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homelessinnoco-blog · 8 years ago

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Homelessness: How we can do better

Despite the snow and subfreezing temperatures we experienced last week it’s actually springtime in Colorado. The earth’s axis is rotating and the sun is slowly heating up our half of the earth. The snow melts and then comes back, melts again and then surprises us five or six more times before we actually put the skis away and get the bikes and kayaks out to enjoy for the summer.

With the occasional windows of magnificent weather I’m sure the citizens of Fort Collins have noticed an increase in the number of homeless people, standing on street corners or outside of business’ panhandling. Sometimes for food, sometimes for “anything” that helps… you know and they know exactly what that means, Greenbacks. Some of this is due to the fact that Boulder shut down there cold weather shelters and warming shelters earlier this year. With the recent weather, Fort Collins was the next best option since it provided some folks a temporary place to seek shelter from the cold.

For some folks this is a non-issue. In fact some of the Fort Collins community is very generous when it comes to giving money to those in need. Fort other citizens however, the homeless population is viewed as an eyesore and a nuisance, and something must be done to fix the problem.

In an interview with Sgt. Heather Moore, a veteran of the Fort Collins police department for over 13 years shared that someone standing downtown begging can make $400-$500 on a given night. A dedicated individual averaging numbers like that can make roughly 100k-130k annually. TAX FREE, hell you can even take the weekends off.

At first glance it seems like giving these people handouts is clearly condoning the problem. If we just cut them off they’ll either shit or get off the pot, right? It turns out, that may not be the case.

We also sat down with Kim Larsen, Director of the Sister Mary Alice Murphy Center for Hope. A local day shelter that provides resources for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. She revealed homelessness isn’t always a choice. Most people she sees on day to day basis have experienced extreme amounts of trauma; while reminding us that every situation is different. In a lot of cases mental health and substance abuse issues are involved and the person either doesn’t have or refused family support in order to hide their addiction or real issue. Plus living in Colorado isn’t cheap. In Fort Collins some homeless people actually worked before they were in their current situation, they weren’t salaried positions with benefits, but they were working. The catalyst to homelessness came when the car broke down or medical bills stacked up from an emergency. You can find yourself in a pretty big hole fast and if you’re missing the support and or have other mental health or substance abuse issues the walls all of a sudden become very slippery.

Going back to the handouts or donations homeless people receive from community members. If this money actually did help someone to get out of a homeless situation would this be such a bad thing? After all that’s the issue right? Of course the money isn’t always used the way it should but that leads us back to the mental health and substance abuse aspects of homelessness that if treated could put people back on the right track. In all reality giving someone money directly affects only the people involved in the transaction.

I want to touch on the issues of substance abuse and mental health very quickly. Substance abuse whether it be drugs or alcohol is an addiction and addiction is classified as a chronic disease. The repeated abuse can affect the brain and make resisting urges to use extremely difficult without outside help. It can also change the perception you have of your usage. You may be spiraling out of control and not realize the situation you have put yourself and those around you in. The thing with alcoholics and other addicts is they will always be addicts. They may get a grip on their situation and lead an unbelievably successful and productive life, in that case they’re probably a recovering addict/alcoholic. And yes there are alcoholics that are high functioning that make tons of money but usually they don’t identify as homeless. My point is addiction, like a lot of diseases can be manageable if the right resources are available.

Much like the money that homeless receive as a result of begging and how in order for that act of giving to be beneficial to the person and hopefully the community in the form of a happy, helpful and productive human being. The person must want the change and be willing to work for it. They must use that money to get themselves into a better situation. The same goes with these resources. If available the person would need to want and be willing to work for their own personal growth, utilizing these resources to put themselves in a better long term situation.(Housing, Economic Security, Healthcare)

The underlying problem is the resources are expensive. Recently Fort Collins voted down Larimer County Amendment 1A. It would have funded a mental health and detox facility. The money would have come from a quarter percent tax increase meaning you pay an extra quarter in taxes every time you spend $100.00 in Larimer County for the next 25 years. The facility would have costed $20.4 million to build and more than half that in annual operating costs at $11.7 million. The tax would have collected an estimated $16.5 million annually for 25 years. That’s a total accrual of funds of $412.5 million. Subtract the $20.4 million in building costs and the center would have enough funds to operate for 33.5 years without outside help or donations. The facility would have housed and provided services for 35 individuals. This was obviously not the right direction for Fort Collins voters as it lost 52% - 48%, roughly 81k – 75k.

