51 Homeless Vets were Helped with Housing
Jul 27, 2015 12:06:20 #
Is this enough success to repeat? to expand?
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/homeless-veterans-were-given-free-apartments-how-have-they-done/article_6f487596-e387-5358-a5f8-d025f193e7d6.html
51 homeless veterans were given free apartments. How have they done?
ST. LOUIS Last summer, homeless veterans gathered with dignitaries at Soldiers Memorial where 51 of them were chosen for free housing for up to one year.
Then, with vans pulling up to take them to their apartments, there was a brief glitch. Organizers played the funeral song Taps over a loudspeaker instead of Reveille, the morning bugle call for which the highly publicized pilot program was named.
No matter. The homeless people were mesmerized, not to mention a bit skeptical, by a government program that was supposed to get them off the streets and into their own homes in one day.
One year later, the program managed by a local nonprofit but funded with federal housing dollars running through the citys human services department offered a glimpse at the challenges and successes of a popular homeless eradication model called rapid rehousing.
The premise is get homeless people into homes and address their needs from there.
Reveille included a particularly risky population of people considered chronically homeless. There was hope that the vets would be weaned from assistance as they became self-sufficient during the program.
It made me feel really optimistic, said Kathleen Heinz Beach, executive director of Gateway 180, the nonprofit organization that provided case management for the program. If this group can stay housed, everybody can if we match them up to correct housing.
Out of the 51 who started, this is where they ended up:
Fourteen are living independently in their own apartments, many of them with jobs.
Twenty-three transferred to a housing voucher program called HUD/VASH thats offered through Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development.
Five moved out of town.
Three qualified for Section 8 or other housing assistance.
Four died.
Two wound up in nursing homes.
They came with hurts, habits and hang-ups, said Gywanna Montague, case manager for the $530,000 program, which includes the cost of donated items.
The Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine clinic in East St. Louis gave free work to the veterans, anything from pulled teeth to full-plate dentures. Others offered furniture. Gateway provided life skills classes that helped teach basic financial planning and other topics.
Gateway 180 shuttled many of the vets around to interviews. Some landed jobs at the VA, the city of St. Louis, McMurphys Cafe at St. Patrick Center, a recycling facility and Bissingers.
Disability payments were secured for others.
PLEASE use the link to see the rest of the story.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/homeless-veterans-were-given-free-apartments-how-have-they-done/article_6f487596-e387-5358-a5f8-d025f193e7d6.html
51 homeless veterans were given free apartments. How have they done?
ST. LOUIS Last summer, homeless veterans gathered with dignitaries at Soldiers Memorial where 51 of them were chosen for free housing for up to one year.
Then, with vans pulling up to take them to their apartments, there was a brief glitch. Organizers played the funeral song Taps over a loudspeaker instead of Reveille, the morning bugle call for which the highly publicized pilot program was named.
No matter. The homeless people were mesmerized, not to mention a bit skeptical, by a government program that was supposed to get them off the streets and into their own homes in one day.
One year later, the program managed by a local nonprofit but funded with federal housing dollars running through the citys human services department offered a glimpse at the challenges and successes of a popular homeless eradication model called rapid rehousing.
The premise is get homeless people into homes and address their needs from there.
Reveille included a particularly risky population of people considered chronically homeless. There was hope that the vets would be weaned from assistance as they became self-sufficient during the program.
It made me feel really optimistic, said Kathleen Heinz Beach, executive director of Gateway 180, the nonprofit organization that provided case management for the program. If this group can stay housed, everybody can if we match them up to correct housing.
Out of the 51 who started, this is where they ended up:
Fourteen are living independently in their own apartments, many of them with jobs.
Twenty-three transferred to a housing voucher program called HUD/VASH thats offered through Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development.
Five moved out of town.
Three qualified for Section 8 or other housing assistance.
Four died.
Two wound up in nursing homes.
They came with hurts, habits and hang-ups, said Gywanna Montague, case manager for the $530,000 program, which includes the cost of donated items.
The Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine clinic in East St. Louis gave free work to the veterans, anything from pulled teeth to full-plate dentures. Others offered furniture. Gateway provided life skills classes that helped teach basic financial planning and other topics.
