TOO FEW BEDS FOR THE HOMELESS

[surfermaw]

Source: Charlotte Observer..By Fred Kelley

TOO FEW BEDS FOR THE HOMELESS
Women losing emergency shelter
Agencies call for help from churches but get little response as end to temporary accommodations at men's facility approaches
FRED KELLY
[e-mail]
In three weeks, Charlotte's Emergency Winter Shelter will close its doors to 53 women, and Carmen Adams has started to worry where she will spend the night.

Adams, 46, has been homeless since October. A store manager at Family Dollar for 20 years, she says hasn't worked in the past year because of chronic pain and an array of illnesses. She used to spend nights in her car, but now it might be repossessed, she says.

"I don't know where I'm going to go," Adams said.

On Tuesday, social agency leaders from across Charlotte met to help the 53 women find a place to sleep before the Emergency Winter Shelter closes Sept. 15. When it reopens two weeks later, the beds are reserved for homeless men.

The women, ages 18 to 60, are staying there because the city's largest shelter for women and children is filled. Many of them are disabled, unemployed or fleeing abusive relationships.

Social workers have asked local churches to open their doors to the women, but few churches have responded.

The issue, social workers say, exposes Charlotte's shortage of shelter beds and growing homelessness among women and children.



Read more: http://www.charlotte.com/171/story/255000.html

[unhappycamper]

1. IIRC, the Department of Housing and Urban Development published a paper last November

Saying that, on the average, there were about 955,000 homeless people. Every fucking day.

And that the US had only about 650,000 beds available.

One third of the homeless are veterans.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. welcome to Victorian England in modern America

how long will it take someone to suggest workhouses for the poor and homeless?

We don't even have freaking "poorhouses" i.e. shelter for the homeless as they did have in Victorian England, so I mispoke. We would have to ASPIRE to meet the Victorian standard.

In some South American countries death squads just roam the streets and shoot the poor - that's very efficient and cost effective way to handle the problem. Or, we could encourgage them to all move to some city below sea level and not tell them when the levees blow - that's also quite efficient.

If the measure of a society is how it treats it's weakest inhabitants, we are in negative numbers.

[EFerrari]

3. I'm worried about this winter. And returning Iraq vets are going

homeless at a good clip. Here in CA, that idiot in our statehouse just cut funding for mental health on top of everything else.

[surfermaw]

12. Most of the church going think they are just lazy

Many of the church going people think homeless are just lazy,and want some one to keep them up. a Many of the church going are middle and lower class some with young children they are trying hard to raise,and under Bush, are having a hard time meeting their own needs

[surfermaw]

6. When our Vet;s come home disabled

I do hope this nation will put someone in the White House and both houses, that will recognize the fact that we are going to have many many homeless vets. Some of them will be so damaged that they can't hold jobs,and their disability pay isn't going to afford them homes.

Now with outsourcing and beating our Unions back, many Americans are loosing some of their salary, inflation is hitting and has been for the last 7 year, hitting much more so than our government wants to admit

[Joe Bacon]

4. But Bush says the Churches will take care of the needy!

You mean they arent???????

I guess that Preachers are using those "faith-based" bribes, er, dollars to make their Rolls Royce payments!

[Doctor_J]

10. Yes, but they have to agree to abstinence and a GOP registration

to get a bed.

[acmavm]

5. This is bullshit. The bush** criminal cabal are going to ask for

ANOTHER 50 BILLION dollars for Iraq next month.

That money should go for things like this. And healthcare. And feeding the hungry.

[Freddie Stubbs]

7. Why is an "Emergency Winter Shelter" open in August?

:shrug:

[AngryOldDem]

9. Probably because the need is just as high now as in the winter

We had an emergency shelter, in addition to the regular shelter, that was open roughly from the start of cold weather here (in early November) to when the nightly temperatures were above 40 (around mid-March). That is now open year-round to shelter homeless men. The "regular" shelter has room for 100; the now-renamed "overflow" shelter holds 70 more. We are consistently at these numbers for men year-round. As far as women go, we have gone as high as 50. Families, that depends -- summer seems to be the most "acceptable" time to kick them out of their homes, so we have had upwards of 20 families with a combined 35 kids on any given night.

The numbers should shock, astound, and anger. The issue of homelessness -- the degree to which it exists in one of the most prosperous nations in the world -- is a true shame.

In other news, I heard this morning that Leona Helmsley willed $12 BILLION to her -- wait for it -- DOG.

[JTFrog]

8. I found out something else extremely

sad here in Indiana. A woman who lives in my complex was evicted last week. We helped her and her son move their stuff into a storage place. I had never met her before, but her son goes to the same high school as my boys and we have two pickup trucks and she asked if we would help. The next day after school, the son showed up at my apartment and said he needed a place to crash until his mom got off work at 10:30. I can't put a kid out on the street, it's just the way I am. I tried to ask a few questions about what their plans were, but he's 14 and I didn't want to push or make him uncomfortable. I went upstairs and started making some calls to see if there was anything that I could do to help find her assistance. No easy task since I didn't know the woman's name, where she worked or what her resources were. ANYWAY, in the course of all this I found out that there are no shelters in Indianapolis that will accept teenage boys. NONE. ZIP. NADA. They would take the mother in by herself, but they had absolutely nowhere to refer me for this young boy. No separate or combined facilities that would accommodate any male over the age of 14. The options were to find a friend/family member that the boy could stay with and then they would give her assistance. I'm still flat out appalled. I have three teenage boys myself. God forbid anything should happen and I find myself out on the street.

If the reasoning is that teenage boys are harder to control than teenage girls, well that's somewhat debatable, but even so... WHY IS THERE NO WHERE ELSE OR SEPARATE FOR THEM TO GO?????? What parent would seek shelter without their child or without having a safe place for their child to stay as well? I've had the misfortune of being in this situation myself in the past, only I didn't have teenage kids, I had an infant daughter and that was another kind of hell.

[Trillo]

11. So WTF about those "faith based funds"

of Bush's? I'd much rather see those funds going to the Homeless than some preacher's creative-accounting soup kitchen.

[sarcasmo]

15. They only care about Children before they are out of the womb.

[lonestarnot]

13. Well damn, we have to pay those CEO's in this fascist country!

:sarcasm:

[Megahurtz]

14. Nice....

>>>"Social workers have asked local churches to open their doors to the women,
but few churches have responded."<<<

Just fucking nice. :sarcasm:

And those Churches get donations for what now?

[Skittles]

16. not surprising to me

the church-going folk I know would have no problem stepping over a homeless person to get to church