Ministering to the Homeless 5

Redmond church risks big fines

as it hosts homeless camp

 Another in the Ministering to the Homeless series.  This story is about a church that agreed to host one of the tent cities of Seattle for 90 days in defiance of huge fines if they do so.   Tent cities are groups of homeless that have come together, formed their own government and operate out of tent cities, originally constructed wherever they could find room, often at the horror of their housed neighbors and landowners, sometimes started on city park land or vacant lots.  

These groups set up tents and have collectively organized kitchens, toilet and shower areas, sanitation disposal and have established strict bylaws and rules of conduct.   To get in, the current residents must approve newcomers before they can set up a tent.   Jobs, such as security, food preparation, sanitation disposal, cleanup, and government are usually rotated among the residents.  Some of the tent cities have Internet sites, formal applications and posted rules. 

Some local governments have written laws banning the tent cities and have actively removed some of them (St Petersburg for example).  The bans are limited to government property, parks, road right of ways, etc. and those on private property are subject to zoning rules and ordnances crafted to keep them out.   They have been careful not to ban camping and thus the homeless have had a loophole to slip into.   

Homeless activists have arranged to have various churches and private organizations to allow the tent cities to use their private property.  The common tactic for the governments have been to limit the time that a private property can be used for camping to some period, such as 90 days.  Permits are required for each campsite, some of the permits only for a few days, others longer, some must be renewed weekly.     There is a sort of round robin of encampment movement from site to site every 90 days in this case.

Tent cities have been established in St. Petersburg Fla. (later dismantled by the city), Seattle, Kings County Washington, Toronto and Portland . 

Read the original Seattle Times story here

By Sanjay Bhatt
Seattle Times staff reporter

PHOTO BY GREG GILBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Tent City 4 residents, St. Jude parishioners and people who live nearby pitch in to help build Tent City 4 on Saturday on St. Jude property in Redmond. Here, they lay down wood pallets to keep the dampness away.

Defying an order from the city of Redmond, St. Jude Catholic Church welcomed Tent City 4, the Eastside’s traveling homeless encampment, to its grounds Saturday.

The city – which initially granted, then voided a permit for the encampment – answered the action with a threat to fine the church as much as $500 a day, five times what a senior city official had proposed last week. The church’s plan to host the homeless group for 90 days could now cost it more than $37,000.

Yet the mood outside the church was upbeat. Homeless people and church members alike unloaded wooden pallets and plywood from trucks, and set up tents. Campers’ belongings arrived in black trash bags labeled with silver duct tape. Volunteers drove Tent City residents to the church from their former site at another Catholic church, St. John Vianney, near Kirkland.

“These folks need a place to stay,” said the Rev. David Rogerson of St. Jude. “We’re not going to pull the rug out from under them at the last minute.”

If the fines are upheld, the church will pay them from donations rather than from parish funds, he said.

THIS is what ministering to the homeless means!

Oldtimer

How Homeless Youth Earn Money

HOW THEY EARN MONEY

This is an interesting study out of Canada.   It was aired as part of “The First Edition” by CBC News in 2004.  Despite it being 3 years old, I think the data has changed little over time.   I also think the data would also apply to homeless youth almost anywhere in the world.

 In 1999, the most comprehensive study about how street kids making their money was conducted by the Shout Clinic which offers health care to homeless youth. Among the findings:

· 36%   of street youth earn money by panhandling or squeegeeing
· 19%   do break and enters or sell drugs
· 18%   receive social assistance
· 17%   by have paid employment
· 10%   do sex trade work

Some find legitimate work: Homeless youth had worked at an average of 3.1 legitimate jobs in the previous 12 months mainly in general labour, painting, welding, as bike couriers, cooks, cashiers, telemarketing, in baby sitting and retail sales.

Most have worked in the sex trade: 31% – including men and women – reported engaging in either street prostitution, phone or Internet sex, or massage/stripping at least once in their lives. Agencies like Street Outreach Services (SOS) focus on helping street youth out of prostitution.

Background determines how youth earn money: On average, sex workers left home at a younger age, had been on the street the longest, were most likely to have grown up in at least one foster homes, had the lowest educational credentials and left home because of problems pertaining to both physical and sexual assault.

In contrast, those who did property crimes or sold drugs were predominately male, were likely to have grown up in Toronto and were least likely to have experienced physical or sexual assault at home.

Would they like to work? When asked if they would like to find paid employment, 83.4% of males and 87.8% of females said yes. This indicates that street youth are unhappy about making money the way they do and would like paid employment instead.

Asked more specifically about under what conditions they would find accept a job:

· 53.7%   said they would take any job if paid $20 an hour
· 35.5%   would do just about any job
· 51.8%   felt that any job was better than welfare
· 18.7%   felt they would rather take welfare rather than a job they didn’t like
· 18.%    said they would not mind being unemployed for awhile

Again, these results suggest a majority of street youth want a job, although they were not willing to accept any job offered.

When asked what was preventing them from getting jobs, reasons cited included:

· 45.2 %  no fixed address    
· 43.3%   lack of work experience 
· 44.5%   no phone     
· 40.2%   no money for transportation for job search    
· 34.7%   don’t have the right clothes or appearance   
· 21.3%   legal problems   
· 21.3%   lack of motivation  

· other problems which included waking up and keeping a schedule, health, and literacy problems.

Most young homeless people were optimistic they would find work, with 46.6% very hopeful, and 35.7% somewhat hopeful.