Getting the Homeless off the Streets...start here

[sheclown]

Emergency Services Homeless Coalition has scheduled a meeting for tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon from 3 - 4pm in the Goodwill building, 4527 Lenox Avenue, to start the planning process for a drop-in center for the homeless.  This meeting is open to the public, and any input would be appreciated.

If you cannot make the meeting and wish to post ideas here, those ideas will be passed along as well.

[sheclown]

The meeting was well attended.  Lots of non-profits, JEDC, the city, and even MetroJacksonville.

A couple of points:  there are cities which have successful drop-in centers.  A couple were mentioned, Dallas and Fort Worth and Boston.Saint Francis House (Boston)

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Saint Francis House is a nonprofit, nonsectarian, ecumenical daytime shelter, primarily for the homeless, located in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, and founded in the early 1980s. It is the largest daytime shelter in New England and serves as an early model of such a center.
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Its mission, has been stated early on as:
“    We believe in the dignity of every human being and offer respect to all who enter the house. Our mission is to care for those who cannot take care of themselves, and to assist those who are capable of becoming self-reliant and fully functioning members of society.    â€

â€"St. Francis House Mission Statement, as recapitulated in 1998.[1]

It serves and helps poor and homeless people in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi who was dedicated to helping the neglected.
[edit] History

Saint Francis House was formally founded by the Justice and Peace Committee from the Saint Anthony Shrine[2] on Arch Street in downtown Boston in 1984, but its origins date back to 1981, when the Franciscans at Saint Anthony's had opened a soup kitchen for the homeless.

As the need for services increased, Boston community and religious leaders called out for the establishment of a center where existing and additional services could be offered to the poor, the homeless, and the otherwise disenfranchised. It was the visionary, Father Louis Canino, O.F.M., a Franciscan friar and then Rector of the Saint Anthony Shrine, who was the driving force in its founding and the necessary purchase of a building on Boylston Street.[3][4] Ira Greiff, a veteran social worker and former Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine, was also instrumental in setting up Saint Francis House with Father Canino, using the model of a settlement house (possibly and additionally combining community center or clubhouse models) for the day center shelter.[5] He also shared a vision for "rehabilitative services and a permanent multiservice center for the homeless and that homeless shelters and programs should and could collaborate, and participate in joint public policy and budget advocacy".[6]

Its early historical responses to help the homeless focused primarily on emergency services such as food, clothing, shelter, and medical care.

However, the problem of homelessness, in general, turned out to be more complex and could not be solved by emergency measures only, so its scope and services broadened.

Over the years of its operation, St. Francis House has dealt with barriers that impede people in overcoming poverty and homelessness, by offering an upward framework of opportunity. This includes teaching the skills needed to obtain jobs, housing, further education or, at the very least, how to have lives independent of shelters and institutions.

In 2001, Millennium Partners and Ritz-Carlton who built the Ritz-Carlton Hotel & Towers just around the corner from Saint Francis House, funded the construction of a large atrium in Saint Francis House so that the homeless would not have to stand in lines in the street waiting to get in.[7][8] Saint Francis House had originally approached the developers to build the atrium out of an unused outdoor parking lot, so that homeless guests would not have to wait on the street in long lines.

In May 2009, a guest was stabbed critically by another guest. The Executive Director of Saint Francis House, Karen LaFrazia, said that this was a very rare occurrence and that in her tenure of more than a decade, she had never seen anything like this and that the environment is safe and a haven for many hundreds of people every day. The people involved in the incident were not regular guests of Saint Francis House.[9]

In October 2009, Fr. Louis Canino, the founder of Saint Francis House in 1984, visited on its 25th anniversary reflecting on how much had changed in those 25 years.

[sheclown]

Operation

St. Francis House is open seven days a week, 365 days a year and it provides its guests with the basic necessities of food, clothing, shelter, showers, telephones, mail, medical care, and emergency assistance. There are also rehabilitative programs (employment, housing, mental health, substance abuse counseling and lifeskills training) to help those who are able to move themselves out of poverty and homelessness, to achieve lives of independence, self-respect, and hope.

There is also some transitional and permanent housing in the building for the formerly homeless, living in recovery, and employed.

It also has a very active expressive art room, the Margaret Stewart Lindsay Art Center[10], where homeless artists create and are given a chance to express themselves, and many of the works are displayed and sold. Saori style Japanese weaving is especially therapeutic and useful for many of the artists.[11][12] Every year, guest artwork is featured in the Art from the Heart Calendar.

In 2004, the Carolyn Connors Women’s Center was opened, recognising the special vulnerability of the smaller population of women who are homeless.

Being a daytime shelter model, it is a critical part of caring for the poor and homeless, since most nighttime shelters for sleeping typically put their guests out during the day, early in the morning after wake-up call. Rather than being left to the streets, which can be harsh, the day center provides a place to go and be cared for and also be part of a community, typically much more wide-ranging in services and scope than the nighttime emergency shelter scheme.

The in-house medical clinic is run by Boston Health Care for the Homeless.

[sheclown]

Of course, its location is a major concern to everyone and much talk centered around that. 

One side feels that any more social services downtown will only make the problem worse.  The other side is saying that this is where the problem is and this is where the solution lies.

All points seem to be valid, but as Metrojacksonville (Stephendare) pointed out, JTA needs to be involved in this discussion.  With JTA's cooperation, siting of the center could be more flexible. 

Some are concerned about duplication of services.  Dawn Gilman, ED of the Emergency Services Homeless Coalition, pointed out that there are approximately 800 emergency shelter beds and 3000 homeless.  Obviously, the city has a long way to go before duplication of services is a problem.

