Who Really Helps Those Living in Poverty and the Homeless?

On Wednesday of this week, I realized for the first time how State, Federal and even Local Authorities and Agencies that are supporting programs for the poor and homeless, are some of the biggest culprits preventing people from rising out of their situations.

My wife and I have volunteered at a local Food Bank for over 7 years. People that needed help getting enough food came into our food bank where I, as the intake person being the first person they talk with, help them fill in their names and address and ask how many people are in their families.

The people that come in range from Seniors living on a fixed income, those that were recently released from prisons, people that recently became homeless and just about every type of situation you can imagine. Because they feel no one actually listens to them, I hear all their stories and let me say that there are days I go home emotionally exhausted.

I’ve had a retired couple that lost their home to foreclosure that was living in their son’s garage that were told they had to move into a tent in the backyard because their son bought a new truck and was going to need the garage for it. Then there was the 83-year-old man living in poverty that just had an operation and when he went back to his one-room apartment found he had been robbed of everything he owned. Every day brings a new story.

But let’s get back to the meeting this week. Because our food bank accepts Federal and State provisions, the chair of our food bank announced that if someone needs food, they have to fill out a form provided by the Federal government, explain to me what type of assistance they are getting, show a picture ID and have an approval letter from a local community action center.

I looked around at the group and realized that everyone in the room was older and probably middle class. When I asked how someone that doesn’t drive can get the letter before we give them food, several said “that’s their problem.” My heart sank when I thought about how I was going to break it to someone that needs food for their family that very day and must travel many miles to get a letter that requires them to have a permanent address when they are homeless and can’t drive.

I am seeing the same thing with housing for the homeless and the poor.

We all know that “Climate Change”, sustainability, carbon and energy Net Zero codes and regulations are the talking points every building association, University professor, Government agency and city planner are requiring for future buildings. I just watched a YouTube video where the message was about building high-rise apartments for people with jobs within 15 minutes of home, using public transport and having time and money to spend on pleasurable activities.

My question is where do the homeless go for housing? The answer appears to be to put them into converted garden sheds or plastic boxes away from others. Maybe train them for jobs that they can’t get to in 15 minutes because they can’t drive or have access to public transport.

And what happens when people living in poverty are put into those shiny new high rises next door to a working couple with 3 children in daycare, a car for their weekend getaways and good jobs? Just take a minute to mull that over.

Do the homeless and poor really care about carbon emissions, sustainable building materials, Net Zero energy, or being close to public transportation? I can tell you from personal experience of working with them that is the furthest thing from their mind. They simply need shelter, food and either government assistance or a good job.

Our industry has to stop being like the older middle-class group at my food bank meeting saying “that’s their problem.” We have to address the needs of the homeless and poor with the same vigor we’re fighting for Net Zero, Climate Change and Green.

With all our innovations in construction, why are we still housing people in plastic boxes and garden sheds and restricting who gets food?

Terre Haute Council Approves Tiny House Homeless Veteran’s Village

More cities across the country are amending their zoning codes to allow smaller homes within their city limits for sheltering the homeless. 

The Terre Haute, Indiana, Board of Zoning Appeals approved changes to allow the construction of six tiny homes to be constructed at 2134 N. 23rd St. The dwellings, targeted for homeless veterans, would also use property to the north along Maple Avenue as a park area and as possible expansion ground in the future.

Tiny houses for homeless veterans expanding in KC

The zoning appeals board Wednesday approved a variance sought by the Terre Haute Area Association of Realtors to allow the tiny homes to be 360 square feet, down from the required 512-square-foot minimum, and allowed the homes to be 15 feet wide instead of a minimum of 23 feet wide.

The homes will be 15 feet wide by 24 feet long (360 square feet) with a 15-foot- by 6-foot covered porch.

CLICK HERE to read the entire Tribune-Star article

New Tiny House Villages in Oregon to Offer Priority Placement to Homeless LGBTQ Community

 

Often forgotten in the struggle to house homeless people are LGBTQ citizens. But that is changing in thanks to a nonprofit called WeShine that is close to finishing a tiny house village at a church parking lot in the Parkrose neighborhood of Portland, OR.

The Portland-based nonprofit, founded only last year, has an ambitious plan: build 10 tiny house villages in 10 different neighborhoods, each with a maximum capacity of 12 residents. Each village will offer pods to specific groups most likely to slip through the cracks of homeless outreach, and each will be outfitted with kitchenettes, restrooms and showers.

WeShine has had particular success so far with churches. Parkrose Community United Church of Christ is the location of the village close to accepting residents.