This down vote is actually the third attempt at funding some sort of mental health resource initiative or facility. Amendment 1A was proposed in 2008 as well. A separate jail tax in 2011 that would have funded mental health and detox staff and resources inside the jail for habitual offenders, in most cases homeless, that demonstrate signs of mental illness or substance abuse was also voted down.

On the upside Sgt. Moore shared with us that Fort Collins has incorporated a community outreach program that will employ a team of three, specifically dealing with the homeless population who battle some form of habitual substance abuse or mental health issue. Providing them the necessary tools to battle the issues that keep them from breaking the homeless cycle. Additionally the Fort Collins police department will assemble a trio of case managers lead by in-house police psychologist Dr. Dan Dworkin. Dr. Dworkin has been on call with the force 24/7 for the past 15 years. The teams objective is to also provide resources and services to habitual offenders who are displaced and suffer some form of mental illness.

These are both great additions to dealing with an already complex and dynamic issue. But its nowhere near enough.

Every spring since 2013 Homeward 2020, Fort Collins ten-year initiative to end the ongoing problem of homelessness in the city has conducted an annual survey. The data helps Fort Collins track the homeless population, an unofficial census if you will. They use the data to serve as a convener, advocate and catalyst in solving the homeless issue within our city.

Their data shows a steady increase in the homeless population since 2013 with the majority of growth in the last two years. Since year one of the survey homeless population is up 52.5%. To me that says two things. First, this is a place people want to live. Between the vast amounts of public lands, epic recreational opportunities and growing economy Colorado is viewed extremely desirable by a large number of people. Second and more importantly, the homeless issue hasn’t been handled properly by our community. Granted we haven’t seen legislation that justified public funding, the issue has grown regardless of your opinion and our behavior towards or treatment hasn’t changed.

To summarize the last sentence, the issue has grown over 50% in the last four years and we’ve chosen not to try and handle it in a different way.

For some people that’s ok. Maybe you don’t feel empathy for that group of people, or maybe, like a lot of others you have your own problems to deal with, that’s ok. This is mostly a free country and it’s your right to feel that way.

The call for action is to the voters who don’t want to approach this issue from a different angle. Those who aren’t willing to try spending money on the education and treatment of mental health and substance abuse The methods in which we are currently handling homelessness is the way we would have handled things if the population was that of 10 years ago.

Sgt. Moore added in the interview that during most shifts she never leaves Old Towne. Fifty percent of her night is spent dealing with the homeless or issues involving the homeless. She estimates that 90% of the time the call is non-criminal or something she has no enforcement over. These calls are due mostly to lack of education. The majority come from families or business owners that don’t like the presence of homeless people. What some don’t understand is it’s not illegal to be homeless or poor or lose your job. But if your true concern is public spending this should make your stomach turn. It’s important to note this isn’t anyone’s fault. These are just the problems a city growing at the rate in which we are growing experience.

Fort Collins annual police budget is roughly $180 million dollars and our general tax revenue is roughly $600 million dollars. That means:

The $600 million is tax money we’ve already allocated, by vote, to public resources. A majority of the $180 million we spend on police resources comes from that tax fund. I understand no one wants to increase the amount of taxes we pay. But if the police are spending half their time dealing with homeless issues and the majority of that time is wasted. One could argue were wasting a quarter of the budget anyway. As citizens of Fort Collins, you help fund the police budget and should be concerned about where that money goes. Don’t you want to see that money be spent as efficiently as possible? Does paying a little more in taxes up front to help elevate some wasted time our officer’s experience on a day to day basis sound like a solution? If we can fund an initiative that aims to solve the mental health and substance abuse aspect of homelessness maybe we can save money in the long run and lead the nation in solving an enigmatic problem that has plagued the country for decades.

Our solution is this. We build a public mental health center. The mental illnesses of the homeless will be dealt with so that they can move forward with their lives. The decrease in homelessness will free up some police resources as well as allow these people to be contributing members of society, which everybody would like. Helping these people initially will pay you back in the end. so we are proposing a solution with the public mental health center. It will be funded by taxes, but a little over half of what had been asked before with a new tax of only .15%. We will cover the rest of the cost through fundraising with 5k’s for instance. This proposal does not seem to affect you directly besides it taking your money, but as you may see now, it ultimately acts in your best interest to go through with this plan.

#ours #written

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