(Not that the center will have any beds -- from what I have heard, it won't).

There were a few churches involved.  Not many.  I hope more become involved.  What a time to make a difference in the world, and we have this right here and right now.

[rjp2008]

Trinity Mission's program seems an effective model. It's not enough just to give homeless a bed and food, as that can be easily abused. The point is to get them into a routine of good living habits and then quickly get them OUT of the city into a more rural area for a while.

So the city needs something where you complete a program for 30 or 60 days, then they ship you out to a rural farm away from it all to get things straightened out.

[sheclown]

rjp:  it is a complicated issue, isn't it?  Trinity has helped so many people put their lives back together. It is definitely an example of a working program.  And the city has a myriad of programs like this, and it needs all of them and more.

However,

first step...the homeless need to get off of the streets, for their sakes, for the city, for the business people downtown, ASAP.

second step...enrollment in programs like Trinity, Clara White, River Region and the others.

IMHO

[rjp2008]

A St. Francis house model would work too. All the major cities seem to have at least one religious order (Catholic) working with the poor. What a powerful witness that would be in the city to see a group of sisters or brothers dedicated to helping the homeless and addicts get back on track.

[second_pancake]

Hello strangers. 

Ok, I had to chime in since my new home, Ft. Worth, was mentioned.  As someone who loves downtown Ft. Worth (btw, it is NOT Dallas in any way shape or form so the two should not be considered interchangeable), I have to say WHY the drop-in (day) shelter has worked and why you can actually walk around downtown without being acosted by rude and entitled homeless folk.

If you look at the map (shown below), you will see where the shelters are (marked by 'A').  The mental facility, rehab centers, night shelter, day shelter, and food bank, are all in one area surrounded by interstates and the railroad track.  This area is mostly industrial with very few residences in the direct vicinity, but more importantly, look at its relation to downtown.  Downtown, Sundance Square, and the courthouse, are all the way up in the left upper-hand corner of the map (Belknap St., Bass Performance Hall area).

In order for a panhandling homeless person to travel from the shelter to downtown, they would have quite a hard trek.  Not only because of the distance they would have to walk, but because of the lack of sidewalks or other pedestrian-friendly options.  Frankly put, the homeless that choose to be homeless and are looking for free hand-outs, would have to actually put forth some kind of effort to get anything and they just aren't going to do it.  Am I saying that downtown Ft. Worth is completely free of homeless?  Absolutely not, but they are hard to identify being that they do not lie around on the sidewalks or beg for money.  In fact, they actually try and do something to EARN money.  I saw a couple playing guitar a couple weekends ago to earn cash.  They sounded really good and added a bit more interest to the nightlife IMO.

I've been here for almost 2 years now and the number of homeless I've encountered downtown Ft. Worth I could count on 1 hand.  So, if Jacksonville wants to take a queue from Ft. Worth on this one, they should completely segregate their homeless shelters from the urban core and make it as difficult as possible for the homeless to get into downtown.  If that doesn't sound like a viable solution, then maybe they should take a queue from Portland and bus all the homeless to Seattle, lol.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&source=hp&oq=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=1415+lancaster+ave+fort+worth+tx&fb=1&gl=us&hnear=1415+lancaster+ave+fort+worth+tx&cid=0,0,12991948277187033147&ei=ZKN-S8nlJsSMnQeg3Y1f&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CAcQnwIwAA

[fsu813]

"they should completely segregate their homeless shelters from the urban core and make it as difficult as possible for the homeless to get into downtown."

- bingo.

however, there's no way that's going to happen anytime soon. 1 or 2 facilities may be moved, but there will not be a mass exodus in the near future. What's important is to PLAN for what's next. Have a vision in mind. So, move 1 or 2 soon, build a day center, move 1 or 2 after that, 1 or 2 after that, all in the same area, and there you have it.

[sheclown]

fsu:  any site ideas for the day center?

[second_pancake]

I've got one.  How about Talleyrand? That is primarily industrial, underpopulated, has a railroad and river barrier.  Although, one could walk under the interstate to get into downtown, they would have to cross through and around the stadium area and would have quite a long haul into downtown...you know, since Jax never made any connection between the stadium and downtown through mass transit.  In the event they ever do (roflmao), the transit connection area could easily become a haven for the homeless, however the COJ would have the area so well policed (lol, again) and so many ordinances in place (again, roflmao) to prevent loitering and panhandling, that it wouldn't be an issue for long.  Ok...now my tummy just hurts.

[urbanlibertarian]

I seriously doubt that it is politically possible to move homeless services to any other area.  Grouping existing services and new ones together on the Northbank (where I live BTW) is probably the best we can hope for.

[heights unknown]

In Sarasota it's the "Resurrection House," and in Bradenton it's the "Our Daily Bread." However both close at 3:00 PM; I disagree with that; they should open them at the crack of dawn and close them at around 6 or 7 in order to have meals and other needs ready for those that need them.  Many lack adequate funding/funds and I know this is one of the reasons why they are open for very few hours.  The one in Sarasota is immensely successful and popular despite the hours, and the one in Bradenton only serves two meals a day with even shorter hours.  We hope to open something similar soon but on a larger scale.

"HU"

[fsu813]

Tallyrand makes pefect sense. But there other areas too....(McDuff, 103rd, Beaver Street, among others.)

[urbanlibertarian]

I don't think it's going to matter that some other place is "perfect".  NIMBY will keep homeless services in the core.