Where do they go?

 

I heard on the news tonight that the Governor of California has ordered all the homeless people living in tents in public spaces to be "cleaned up."  Where will they go?

I know how hard it is to start with nothing.  All those tents are not what public officials want to see, especially when their tourist income is suffering.  Homeless people are a problem, but destroying their very hard efforts to survive on the streets isn't going to help the problems.  The homeless need a safe place to start rebuilding their lives.  Street sweeps, which just put all their belongings into the trash, means they have to start all over... which means they find a new place for their tents.

What do you expect them to do???  Human beings have to sleep, have to eat, have to have a place to use a restroom, and then they need a place to shower so they can be clean, a place to do laundry so they can wear clean clothes, and everything else any human being needs to live from one day to the next.  

I don't know the property options in every city fighting the open issues with the homeless, but there has to be a place they can stay.  Starting over doesn't help anyone.  It makes the problem last longer.

I hear news reports all the time about the costs of dealing with homelessness.  Maybe we need a new way of handling the problems.

I remember seeing historic photos of the Great Depression.  They may have been of New York City, but I don't remember that detail.  What I remember was cardboard or some kind of material like cardboard being used by entire families who were forced out of housing onto the street.  They built whatever they could along the streets of a large urban space and that was their home.

I remember, when I grew up in Los Angeles, seeing news stories about Tijuana (a "city" along the border of Mexico).  It was a huge space where Mexican families lived the best they could, with "homes" made of whatever materials they could find... like plywood, cardboard, metal sheets, etc.

If you watch Gone with the Wind you will see the shanty towns that existed in that time of history.

Today, in other parts of the world, there are people struggling to survive in housing that is not the best, but it is all they can afford.

My point is that poverty is not ever going to be "solved."  There will always be poor people, homeless people, struggling people.  Even the Bible tells us this is the reality of living.  But I always hear political messages about solving the problems associated with poverty.  In my own thinking about these issues, I believe it is because there will always be a next generation of people with their own groups of poverty families.

It is a better idea, in my mind, to create permanent options to meet the needs of poor people.

We have housing, but being government run has its problems.

We have food options, both with government and charity sources, but they also have problems in the delivery.

I have always talked about the need for stability in the paths we create.  Housing is the primary form of stability for homeless and poor individuals and families.  Government programs work on the basis of obedience to the "rules" or you are gone.  That is not stability.  It takes years to overcome the problems of poverty and homelessness.  Each person's path needs to be stable for years.  When they are ready, they will move on.

Today, I was riding on the public transit in my city.  I saw the tents of people trying to survive here.  This city is also on the verge of cleaning the streets of homeless people.  Where will they go?  They will end up going through the same cycle of loss, wandering around while the government does what it does, and look for a new place to sleep, eat, spend their days, try to settle again in a new space.  The problem is not solved, it is "kicked down the road" again.

I have tried to suggest alternative strategies for many years.  

I have prayed for the funds to create these options as demonstration projects, to figure out the details, but GOD has not provided for my efforts.  Working Together is all about finding solutions for all these problems, but for Christians.  It is why I look for possible solutions.  And what my life experience has been about.

I hate to think of all the pain that is going to happen because of the government's view of these issues, and what they see as the solutions for their cities.  It's really a complicated issue, especially with media coverage pushing the problems to a different space.  What is being done is not solving the larger problem.

What are your solutions for the individual people who are the homeless?  Who are poor?  Who are not able to become self-sufficient tax-paying citizens in a day?  Who have handicaps, disabilities, substance abuse issues, other abuse issues, no money, no skills, prison records, can't get a job, are too old to work, have children with them, and more.

They need stability.  Will street sweeps help them?

What can we change about how we see this problem?

Maybe this is an example of that saying about insanity... something about doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result.

America and those who cannot protect themselves

 

I was busy watching videos about retirement issues and economic issues, housing problems and opportunities that are new, and thinking about watching a movie before it got so late.  

I sent an email to the Mayor's office in New York City today.  I watched a video about NYC by Cash Jordan and the immigration issues they are struggling with.  I decided to share a memory from my life with the Mayor because that was the only contact point I could find that was related to the issue.  I don't know if I will get a reply that is worth anything, but I felt it was important enough to share.

When I was younger, I can't remember when it was, there was a movement in the US to sponsor Vietnamese people in our churches and other groups across the nation.  I imagine it was somewhere around the time of the Vietnam war, but I can't be sure.  It may have been another people group.  It's been so long ago.  But I vaguely remember it being about Vietnamese people, maybe Vietnamese families.

What I wanted to share with the Mayor is the sponsorship program.  Churches committed to caring for these immigrants.  They helped with housing, jobs, getting settled into American culture, and language issues.  I imagine there are groups in NYC that can do the same thing, especially with the language barriers.  I think families are the most critical need for housing and jobs and building a better future, but I also know singles and couples will be in need.

