Homelessness in the News

Hello everyone!
First and foremost, don't forget to Read Rafi's Blog about next weeks Thanksgiving dinner. That's B.A.S.I.C.'s biggest amount of news.

Proposal to Cut Young Homeless
"Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly will unveil a multi-million pound package of measures aimed at cutting the number of young people who become homeless."

No, it is not another article about violence against homeless people. It's just a bad choice for a tag line! Seems like the boys accross the pond are willing to put a little money into the fray. I find it interesting that the homeless youths are becoming homeless because they are being kicked out of the home. I find it even more interesting that the state, for some reason, feels compelled to feed, clothe, and bathe people that parents are not willing to help. Now I would be willing to feed, clothe, and bathe a homeless castaway youth, but with the aim of familial restoration. Apparently the parents feel like the teens should be able to support themselves. It's funny to me how people forget that money spent by the government is tax money, and that means that even when you kick out the kiddies, you still have to pay for them!
In all, this is another program I need to look at so I can see what will work in Orlando.

Grim Milestone for Homeless
"Imagine an entire busload of people dying in a horrible crash, because of faulty brakes. Cries of outrage, coupled with demands for improved safety inspections, would immediately dominate our newscasts, newspapers, government legislatures and water-cooler conversations."

Well, lessee, this article is about 500 homeless people's deaths in Toronto. Some of the analogy is faulty. It assumes that all 500 of the people who died were somehow innocent in their circumstances. From my experience, that's not the case. Doesn't excuse us from just letting the problem slide though. I'm glad the church has something going on to remember the death of people who die on the streets. That's one thing that I think is intolerable.

City Approves Plan on Dealing with Homeless"
"Homeless residents will be encouraged to move out of Gainesville's downtown by a package of policies approved Monday by Gainesville city commissioners."

Ok, more feeding bans! Yeah!!! Oh WAIT! They don't work. All they do at best, is shift the problem onto someone else's lawn. Don't really fly in the spirit of Jesus, I think. I haven't looked at the political leanings of the county commissioners, but I bet they aren't all nasty smelly hairy "conservatives". I want to end this summary on a positive note though: They did something Orlando has not, made provision for a drop-in one stop service center. I understand places like this are needed for the proper implementation of the Housing First initiatives, that is, housing is taken care of first, then they are given access to services at one central location. Very Helpful for guys who have debilitating (someone correct my spelling)conditions like Niles (who has parkinson's).

Just three articles today. Thanks for looking! Remember to pray for and get to know your local homeless people!

Your Positive Activist,
G. Brandon Hoyt