slightly intelligible

Response to Jonah Goldberg Podcast Episode 70 on Homelessness;

Homelessness Episode.

I work at a large non-profit in Houston called Star of Hope Mission which was founded in 1907 with the purpose of serving homeless men in the Houston area. In the early 80’s we expanded to include families as the face of homelessness changed..  We are a Christian based homeless mission. This doesn’t mean we exclude service to non Christian folks but it means we heed the call from Christ to serve the ‘least of these’ and love our neighbor. Serving at the Star of Hope for 22 years I have formed some opinions on the nature of homelessness. Here a few bullet points.

• Giving 5$ to a homeless person on the streets seems like a small amount of money. When 10-20 people do that throughout the day you have an income. This income becomes crippling to the homeless person and enables a way of life. You must think of the consequences for the long term. There are times when I see a situation and I feel moved to give, which I impulsively do. But I know its really just giving me an emotional band aid. Most of the real needy like battered women who are in shelters with their children do not stand on corners, the shelters that care for them will make use of the $5. Here is a link to a Houston based campaign http://meaningfulchange.org/
• The Feds can help by continuing to give tax benefits for those that give to non-profits. This incentive was challenged by the Obama administration and is driven by the political philosophy that the government does it best.. they do not. There are several non profits making lasting change to the issue.
• The continuum of care (CoC) for homelessness starts with case management, case management must start when a homeless person or family enters a shelter door and moves through the entire CoC which includes the transition to permanent housing. HUD tried the Housing First methodology (just give a homeless person a house ..done!) yet this hasn’t worked due to the many issues that someone may be facing (mental illness, drug addiction) . You have someone they meet with that can get resources and navigate the obstacles with them.
• Tent Cities are creeping up everywhere because Americans are wealthy and there enough resources to be made through inkind donations (goods) and panhandling to support colonies of people.
• Prevention. Homelessness is cyclical and you have to get to the mindset of impoverished children. We have 300 children in our shelter out of the 1400 we serve. These children are bright and need a chance to get out from underneath the weight of the disease of homelessness.  Who is getting into early edu schools and starting the discussions ?
• Last but not least. Faith. When you are living on the edge of human depravity and have been a child growing up in this mindset of drugs and alcohol and sexual abuse you need to know that you are loved. This is Christ message “come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest” . This message may not be appealing to those of us that have it made but I promise , we have a graduation from our program each month and  ex-prostitutes , crack addicts, heroin , you name it .. they get up to the podium with clarity of mind (after a lot of hard work) and explain how their new found faith in Jesus Christ was the turning point. Not all of them , but a large percentage. This is the essence of real root change. I am loved beyond that of human love (which has failed me over and over)

Thank you so much for bringing homelessness up in your conversation. I really appreciate what you guys are doing.