When we first started this FEASIBILITY STUDY we thought we knew most of the people who could benefit from a regular homeless shelter. We had stayed at and studied the 6 biggest homeless shelters in our fine state.

     We knew they needed food, clothing and shleter. At the big city shelters this is what they provide in a highly efficient, high-volume, barracks-style environment. The Hard Living "nighttime" cycle begins as they:

* Are taken in around 5pm and assigned a bed #,

* Must attend a chapel service @6pm before they can

* Eat @6:30pm cafeteria-style (one entree, one vegetable, bread, dessert and choice of tea or coffee to drink).

* From 7-8pm they must take showers,

* Be in bed for "lights out" at 9pm.

* Wake-up call @ 5:30am,

* Breakfast from 6-6:30am, then

* Must be out of the shelter (with ALL their belongings) by 7am.

 

Then their "daytime" cycle starts . . .

 

During the day, most of these people go:

* To their regular, minimum wage job,

* On an all-day job search,

* Kids go to public school, day care or hang out with their parent(s),

* To the Salvation Army "Day Room" to:

   > Make free local phone calls for work or documentation,

   > Use laundry to wash clothes,

   > Get a donut & coffee lunch.

* To other charitable organizations for:

   > More food, canned or convenient-to-eat,

   > Better clothing for job search,

   > Any available help or monies.

* To their regular hang-outs to:

   > Be with their friends,

   > Drink alcohol or do drugs,

   > Sit alone and think.

* To the bus station just to ride around town (on tokens) and see the sights,

* To the public library to read,

* Dumpster diving for food or stuff to sell/pawn

* Other places, other things.

Til it's time to return to the shelter, to start THAT cycle all over again...

     Most of these men and women had been raised in the "institutional system" after quitting high school or being asked to leave their own homes by parents - i.e., juvenile detention centers, government or religious boarding schools, group homes, boot camps, alternative schools, drug treatment &/or rehabiliation and finally, flunking out of college. When younger they were called "at risk", now grown up, they are "street people, dumpster divers or that guy who sleeps behind the church".  Human beings who when rejected by familiy/friends, fell through the cracks of the social service organizations and became "survivors of homelessness" in spite of no hope, no faith, & no love.

     These were the people with low levels of social support, because they had fewer and less-reliable relatives to stay with. They had tried staying with family, but those living arrangements failed because of overcrowding & conflicts with their hosts, they felt unwelcome or unwanted --- and were either asked to leave or left by choice.

     These were the people who felt a pervasive sense of danger in "institutions (had either witnessed or been a victim of violence or criminal activity) that led to tremendous fear and stress.  Single parents felt they had to restrict children to their room to protect them, leading to less socialization and more feelings of isolation.

     These were the people who said that shelter rules seemed punitive and the workers seemed uncaring, dehumanized or mistreated them.

     These were the people who when released from mental hospitals, jail, suspended from food stamps, WIC and AFDC programs, or kicked out of drug treatment, halfway houses, or government subsidized housing.

     These were the people when asked why they "shack up with strangers", or spent a month in their car in a 24-hour parking lot, or camp out in the woods, or sleep in the city storm drain 9 months out of the year, or live in a van down by the river, who said "I'VE GOT NOWHERE ELSE TO GO!" .