Shelter Woes Spread From Crown Heights to Bed Stuy

Well, this is hardly surprising.

English Kills is right, let's work to make homelessness disappear, and then we won't need enormous human warehouses. Yeah, I know easier said than done, and I also know it's going to get worse in the next few years, not better, as cutbacks will force more and more people into the system, and loss of donations and funding will cause even the best relief agencies to falter.

However, that does not mean it should be, or will be, a migration of responsibility to Bed Stuy and Crown Heights. No one wants to see people huddled against the side of buildings, sleeping on heating vents, or camped in the subways. Share the responsibilities, that is all we want. BS and CH are doing our share, what about other neighborhoods?

I remember the horrible conditions at the hotel Stonergut refers to, it was disgraceful. It was also a prime example of mismanagement of funds and a disregard for the homeless. There are dedicated and wonderful people who have spent their careers in helping the homeless. These people know how and where to best spend money, allocate resources and people, and make the best out of a shameful social system. They are not running things. We've got shrinking dollars and growing homelessness. New ideas, new locations, new ways of operating are needed. We need a WPA-like effort to not only shelter and feed people, but get them back on their feet, and back into society. There is a sizable population of homeless people who are just unable to afford to live here, or have lost their homes in fire, through tragedy or landlord foreclosure. These people can be helped for far less than the cost of keeping them in a shelter. There are those who need medical and structured care, and there are those who will never be helped. Just as the homeless are not a monolith, neither should monster shelters in armories in Brooklyn be the monoliths of how we deal with the problem.

We can't just keep dumping them in BS or CH. And the residents of these communities are not just going to sit back and accept whatever the administration deems convenient. There are buildings in every neighborhood in this vast city that could be turned into manageable sized shelters. Smaller shelters in every neighborhood would help spread the care and allow the communities they are in the opportunity to actually care about the people in those shelters, and perhaps go a long way to see the homeless not as them, but us. Pollyanic, perhaps, but what we've got now certainly isn't working.

I know we in Crown Heights will be supporting our near neighbors on Marcus Garvey. Perhaps this will help teach all of us that we are connected. This is not a Bed Stuy or a Crown Heights problem, it is a problem for all of us.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at October 16, 2008 11:14 AM

Yeah, Polemicst, there's nothing like the fun of sleeping on the sidewalk in spit and feces and trash, with rats, 4 legged and otherwise, worrying you. I'm sure the lure of all that "free money" is prompting lazy people everywhere to try the high life of living 24/7 in one set of clothes, eating out of trash bins, and relieving yourself wherever. Welcome to New York City.

Again, you continue to demonstrate what little compassion or regard you have for anyone who is not you. I'm glad you won't be joining the gathering tonight. Putting a face to your unpleasant comments would not be a highlight of my day.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at October 16, 2008 11:38 AM