The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but cannot do, at all, or cannot, so well do, for themselves in their separate, and individual capacities. Abraham Lincoln As homeless numbers continue to rise along the West Coast, more and more voters are beginning to realize that the failure of political leaders is among the chief reasons the problem is […]
Search Results for: homeless
Homeless: The (almost) Unbearable Burden of Shelters
“Almost all emergency shelters of today are over their heads,” said Major Harold Laubach at Modesto’s Salvation Army Shelter on November 19. “But for people with mental health issues, we are probably the best alternative. Forty percent of our residents deal with mental health challenges and another 40 percent deal with substance abuse challenges.” Laubach was responding to a growing litany of complaints from residents of Stanislaus County’s low barrier shelter that rules […]
Death Among the Homeless
When death takes a homeless person, there are cold facts. If they die walking home from a store alone, the coroner will eventually pick them up and take the remains to the morgue. The deceased may have friends, but they often do not have any next of kin to claim them. They usually have a tent and possessions somewhere, even friends, or a spouse. No one in an official capacity […]
Homeless: The Wonderful Alchemy of Work
In the end, it wasn’t the beatings, the sexual abuse, the hunger or the ugly words that broke Carrie Turnquist; it was the indifference of others. After she was badly beaten when a passenger in a passing car jumped out, pulled her hair back and began punching her in the face and head, she lay on the sidewalk while people watched and did nothing. “I felt like a dog that […]
Homeless by Any Other Name
“I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happenth to them all.” After a woman died from an apparent suicide in Modesto, a report in the local newspaper said that, “The Coroner’s Office […]
Homeless: When There’s Nowhere to Go
When he’s sitting on the sidewalk, which is whenever he’s not sleeping on the sidewalk, Jimmy Young’s flesh hangs on him like the collapsed folds of a hot air balloon. It’s said that at one time Jimmy was impressively large. Since then, he’s been caving into himself. Jimmy eats whatever people bring him. If he’s lying down, he stuffs the food into his mouth until his cheeks bulge. Then he […]
Homeless: He’s Baaaack — Louis X Returns
No one with experience with local systems of care is ever surprised when a homeless person ends up back on the street after an emergency visit to a hospital or mental health facility. The widespread belief that “services” are available for poor people in need belies a harsh reality: For the neediest people, there is too often no realistic help — the few available options are inadequate or useless. Want […]
Homeless: HEART Team Helps a Vet — For Now
Every city and town had them. They were the old men on small pensions nodding on park benches or leaning up against buildings with their hands clutching small bottles of Night Train, Thunderbird, or rotgut whiskey wrapped in brown paper sacks. The boarding houses and cheap hotels they inhabited were called “flophouses” or “rat traps.” The elevators and stairwells smelled of urine and Lysol. Some, like Louis X (not his […]
Homeless: One City, One County
By October 1, 2015, homelessness in Modesto and Stanislaus County had become the region’s most urgent social and political issue. That’s when Stanislaus County Supervisors hosted their “Focus on Prevention” symposium to announce, “a ten-year journey of Stanislaus County toward community transformation and prosperity. A primary focus….is to reduce homelessness.” At the time, a few observers noted that “prevention” wasn’t possible for the hundreds of people already in the region […]
Homeless: Taking Back the Parks
Little Sherry Lopez can’t go to the park. Everyone calls her “Little Sherry” because she’s the smallest Sherry they know. Little Sherry is well short of five feet tall. She’s closer to four feet tall. She’s a few years past forty years old. Little Sherry is developmentally and physically disabled. She walks haltingly and often has difficulty with simple concepts. Other than “little,” the most common word people use to […]