Shelter Beat pt 1

pstrongA PNN insider journey through San Francisco's shelters, social service agencies, andbr / government bureaucracies.br / /strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/450/photo_2_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Michael Lea Morgan, PNN shelter beat reporter./p pbSeries #1: Perspectives from the street/b /p pAs one of the shelter beat reporters for PNN I will be documenting my experiences on the street and in the shelters, with support services, as well as the day-to-day hassles of homeless and/or low-income life. /p pI became homeless, ironically, when some homeless people burned my house down in Los Banos. After working in the National Guard Armory shelter in San Jose, then moving to SF and volunteering at the Coalition on Homelessness, I began to devise ways I thought the homeless issue could be better dealt with. So I will not only be presenting eye-witness accounts of homeless people’s experiences, but will be suggesting possible reasons why the system is set up the way it is as well as solutions which could be initiated./p pI am a pretty strong person, but my experiences with the system of homeless service providers still affects me because of the nature of being homeless. But what about someone experiencing emotional pain, fear (behind losing a family, a house, etc) and anxiety (at being completely broke and homeless for the 1st time)? It is essential that the services being provided for people be as compassionate as they can be, due to the nature of the situation. In a rape crisis center, for example, you must have staff who are sensitive to the issues involved. But in the homeless services arena you have staff members who are obviously unsuited for their jobs. Even though homelessness is a crisis situation…../p pb pIt was raining OutSide/p/b/p p.. /pp It was raining and we were outside the Episcopal Sanctuary Shelter (EPS), waiting for the beds to be given out. They were supposed to read the numbers at 7:45 pm, but they were late, so we all stood out in the rain and waited. (When you stay at the Sanctuary, you are expected have it together to be out by 8 am or you get written up- why aren’t the people working inside the shelter required to get it together to read the numbers at the designated time? Although this incident happened months ago, they read the numbers at 8:20 last night also [3/19/01], so this is an on-going situation). When the woman finally came out, at 8:15, she was wasting time laughing and bullshitting and the crowd began to say things like, "Read the numbers. It's cold out here.” The woman responded by saying that if we kept up that racket she would give out the beds to whomever she wanted, and would cut out the trouble-makers. /p pNo one was being a trouble-maker. We were expressing a legitimate concern, one which I certainly shared./p pWhat adds to the frustration one feels when the staff acts like this is the fact that the Town Hall Meetings (held monthly at the Sanctuary purportedly for the purpose of allowing residents to report cases of staff misconduct as well as suggestions for improving services) are nothing but a smoke screen, seemingly just a set-up to let residents THINK they have been heard—to let off people's steam and deflate the potential for people to really go off and take constructive action. /p pAt one Town Hall Meeting I suggested that they at least have an awning for when it rains, so that people don't have to stand in the rain to get their numbers read (especially if they are going to read the numbers late, right?). They said that they did not have the money for that. I also suggested that they move the cold drink machine from its current location because people have to walk right in front of the TV to get to it. It could be placed at the back of the room. Lynn Armstrong, the director, said that the machine also produces a lot of heat and should be re-located outside of the room altogether. /p pTown Hall Meetings are an insult to my intelligence, and a waste of my time. If they are simply not going to take any of my suggestions seriously, then what is the purpose of the meeting? It gives people a sense of being disempowered because our input is, for the most part, disregarded when the shelter does not feel like implementing the suggestion. /p pIn 1996, when I first came to The City, I was at a Town Hall Meeting and they had someone there who took "minutes.” When I returned to the shelter in 1999, they had discontinued this practice, with the result that what they type up as having been said at the Town Hall meeting can be whatever they feel like typing up. I have come out of Town Hall meetings and later looked at the "minutes" posted several days later, noticing that half the stuff I brought up was not on the sheet. I guess they don't really want the whole shelter to be aware of what is being suggested by the residents./p pMy big question is: where is the homeless-run shelter in town? There are homeless-run groups, like POOR Magazine and the Day Labor Program, Food-not-Bombs, and Homes-Not-Jails. They all challenge the system in their own ways and not only offer valid critiques, but do real service. The shelters and funded homeless service providers are, for the most part, made up of non-homeless people. How are the homeless shut out of the system to such a total extent, when many of them are fully capable of running any agency or shelter in this town? What has happened there? Obviously no one at DHS, the Mayor’s Office on Homelessness, Hospitality House, Saint Anthony’s, Glide, etc. has deemed it possible to train homeless people to run their own shelters. But the homeless ARE capable of it. So, the conclusions I draw are:/p p1) Possibly the idea of training homeless people to take one’s job seems self-defeating.br /br / 2) No, it couldn’t be that. Okay, the non-homeless liberals who actually administrate don’t understand the homeless (and their capabilities).br /br / 3) No, that’s still not it (because if #1 and/or #2 are true, we have a problem on our hands, like what to do about it./p pSo, on to my great solution. (One time a smart-ass activist loudly and publicly said “So here’s Michael, the man with all the answers.” We are rude to one another because of . . . ?) What we need is for homeless people to begin getting together as kindred spirits to meet and brainstorm, to learn to relate to one another, to study design and implementation, and go out and design and implement as a specific group or collective of related groups. The existing structure is there and much of it is taking along just fine; this is an addition, a new kid on the block, not really a completely novel approach because collectives have been around forever, but something new at this time, in this place where I find myself. /p pAll responses, pro and con, are welcome; please contact me at: a href="mailto:ravencrow@eudoramail.com"ravencrow@eudoramail.com/a, or (415)430-2168, x9335./p pI Note from the editor: James Tracy from The Coalition on Homelessness has launched The Right to a Roof Project which is working on trying to get funding for a long-term housing project that is designed and run by homeless and formerly homeless Bay Area residents. As well, POOR Magazine ran a congregate house for very low and no income homeless single parents and their children with on-site literary and visual art workshops and community dinners. After one year they were unable to attain funding to continue operating and are still seeking support. /i/p p/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p