In Oregon, there are new laws being implemented about homelessness and camping in public spaces.  One interview on the news was a couple with a dog.  The news person asked if they would follow the mandate.  No one talked about the restrictions in shelters against couples and dogs.  I wondered what the government expected them to do, and how to handle the dog issue.  Dogs are a safety issue for homeless people.  Being a couple is a safety issue as well as a human need.  These things don't go away just because you are homeless.  It's been a problem for as long as I can remember.

I think it is foolish of the government to expect people to leave all the things they have struggled to create so they can build a better future just to spend a night in a shelter.  What are they supposed to do with all their belongings, and their dog?  What is needed is a safe space to "live" in their tents as they keep building a better future.

I hate to see this happen.

When I was homeless, I didn't have all the extras.  It was just me.  Just a backpack of some kind.  No pets.  No tents.  No man.  Sometimes a vehicle, sometimes not.  Sometimes kids, sometimes not.  And I tried to find Christian shelters if I could, because I am a Christian.  Things are different in non-Christian shelters and services.  The unsaved don't like the differences in Christian shelters.  This spiritual battle exists in many parts of our lives/world, including within social services.

The Mayor here talked about shelter being a "carrot" to offer the homeless... about offering it over and over again.  Then he said the law has to become a stick (fines and jailtime) to make the homeless change.  This is where the couple with the dog don't fit.  They aren't trying to be difficult, they just want to be together, protect each other, protect their dog, protect their small amount of belongings, protect their lives, and find a better future.  What good will government "interventions" do for their lives? 

So, I will continue looking for better options as I wait for GOD to provide for me and Working Together.  It's all I can do right now.

In Christ,  Deborah Martin  -  https://work2gather.us 

Happy 4th of July to America

We are seeing our freedoms become mandates.  I'm not sure what America will look like in the near future.  I am trying to keep my eyes on GOD and my faith in His ability to accomplish His Will in our time.  

Tuesday, 17 October 2017

Well, my thoughts are heavy right now... about homelessness issues after watching a local town hall about the topic.  It is how government works... public meetings.  I don't see that much gets done.  It is why I always hoped to do something on my own... which is what WT is all about.

I also am thinking about my sons and prison reforms...

I made two comments to the program.  One when it was live, one when I was viewing parts of it to check some information.  It is hard to know if any effort has any meaning when you are dealing with the government, and maybe the media.  The social media question they presented was about a program someone wanted to get done here... a place for homeless people to stay all day that was far from the downtown core, transportation, services they need to access, and other common problems in the war between city tourism and real community problems that don't look nice.

Now that I have my old computer going again, maybe I can find the letter/s I sent to city hall about these issues... and suggestions for ways to help more people.  The question of whether homelessness was a solvable problem came up... rhetoric won the day.  It isn't a solvable problem, there will always be poor people to deal with... they just change.  We need to create permanent options that really help people, stabilize them, show them ways to solve their own problems, or simply take care of people who cannot care for themselves in a protective environment.

The tax issues came up again... payers versus people in need... federal money needed for state and county programs (it is all the same taxes, paid by citizens)... and how will that money be spent.  Government, non-homeless people don't see the problems in the same way as the homeless do.  Their solutions are generally about hiding the problem as best they can, regulating the activities of those who mar the image they want to portray to the world, and often believing that homeless people really don't have solutions or they wouldn't be homeless... right?

I don't really have the opportunity to get involved in town halls... so this was interesting for me to watch live online.  Only one hour, at the local downtown college.  I saw people I hadn't heard of before, one a dean at one of the schools at the university.  The media panel was new to me, but nice to see a few faces. The official panel had four, the media panel three, the audience limited to 400, I think.  It was moderated by a local media group, by one of their top news anchors.  I don't know that I would travel that far for one hour of public conversation.  It was good to be able to access it online, and I am glad my tablets allowed me to connect to it without problems.

The other thing I noticed was that the audience speakers were mostly from local activist groups.  I see that it would be important to attend and speak, for them.  Tomorrow I will look up some of the organizations mentioned, especially the panel people.  I have discovered that bias is hard to see when you don't know who is talking. 

Well, we will have to see what happens...

Since coming back to Portland, I noted that one news report sounded like it was an unnecessary death due to homelessness... it was of a Jamaican man who was a recent resident, trying to settle here, probably looking for work, and housing... he parked his car by the river somewhere, for the night, to sleep.  Where he parked killed him.  It flooded somehow and he didn't survive.  I thought, he just didn't know where to park safely.  It is so hard to be homeless in a big city, any big city, and new places are even worse... it is scary to try to sleep when you have to be on the streets, never knowing who might try to hurt you.

These are the things that bother me... 

In Christ,
Deborah Martin

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May GOD help us to find better ways to care for each other.  Amen.

Are you the Christian I am looking for?

Monday, 27 June 2016
http://faith-and-prayer.blogspot.com




The Body of Christ and Money :: Lending to the Poor



I have been trying to get to this blog for several days because a variety of spiritual issues have been winding through my thoughts.  I am trying to decide how they will affect my current life and my life in the near future.  I am looking for GOD in my crisis... what is His path for me through these days, what is His purpose in allowing them to happen.  Sometimes writing helps me to sort through all those parts of a problem.

