On homelessness
by Bob on April 29, 2008
Briefly, as far as income or money for homeless people we must distinguish the various kinds of population of homeless:
1. For indigent and destitute people there is money from Food Stamps and Public Assistance ("welfare" money) if they qualify. The amount per month for food stamps varies as does the amount of money for assistance. This money is basically Federal money but it is also supplemented by local Massachusetts state and city of Boston money and administered by the state and city.
Sadly, many of these people who get a "welfare" check or good stamps sell them for cash and then use the money for alcohol or drugs.
So the government giving the money is very careful or tries to be careful in handing out money. They don't want it wasted on substance abuse. But it's hard to monitor and safeguard.
One kind of public assistance is SSI (Supplemental Security Income):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supplemental_Security_Income
2. For disabled people (physical and mental or emotional) there are some ways to get money:
(a) SSI Disability money
(b) SSDI Disability money
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supplemental_Security_Income
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_Disability_Insurance
These both require a major investigation of the person's situation, much paperwork, examination by doctors appointed by the government agency, and finally, a determination. This ruling (determination) decides whether the person is truly disabled from working and earning money.
For SSDI, which is a federal program of the Social Security Administration in Washington DC it's very hard to get it. Most people are denied the first application. Then they must get a lawyer, appeal it, and go before a judge. It's a process that can take years for a ruling.
Also for SSDI, it depends on how much a person making the application has earned in his lifetime and put into the federal system. If they didn't work much or didn't earn enough money, then they will not qualify or get very little money.
If a person has worked hard and made a lot of money in their working career and becomes disabled, then they may get a fair amount of money monthly (maybe up to $2,000/month maximum).
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Many homeless people do not have any income at all and don't bother to apply for SSI or SSDI. They really need a Social Worker to help them do it but they don't care. So they are indigent and live from the homeless shelter (like Long Island Shelter run by the Boston Public Health Commission or Pine Street Inn, etc.) and spend their days at Saint Francis House until the bus takes them back to their night shelter.
For many, any money they make or get (on the streets, odd jobs, etc.) is used for alcohol or substance abuse right away. For example crack-cocaine is very expensive and a harsh habit. So their money disappears -- whatever they got from redeeming empty bottles, cans, or begging. Or stealing.
These unfortunate people have a life which in Boston is very kind to them. Their meals are provided free at Saint Francis House and their night shelter. They have a bed and shower. They can make telephone calls for free at SFH. And they can use their drug of choice.
The federal government is now objecting to this endless cycle. It wants these people to be HOUSED and not in an emergency homeless shelter. To the federal agency which funds the homeless beds and meals (someone has to and it's HUD - United States Department of Housing and Urban Development) wants so called chronic homelessness stopped.
WHY ?
Because it's an unending vicious cycle. People who are chronically homeless become institutionalised. They don't want to get out of the system. They are comfortable in it. It works.
But HUD says it costs them about $32,000/year per person to pay for a homeless person in an emergency shelter.
Which if it's chronic homelessness (people don't want to get out of the situation) it's cheaper to get them a room or an apartment ! So, if we say a room (not an apartment) costs $100/week, then the government only has to pay $400/month, and then totally $4,800 per year instead of the $32,000/year for a bed and meals and services at an emergency homeless shelter.
So there is an section of the federal government called the ICH. The Interagency Council on Homelessness. And its goal is to END HOMELESSNESS. But they have an ulterior motive: to reduce the cost to the federal government to maintain a homeless person.
The ICH has come up with a "Housing First" program recommendation. Most cities and states who receive federal funding from HUD must obey. This Housing First Initiative says instead of putting a person in a public emergency shelter, get them into permanent housing. This a very complicated issue. I co-authored the Wikipedia article on it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_first
It is controversial. Why ? Many homeless people or people at risk cannot keep their own homes. They will lose it. If we measure the six-month to one-year outcomes after housing a homeless person, they are not good outcomes. People can't keep their apartments or rooms. They start using alcohol again. They are alone and troubled. They invite the wrong people over to their homes who get them back to bad habits.
