PITDC20110127
Introduction/Definition/etc
Point In Time survey of unsheltered homeless in Washington, DC
Seemed to be a press event this year :-(
20110130 in middle of the night
20110131 cleanup and additions by Jerry
Photos
https://picasaweb.google.com/NoVAPeers/PITDC2011Training?authkey=Gv1sRgCLeczKXj9JalUA&feat=directlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/HomelessAbodes/PIT20110126?authkey=Gv1sRgCIfM4fLdyaW3zwE&feat=directlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/HomelessAbodes/PIT20110127?authkey=Gv1sRgCOmN3t_Q0pC54wE&feat=directlink
Body
Day after the snow storm, we went out looking
for unsheltered homeless in Washington, DC.
Others counted the facilities, shelters, etc
as I had done going on a decade ago
when working one seasonal shelter...
Impressions
Teams of people went in an area,
a much too big area to find people staying outside,
especially on foot...
It seemed really disorganized.
The training didn't really talk about how to find people,
nor did I ask, as last year I had many too many questions,
most were college students,
I guess doing service hours or for class or something
and they had a lot of questions, how to "rouse" people,
i.e. wake them safely, jiggle their foot (and easy way
to get kicked, IMHO).
Very few, if any, of the organizers seemed to have ever been
homeless, sheltered, or otherwise. They were providers
and researchers, basically bean counting...
"Engagement"
One trainer use the term "engagement" to describe
encounters with unsheltered homeless,
and I started having issue with it.
You are not marrying the homeless,
as in engaged to be married,
nor is the homeless person an enemy,
as in military operations.
The term used in "Rules of Engagement" may be a TV show
about romantic and married relationships, but it seemed to breed
fear of the people you might encounter...
This is because providers consider the client
separate and different, studied, sometimes pitied,
but somehow different, less than, needy, incompetent,
etc, as opposed to one of us. There was the concept
that people are our neighbors, which was one of the most
friendly parts of the training.
Basically, in my view, if you treat the person
with respect, there is less likelihood to be problems.
You are basically breaking and entering into someone's
home, so why wouldn't they be offended/ defensive/
angry, etc?
Preaching Politics
The big wigs presented, preached and professed
that the stuff we were volunteering was used,
valuable, etc. Then reminders of the counting process,
questions and their [ hidden ] meanings and the responses
they wanted.
After everyone in Downtown being reassigned,
and the last kid picked on the playground,
because the big wigs got the area closest to the NY Avenue
Presbyterian Church, last year it was near UPO
(United Planning Organization),
the ones that do the hypothermia van service over
in North East, off Rhode Island Avenue and
South East of Howard University...
At least at UPO there was a little parking,
but with the winter storm and trying to get home after the 2 AM
finish time, you basically had to own a car
or get there somehow, as biking to during rush hour
and then home after dark was dangerous,
not only because of the ice and late hours,
but the drunks I saw partying and trying to get cabs late...
Even closing the survey earlier at 12 midnight,
Metro was closed. I saw a Metro pickup truck with a
shopping cart on it, and worried about what
was being done with a homeless someone's belongings...
(and wished I'd gotten a photo)
Team Huddle and Searching
Assigned late, the team meeting, hit the bathroom and
we were to meet at one location, and
the team lead was directionally challenged.
A GPS might have helped that some,
and some night vision.
I basically helped with directions,
the other person probably could have too.
So I basically guessed at areas
that might have people, and found stuff,
but not always people.
I "knocked" in some semi humorous
show of respect.
Most of the places were so noisy,
I'm not sure how people would have heard us.
Cars and under bridges, and/or under a lot of stuff.
Two people we found, and I actually talked to,
But will not be discussed, as privacy and confidentiality
concerns. Mostly I'm concerned with documenting
those that we didn't find and the process...
And then we ran into the other part of the team
who was not in the area where they were
supposed to be, IMHO (In My Humble Opinion).
Obviously, safety is a concern. Drilled into us
was leaving an exit, and not going into alleys, etc
alone.
Politics and Obama's State of the Union
Part of the politics ad press was the Veteran's Administration and
Secretary of HUD, associated public relations and photographer(s),
CNN and other press like StreetSense were on hand,
and I was trying to stay off camera.
I haven't seen CNN to see if it was aired.
Maybe the blog has it?
(A quick search finds that most don't report on it...
But I'm guessing Street Sense will have an article due out this week...)
I don't see how it was a good objective count
(meaning the people funded to help the people served
were not the ones trying to locate people,
basically like a financial conflict of interest
which MetroAccess and Metro can't seem to)
oversee their own affairs, denying stuff,
until the press got involved.
We were required to sign a waiver, no workers comp,
no insurance, etc, we are not DC government employees
and if we were, not job related... Doing this for humanitarian
reasons...
If Obama talked about homeless,
in the State of the Union address the night(s) before,
and the various organizations involved, I missed it...
I did hear something about streamlining government,
how many agencies deal with X?
Well, there is the Executive Branch,
Legislative Branch, and the Judicial...
Which one do you propose we eliminate?
Checks and balances, and some overlap
may be necessary. How about Independent Counsel?
Comm Tech
I haven't felt a lot of respect from some of the people.
I didn't get the message that the count was
canceled/ delayed on Jan 26th, so commuted
in the storm to go do what I thought was happening,
And that was funny???
I guess those with smart phones can check if
something is open on the commute in,
as many were looking at Blackberries on the bus,
I was wondering how the cell towers were doing with heavy snow...
