Early Intervention

Early intervention and prevention is needed for homeless people. Housing opportunities need to be provided immediately to prevent further damage. Trauma from living on the streets or shelters can cause lasting effects on people.

"Early intervention is a means of “preventing escalation”. We want to stop someone from becoming so entrenched in homelessness that it becomes almost impossible for them to leave and is targeted at those in the early stages of homelessness" http://homelesshub.ca/solutions/prevention/early-intervention.

"The Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program will provide financial assistance and services to prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless and help those who are experiencing homelessness to be quickly re-housed and stabilized. The funds under this program are intended to target individuals and families who would be homeless but for this assistance. The funds will provide for a variety of assistance, including: short-term or medium-term rental assistance and housing relocation and stabilization services, including such activities as mediation, credit counseling, security or utility deposits, utility payments, moving cost assistance, and case management" https://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/recovery/programs/homelessness.

Story of Homelessness

Robert worked all of his life. When he reached sixty-two, he had to retire on only partial Social Security. Robert received the full amount at sixty-five. He’s now sixty-eight and living on the streets of Los Angeles homeless!

Robert says that on the fixed income he receives that he can either pay for food or pay rent, but there is never enough money to do both. Robert has tried to live in SRO (single room occupancy) hotels, but with rent at $500 a month, he didn’t have enough left over and decided to make a go of it homeless. That was a little over three years ago!

We have a “Silver Tsunami” coming. The Baby Boomer generation is now entering into what should be their comfortable retirement years. Instead, because this last recession wiped out a lot more than hopes and dreams, seniors will enter into homelessness at an alarming rate. Los Angeles County is projected to become increasingly old in the very near future. By 2020, the county’s age-50-or-older population is expected to increase by 27 percent, and the population age 65 or older by 43 percent. Sadly, many will end up on the streets experiencing homelessness unless we take serious action now!

https://invisiblepeople.tv/blog/2016/10/robert-homeless-senior-in-los-angeles/

Ways You Can Help

This man could be your father, son or brother. It breaks my heart that he has to beg and live in places not meant to inhabit. He struggles every day to find a meal and keep warm.

What can you do to help ? There are several simple things we can do to assist this man.

1) You can donate gift bags or baskets with the most basic supplies like socks, sweat pants or shirts, pads or tampons, snacks and blankets.

2) Find a locate organization that assist the homeless and give a monetary donation.

3) Organize a homelessness community meal. You could potentially feed a large percentage of the homeless population.

4) Educate others on the importance of assisting the homeless and the causes of homelessness.

5) Donate food to local shelters or soup kitchens.

6) Volunteer your time at a local shelter or soup kitchen.

Youth Homelessness Facts

Youth Homeless Facts

34% of the total homeless population is under 24.

In 2014, however, 45,205 were unaccompanied.

About 80% of homeless youth (aged 12-21) use drugs or alcohol as a means to self-medicate to deal with the traumatic experiences and abuse they face.

Youths  under the age of 18 will run away at least once.

Approximately 40% of homeless teens identify as LGBT.

Over 50% of young people in shelters and on the streets report that their parents told them to leave or knew they were leaving and didn't care.

 21-40% of homeless youth had been sexually abused compared to 1-3% of the general youth population.

Of youth who run away, 41% have been abandoned by their parents for at least 24 hours and 43% have been beaten by a caretaker.

HIV rates for homeless people are 3 to 9 times higher.


https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-homeless-teens

Homeless for the Holidays

The holidays are approaching. Many individuals and families will suffer from homelessness during this time. Children will suffer the most. They lack their own bed , a place for a family feast or a Christmas tree with presents under neath.

Plenty of organizations offer assistance. The Rescue Mission will offer a large meal for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Volunteers are needed to prepare, serve and clean.  Donations are gladly accepted. More information can be found on their website.

The Salvation Army offers Christmas presents to families in need. Of course toy and gift donations are needed to make this possible.

