Thursday, March 22, 2012
Why Don't Homeless People Stay At Homeless Shelters? Lots Of Reasons... Good Reasons!
This is not surprising if one considers the county and city of Santa Cruz never wanted a shelter program to start with, so they've done their best, with taxpayers dollars, to make it absolutely useless to anyone but exactly the cohort within the homeless population that the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the Downtown (business) Association, and Take Back Santa Cruz complain about... Funny how that happens. You'd think they had created their own perception management program for vilifying the homeless.
[A little perception management for the rest of us]
Because they have. Only people who have been institutionalized, unaware they're being institutionalized, or forced by circumstances beyond their control into an institutionalized environment, would tolerate it, and many of the people mentioned, the mentally ill, drug addicts in need of substance abuse/psychological care, and sociopaths unable to integrate in a cooperative manner with the larger community of homeless, make the best 'poster people' for 'everything wrong with the homeless'.
[Thank YOU for being here James... Filmed @ SXSW 2010 in Austin, Texas.
Ask any of the literally thousands of travelers coming through Santa Cruz every year, some young and adventurous... 'roadies', some older and simply looking for work or a safe place where they won't freeze to death in the winter.
Ask them if they've been out to 'River Street'.
They'll tell you either they'd been there, but won't be again, or that they'd heard through the grapevine before they ever arrived in town that SCRCH is an out of control behavioral health unit and were warned to stay away from it.
It's disgusting that homeless 'activists' in Santa Cruz would support a facility like this... but they do.
It's NOT a 'shelter'... Or even a 'resource center'. It's a county run prison yard for drug addicts and people with' behavioral problems' who can be used by the city and business community as PR and rationale for their overall hostile attitude and often illegal (unconstitutional laws intended to target the homeless and blatantly selective enforcement of those laws) behavior towards their un-housed citizens, whom a recent survey showed a large majority of those people were working and housed in the area until unchecked redevelopment and gentrification occurred in the wake of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake . ~~Razer Ray
This post is dedicated to Logan. Panhandling and sleeping out doesn't kill people, but living simply as a young person in a world based on 'stuff' can be a killer. Even still one must pity people so poor that all they have are money and 'things'.
After my first rape, it was a homeless man who saved me. I was tucked into a bloodied ball behind a dumpster, deep in shock. Without his intervention, I would have died. He covered me and sang mumbled songs. He bathed me like a child in someone's motel room where he'd carried me. Fittingly, his name was Justus. My angel had Parkinson's and had suffered several strokes. His bladder control wasn't perfect so he smelled pretty bad, too. He talked to me of soldiers he'd seen shell-shocked in Vietnam. He prayed and sang "Amazing Grace" as I stared into space, trembling and waiting, hoping to die while he carefully dabbed my face with a washcloth. He showed me a very old picture of his daughter, a cute toddler in corn rows. He spoke of her with such love. It was then I unfroze and began to cry. If this gentle, lovely man could be discarded and dying out where no one cared what hope was there for anyone? (source)
1> Homeless Shelter Hours Incompatible with Work HoursPlease Read FirstI spent a lot of the time when I was homeless sleeping "in the rough" which is another way of saying outdoors. I've been asked a lot of times why I didn't just stay in homeless shelters. The two answers most homed people will give as to why homeless people don't use shelters is that either such people are drug users and drug use is against homeless shelter rules or that some people refuse to follow homeless shelter rules pertaining to check in and checkout.
As someone who has worked in homeless shelters I am very aware that the vast majority of homeless shelter workers are good people who are doing their best. I am glad that homeless shelters exist to help people without homes. However, it would be an injustice to pretend that homeless shelters in America are plentiful enough or that all of those shelters that exist are safe enough, or free from downsides.
The issue is pretty complex, but no, I was neither using drugs nor too defiant to obey homeless shelter rules. I'd like to give my reasons for sleeping in the rough and also some of the reasons I've seen other homeless people avoid shelters while exposing some common homeless shelter dangers. Some of these reasons might surprise you. I know I was shocked to discover a few myself. ~~Kylyssa
Homeless shelters operate on rigid schedules... So do jobs!
Contrary to popular belief, many homeless people have jobs. Because check in hours for shelters are often rigid and the process of waiting in line and checking in usually takes hours, most working homeless people cannot use them. Other homeless people work evening or night hours which don't allow them to get into a shelter before curfew. People who work from nine to five usually can't use homeless shelters, either; by the time they get off work, it's usually too late for them to get in line to check into a shelter.
Another reason some homeless shelters are incompatible with having a job is that they require the shelter users to attend AA or other drug abuse rehab classes (often held during normal work hours) every day they use the shelter - whether those people have a drug or alcohol problem or not.
By the time I had a regular job, I had decided to sleep outside exclusively so this was not a problem for me.
Continue reading Why Homeless People Don't Use Shelters @ Kylyssa's Squidoo. Also see another of her articles: "What I Learned While Being Homeless" that addresses topics such as "Why I Hate The Words "The Homeless" and tips for survival if you find yourself in that situation.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Enter The Occupy Limits! "There Is Nothing Wrong With Your Television Set. Do Not Attempt To Adjust The Picture..."
Do not attempt to adjust the picture.
We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure.
You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to —
The #Occupy Limits!
