Homelessness and politics
22/01/16 05:04
Last night I got another reminder about why I am not cut out for a career in politics. I accepted an invitation to what was called a “meet and greet” between the mayor and church leaders in Rapid City. A lot of my colleagues were there and I enjoyed the first ten minutes of informal visiting with them. Then the meet and greet ended and for the next hour and a half, we sat in straight rows facing the front where the mayor outlined his vision for consolidating services for homeless people in Rapid City. He was not interested in our opinions or feedback and the meeting was carefully structured to avoid such. He wanted to give us his vision. I think he also wanted to make us advocates for his vision, but it is clear that he has little or no understanding of the distinctions between churches or why we don’t act or think with one voice.
The mayor still has a lot of lessons to learn.
Anyway, the evening was mostly about politics. The mayor tried a few references to scripture about compassion for the poor, but they weren’t particularly memorable or engaging.
Here are some things I think I got from the meeting last night:
The mayor wants the land where the rescue mission is currently located. He seems to also want to get the mission off of Main street. He’d like to bulldoze the mission for a much-needed new fire station despite the fact that the city has a different four-acre site that was purchased for the new fire station. It was also clear that the mayor wants a less expensive fire station than was originally planned.
The mayor is believes that if the rescue mission were larger and located at another address somehow the chronically homeless would be attracted to mix with the temporarily homeless who are currently served by the mission and a one institution fits all scheme would solve the problem of homelessness in our city.
The mayor thinks that Hope Center, a daytime drop in center for homeless persons should be in the same building as the Rescue Mission. He doesn’t understand the differences in theology or organizational structure between the two organizations and feels that if they were forced to combine he probably could get the Hope Center off of Kansas City street. He clearly doesn’t want too many services for homeless people too close to downtown businesses.
The mayor doesn’t like the annual drain that the Journey Museum makes on the city’s operating budget. He thinks that if the museum is forced out of its existing building into a less expensive location it might stand a chance of breaking even and not being an expense.
The mayor thinks that putting the Rescue Mission and the Hope Center into the current Journey Museum building will somehow magically create a non-profit that can afford the approximately 50% increase in operating costs to jointly operate a building that is currently a drain on the city operating budget.
They mayor hasn’t kept up with the sociological research about group homes and thinks that a group home would be a good step between the rescue mission and home ownership for the chronically homeless. He didn’t explain how he was going to get the chronically homeless to suddenly want to abandon their addictions and mix in with those already served by the mission.
The mayor isn’t ready to tackle issues of transitional apartments and the need for a separate shelter for women and children, so he simply isn’t addressing Cornerstone Apartments or the Women’s and Children’s Center in his proposal. After all, neither of those are located in downtown.
The mayor wants to get the jump on a city ordinance for tiny homes. He thinks if the city could own a dozen or so of them, calling them transitional housing, he can get an ordinance that bans composting toilets, off-grid water solutions and use of recycled building materials. Although the demand for tiny homes in other communities has nothing to do with homelessness, he thinks that he might be able to sell his scheme if he convinces churches that they are part of a compassionate solution to chronic poverty.
The mayor wants to get the jump on a city ordinance for community gardens. Those are hard to control. Some people have even proposed allowing chickens in and around community gardens. Some are taking water directly out of the creek instead of buying water from the city. Maybe if the city got into the community garden business and controlled a one-acre community garden, churches wouldn’t be proposing putting community gardens in residential neighborhoods. Of course he will call this compassion and give the food to the homeless who will be expected to provide free labor. The mayor seems to be really excited about volunteer jobs for the people in our community who have the lowest wages and the least amount of job skills.
The mayor doesn’t seem to like Habitat for Humanity. Maybe he has other jobs for their volunteers. He’d rather have a whole new home-building project, where homes are built on an asphalt pad and then moved to foundations. He believes that it will work as a job training program for the construction industry. After all a huge shortage of construction workers is a problem in our city. Why not ask the homeless to solve that problem in their spare time when they aren’t working in the community gardens while living in a group home? Oh, I forgot, some of them will be living in tiny homes where a no pets policy can be enforced. After all the tiny homes will all be directly plumbed into city sewers so the temporary occupants can get used to paying city utilities and won’t learn about off-grid living pursued by tiny home owners in other cities.