The federal government through the ICH has asked major cities to come up with a position paper to say how they will end homelessness in their cities in five or ten years.
Here in Boston, Mayor Tom Menino, says "the solution to homeless is housing". Well, it's true but it's not that simple if people can't keep their new homes and wind up on the streets again.
OTHER SOLUTIONS TO HOMELESSNESS
To some extent, we would have to look at the causes of homelessness and try to fix them. But that's very hard.
For example, someone who becomes homeless due to a natural disaster tearing their house down as in a hurricane, is only homeless for s brief period of time and then gets back to life. These people, victims of natural disaster, are very motivated to get their lives and homes back.
However, someone who becomes homeless because of mental illness or alcohol or substance abuse problems -- that's harder to solve.
Also, the homeless population is showing many kinds of people in it:
1. Children who have lost their parents and are on the street
2. Teenagers who are abusing drugs and run away from home
3. Adults who have just lost their jobs and cannot find a new one and who lost their family support
4. Families who have lost their home due to a default on their home mortgage -- called the "sub-prime mortgage" crisis.
5. Illegal aliens from other countries
6. Former convicts who were incarcerated for a long or short time in a jail who were released and now have no home or money
7. Mentally ill people who do not qualify for long-term hospitalisation in a state mental hospital.
8. Alcoholics and Drug users who have bounced in and out of detoxification facilities and rehabilitation programs and who failed and started using drugs or alcohol again.
9. Criminals who are running from the law enforcement authorities.
Remember, the original homeless problem was cause by "deinsitutionalisation" of the state mental hospitals in the 1960s and 1970s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinstitutionalisation
They closed the state mental hospital and put mentally ill people back into the community. It wasn't properly handled, so it failed and they wound up on the streets, homeless. I saw this happen with my own eyes in my hometown, New York City.
So, the possible solutions to CHRONIC homelessness ?
1. Effective Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitatiton programs with significant after-care
2. Housing with proper supports from the counselors and community to make sure that people keep clean and keep their homes
3. Mental Health Counseling and referral to other agencies for support
4. Vocational Rehabilitation so that people can get some kind of job, be productive, make money and support themselves. This is not easy. And they have to keep their job, not lose it after six months.
5. Financial support for those individuals who are not able to help themselves. This is very complicated and argued as being a temporary measure. Otherwise, it is forever which is no good if a person is not disabled and is capable of working.
There are other possibilities. But they are too numerous to discuss here in this brief paper.
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Homelessness in Boston ...
1. Emergency Shelter Commission, City of Boston, "Annual Homeless Census", Winter 2006
http://www.cityofboston.gov/shelter/pdfs/report_06.pdf
Homelessness in Massachusetts ...
1. Commonwealth of Massachusetts - Department of Housing and Community Development - Homelessness Commission - Commission to End Homelessness
"Report of the Special Commission Relative to Ending Homelessness in The Commonwealth", Final Report, December 2007
http://www.mass.gov/Ehed/docs/dhcd/hc/finalreport2008.doc
In General ...
1. Chronic Homelessness - National Alliance to End Homelessness
http://www.endhomelessness.org/section/policy/focusareas/chronic
2. "What Will It Take to End Homelessness" by Martha Burt, September 2001. The Urban Institute, Washington, D.C.
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/end_homelessness.pdf
3. "Homeless in America: a review of the literature" by Heidi Sommer, University of California, Berkeley, 2001.
http://igs.berkeley.edu/events/homeless/NewHomelessnessBook1.pdf
4. "Preventing Homelessness in America", University of Virginia.
http://www.solutionsforamerica.org/thrivingneigh/homelessness.html
5. "Solutions to Homelessness", Center for Poverty Solutions, 2521 North Charles Street, Baltimore Maryland
http://www.neoch.org/solutions.htm
6. Nieto G., Gittelman M., Abad A. (2008). "Homeless Mentally Ill Persons: A bibliography review", International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation. 12(2).
http://www.psychosocial.com/IJPR_12/Homeless_Mentally_Ill_Nieto.html