The Community Coalition on Homelessness is rushing to put together a package of ideas to help aid the homeless of Lawrence. The coalition plans to present the package to the Lawrence City Commission by June, as a response to the homeless census and what many of the members see as apathy to the poor of Lawrence.
“We’re going to probably recommend an emergency shelter to serve the chronically homeless and then look at emergency housing and transitional housing for families. Our goal in working with the chronically homeless is to get them a house so they can participate in the community as much as possible,” said Shirley Martin Smith, the head of the Community Coalition on Homelessness.
Some Homeless advocates are concerned that homelessness in Lawrence isn’t being given all the attention it deserves from the city. According to Hubbard Colinsworth, who heads the Pelathe Community Resource Center, there isn’t a homeless charity or advocacy group in the city who isn’t in need of money right now.
“If there are eight pieces of cheese and 10 agencies, how are you going to cut the cheese so everyone gets a piece?” Colinsworth said.
Steve Ozark, coordinator for Interfaith Initiative, a community- and religion-based homeless advocacy group, says that when the city focuses on emergency housing as it has been, people just get shuffled from the street to a shelter and then back on the street again.
“It’s never really been discussed clearly what the city’s responsibility is to poverty in Lawrence. It’s really about more than just poverty; it’s about gaps that can lead to homelessness… and trying to fill the gaps before more people fall through,” Ozark said.
Ozark also said that to confront the problem of homelessness in Lawrence, more has to be done than just emergency care. Ozark believes that getting money from the city for permanent supportive housing is the only way to solve the problem before it gets any worse than it already is.
“If we don’t make [rehabilitation] a priority, there will only be more gaps. We need more than just a park every quarter mile. Parks are important, but helping people is much more so,” Ozark said.
The difference between supportive housing and emergency housing is one that most citizens in Lawrence don’t quite understand, Ozark said. He believes that most people in Lawrence don’t care about homeless people because of preconceived notions towards them.
“We need the city to understand the face of homelessness. When I say the word homelessness or homeless person most people have a prejudged opinion.” Ozark said.
Interfaith Initiative is currently trying to build a rehabilitative housing program of its own.
After the homeless census was released by the Lawrence Journal-World a few weeks ago, the tone of the coalition has become much more urgent. The census counted 413 homeless, almost twice as many people as previously thought. The only relief of the census, Smith said, was that the number of chronic homeless, those defined as having a disability and being homeless for more than a year, was less than they had previously thought.
The commission knows that the going will be hard, but they still have high hopes that their plan can work to start reducing the number of people without a home in Lawrence.
“To say we’re going to erase homelessness is a little arrogant. We can do a lot to reduce chronic homelessness,” said Loring Henderson, who works with the Lawrence Community Shelter.
Ozark said he was getting considerably more optimistic considering where the city was with the homeless just a year ago.
“We’re just trying to be clear and loud as we can be. We need to get this on the table with all these other [city programs]. We’re in the ballpark but in the cheap seats. We need to be in the box seats with the other programs. We need to realize that our people are our most valuable resource,” Ozark said.
The coalition was formed by the Lawrence City Commission a little more than a year ago and is comprised of homeless advocacy programs around Lawrence, such as Interfaith Initiative, the Salvation Army, Pelathe Resource Center and concerned members of the community.