You see. It is a good thing I’m not involved in politics. It is clear, just from reading this morning’s blog post that I’m way too cynical for such a career.
I am however at least politically astute enough to know that it isn’t a good thing to propose a public-private social services agency and then refer to it as a “factory.” I’m sure the mayor didn’t mean to make that slip up in his presentation, but he had a pretty big audience when he made the reference.
The mayor still has a lot of lessons to learn.
Anyway, the evening was mostly about politics. The mayor tried a few references to scripture about compassion for the poor, but they weren’t particularly memorable or engaging.
Here are some things I think I got from the meeting last night:
The mayor wants the land where the rescue mission is currently located. He seems to also want to get the mission off of Main street. He’d like to bulldoze the mission for a much-needed new fire station despite the fact that the city has a different four-acre site that was purchased for the new fire station. It was also clear that the mayor wants a less expensive fire station than was originally planned.
The mayor is believes that if the rescue mission were larger and located at another address somehow the chronically homeless would be attracted to mix with the temporarily homeless who are currently served by the mission and a one institution fits all scheme would solve the problem of homelessness in our city.
The mayor thinks that Hope Center, a daytime drop in center for homeless persons should be in the same building as the Rescue Mission. He doesn’t understand the differences in theology or organizational structure between the two organizations and feels that if they were forced to combine he probably could get the Hope Center off of Kansas City street. He clearly doesn’t want too many services for homeless people too close to downtown businesses.
The mayor doesn’t like the annual drain that the Journey Museum makes on the city’s operating budget. He thinks that if the museum is forced out of its existing building into a less expensive location it might stand a chance of breaking even and not being an expense.
The mayor thinks that putting the Rescue Mission and the Hope Center into the current Journey Museum building will somehow magically create a non-profit that can afford the approximately 50% increase in operating costs to jointly operate a building that is currently a drain on the city operating budget.
They mayor hasn’t kept up with the sociological research about group homes and thinks that a group home would be a good step between the rescue mission and home ownership for the chronically homeless. He didn’t explain how he was going to get the chronically homeless to suddenly want to abandon their addictions and mix in with those already served by the mission.
The mayor isn’t ready to tackle issues of transitional apartments and the need for a separate shelter for women and children, so he simply isn’t addressing Cornerstone Apartments or the Women’s and Children’s Center in his proposal. After all, neither of those are located in downtown.
The mayor wants to get the jump on a city ordinance for tiny homes. He thinks if the city could own a dozen or so of them, calling them transitional housing, he can get an ordinance that bans composting toilets, off-grid water solutions and use of recycled building materials. Although the demand for tiny homes in other communities has nothing to do with homelessness, he thinks that he might be able to sell his scheme if he convinces churches that they are part of a compassionate solution to chronic poverty.
The mayor wants to get the jump on a city ordinance for community gardens. Those are hard to control. Some people have even proposed allowing chickens in and around community gardens. Some are taking water directly out of the creek instead of buying water from the city. Maybe if the city got into the community garden business and controlled a one-acre community garden, churches wouldn’t be proposing putting community gardens in residential neighborhoods. Of course he will call this compassion and give the food to the homeless who will be expected to provide free labor. The mayor seems to be really excited about volunteer jobs for the people in our community who have the lowest wages and the least amount of job skills.
The mayor doesn’t seem to like Habitat for Humanity. Maybe he has other jobs for their volunteers. He’d rather have a whole new home-building project, where homes are built on an asphalt pad and then moved to foundations. He believes that it will work as a job training program for the construction industry. After all a huge shortage of construction workers is a problem in our city. Why not ask the homeless to solve that problem in their spare time when they aren’t working in the community gardens while living in a group home? Oh, I forgot, some of them will be living in tiny homes where a no pets policy can be enforced. After all the tiny homes will all be directly plumbed into city sewers so the temporary occupants can get used to paying city utilities and won’t learn about off-grid living pursued by tiny home owners in other cities.
You see. It is a good thing I’m not involved in politics. It is clear, just from reading this morning’s blog post that I’m way too cynical for such a career.
I am however at least politically astute enough to know that it isn’t a good thing to propose a public-private social services agency and then refer to it as a “factory.” I’m sure the mayor didn’t mean to make that slip up in his presentation, but he had a pretty big audience when he made the reference.