Homelessness in the News December from the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless

 

Tuesday, November 26 – Monday, December 2, 2013    IN COLORADO Monday, December 2 Hundreds of Denver Homeless Will Seek Shelter as Temps Plunge The Denver Post, Ryan Parker Denver, Colorado – Hundreds of men are expected to seek shelter from the cold in downtown Denver when the temperature plummets Tuesday. The nightly capacity for the Denver Rescue Mission Lawrence Street Shelter is 315 people, and that is with every possible area of the building—including the chapel, Spanish chapel and hallways—being used for mats, said Alexxa Gagner, spokeswoman for the Denver Rescue Mission. Monday, December 2 Homeless Woman Identified, Remembered Fondly by Colorado Springs Family The Gazette, Andrea Sinclair   Colorado Springs, Colorado – When Elisabeth Collins and her husband fell asleep in a parking garage Nov. 21, the homeless couple were seeking shelter from one of the season’s coldest nights. Temperatures in Colorado Springs plummeted overnight to 19 degrees, and nearly an inch of snow had fallen over the city by sunrise, when David Peterson found his wife dead a few feet away from him.   Friday, November 29 Boulder DA Concerned about Rape of Homeless Women Boulder Daily Camera, Mitchell Byars Boulder, Colorado – Boulder prosecutors and homeless advocates are concerned that homeless women in the county are becoming increasingly vulnerable to violent sexual assaults, and are hoping to reach out to victims to make sure the crimes are reported and prosecuted.  Wednesday, December 27 Terminally Homeless in Boulder Boulder Weekly, Jefferson Dodge Boulder, Colorado – Jason Balousek suffers from kidney failure and has been told he only has a matter of weeks to live. When he heard that news, it made him happy, much to his doctor’s surprise. At this point, he says, death is preferable to the life he’s been leading. ACROSS AMERICA Monday, December 2 More than You Think are Homeless for the Holidays The Mississippi Press, Sid Salter    Mississippi – When Mississippians think of the homeless, we mostly think of out-of-state people in big cities who are either severely mentally ill, chronic substance abusers, or those who are chronically homeless. We also comfort ourselves in the notion that homelessness is far less pronounced in the rural South because we “take care of our own.” But the urban homeless are far more visible and hence harder to ignore. The rural homeless, which are the preponderance of Mississippi’s homeless population, are often hidden. Instead of sleeping on the streets as in large cities, they congregate in the woods, campgrounds, barns, vehicles or abandoned or substandard housing not truly meant for habitation.    Monday, December 2 Addressing the Intractable Problem of Homelessness in Baltimore The Baltimore Sun, Colin Campbell Baltimore, Maryland – When Catholic Charities took over the shelter over the summer, it set up a new system. The goal was to free the homeless from waiting in line, so they could spend their days looking for work or housing. But hundreds still wait every day, hoping a spot opens up. The persistent queue illustrates the difficulties the shelter, city officials and others face in addressing the intractable problem of homelessness in Baltimore. Many who are waiting for longer-term lodging wind up at overflow shelters where beds are too few, while others remain on the street. The number of homeless people in Baltimore is in the thousands, but no true count exists. Monday, December 2 For Gay Community, Finding Acceptance is Even More Difficult on the Streets The New York Times, Erica Goode San Francisco, California – There were times—after he told his parents he was gay, for example, and his mother wept and his father tried to hit him—when Fredy Bolvito curled up on a bench in Union Square here and cried because he had AIDS and no job and no place to stay and he felt, he said, that “my life was over.” Monday, December 2 Mass. Scrambling to Find Housing for Its Homeless The Boston Globe, Megan Woolhouse and David Abel Greenfield, Massachusetts – Record numbers of homeless families are overwhelming the state’s emergency shelter system, filling motel rooms at the cost to taxpayers of tens of millions of dollars a year. An average of nearly 2,100 families a night—an all-time high—were temporarily housed in motel rooms in October, just about equaling the number of families in emergency shelters across the state, according to the state Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.      Sunday, December 1 Berkeley Homelessness Still Problem 1 Year after Failure of Measure S The Daily Californian, Tara Hurley Fresno, California – Slightly more than a year after the failure of Measure S, a controversial ballot initiative that would have prohibited sitting on commercial sidewalks between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., many advocates and opponents of the measure can agree on at least one thing: Addressing Berkeley’s homeless situation is a slow process.       Wednesday, November 27 Los Angeles Considering Proposal to Ban Feeding Homeless People in Public MSNBC, Clare Kim Los Angeles, California – As the number of homeless people in Los Angeles County continues to rise, the City Council is weighing a ban on feeding homeless people in public areas. City Council members Tom LaBonge and Mitch O’Farrell, both Democrats, introduced the resolution after complaints from Los Angeles residents. Arguing that meal lines should be moved indoors, the legislators said the proposal would benefit both the homeless and residential neighborhoods. Actor Alexander Polinsky is one Los Angeles resident who complained about the number of homeless people crowding his neighborhood.   STAY CONNECTED