Gateway 180 shuttled many of the vets around to interviews. Some landed jobs at the VA, the city of St. Louis, McMurphys Cafe at St. Patrick Center, a recycling facility and Bissingers.
Disability payments were secured for others.
PLEASE use the link to see the rest of the story.
Jul 27, 2015 15:29:21 #
Jul 28, 2015 02:17:09 #
moldyoldy wrote:
This could probably be repeated with 90% of the homeless population.
This is part of the push to help vets specifically, I guess.
But yeah, I don't understand why we don't just hook people up it provides service jobs, too.
Jul 28, 2015 13:36:29 #
jelun wrote:
This is part of the push to help vets specifically, I guess.
But yeah, I don't understand why we don't just hook people up it provides service jobs, too.
But yeah, I don't understand why we don't just hook people up it provides service jobs, too.
Those ships that we mothball would make great shelters
Jul 28, 2015 14:10:28 #
moldyoldy wrote:
Those ships that we mothball would make great shelters
There are millions of living spaces, closed bases...they could stop privatizing subsidized housing units.
There are plenty of abandoned and foreclosed single family houses.
Part of the fines for banks could be turning over properties.
LOTS of solutions
Jul 28, 2015 15:58:39 #
jelun wrote:
There are millions of living spaces, closed bases...they could stop privatizing subsidized housing units.
There are plenty of abandoned and foreclosed single family houses.
Part of the fines for banks could be turning over properties.
LOTS of solutions
There are plenty of abandoned and foreclosed single family houses.
Part of the fines for banks could be turning over properties.
LOTS of solutions
The politicians have no incentive to work for those with no power, and who probably don't vote.
Jul 29, 2015 09:33:00 #
The biggest issue is mental illness for vets or the homeless. My mother-in-law is a case in point. She has a guardian of her choice, but she is one of those people that could have just as easily ended up on the streets without someone watching over her.
Yes, I believe there is the potential for success and the potential for abuse as well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/08/nyregion/new-york-city-is-sued-over-lotteries-used-for-subsidized-housing.html?ref=topics&_r=0
Yes, I believe there is the potential for success and the potential for abuse as well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/08/nyregion/new-york-city-is-sued-over-lotteries-used-for-subsidized-housing.html?ref=topics&_r=0
Jul 29, 2015 10:00:42 #
Dummy Boy wrote:
The biggest issue is mental illness for vets or the homeless. My mother-in-law is a case in point. She has a guardian of her choice, but she is one of those people that could have just as easily ended up on the streets without someone watching over her.
Yes, I believe there is the potential for success and the potential for abuse as well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/08/nyregion/new-york-city-is-sued-over-lotteries-used-for-subsidized-housing.html?ref=topics&_r=0
Yes, I believe there is the potential for success and the potential for abuse as well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/08/nyregion/new-york-city-is-sued-over-lotteries-used-for-subsidized-housing.html?ref=topics&_r=0
After reading your article, I found another interesting one on that page. Not on the same topic, but worth reading.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/27/american-racism-in-the-white-frame/?action=click&contentCollection=N.Y.%20%2F%20Region&module=MostEmailed&version=Full®ion=Marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article
Jul 29, 2015 13:17:52 #
moldyoldy wrote:
After reading your article, I found another interesting one on that page. Not on the same topic, but worth reading.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/27/american-racism-in-the-white-frame/?action=click&contentCollection=N.Y.%20%2F%20Region&module=MostEmailed&version=Full®ion=Marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/27/american-racism-in-the-white-frame/?action=click&contentCollection=N.Y.%20%2F%20Region&module=MostEmailed&version=Full®ion=Marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article
MO, I expressed this many times, but it's funny how people don't understand racism. One must first accept that one is prejudiced and racist to fix racism. Far to many times, I hear: "...but one of my best friends is _______, why in the world would you accuse me of racism"?
Jul 29, 2015 13:55:07 #
Dummy Boy wrote:
MO, I expressed this many times, but it's funny how people don't understand racism. One must first accept that one is prejudiced and racist to fix racism. Far to many times, I hear: "...but one of my best friends is _______, why in the world would you accuse me of racism"?
We can't deny it, if we honestly look at the world.
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