So I was walking down the street about a block away from the ARCH this morning and, as tends to happen all the fucking time these days, was approached by a homeless person who wanted money. Sometimes I give them money, more often I don’t. When you don’t want to give, the best answer is ‘No.’ No explanation, no apology, just short and to the point let them know they’re not getting anything from you so they can move on to the next prospect. This guy didn’t give up, though; he asked if I don’t have any money, or if I just don’t give a shit about the problem. I replied, fairly honestly, that I’d given away quite a bit of money lately and I was just tired of it. He goes on about how money is not the answer anyway; I said, well, I don’t have a job for you either. He said yeah, but you have influence with the city and you can help get some things changed. I don’t have any particular influence in the city, but to shut him up I said, OK, what is your proposal? Oh, I got lots of them, he said; I figured he was full of shit and I’d be able to end the encounter, but after gathering his thoughts, it turned out he really did have lots of them. To wit:
Lockers for the homeless; give them a place to store some stuff so they don’t have to wear all the clothes they have and carry whatever they may have. Sounds like a good idea, I said; maybe they could do that at the ARCH. The ARCH is a fucking joke, he said; the first thing they need to do is put a policeman on that corner. Said he’d been in about 50 fights, had his backpack cut off him while he was asleep, had all his stuff stolen regularly. Seemed like a reasonable idea to me; it’s literally less than a block from APD headquarters, but the police presence there is usually zero.
A vehicle that goes around in a set area, at a set time, to provide services for the homeless. Apparently the existing efforts are haphazard, and people never know when or where they will show up.
Showers and laundry facilities. Only 3 of the 11 washers at ARCH are working, according to him.
Tables for food drop off. Now people who want to feed the homeless have to drop the food off on the sidewalk. It’s degrading to have to eat off the ground.
Clothing donations/thrift stores in the area where the homeless are. Lots of them are disabled and can’t walk even 8 or 10 blocks for these things. And Goodwill is too expensive; you need shirts and pants for 3 or 4 dollars.
For people on medications, change the schedule from monthly to every 2 weeks. He said he’s bipolar schizophrenic, and his medications get stolen regularly. At least he wouldn’t have to wait a full month for a new supply, and he’d be able to stay on his meds more easily.
Service point cards: I had to look this up. Apparently it’s a medical services ID card administered by … some agency or something … that folks use to pick up their medications. He noted that it’s bar coded, like a UT ID, and could be used to allow homeless to ride public transportation and bike shares for free, like the deal with UT (I don’t know what deal he was referring to; maybe there is some kind of discount for students? It’s been a long time since I was one). So they could get around and get some shit done, as he put it.
Homeless sponsors: people could sponsor homeless, help them get back on their feet. I was trying to end the conversation by this point, because I’d been talking to him for about 20 minutes and I had shit to do, but it sounded like he could have fleshed this out if I’d let him.
Honestly, none of these things sounded like outrageously expensive or difficult things to do; they are simple, common-sense things that would really help a lot of people in the little ways that count for much in a day-to-day struggle for survival. Life out there is not easy, and a few little things like this would help a lot. I don’t know what kind of budget the ARCH has, or if it can find room to do some of this stuff, or if a charity could pick it up. Anyway, since I have so much (nonexistent) pull with the city, I guess it’s incumbent on me to do something. So I’m posting here to have you assholes tell me why these are terrible ideas, and there’s no way any of them would work, and then I’ll have an excuse not to do anything. So let’s hear it.
TL/DR: Homeless guy has some good ideas on how to improve services for the homeless.