Question: “Can a home save the homeless?” That’s the title of Amanda Lehmert’s 11/16/2008 News & Record article on the housing support team program — an initiative to move chronically homeless people from the street into housing.
Vincent Sims used to sleep under the Lee Street bridge. He spent some of his Social Security money on drugs and booze. Banned from city shelters for schizophrenia- and drug-fueled outbursts, he sometimes got arrested just to have a warm, safe place to spend a few hours. And when he got out of jail, he’d go right back to sleeping by the train tracks or in abandoned buildings. Then one day last year, the Rev. Mike Aiken approached him with an offer: a no-strings-attached apartment through a new Guilford County program…
I met Vincent years ago. He is one of dozens of my friends who has moved off the street and into a home in the past year through the new housing program.
…The housing support team, a partnership between Family Service of the Piedmont, the Greensboro Housing Coalition and Open Door Ministries with help from local social service agencies, started searching for homeless residents in mid-2007.
“They had to be someone who is cycling through the system a lot,” said Mitch McGee, the housing support team coordinator. “In and out of jail, in and out of the hospital.”
Folks who continue to live on the street no matter how many times police pick them up or nonprofits feed them a hot meal. Folks like Reid James.
In the summer of 2006, James, a 47-year-old who suffers from bipolar disorder and depression, ran out of friends willing to take her in….
» Read “Can a home save the homeless?,” online at the News & Record
» Printable PDF of article
» See a slideshow of Vincent’s photos here.
Reporter Amanda Lehmert doesn’t address the program’s major flaw — serious problems with the availability and delivery of supportive services — a fundamental component of the program, and a necessity for the long-term success of the program’s participants. YES! Weekly’s Jordan Green reported on that issue earlier in his 09/24/2008 article, “Formerly homeless clients find services lacking.” Jordan interviewed some of the same folks that Amanda did, and my friend Reid James is featured in both newspaper’s articles.
I’d suggest reading both articles to get a fuller perspective on the housing support program — the good and the not-so-good. I’m thankful for the program, but I want to see all the supportive services issues addressed so that our friends can truly experience recovery, health and wholeness. Housing alone will not end homelessness.
I think that Jordan’s article focuses on the problems with the Enhanced Service Providers, which is essentially out of the Housing Support Team’s control.
If you want to rail on anyone for providing sub-par mental health services you can look at the State of North Carolina for privitizing those services. When the care for mentally disabled folks became a “for-profit” venture it changed the nature of the game.
Tom, did you read my previous post about Jordan’s article, that I linked to above? If not, it’s here.
I said at the end of that post:
I agree with you that privatizing and monetizing state-funded mental health services has caused problems. I wish there was an easy way out of this mess. It’s hurting a lot of people.