Tag Archives: homelessness

The criminalization of poverty and homelessness

Posted on by
3

Mayor Soglin is in very good company. The criminalization of homelessness is taking place all over the country.

Barbara Ehrenreich (Nickel and Dimed in America) writes about it:

the criminalisation of poverty has actually intensified as the weakened economy generates ever more poverty. So concludes a recent study from the National Law Centre on Poverty and Homelessness, which finds that the number of ordinances against the publicly poor has been rising since 2006, along with the harassment of the poor for more “neutral” infractions like jaywalking, littering, or carrying an open container.

The report lists America’s 10 “meanest” cities – the largest of which include Los Angeles, Atlanta and Orlando – but new contestants are springing up every day. In Colorado, Grand Junction’s city council is considering a ban on begging; Tempe, Arizona, carried out a four-day crackdown on the indigent at the end of June. And how do you know when someone is indigent? As a Las Vegas statute puts it, “an indigent person is a person whom a reasonable ordinary person would believe to be entitled to apply for or receive” public assistance.

Some other examples:

It’s apparently illegal in Raleigh, NC to feed the homeless.

Columbia, SC is setting up a concentration camp for the homeless:

Concerned that Columbia has become a “magnet for homeless people,” and that businesses and the area’s safety are suffering as a result, council members agreed on Aug. 14 to give people on the streets the option to either relocate, or get arrested, according to the city’s “Emergency Homeless Response” report.

Cooperative homeless people will be given the option to go to a remote 240-person bed emergency shelter, which will be open from September to March. The shelter will also be used as a drop-off for people recently released from prison and jail, too.

Some statistics on homelessness in Dane County

Posted on by
Reply

The City of Madison has released its annual report on “The Homeless Served in Dane County.” The full report is here: 2012 Annual Report Final print . The Executive Summary is here: 2012 Annual Report Executive Summary Final

Providers report that they offered shelter to nearly 3400 individuals in 2012, a 10% increase over 2011. Of those individuals, around 42% were families with children; the next largest group was single men, around 40%.

I’ll quote from the summary:

Two-thirds of all individuals who stayed in shelters reported they had lived in Dane County for longer than a year. Only a few percent reported living here for less than a month. These numbers reflect a dramatic change from data collected in the 1990’s when nearly two-thirds of homeless persons reported living in Dane County for less than a month.

And:

The reported data make clear the imbalance between the need for shelter and local capacity to accommodate that need. There are currently nine shelter programs, each serving distinct populations – families, single men, persons fleeing domestic violence, etc. The total capacity among reporting providers is about 310 beds, plus 65 seasonal and overflow beds. Few, if any new beds have been added to the system in the past year. There is also some ability to use motel vouchers for short term stays when necessary, though that is a more costly proposition.
Limited shelter capacity has led to rationing.

There: an admission of fact: “Limited shelter capacity has led to rationing.” Whether or not shelter providers, social service agencies, and local politicians want to admit it, rationing of space is long-standing policy.

One important thing to note about these numbers. They only reflect what is reported to the shelters at intake, and by the shelters to the city. In other words, this report doesn’t account for people who don’t try to access the shelter system. Thus the report doesn’t reflect the true scope of the need nor the true total numbers of homeless people. The only report that attempts to do this is the semi-annual Point-In-Time survey (conducted on January 30 and July 30).

In other news related to the homeless, Brenda Konkel points out that 5 homeless people have died in Madison in recent months.

So, Mr. Mayor, where do you want homeless people to hang out?

Posted on by
1

An article in today’s Madison State Journal interviews Mayor Soglin, local business owners, and others about the “problem” of homeless people hanging out on State St. at Capitol Square. According to the mayor they are “nurtured by well-intended people with clothing, bedding and food, making the area even more of an attraction.” Well, we know who he’s talking about, don’t we?

And don’t get me wrong. I know how uncomfortable it can be to walk through that area. For all the hellos and kind words I receive from those I know, I’ve also had many unpleasant encounters.

But here’s the deal. Where are homeless people supposed to spend the day? The shelters close first thing in the morning and then they’re on their own. When a newly-homeless person comes to Grace, I direct them to the benches along Capitol Square, or to the Capitol, or yes, to “Philosopher’s Grove.” If they’ve missed the free van to Hospitality House, they’ve got no way to get to the only place that’s open for them during the week. Those benches and “Philosopher’s Grove” are very poorly suited as locations for the provision of services that might help the people there improve their situation.

