Friday night
Cheri, Jen and I served dinner at Logan Place. Logan Place is a division of
Preble Street. It is a permanent residence for 30 adults who have been
persistently homeless (1). While there we were able to meet and socialize with
the residents and staff. It occurred through my conversations that there is
really no place for homeless people to go during the day besides the Public
Library or Preble Street Resource Center. I began to wonder why we do not have
other places for them to go. In fact, I began to wonder especially after all
the controversy with Congress Square; is this lack of space intentional? I found
an article depicting this as fact (2). In the article examples were shown of
cities that were putting spikes in corners of buildings. It shows pictures of
how park benches are changing shape to prevent sleeping. See citation #2 for
the full article.
The following video shows how even Miami tried to criminalize homelessness. You can actually see in the video a man sleeping upright on a green bench. A bench as shown in the news article that has arm rests close together so that it prevents lying down to sleep.
I cannot wrap my head around the
idea that the Government doesn’t understand that we need to help the homeless
not tell them they need to vanish in thin air. As the advocate said, “You can’t
even exist.” I am very thankful to live in a city with such great
organizations as Preble Street and Avesta housing. Every day I am learning
something wonderfully new that has helped me to focus my energy on the positive
changes and do my part. I really want to figure out how to create more
welcoming public places for homeless to be welcomed to go to during the day, a
safe place where resources and donated snacks and coffee could be supplied. I
just haven’t figured out how to do it yet!
Jess--have you seen this? I saw it posted on Facebook under the heading: "Remember the Anti-Homeless Spikes? This Park Benc is the Opposite" http://www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/this-park-bench-protects-the-homeless-when-its-raining
ReplyDeleteI think you are so right on--pretending the homeless don't exist, or trying to banish them from public view doesn't work. I live on St. John Street, near the corner of St. John and Park Ave. It was not lost on me that when the city did some road repairs within the last several months, the removed the medians that had been a common spot for panhandlers to stand. Likewise, I have heard some folks in a previous class wonder if the solar trash compactors in Deering Oaks Park (which, honestly, I thought sounded like a cool idea), were installed primarily to keep people from picking for returnable bottles--a primary source of income for too many people in our city.
I am so moved by your passion for finding kinder ways of helping those who are homeless. It's very inspiring, and I have no doubt your efforts are making a difference.
This kind of prejudice and intolerance makes me so angry. Did you know that the median home value in Miami is $276,000 and that the average one bedroom apartment costs $1561 a month? That is completely unaffordable and unattainable for so many people. Where are the 450,000 people experiencing homelessness in Miami supposed to sleep or spend their days? I am sure that the city commissioner that wants them banned from the streets is not planning on finding affordable housing for all of these people.
ReplyDeleteJessica,
ReplyDeleteI can see that most people that are homeless have not choice of this and are usually trying to better themselves and become a working member in our society. Homeless people in Maine especially in Portland are very fortunate to be able to have Preble Street and other res0uirces that they can get food and occasionally shelter. I believe there are plenty of space for the homeless to go during the day, there are multiple amounts of parks within walking distance, and I believe that the controversy over Congress Square is because of the visitors and tourism that Portland draws in, which intern is mucho bucks for small local businesses which some visitors might be turned off if they see a bunch of homeless people panhandling and laying around. This also could be because where are these people urinating and defecating throughout the day. I don’t know if I truly believe in it being illegal but in some cases are they not loitering so this is already illegal. I do believe that rather than giving a homeless person money I would give this money to a reputable organization.
I do not think that we are too far off from Miami...we tried to pass a median ordnance, there is a park ordnance in Portland already, and many businesses do not allow "people who are not purchasing" in their stores, there are fewer and fewer public restrooms available, and the rent in Portland is unattainable for many who work let alone those who rely on General Assistance and other voucher programs for support.
ReplyDeleteI think for anyone to truly see the problem of homelessness they need to immerse themselves into the problem. Working with the homeless over the last year I have really come to understand that there are many that are trying to get out of their current homeless situation, but there are too many that have become comfortable with staying at the shelters and hanging out at the Resource Center. With anything there are those that use services correctly and those that do not- but I do not think that we should punish those who use services correctly for the few that do not. It really makes me angry the cost of housing these days- as some may know we have been looking to get closer to Portland and we an not find anything that is reasonable or affordable, I saw a two bedroom listed for $1750.00, now that landlords can charge what they want and increase rent at any time (with 45 days notice), it really hurting those who can not afford the prices, let alone afford first, last, and security deposits.