A story entitled "City Orders Homeless to Abandon Tent City" appeared in today's Bee (Metro section, front page). Apparently there is a homeless camp just off of North B Street (60 tents) that the City is ordering to be cleared. It sounds like they are referring to an empty lot camp. I wonder though if this is across from Salvation Army along the fences. We are regulars to this area for people we meet up with, so it is interesting to see this area in the news because some of the people we have met may be included in this group. Click HERE for the story.
What do you think of this?
NOTE: If clicking on the link above does not get you to the story, then paste the full link in your browser window and that should work. http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/470679.html. The Sac Bee sometimes makes people sign in before reading stories, which is a bit lame. But I find that when I paste direct links into a browser window, that it avoids this problem.
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4 comments:
In Portland they have a empty lot that they call Dignity Park where homless can camp and its sponsered by the city and local groups. I wondering why cant our city be more forward thinking and have more intention about dealing with the issue rather than just looking the other way. I just dont get it!
Last event we had I had a man living in his van tell me most people are about five pay checks from being on the streets. I really gave this a thought and I agree with him. He also was telling Kel and I about how he has been dealing with homeless haters and that they throw thing and yell at them from cars windows. Why.....
Hey this is Kellie
I have read the article and seen the News story last night on fox. I really just have no words, Its ignorant thats all I come up with and It aches my heart. God forgive them, and have Grace and Mercy on the homeless that are being run out. I really just have no words. I just am praying for understanding.
I'm surprised by the feelings that reading the article stirred in me. The slant on the article seems to peg the existence and justification on the tent community on the lack of shelter and single room occupancy housing in the area.
I work everyday with people 300+ employees who spend their professional skills on doing everything within our grasp to secure funding and expand housing opportunities for the homeless. Are there enough homeless housing options, in our neighborhood? No. Are we actively expanding the housing options everyday? Yes.
I don't think a lack of housing is the only reason that people were living in the camp on North B, though.
I've met enough people in my handful of years of street outreach to know that the brokenness and patterns of addiction have as much oppressive power as the lack of housing in the lives of street residents.
People abandon relationships for fear of being known and move out of their homes into the street. In fear of being held accountable by the ones they love, people exit home environments. People run away from financial responsibility for fear of failure or after being bound by the "American dream" that racked them with debt. People vacate stable home environments to indulge patterns of substance abuse that tear at the seams of the fabric of life and mute the reality of fear and pain. People learn patterns of indulgence, rage, and selfishness abandoning self control and befriending violence. These are not the only things that put people on the street; but these culprits ravage our community. These broken patterns are the chains that keep people on the streets. I take greater offense at the willingness in our community to not take responsibility to help our neighbors learn new life patterns, than at the reality that we need to do more to allow homeless camp opportunities to exist. If we only let the camps exist, we make it OK to leave the broken to live outside from community and relationship.
Do I think the homeless need a place to exist without being run off? Sure. But, to just let them live on the outskirts without addressing the systemic cultural and relational dynamics that keep people there seems like a much broader issue.
On the flip side, I am a little concerned that when after months of no steps at St. Johns church to sleep we're just running off the homeless to "squat" somewhere else.
I pray that St. Johns completes their building renovation soon. They are a place that gives the homeless a temporary place to be, and also reaches out with longer term resources to empower the kind of life change that gets people off the streets.
My biggest prayer, though, is that more of the Sacramento community is filled with compassion, to reach out to help and heal the poorest of our community... to care for the sick, to help the weak, to forgive the sinners, to stand with the fearful, to educate people on how to deal with fear, finances, anger, and the many other pressures that push people onto our streets today. To offer the medical and relational resources to overcome addiction, get job training, and take steps toward establishing a stable contributory lifestyle. Not everyone will be free from needing on-going community services; but, aren't we called to care for one another?
My heart breaks more at the NIMBY attitude for the dynamic of wanting to push needy people off on someone else. Let's work together to live lives that take the time to stop to care for the people that are in our own neighborhoods to make a positive difference for lasting change. I believe that the more people engage in this kind of living, the more we'll succeed at helping to end chronic homelessness.
Wow, Ann. That was powerful. I appreciate your words. They are good to let sink in and come back to. Thanks.
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