In a few weeks, the renovated Central Library will again be an option. And no doubt the Library entrance will become what it was before the renovations, a place where homeless people hang out. On weekends, there’s nowhere to go and if the weather’s bad, and someone comes looking for shelter, I’m likely to invite them into Grace, at least for as long as we’re open. And I direct them to the various feeding programs where they might at least get something to eat before the shelter reopens in the evening.

The point is, in the absence of a central location like a day resource center, where people can find shelter and also get connected with services, most homeless people have little choice but to hang out on the streets in boredom with the only escape being alcohol or drugs. Until that happens, homeless people will hang out on State St. and Capitol Square. And if they’re forced out from these places, they’ll find somewhere else to gather.

Madison, a town without pity, updated

Posted on by
Reply

Joe Tarr (Isthmus) reports on last night’s demo and Homeless Issues Committee meeting, where, you guessed it, a day resource center was on the agenda. Pat Schneider has also written about it.

Because I’m feeling rather nostalgic this evening, I thought I would link to blogposts in 2011 and 2012 that addressed the same issue.

From August, 2012: “A day shelter for Madison” (in which I talk about a patient discharged from the VA hospital and sent to Grace)

From October, 2012

From November, 2012 (my testimony before the County Board of Supervisors)

From November, 2011 (with links to earlier developments in the story)

Couldn’t we all just save energy by referring back to these earlier debates and conversations?  It’s political football season again, with our vulnerable homeless population serving as the football, getting kicked around by bureaucrats and elected officials.

Madison: “A Town without Pity”

Posted on by
2

Charlie Blow has an op-ed in tomorrow’s New York Times with the above title. He writes:

Today’s America — at least as measured by the actions and inactions of the pariahs who roam its halls of power and the people who put them there — is insular, cruel and uncaring.

That seems to describe Madison, WI, pretty well, too.

We’ve learned that in spite of money in the county budget for a permanent day resource center for homeless people, it’s likely that none will exist this year. A little money to existing programs will be enough. Oh, and the Central Library is reopening in September, so homeless people can hang out there in inclement weather. Lovely.

To put it bluntly, all of the people who fall through the cracks: patients discharged from hospitals with nowhere to go; the homeless mother who’s been sleeping in her car with her three children for the last several weeks; the elderly disabled woman who was told to come to Grace when she went to a facility that wasn’t accessible; all of them will have no option this winter other than the library.

For more on the latest concerning the Day Resource Center, here’s what Brenda Konkel has to say.

Yup, I think Charlie Blow has it just about right. Madison, a town without pity.

Entertaining strangers and angels: The Reality

Posted on by
1

I preached about hospitality this morning. 

We were hospitable in all sorts of ways, with lots of visitors and newcomers, some old friends, and at least two homeless people. The VA discharged a man who was barely ambulatory and sent him to the shelter. He had come to the VA hospital yesterday from another town in the area so he’s unfamiliar with Madison, the shelters, and had no information about what limited services are available on Sundays. They discharged him this morning around 8:30. Of course the shelter opens around 7:30 this evening. One wonders what VA staff expected him to do for eleven hours, or worse, if they even cared. He came to service, enjoyed coffee hour. Earlier someone purchased him a cup of coffee; as I was leaving church this afternoon, someone else had just gone to the store to buy him a couple of packs of cigarettes.

I called the VA between our services and gave the discharge nurse an earful. I also left messages with the homeless outreach program. It outrages and sickens me. It’s bad enough that all of the hospitals do it; I think it’s criminal that the VA does it.

The other homeless person who came to us today was wheelchair-bound. She had been sent from the Salvation Army to what she called the “rescue mission” to eat. Unfortunately that facility is not accessible so they told her “to go to the church on the square.” That’s how she found us. She will attend our Spanish-language service and join them for lunch.

I’m proud of how we as a congregation reached out to these two individuals (and to lots of other strangers who came amongst us today). Such things don’t happen every week but it’s not uncommon to have a homeless person or two join us for coffee hour (and in the winter for services). But it’s a shame that churches have to fill the gaps when our society fails our most vulnerable members. And it’s especially shameful when the federal agency that exists to care for vets discharges patients directly to homeless shelters.

