor.

I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving day 😃.

Holidays

Here we are once again at the beginning of the holiday season. Thanksgiving is just a few days away and while I'm not sure what I'm going to be doing I do know that I have a lot to be thankful for.
Near where I live are 3 other guys. 2 of them have plans and the fellow who doesn't have plans intends to stay at his camp. Sort of a shame but I'll probably hang out with him.
There are far too many people who fall through the cracks in this fashion. I will do what I can but that is only a drop in the bucket.
Know of a camper near you? Make him or her a plate and reach out to them. Many times they are stuck with no one around who cares or are just To Stinking Proud to ask. Even I'm that way sometimes.
Just having someone reach out makes a difference.

Still Here 😃

It's been quite some time since my last post...
The simple update is that I'm technically still homeless. I've been pretty busy since I retired and have been moving around a lot. The technically homeless part is because finding a room/apartment that fits my budget is very difficult.
I've been watching the changes here in Ft Worth regarding homelessness and hope to learn more about all the improvements in homeless services. I'll report about these changes as time goes on.
On the flip side the number of unsheltered homeless people is still on the rise. One example is in an area where I once camped that at that time had no more than 5 camps now probably has more than 35 or 40 camps...
Bottom line is homelessness is still a real problem. The numbers of people who are homeless is still on the increase while certain services are lagging and other services are improving. It's a process.