As some skirt around this month’s topics: (a) housing’s impact on mental health, (b) physical health outcomes, (c) emergency room expenses, and (d) trauma unhoused, winter is fast approaching. Hopefully you’ve been gathering some fruitful insights from our previous News Briefs. Mr. Tell recently brought an article to the table written by a couple of seasoned providers from the supportive housing industry. Apparently, the two produced an article for Progressive Perspectives about their not-for-profit agenda of fighting homelessness, or so it seems. The media organization, Progressive Perspectives, gives voice to activists and initiatives that advocate peaceful negotiations, social justice, and human dignity. Wondering who chose the title?
Is it about the money? Well, it’s too late to ask “Fighting Bob” the founding father for today’s version of Progressive Perspectives, now non-profit. Who doesn’t like a Benjamin or two though, right? Fighting Bob, once a senator for Wisconsin, died in 1925. Is it about politics? Well, governing VSN’s longhouse is challenging enough, so let’s leave that alone! If you’re wondering what this has to do with our HADs, here you go. It’s that idea of “fighting homelessness” that hurts. Doc’s mother Franny prefers the phrase – “put-up-your dukes” – as her fighting words. Her cultural uplifting brogue was mimicked often during our VSN group meetings.
We’ve been advocating how you get more bees with honey right from the rip though, just like Benjamin. Empathy, affirmation, or as Keith Keller penned A Warm Hug helps us resolve homeless addiction disorders. Think about it! Military veterans traumatized in battle are done fighting. Young adults and teens who escaped chaotic battlefields at home are done fighting. Childhood trauma has all it can do to navigate its battlefield of horrible memories. It’s no longer “where’s the beef; it’s where’s the honey?” All this fighting over funding and control is, in part, inciting our homelessness crisis. Of course, not all our HADs are challenged by trauma, prior to becoming homeless anyway. The point is to welcome collaboration amongst agencies and organizations, systemically, inclusive of our homeless subculture.
William Tell also brought in another piece from Ms. Gilbert. Thanks Melanie! The article mentions political gibber jabber of a potential purpose for the now vacant UMass Conference Center. Let’s think outside the box here, a little brainstorming of possibilities for it as a 24-hour homeless shelter. A facility like the empty Double Tree is a bit plush for housing folks acclimated to sleeping outdoors in tent-cities, vacant buildings, doorways, and public parks. That said, the location and potential to staff with professional administration is excellent. Creatively engineered for accommodating our HADs, of course, works out well too. As for city-wide appeal, one that feeds new housing developments, from our perspective requires cleaning our streets and River. How? We got you! You clean our River and we’ll design your 24-hour shelter system that clears our streets.
Think with previously mentioned protocol running in the background of your mind: client-centered and harm-reduction. The Centers for Decease Control have this idea within their hierarchy of Controls: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/hierarchy-of-controls/about/index.html
Essentially, (1) eliminate threats, (2) substitute for less harm, (3) engineer protective barriers, (4) staff a well-informed administration, and (5) personal protection for those served.
Why is it that our HADs congregate downtown and value things seemingly unimportant to others? And why do they hold tightly to their apparent self-defeating behaviors? Ok, so where’s Special Agent, Dr. Spencer Reid, when we need him? Point being, eliminating hazardous threats requires law enforcement versed in psychological constructs. Put a precinct inside. Next, expect this population to move from lethal type substances to less harmful ones, both licit and illicit. Give a nurse practitioner an office there. Protective barriers within structural design are necessary to minimize regression. Team up with the Bridge Club next door, recruit certified coaches/mentors, and leverage fun educational activities. And last but not least, personal protection for them individually and their belongings is vital. Stay tuned for more in-depth details and how to easily fund such a system. Please share thoughts and concerns with Richard in our Desktop Writers section.