Right now, the most urgent issue I am facing is housing.  It has again come to the top of the priority list and there still is no visible solution to this problem.  For me the battle always seems to be money... too little of it... to little to easily get ahead of the financial problems it causes.

Because I cannot suddenly create the income I need, I am believing GOD will provide a way to access the housing I need, the workspaces and equipment I am searching for, and other necessary items required to continue building Working Together Inc. 

You may be the Christian GOD uses to help me.

I don't want to endure another homeless experience, but that seems to be possible.  I am really too old and tired and not healthy enough to fight these battles again, but I also realize there are already many others suffering the same plight, and these are the times of persecution.  The means may be different, the source may have changed, but the effects and the motives are the same.

So, again, I am looking for the Body of Christ, trying to find even ONE Christian to be the answer to my needs and my prayers.  I am looking for GOD in the middle of my distress, my prayers, my hope, and my life.

I am praying for a place I can OWN 

so I won't ever have to move

or be homeless again.

Here are some of the things I am looking for in my housing prayer ::

• As I near the end of my earthly life, I am praying for a final place to live, a home and land that I will never have to move from again.  
• It needs to be in the Eugene OR area, where Working Together has been existing almost since it was born.
• It needs to be a decent home that won't need a lot of repairs, be big enough for me and my planned work projects, have space for the help I will need, and include land to develop food and other resources. 
• I am praying for a place that is on a major bus line so I can travel to town for what I need to survive daily life with, so customers will be able to reach me, and so I can hire employees who ride the bus. 
• Because of my financial situation, I need a flexible payment structure, and the first three years of survival and development income included in the loan (approx. $18 to $30K/year).  This will allow me to survive as I develop the property for income purposes. 
• Having discovered that GOD lends us the tithe if we need it, requiring a 20% fee when it is repaid, I am looking for a similar arrangement over at least 15 years, but will repay this loan as quickly as GOD provides the income for it.
• Using the property for collateral is expected, but the goal is never to move again and to (finally) have the workspaces I have searched for almost all my life.  Considering the property a tithe unto GOD is also an option, which would make GOD responsible for paying you through other channels in your life.

The loan I am searching for would look like this...

• Principal
• plus 20% as interest 
• divided over 15 years or more (180 months or more) 
• with no payments due the first three years 
• and flexible payments for the remainder of the loan 
• possibly smaller in the beginning 
• and larger at the end
• an early repayment option (including the full 20%)
• maybe a partial balloon payment option

I know it is asking a lot, but this is the prayer I need answered,

now, as soon as possible.

How much do I need?  I'm not sure.  It will depend on the property.

I would like to share that I have been looking for housing answers for the homeless (and Christians as the End Times get worse) for many years.  I have always been a fan of Habitat for Humanity, but then I discovered the $20,000 House at Auburn University's Rural Studio.  After that, Tiny Homes appeared on the scene.  I have been trying to design my own version of homes that will fit in this loan category.  I feel it is possible to help millions of homeless, disabled, and low-income people to own a small home now, changing their lives forever. 

Below I would like to describe the financing program I hope to build to achieve this goal.  It is based on the Bible concept I shared earlier and puts that concept into real numbers, so you can understand the possibilities.



When I was working on my budgets for tiny/small homes for those on a fixed income, the maximum biblical loan I felt fair was $50K, which included $40K for the house, $8K for the biblical 20% flat fee interest and a $2K loan processing fee to cover expenses in that direction. 

Another option I figured out was to take the 30% of the income that would become the monthly housing payment a person could pay and multiply it by 180 months to get a maximum loan amount for that person.  In my current financial status, that would be $115 times 180, or $20,700... which would become $20K for math purposes.  This loan amount is divided into $15K maximum for the house, $3K for the interest, and $2K for the loan processing fee.

Fifteen thousand dollars doesn't afford much of a house, even in tiny houses.  Larger loan options are needed for people at the lower end of the economy, and that is why I went up to the $50K maximum for each loan.  This maximum loan amount creates a monthly payment in the $275 range.

Another issue poverty households face is the debt collection process.  Debt collections can cause homelessness in the lives of people trying to recover from poverty or a financial crisis.  It may be important to limit the final equity in a house to less than the legal amount at the time a loan is created for a house.  That limit was $30K the last time I checked.  This debt collection process is why so many with unpaid medical bills end up losing their home... they are forced to sell their house by creditors because their equity is more than $30K.  Where do you turn when the bank is the collector?

A $30K house would also have a $6K interest fee and a $2K loan processing fee... that would be $38,000 divided by 180 months, or monthly payments just over $200.  With a maximum of $50K possible, there might be room to add to the loan to cover insurance for the first few years, or more improvements to the property.

The key to success in this kind of lending program is flexibility... working with people through their problems, helping them to succeed, protecting them from more homelessness, building supports into their lives, and trusting GOD for the process.

I am looking for this kind of loan, but probably at a much larger financial level to cover the land and start-up costs of what I hope to do.

Are you the Christian I am looking for?