Single Father Turned Away From Homeless Shelters

As part of its Bearing Witness 2.0 project, the Huffington Post is rounding up a few of the best local stories of the day.

Attila Streyar and his toddler daughter Layla are homeless reports Barbara Grijalva of Tucson's KOLD News, and because he is a single father, Streyar had been turned away from several shelters. "I'm a single dad and I have this baby and we've fallen upon hard times," he said through tears. "I needed some help, just to get shelter. There was no place in this town that I could find that takes care of men with children by themselves."

Streyar found some assistance at the Primavera Foundation, which offers temporary housing, food and relief to struggling families. It operates the only local shelters that will accept single fathers, workers told KOLD. Primavera placed Streyar and his daughter in a motel it uses for temporary family housing.

*********

Police officers in Kingston, N.Y., are going door to door on their time off to fight impending layoffs, reports Adam Bosch of the Times Herald-Record. The city administration is looking to cut jobs because of budget deficit.

Residents have been eager to sign petitions; already over 1,600 have pledged their support, and the police expect to get 2,500 total signatures by the Nov. 5 budget hearing. "The idea of cutting police here is asinine," said Corteckia Lightfoot, whose 16-year-old son was shot and killed in 2007. "You've got our backs; we've got your backs," she told the cops.

*********

The state legislature in South Carolina acted Wednesday to send millions of dollars in benefits to the unemployed, reports Yvonne Wenger of the Post and Courier. The state legislature acted to correct an "oversight" that prevented the use of stimulus funds, Wenger reports, extending benefits for five months. About 113,000 residents have exhausted their benefits so far this year.

*********

Twelve thousand new workers at the CityCenter mega-complex in Las Vegas are in high spirits now that they have new jobs, reports Amanda Finnegan of the Las Vegas Sun. "This is like early Christmas. This is like the best gift I could unwrap for myself," said one man who'd been laid off in February. Nearly 160,000 people applied for the jobs.

HuffPost readers: Seen a good local story? Know of a neighbor going to bizarre lengths to get through the recession? Tell us about it! Email [e-mail].

Comments

[Joye]

I am happy he found someone to help him and his daughter...

[hypnotoad72]

Right-wing, left-wing -- both sides are chicken playing with iron pyrite eggs the big corporations lay for them.

[BringBackHappyDays]

Nothing to see here folks, single moms are entitled to everything, single dads are probably just deadbeats.

News at 11.

[CaptainHowdy2]

And so the Great Depression 2.0 plods on.

[stanyslaw]

I'm sorry for not clarifying that New Millenium Love is not open yet , we are in development stage seeking funding to help provide those services

[wisdomisthekey]

shelters usually are not set up to sinhgle men with children... living in a shelter is not a fun thing to do even if you are alone.... there are a lot of desperate people there.. some fianacial, emotional,mental, dugs addict, ex felons.. people who normally don't /can't make end meet anyother way... now with the recession come a different group of homeless.....having to take a child to a homeless shelter would put them in a dangerous enviroment.. it ia/would be tramatic for the child....... many woman with children have no other choose, but there are shelter set up to accommodate them...they will not allow a man to reside with them for good reasons...just like you wouldn't want a man with child reside in a shelter set up for men only

[iwasblindtoletyougo]

REAL unemployment is DOUBLE the 'official' statistics. Government has been playing major games with all stats for a while now - both parties are to blame.

good articles to http://financeopinionss.blogspot.com

Also Barney Frank sucks.

[BringBackHappyDays]

Bawney Fwank.

lol, I love saying that

[stanyslaw]

I experienced being a single father turned away from all the local shelters in Anderson SC. Life was good employment, my own home until a unexpected phyiscal illness no longer work I lost my home to foreclosure, I went to salvation army, haven rest and sunshine house was turned away son couldn't be at the sal or haven only for indivdual men or women, sunshine only for women with children, so I had to leave Anderson and go 100 miles to Columbia SC to get the help needed shelter for me my child experience of denial in Anderson, plus the treatment of the actual service providers it was frustrasting being dictated like you are a child, no voice the attitude was like just leave if you don't like it here. I said there needs to be some changes in this system so back then the idea and name was born New Millenium Love, I had to get threw my struggles so I said one day I will address these issues in my own organization, and that's what I did ended up moving back to Anderson developed New Millenium Love we are officially registered and incorporated and a 501c3 status taking the steps to help close the gap in ending homelessness, focusing on all the many cases trying to provide Shelter; treatment services and job training skills, and transitional housing for eveyone that is homeless. you can check out our website http://www.newmilleniumlovecorp.vpweb.com Homelessness can happen to anyone

[uneeda]

here here

[jackiero]

Homeless shelter turning away a single dad--boo! But doesn't this man have friends, family? I mean really, are there that many cold-hearted people out there who will complain that the gov't isn't doing enough while forgetting that they, themselves, have an obligation as a human to help their friend in need?

[John Horner]

How is it that the US can afford to have military bases scattered all around the world and to get into shooting wars on a routine basis, yet cannot look after the basic needs of its own people (not to mention basic infrastructure).

We are in grave danger of collapsing from excessive military spending in much the same way as the USSR collapsed.

[CaptainHowdy2]

We aren't in "grave" danger of a Soviet style collapse. We are in the MIDDLE of one.

