Project Homeless Connect

I'm a smart woman. I'm only a thesis away from having my Masters degree. Yet, it took me a half hour to find a phone number and address for the nearest food stamp office. Actually, I never did find it in the phone book, but luckily I had a street roots resource guide, which said in plain language, in big bold font "Food Stamps" and gave the list of offices, their addresses, and phone numbers. If I had been homeless and standing at a phone booth for a half hour with my backpack and bedroll, I might have been told to move along, no loitering, and I still wouldn't have the information I needed because there's no way to find that blasted number. Besides that, they've changed their name again from Department of Human Services to _________________

This one tiny frustration is in reality a hurdle, yet another obstacle that helps keep people on the streets. These things that are just annoying when you are housed add up and get unreasonably big when you are living outside. These are what James Thurber called the "Duck Nibbles" of life. The big things don't get you, but the duck nibbles eventually wear a person down. My personal opinion on ending homelessness, if such a thing were possible, is getting policy makers and housed citizens to understand the duck nibbles. For years now we've been scratching our heads wondering why the numbers of homeless people continue to swell despite all the services available. We live in a progressive city with a mayor and a number of commissioners who are passionately dedicated to ending homelessness. Today, they, 300 volunteers, and dozens of social service agencies came together at the Portland Coliseum to kick off Portland's first, "Project Homeless Connect." A splendid, uplifting idea echoed in 28 cities now, where services are streamlined for one day, and where those who are housed meet and work with those who are not. In a press conference at City Hall last week, attended by one radio station, KEX, and two free-lance writers (Dan and me), Dan asked Will White, director of BHCD, how outreach had been done for Project Homeless Connect, and Mr. White said that all the participating social service providers were handing out the information. We asked how many homeless people the city anticipated and she said, "We don't know, it could be 50 or 500. There's no way to know till it happens." Roughly, I'd say about 1000 showed up. There weren't nearly enough chairs in the "staging area" where homeless people were invited to come in and sit down to wait their turn, where swarms of volunteers handed out coffee, water, juice, and granola bars. It is a wonderful thing if you're foot weary and wet and cold, to have someone invite you to sit down, and that was a large part of the intent of today's gathering, to give folks a break, to treat humans like humans. However, here's one of those duck nibbling situations where everyone intended the very best, all hearts were in all the right places, and yet several people I recognized from Dignity Village were grumpy about the whole thing. First I noticed Laura in a brilliant yellow rain slicker that said "Dignity Village," then I saw Gaye in a floppy black felt hat, and with his back to me, the tall red-headed man standing between them could only be Allen. Laura waved at me then looked up at Allen and said, "Get that number off your forehead!" Allen turned to greet me and I saw he had plastered his intake slip right between his eyes. He gave me a cross-eyed smile and said, "Why should I? We're cattle aren't we?" His ticket was turquoise with the number 16 and two squares—an intricate code that somehow explained what services he had come for. Laura told me they had no idea what was next, they were just told to sit and wait here. They had had to wait almost two and a half hours out in the rain, in a line that trailed down the block just to get to the chairs inside. Then they were questioned about what they needed, assigned to a group, and they waited about another half hour.

Eric Sten stated, "Project Homeless Connect is intended to draw interest and build awareness in the greater community of Portland." The homeless are already aware of the problems. They have lived the hoop jumping and discrimination. They know to sleep at Portland Rescue Mission is to risk your health and safety. They have felt the fear of hearing footsteps echo off the sidewalk while hiding in your blankets.

Yeah, I am well-educated and thought I was an idiot when I tried to find the Food Stamp Office. If "they" tried, they couldnt make it harder to find!!!

The Project Homeless Connect is not the answer to ending homelessness. It is a glorified gathering similiar to that of a Veterans Stand Down - It's not per say a bad thing, but having a 1,000 people stand in the rain to get access to things that should already be readlily available is not a solution based model, nor is it ending a persons homelessness.

Let's not forget that in San Francisco where Project Homeless Connect was dreamed up - that the Mayor is gaining national attention for the project on his way up the ladder of politics. The mayor in SF can't lose this fight, at least to the public's eye. Willie Brown got beaten back because he made false promises to ending homelessness, now Gavin is on the train. Just a thought...

While I appreciate the fact that people are concerned, and the idea of centralizing services is key - Project Homeless Connect is nothing more than a assembly for politcal powers to continue the agenda of the 10-year plan to end homelessness - much like a prep rally before the big game. Which makes sense for those advocating that the 10-plan to end homelessness is working. Let's be real. It's service based, not solution based. It's a break-line, not an empowerment line.

PHC is a quarterly event that is great in theory but does nothing to combat poverty. It's no different than similiar approaches throughout this countries history.

Did any of the reporters covering this stand at the back of the line?

I hope so because it didn't seem all that great to me.