We should all help give the people suffering from homelessness a pleasant holiday season. Any help is better than no help.

My Thoughts on Changing Homelessnes

Homelessness occurs in every city and town. People lose housing for many reasons. A person might struggle with mental health or drug abuse, be a victim of domestic abuse, or have recently lost a loved one or job.  Becoming homeless is a life altering event that is not expected.  

The Government has spent thousands of dollars trying to solve homelessness. The numbers fluctuate each year but that number never reaches zero. There will never be a time where someone doesn’t face a personal crisis and lose their housing.

I think more funding should be placed in Homeless Prevention and Rapid Rehousing grants. These grants can assistance with paying past due, current and future rent. Security Deposits can also be obtained for new housing. We need to get people out of the shelter or off the streets faster.

Once a person is housed, services need to be provided. A person may possibly need mental health or substance abuse treatment, continued education classes, job placement, or family planning services.  These agencies need to work together to understand what is needed and how a person can benefit the most. Each person needs to be treated as an individual, homelessness is the effect not the cause. Complete care needs to be provided in order for the person to succeed.

Check out my new Twitter Page : https://twitter.com/InvisibleHome16
Please follow me for more information on ending homelessness.

How education can end homelessness: Tracy Sharp at TEDxABQED

What if homelessnesss could be resolved by providing education. This is an amazing video which details how providing an opportunity to someone who is homeless could provide a permanent change in their life. Just think if someone who faced homelessness was given the chance to attend school and housing. This could be a turning point, an opportunity to increase their earning potential.

Hello, please check out my new Facebook page to increase my networking to raise awareness of the increasing homeless population within our community.

https://www.facebook.com/homelesscompassion16/

Let's Get Involved!

http://www.mvhomeless.org/index.html

The Mohawk Valley Housing & Homeless Coalition

The Mohawk Valley Housing & Homeless Coalition website is a resourceful tool for leaning about homelessness within Oneida County, New York. The Coalition is a group of diverse people including the Department of Social Services, Department of Mental Health, organizations that provide services to homeless, City of Utica, City of Rome and former homeless persons.

Table of Contents

• ·         Mission
• ·         Services
• ·         Resourceful Tool

Mission

The Coalition’s mission is “is to prevent and end homelessness in the Mohawk Valley. Our work includes sustaining an inclusive, community wide, system-level planning, program development and program integration process that targets public and private, local, state, and federal resources to the areas of greatest need.”

Services

The website provides contact and program information for people in need within Oneida County. Services are available for emergency housing, transitional housing, permanent supportive housing and Homelessness Prevention/Rapid Rehousing. Each program is designed to assist a select group of recipients and has different applicant requirements.

Resourceful Tool

The Coalition’s website would be a powerful tool for people interested in homelessness. This would be a great place to connect with other participating organizations to build knowledge and power to end homelessness. We can also submit a request to join the Coalition. According to the website “an agency, corporation, or individual that does not advocate for the homeless, but would like to support our mission in other ways”.

Let’s all join together and fight to end homelessness.

Creating Awareness of Homelessness

Hello this is my new blog “The Invisible Populations”. I want to raise awareness of homelessness in our community. Homelessness can affect anyone and the cause can include eviction, domestic abuse, disaster, mental health and substance abuse challenges.  The people affected by homelessness are forced to live on the streets, vehicles, or places not meant for habitation. The homeless population faces many hurdles in order to return to their normal lives.

I am interested in homelessness because I work with the homeless community on a daily basis. My job responsibilities include providing shelter services to homeless individuals and families. Every life matters, even the ones who are homeless. Homeless people are mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, sons and daughters.  I see the faces of the people affected by homelessness and understand their unique circumstances.

With this blog I would like to provide education to the public on what needs to be done to end homelessness. I would like to suggest services and programs that would benefit people affected by homelessness. The public needs to acknowledge this invisible population. We need to work together as a community and assess the needs of this needy group of people. Homelessness impacts everyone and there are solutions including the housing first model.