[pk4obama]

Clinton closed military bases all over the United States....still pissed that he did that..

[mcmutter]

duh...that was the base closing commission turning off the welfare faucet

[sheine]

The basic problem is the Ayn Rand/ Ronald Reagan doctrine of "get the government off our backs". It has been huckstered to America by the greedy who at the same time bribe our political leaders.

Under the Square Deal, New Deal, and Fair Deal the philosophy was that we were a community who helped each other. Now the philosophy is take care of yourself and to hell with everybody else.

It is time to take on the special interests and reeducate people that liberal is not a dirty word. President Lincoln said: “Whenever there is a conflict between human rights and property rights, human rights must prevail”

[DandaPanda]

rand was a prevert and Ronnie was just dum.

[ILuvBubbles]

Where's the neoconservative outrage and all that National pride nonsense, am sure they will still spout that this is the best country in the world, even though many of them has never traveled outside their own zip code!

[kanglecap]

About 17 years ago, my wife and I hit some very hard times. Health problems and the loss of a small business were at the top of a long list. We had been married for 25 years at this point and had two children ages 7 and 13. We had paid our taxes for these 25 years and when we tried to get some assistance in the form of food stamps, we were told we did not qualify.

We were able to get a small amount of food stamps for a few weeks but a week after the stamps ran out, we received a letter telling us that not only were they not going to issue anymore stamps, but that we did not qualify for the stamps that we had already received and that we would have to pay back the money at $100.00 a month!

This was the FIRST and ONLY time that we asked "the system" for some help and even though we had paid into this "system" all those years, we were unable, in the end, to get even enough help to see us through a couple months.

We continue to help others we hear about that are down and out as we are able. There does seem to be a lot of people out there who are turned away by our own United States government when the need is greatest and I find this very telling as to where The United States is headed.

[ILuvBubbles]

In many instances to qualify for the food stamp card you cant have ANY assets NO vehicles, NO money in bank accounts, and NO property. Also for other programs it seems that you'd be better off with an addiction to alcohol or drugs in order to qualify. The system is not step up to help normal everyday folks that fall on hard times. Try watching the movie FUN WITH DICK & JANE it may brighten your day or at least an hour or so.

[BringBackHappyDays]

Exactly, the whole problem is that the system is setup to help total losers who aren't willing to help themselves. Drug addicts that pop out endless streams of children, don't parent, and mooch off everyone else. Trailer and ghetto trash, black and white alike, the lowest of the low.

The people who really deserve WIC, disability care, etc. don't ever qualify, or get pennies on the dollar compared to their past contributions. We should be helping those that are decent people, with a drive to succeed, but fell on hard times. IMO, let the dregs of society die in the street...we should not be obligated to help those that are unwilling to help themselves.

With that said, the MIC needs to be abolished, along with the banks' owners and execs having all their ill-gotten assets confiscated to provide for the REAL Americans that contribute something.

*By real Americans, I am NOT using Palin-terminology, but mine, which excludes banksters, health insurance shills, and 98.3% of politicians. They're simply traitors, and truly sub-human.

[emmeaki]

It's true.Years ago, I was working part time at a coffee shop in NYC for $9.00/hr. and was making barely enough money to scrape by after our rent was raised to $2200/mo. right before my roommates and I were about to sign a new lease. I went to look for help and you either had to be jobless, an ex-drug addict, battered woman, or single (and I assume female) with children order to qualify for any assistance. I didn't even qualify for the free state health insurance because I made "too much money" at $250/wk. It's BS that people who who work all their lives can't get any help after paying taxes for so many years.

[mjtaylor22]

with all the railing agaisnt social programs,
you really only can get help if you have a foot in a cardboard box, there is nothing to help you stay afloat, only a little help as you drown

[GodYesOrNo]

Unfortunately in Canada, we may headed in the same direction as our American cousins by living above our means.
It is OK to own a Blackberry or an IPhone but it is not OK to buy the absolute biggest house or car that we cannot afford, yet we do.
It's hard to expect those who lived within their means to bail out those who did not.
GodYesOrNo.com

[Cryostatic]

Not a hard expectation at all to have, apparently.

[msgirlintn]

This breaks my heart to think about a homeless baby. We complain about conditions in our lives now and how bad things are, but this story should make us stop and count our blessings. We should realize how lucky we are to have a place to live and food to eat.

Thank God they found them a place to live. I hope things get better for them.

[rain33]

yeah i really pray for anyone who are homeless with children. homeless children face alot of drama for not having a home,food on the table and having a peace of mind. while we are giving away banks for bonuses, tax cuts for rich and causing wars, we should be putting in more money for helping families who are homeless. united states of america needs a reality check and start taking care of their citizens not businesses!

[msgirlintn]

Ditto. The Repubs are all for "nation building" in other countries but not for America.

I saw another story on the local news the other night. Both parents were deployed and 3 little girls had been staying with a friend for a year. The mom had just gotten back but was detained for some reason and the friend and these 3 little girls were sitting in an almost empty gym at Ft. Campbell. The little one looked like she might have been 3 and all she could tell the reporter was " I want to see my mommy". It really got to me.
I just have a soft place in my heart for kids.

Why do they not think about the kids that are left without parents when all the Repubs want to do is go to war?