A prayer for Bob–A prayer for all of us

Posted on by
1

The prayer I read at tonight’s vigil:

Gracious God, whose son Jesus Christ was born in a stable because there was no room in an inn, whose family fled violence as refugees in a foreign land, who said, “foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head,” we pray this evening for our friend, neighbor, our brother Bob, who was attacked while sleeping and now lies in a hospital bed near death. We ask that you surround him with your loving presence and give him healing and strength. We pray too for all of those who are providing for his care: doctors, nurses and others who tend his body, that they may have the necessary skill and wisdom but above all compassion as they care for him. We pray too for the man who attacked him, that he may seek forgiveness for whatever led him to this heinous act, and that he too might know and experience your love and grace. We lift up to you all of those who are sleeping on the streets, in their cars or in shelters this evening that their hope is kindled, their faith renewed, and that they might experience the warm embrace of a just community. We pray for all of us here, and all of those who are with us in spirit, that we may be renewed by your grace and power to speak more boldly and act more resolutely on behalf of those in our community who have no place to lay their head. We pray for this neighborhood, the city and the county, that we may create here a community in which everyone has safe shelter, food to sustain them, and we all can flourish together.

All this we ask in the name of the one who stretched his arms of love on the hard wood of the cross, even Jesus Christ, Amen.

Update on the beating victim

Posted on by
Reply

In my lectionary reflections yesterday, I mentioned the severe beating Monday night of a homeless man on Capitol Square. We’re hearing today that the alleged assailant has been taken into custody. There were also stories circulating that he had died from his injuries but apparently that’s not the case.

I’ve been asked by a number of people, including the news media, if I have any more information, but I don’t. All I can say at this point is that this incident points out the absolute vulnerability of homeless people on the streets. We think about that in the winter when there are snowstorms and sub-zero temperatures. It’s true year-round, though. Sleeping on a bench, or in the grass, or hiding in the woods, you’re on your own, with the only security your personal vigilance, your fists, and if you’re lucky, a buddy or two who might also be looking out for you.

There will be a candlelight vigil this evening at 7:00 pm at the Capitol. More info on that here. He needs our prayers, and our community needs our prayers as well.

Living among the tombs: Lectionary Reflections for Proper 7, Year C

Posted on by
Reply

This week’s readings are here. My sermon from 2010 is here.

Late last night, a homeless man sleeping on Capitol Square was severely beaten. According to news reports, he suffered life-threatening injuries. I learned about this while I was studying and reflecting on the gospel story for Sunday–Jesus’ exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac. He too was homeless, without a house. In the ancient world that meant he was without family or property, a given identity, and a place from which to exercise his personal and communal rights and responsibilities, his moral obligations.

The possessed man is described in pitiable detail–he wore no clothes; he didn’t live in a house but in the tombs. He was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles but when the demon overcame him, he would break his bonds and run into the wilderness. To twenty-first century readers, this description sounds like mental illness.

On one level, the story of this exorcism is very alien to us. Most of us don’t think we inhabit a world in which demons possess people or could be driven out and forced to possess a herd of pigs. But at the same time, this man’s description is not all that strange. We are accustomed to see people dressed in rags and tatters on the streets of our city. Sometimes they have mental illness that creates awkward moments for us when they begin speaking to us as we pass by. We would prefer that they be anywhere except on the busy sidewalks of downtown Madison.

There’s more to the story I heard today that I’m sure we will learn in the days to come–who the victim was, perhaps who attacked him and why. And I don’t want to imply in any way that the victim could be compared to the possessed man in the gospel story, except in this way: both were homeless and outcast from society.

Jesus does much more in this story than cast out a demon. He restores the man to society to his family. He is healed, saved, made whole. The text describes him clothed, of sound mind, and sitting at Jesus’ feet. The latter tells us he has become a disciple. He wants to follow Jesus but Jesus tells him that he has a different mission–to return to his home and declare what God has done for him.

Today, as I was thinking of homeless men and possessed men, and about living in tombs, I was reminded of another reference to tombs in the gospel–not the burial place of Jesus, but rather Mt. 23:27

For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth

In this verse and the discourse from which it comes Jesus is contrasting the outward appearance of righteousness with internal hypocrisy. My question this afternoon is: Who is living in the tombs? Is  it the homeless man, the demoniac, or is it us?

What must we do to be saved? A Sermon for the 7th Sunday of Easter, 2013

Posted on by
Reply

I saw one of those eye-popping headlines on the internet this past week. Like most such things, it was designed to get you to click on it—“School cancels graduation because of prayer controversy.” I couldn’t resist because I immediately thought: what high school would cancel its commencement because of a conflict over someone praying at it? So I clicked. Of course, it wasn’t a high school graduation—it was a sixth-grade graduation, which is an outrage of another kind, but I won’t go into that. Continue reading →