The Homeless Shuffle

Approximately two weeks from today, and weather permitting, the church sponsored cold weather shelters will close for the seasons, leaving only two shelters in dire need of re-booting. The Dept of Transportation is actively posting no trespassing signs on public property in anticipation of new tent sites. The City Council is nearing the date when a newly amended panhandling ordinance will be approved. And quite likely, the local police and sheriff departments are gearing up to write tickets and arrest individuals for loitering, vagrancy and solicitation.

The shuffle begins. Which unlucky town or city will inherit the unresolved homeless problem remains to be seen. You can be assured that this issue is not unique to Concord, but shared across this great country of ours. As the economy stagnates and aims for recovery, many more will join the ranks of the disadvantaged. Companies downsized. Employees laid off, and no longer able to make house and car payments. Health benefits cut across the board, as health care costs rise. Renters will experience evictions and false trespassing charges. Food pantries and clothing banks will experience shortages, despite the goodwill of many to contribute. The war on poverty? Lost, due to apathy and bureaucratic dysfunction. The ten year plan to end homelessness? We don’t have ten years to wait.

The pot is boiling over, and someone needs to extinguish the flame.

It’s been simmering for decades, but continues being pushed to the back burner, by corporations who haven’t found a way to make a profit from homelessness. By politicians, whose only mission is to further enhance their lifestyles, and get re-elected. By charitable organizations, whose CEOs’ accumulate personal wealth on the backs of well-meaning donors, whose willing volunteers and low paid staff beg the mercy of the corporatocracy.

I have expounded in previous posts on the abundance of resources available in Concord, and duly expressed my gratitude for their existence. The spirit of volunteerism is high, and I and my brothers and sisters in the homeless community are wonderfully blessed by their service. Concord stands as a model of inventive thinking in dealing with these issues, not only for the state of New Hampshire, but the country at large. And it has the opportunity to raise the bar even further, in arriving at solutions that can be put into place, not in five or ten years, but today, right now. We need targets on which to squarely focus, be they land donations or authorizations, new housing builds, programs to get the homeless out of jails and into rehabs, off the streets, and into jobs that create a renewed sense of pride in themselves, and the community.

Driftin’ and Driftin’