"Clearly the method works," he said, surveying a roomful of people. "The basic idea that the greater community is ready to interact with the homeless and help but didn't know how to do it is true. It's definitely true."

The event ran out of supplies 11 hours a head of schedule. Actually, Erik the method doesn't seem all that great. And the greater community wants to help get people into housing, not socks!

Can someone find out how may people where housed yesterday?

There was no additional housing availaable at the event the intent of the event was not to help the homeless. A few people at the front of the line hit the Jackpot maybe glasses, maybe get a tooth pulled. People later in line spent hours in the rain and walked away with a bitter taste in their mouth.
Homeless people spent hours standing in the rain so a few politicains could smile into a camera. Plans are being made to let the homeless wait inside next time while being herded like cattle.
Homelessness is a national problem that requires a national dialogue instead of cuts to critical limbs of service covered by bandaids of public display.
I appreciate local efforts to address the problem. We are not doing enough. Not on a state level nor on a national level.

I would like to do the raw raw and cheer the efforts of our local government which has made greater strides than any other local government in this nation.
The truth is more people sleep outside this year than last.

Public perception and attitudes about homeless are viewed as a leading societal barrier to overcoming homelessness. Even when homeless judge each other, they say other homeless people choose to be homeless. When they talk about themselves, they talk about needing full time employment and an apartment they can afford as being the personal answer to homelessness. There are a long series of catch 22's to getting a job while being homeless. There are also barriers to getting apartments once a homeless person gets a job. JOIN does a kick ass job of dealing with this conundrum.
I think we could make a difference by working to hold the media accountable. A method of media activism is out line on www.fair.org. Articles and news broadcasts which do not show a homeless perspective can be communicated the need to do so.

The long piece in response to your question about Project Homeless Connect was a work in progress, missing many facts, including many typos, that my wonderful, loving, passionate husband sent on my behalf, not realizing I wasn't done with the piece. I'm not sure it was James Thurber who used Duck Nibbles, and the people I talked to from Dignity Village had far more intelligent and interesting things to say, but because I hadn't edited the piece for wordiness, most of what they said and my concluding comments are missing.

To take up where the prematurely-sent piece of January 17th left off:
Gaye said there were still hundreds more outside although by now the event was more than halfway over. "Just imagine how many would have shown up if they'd done a better job of outreach." She explained that a lot of homeless people had refused to come because their caseworkers were calling Project Homeless Connect, a homeless "roundup." That's a dirty word to people who are sick and tired of being shuffled from one place to another so that they can be counted, quantified, and made into a number that allows agencies to apply for grants in order to keep their jobs. The bigger the numbers, the better chances for grant dollars. Or, as Gaye said, "Reminds me of Nazi Germany. Round 'em up, close the door, and then drop the pellets." Allen's opened his eyes wide and in a far away voice said, "Soilent Green is people." Laura also pointed out that most homeless people couldn't afford to pay the bus fair to get to the event. "Only people living near fareless square are here. But what about people in Beaverton, Aloha, Gresham, Troutdale?" Her point was that the workers spreading the word about this event should have been able to offer their clients bus tickets. She made similar, alternative suggestions: Since Tri Met had one day a year where everyone rides free, why couldn't they do the same today, or why couldn't the coordinators have arranged something with Tri Met? Only five residents of Dignity Village had come today, because they were either skeptical of the roundup, or else didn't have the three dollars and some odd cents it would cost to ride to the Coliseum and back. Many also knew that if they didn't have children, they wouldn't be eligible for many of the services they needed. No one mentioned it at the time, but now that I'm making lists, I wonder also about the large numbers of working poor who are homeless, but have jobs? They couldn't afford a day off to come to Project Homeless Connect, either.
At this point, a tired looking volunteer came out and waving a sheet of paper to catch the attention of the people in the staging area, she yelled, "Those of you who are in the turquoise group with double squares and the number 16 please come this way." Thirty or so people stood up as one and, to use Allen's analogy, stampeded toward the room with all the services. The last thing I heard was Gaye, as she wheeled herself into the midst of the crowd, "See you later. We're off to the showers."
As I said before, Portland is a progressive city working hard and with passion to solve homelessness, to remove obstacles to employment and housing, to streamline services. Every commissioner I've met and Mayor Tom Potter deserve recognition for these efforts, as do the 300 plus agencies in Portland that focus on homelessness, and as do the 1000's of volunteers both homeless and housed who devote untold hours trying to create a whole and well community. No one deserves to have a finger pointed at them for not knowing how many people would arrive and not knowing specifically how to prepare for today's event, since we've never had a Project Homeless Connect day in Portland. However, talking to some of the people who were in the staging area waiting to receive services, hearing the irritation, seeing how sopping wet and tired they were in just getting to a point where they could sit down, I could see the ducks at work, nibbling away at the edges of so much concerted effort.

This version of America under BUSH 2 reaally does suck!