One barrier the nonprofit seeks to circumvent is obtaining a commercial permit for the Parkrose village’s other planned amenities: a shared kitchen, restrooms and showers. It’s meeting with the city’s Bureau of Development Services this week to discuss.

Once all the details and permits are completed, Weshine may have another problem, albeit, a good one. Some Weshine members think they will get to a point where the churches are competing with each other to have villages. The Archdiocese of Portland has already shown an interest and they own a lot of land in the Portland area.

Here’s a “Tip of the Hat” from Modcoach for Weshine’s efforts in bringing tiny house villages to fruition.

Will the Lack of Affordable Housing Force Large Companies to Rethink Relocating?

At the height of COVID-19, working from home was a great alternative for millions of workers in office situations. With the freedom of not having to fight traffic every day, paying for daycare, and being able to spend more time with the family, many decided that living within driving distance of the office wasn’t necessary. 

Welcome to the exodus from overcrowded cities with the sky-high cost of living to country life sometimes hundreds or even a thousand miles from the office and the world of working from home.

However, things have recently happened that are making the entire work-from-home option not so good. First, many companies have begun telling their employees to return to work in the office as evidenced by Elon Musk announcing he wanted his office employees back at their desks. 

The other thing that happened is something almost nobody expected. Companies began leaving states with high taxes and wages and moving to other areas that offered better benefits to them. Good, sound business decisions. Now those new areas are rapidly becoming very expensive for their employees’ housing needs as both the exodus to new areas was massive and now rising costs of home prices and the new interest rates are hurting the average office worker and middle manager.

Amazon’s HQ2 new headquarters in Crystal City just outside DC could become a prime (pardon the pun) example of bringing too much to an area. It is estimated that Amazon will employ 25,000 within 8 years. The problem is it will drive up rents and housing costs and make it difficult for lower-income residents to afford to stay in the county unless thousands of new units are added to alleviate the pressure on the market, which requires more subsidized housing units while the existing affordable housing will be used by Amazon workers.

The bottom line is where will the displaced people, forced to move out of their homes by rapidly increasing rents, go? The jobs many hold now will not be what big companies like Amazon will need. They are going to bring in a lot of employees with IT and technology skills that can afford to pay those higher rents while the people displaced have to live further away from their current jobs.

Only a fraction of new housing in Arlington County, VA is geared for ‘workforce’ budgets. Analysts have estimated the county’s shortage of affordable housing at tens of thousands of homes, condominiums, or apartments as Amazon will require other tech companies to relocate to Crystal City to service it.

This is happening in just about every city. It’s time for drastic measures to help create enough affordable as well for sheltering the homeless. We’re the USA and we can do it. The questions are when will we begin doing it and who will do it?

An Oregon Rotary Club is Building a Reputation as Tiny Home Builders

When the topic of homelessness comes up in Medford, OR, most people in town think of Hope Village, a Medford transitional living site run by the shelter and housing group Rogue Retreat. Hope Village has 34 tiny houses already. Each one is designed to pair up with another house, forming miniature duplexes.

They’re not professional home builders, but volunteers from the Medford Rogue Rotary Club are putting the finishing touches on four tiny houses for homeless people to be added to Hope Village.

“For us non-contractor-type people, this was a big project,” club member Rick Clark said Thursday as those around him painted trim and siding, cut wood and drilled front porch floorboards into place. “We’re all hackers and do-it-yourselfers at home.”

Rotary members started building the four tiny houses back in February without knowing exactly how long it would take.

One of the most amazing things about these four homes is the expertise these backyard builders bring to the project. They’re building them with people in mind instead of just having a factory build them where these four homes would have just part of the production line.

The amateurs have had some help from the pros.

Andy Batzer of Medford-based construction company JB Steel drew up plans for the tiny houses. Bill Thorndike of Medford Fabrication donated the use of a warehouse-sized building so the volunteers could build while protected from the weather. The building comes equipped with a crane the volunteers used to lift roofing materials into place.

To make sure the roofs don’t leak, a pro is installing flashing to direct water away from joints.

Companies donated materials or provided discounts, and the volunteers pitched in some of their own supplies along with their time.

All the cooperation means the Rotary club has spent about $20,000 to build all four tiny houses, rather than the $90,000 to $100,000 it would normally cost, Clark said.

Each house is well insulated and comes with wiring so a person living there can run a heater. Solar panels power the low energy-use basics such as lights and cellphone charging. A loft provides storage, and windows in the small living room/bedroom area let in the sunlight.

The tiny houses don’t have bathrooms or kitchens, but Hope Village has shared facilities for cooking, bathrooms, showering, and laundry.

Top Stories for Wednesday, January 25, 2023

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Construction to Begin for New, 200-Bed Transitional Housing Residence in Bed-Stuy

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