Avoiding MetroRail during rush hour and then there is no way home
late when that closes.
But giving a phone number, or list of phone numbers
on piece of paper that is likely to get wet,
to someone without a phone, without electricity,
without a house, roof, or running water (i.e. plumbing),
not something dripping from the overhead/
overpass above, or the curb/ sewer, stream, etc?
Even 800 numbers require a pay phone or something,
(try finding pay phones anymore, now that there are cellphones)
and the skills to navigate a receptionist/ gatekeeper,
when most I deal with, as a sheltered person,
disabled, are sadistic, unhelpful, or just clueless,
and some are just plain mean.
(See Temple Grandin's DVD when she visits
a slaugherhouse, basically security is called).
When working at a seasonal homeless shelter,
aka hypothermia, I would get occasional calls/
voice messages from people looking for a space,
but none were available, so what do you say?
I had thought a reservation system like hotels
would be good, across the available shelters
to fill the remaining vacancies.
But most hotels probably don't run to capacity
the whole time. So why would shelters?
Published Data
The Community-Partnerships.org website has some reports
(most probably don't make sense to me)
but the Data menu item seems to show that the Dashboard
gives spaces and utilization, now about a month out of date.
December numbers were not up, last I checked the other day
after the count...
Technology might help some too.
We didn't have a photocopy of the map
I was trying to survey, and I wasn't allowed
to go out on my own, on a bike, probably for safety
reasons, but I guess some staff/ advanced people did.
Counting
Two people were easy to find. Last year we talked
with one person who was just out of our area.
And found a couple of places where people may
have been, just not then. If someone were to visit
your home, say at 12 midnight or 3 am as one
politician mentioned for Cincinnatti (sp?), would you answer
the "door"? I wouldn't. Word was put out that people
were doing the count. MPD (Metro Police Department)
knew we were out counting. There were so many
ambulances running around the area we were, late,
I wondered if the politicians called in
for people to be taken in somewhere.
Take Aways
A Veteran, and here, is an ambulance to take you some place
for health problems. The issue, or one small sliver of it,
is that homeless seem to think that the hypothermia van
equals death, at least one old article in StreetSense
portrayed it that way, like Kavorkian's Van.
I didn't talk much with people, the team leader
ran a Veteran's house/ home in Maryland,
did most of the forms, I was just trying to find
people and places, looking in corners,
and out of the way, but not too far out of the way...
Blisters and Bathroom
I would have liked more time. My boots hurt
and I can't walk much more, developing painful blisters,
and needed to use a bathroom,
and probably should have just found a tree and peed,
but with mixed company, I wasn't going to.
What's Needed?
We were told many things, most of which didn't
make much sense to me. On the forms,
leading questions like this is what we count,
and this is what this means.
What the person needs is a shelter,
or transitional, we make a judgment call,
all people probably need permanent supportive housing,
but we weren't supposed to put that...
For some reason a person in a tent,
with two rats going away from next to the tent area,
needs an SRO (Single Room Occupancy?)
It's a start, but how do you go into mainstream
society, when most people treat you badly,
like the place I bought pizza from, for myself,
because I hadn't eaten, and have them put
the scrapings of stuff off the grill on his
two gift pieces? A parting insult from the store
closest to his "home"? Makes me want to call
the food inspector on the place. Or
Son's of Italy...
What's Not Needed?
When I was on food stamps,
I had a 7-11 clerk (in Springfield?)
not give me a straw,
(presuming I was snorting something???)
and other stuff, some little, mostly cruel,
hatred in it's purest forms, by people
who should be doing customer service,
maybe it's more a religious calling?
But would you want to feel your soul
is for sale for a meal? Sure, it helps
to have some belief system to see
what we saw. I wanted to give
a key and a place to the people I met,
but I also know they might not get along
with my neighbors, not that I am,
but the process of day treatment,
all the paperwork and other stuff,
and going from homeless directly
to Housing First? There are probably
a lot of services needed, assuming they
actually help the homeless, a checking account,
and/or payee necessary to help
protect people and their money,
not that reports of people stealing
the payee's money don't happen...
The fees, etc. and basically nothing
is left for the person it is supposed
to benefit. Even sliding scale services,
and it adds up between treatment,
transportation, etc on maybe GR
(General Relief) plus maybe food stamps?
And last I applied they didn't even give
me a denial letter, so "sewer serviced"
or round filed my application, instead
of legally required responses???
Wrap Ups
Anyway, I'm still affected by what
happened, and what didn't happen,
and I'm not much for politics,
if someone wants to eliminate homelessness
by 2015, as the 10 Year Plans might have committed,
first of all it would take a miracle,
as couch surfing and others could not even
be found, and sweeping the area, like search
and rescue, even with good "intel" on where
people normally are, and people are lazy,
tired, sick, incompetent, sadistic, etc.
walking the distances, and the Census Bureau
does a more thorough job, and given a lot more time,
processes, and resources to find people WITH AN ADDRESS...
And that is for people who might not mind
being found. If I were a Veteran, I'd probably
not want to be found, and have the training
to not be counted...
It felt like a sham.
Due diligence would be a legal term
I would have someone look into.
I did what I could, but without the processes
and resources, and 3 hours to look over square miles,
on foot, cut down from 5, with 7 people and you can't do it.
Mission Improbable, indeed.
Conclusion
Summary of experience or similar
Discussion
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