Labels:
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99%,
American Spring,
Carnivalesque Rebellion,
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OccupyWallStreet,
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Parody,
Rebellion
Thursday, March 15, 2012
A Word From Lester Chambers Of The Sixties Supergroup 'The Chambers Brothers' About The Entertainment-Industrial Complex
This artist is NOT the ONLY one screwed out of their royalties by the entertainment-industrial complex. Rip them! Lester won't mind. #SOPA #ACTA
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Perhaps Not... "Veterans Affairs Claims Progress In Ending Homelessness Among Vets"
And many of the new generation will end up out on the streets again (I KNOW THIS for a fact having witnessed it personally with Veteran acquaintances over the years...).(Image at the left, 11/7/2007) «o» Historically, a number of fighters in U.S. wars have become homeless. In the post-Civil War era, homeless veterans sang old Army songs to dramatize their need for work and became known as “tramps,” which had meant to march into war, said Todd DePastino, a historian at Penn State University’s Beaver campus who wrote a book on the history of homelessness.
After World War I, thousands of veterans — many of them homeless — camped in the nation’s capital seeking bonus money. Their camps were destroyed by the government, creating a public relations disaster for President Herbert Hoover.
The end of the Vietnam War coincided with a time of economic restructuring, and many of the same people who fought in Vietnam were also those most affected by the loss of manufacturing jobs, DePastino said.
Their entrance to the streets was traumatic and, as they aged, their problems became more chronic... [More @ MSNBC]
From today's Washington Post:
"Making aggressive use of a voucher program, Veterans Affairs has housed more than 33,000 veterans in the past 21 / 2 years. It did so by changing its longtime policy of requiring homeless veterans to be successfully treated for substance abuse and mental ailments before being given apartments." [Washington Post Federal Insider]The vouchers for the housing, at least the regulatory details, seem to be cribbed from Section 8 FHA/HUD programs (Google) and all the federal requirements of the tenants are the same. "Act out", or have any drug related altercations, and yer out.
I just wonder if the VA IS usurping federal housing money (via some back door transfer of funds perhaps) that was to be used for other people like those 38 percent increase in homeless children (and their mothers) over the last four years reported the other day?
(Just in... A local VFW officer and friend in-the-know has informed me that indeed, the money has been diverted from civilian housing preograms)
I also suspect that many high school and college students will find less service jobs available next summer as SOME Vets return, and are immediately plugged into "Do you want fries with that..." jobs.
In my estimation, the US government IS SCARED of it's veterans, and their pandering to them with jobs/housing is a fear based reaction. Not due to any patriotic 'love' for them. If you have any doubts just look up the phrase "Bonus Army" on your favorite search engine or at Wikipedia
I wonder how many returning Veterans will be satisfied for long with those 'funny hat' jobs and housing that resembles in sociological detail and regulations, 'project housing'?
Labels:
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
Merry Xmas Santa Cruz... From An Anonymous Hacker - Signs Of The (digital) Times
«o»This '7-days-left-to-shop-before-Xmas' morning the Rittenhouse Building in the rotting and corrupt heart of Santa Cruz California's Downtown Business District/Special Economic Area, had a VERY SPECIAL display on the networked digital advertising screens that inhabit every window of the completely vacant office/storefront building...
[Someone kant(sic) spell either...]
[He's Gonna Find Out Who's Naughty Or Nice... That's A Threat]
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Zapata's Blood Was Not Spilled In Vain - #OccupyLA > City Of Angels: "Para Todos Todo, Para Nosotros Nada: For Everyone Everything, For Us Nothing"
Resources:
#OccupyLosAngeles Site
#OccupyLosAngeles Twitter Feed
#OccupyLosAngeles USTREAM Live Video Feed From Solidarity Park
«o» Counter-Offer from Occupy Los Angeles G.A. to Mayor's Office, LAPDA sampling of the headlines for today from various MSM and Alt sources...
Submitted by OLA Web Team on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 6:15am
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY’S RESPONSE TO THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES
Para Todos Todo, Para Nosotros Nada: For Everyone, Everything, For Us, Nothing
History: passed with full consensus at GA on Wednesday 11/23/2011. The language, ideas and grievances contained herein were culled from the minutes of 2 special City Liaison Committee Meetings, 2 General Assemblies devoted to the issue, one meeting with the Demands & Objectives Committee, consultation with Media and PR, and widely circulated and amended by the online community of occupiers, and adapted into its current form by the General Assembly on 11/23/2011. [In Full below the fold]
Occupy LA Braces for Police Raid this Sunday at Midnight - la.imc
Occupy LA: “Oh No! We Won’t Go!” Mayor Says “11/28 at 12:01am Park Will Be Shut Down” - Firedoglake, La Figa
Occupy L.A.: Mayor, LAPD won't discuss tactics for removal:
At a press conference Friday, neither Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa nor Police Chief Charlie Beck would say whether police were prepared to use tear gas or rubber bullets to clear protesters who refuse to leave, tactics officers in other cities have turned to while clearing Occupy encampments. [LA Times]«o» Click here for the full counter-offer from #OccupyLA, plus a spoken and musical commentary on the topic of "Everything for everyone, and nothing for ourselves", from Zack De La Rocha and Rage Against The Machine.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Time Warner - Giving "Kept In The Dark And Fed BullShit" A New Meaning
"And in the flickering light and the comforting glow
You get the world every night as a TV show
The latest spin on the shit we're in, blow by blow
And the more you watch, the less you know"
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