If you were one of those compassionate Americans wanting to help resolve the sad state of homelessness in this country, you may have woken up hours before the sun rises to help your local city count homeless persons.
I know how it works. You drag yourself out of bed hours before you typically get up, so you can scour the streets counting the heads of sleeping homeless people.
One, two, three, four. Forty five, forty six. Seven hundred thirty seven, seven hundred thirty eight.
If you were in Los Angeles, incredibly the homeless numbers turn into five figures. Eighteen thousand three hundred and forty nine... You get the image.
Every other alley you look down, every freeway overpass you walk under, and nearly all parks seems to have some sleeping person rolled up in a ball fending off the early morning January cold.
After six years and four national homeless counts all over this country, thousands of Americans hit the streets just before dawn to count homeless persons. This bi-annual event is mandated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in order for jurisdictions to receive federal funding for homeless programs.
Even with a cup of Starbucks in one hand and a clipboard in the other, that premature morning jaunt on the streets of America just doesn't wake you up completely. Our bodies are geared toward sleeping when the sun has not risen.
And those dormant homeless persons, with their heads on top of a rolled up dirty shirt or settled on their mittens, seemed to go on and on. It is like counting sheep just before your heavy eyes fade into your suspended consciousness.
One, two, three, four, five, six... Homeless numbers keep going on and on in this country. Six years, and counting.
Is there an end in sight? Or will this country respond to these homeless counts in the same way we respond to counting sheep? We become dormant, and fall asleep.
If you look at the last few decades, this country has dramatically ignored real solutions to ending homelessness. We have counted and counted, but the sheep -- I mean homeless persons -- keep going on and on.
Political leaders grand stand in front of television cameras, "Homelessness should not be tolerated in this country!" But when the lights turn off, political business continues as usual.
Homeless agencies practically beg for resources to help the lines of people wanting help. But the number of homeless persons in this wealthy country continue to be obscene.
Is there an end in sight?
During the same period last month when cities all over this country were counting homeless persons, dozens of eager volunteers hit the streets of Albuquerque, New Mexico to perform a more innovative approach to counting homeless persons.
They are a part of nearly 70 cities around the country that are not just counting people on the streets, they are engaging people, learning about their struggles, and linking them to permanent housing.
This 100,000 Homes Campaign is the answer to homeless counts. The result of their counting has placed over 7,000 chronically homeless persons who had been sleeping on the streets of America into permanent housing.
You could call this campaign, the anti-Sheep campaign. No falling to sleep in this count. In fact, every city that has participated in this campaign has been energized.
One of the other 100K Homes campaign cities is Long Beach, California, a port city just south of Los Angeles. A couple of weeks ago, this city HUD-mandated homeless count where their numbers usually result in about 4,000 homeless persons.
But because of a 100K Homes survey in Long Beach a couple of summers ago, I know that 80 very sick, very chronically homeless persons were not counted. Why? Because they were permanently housed in the past year and a half.
Including, Ron, a homeless veteran who lived on the streets for 38 years. He has been in his apartment for over a year now. And James, who sat on a chair along the 710 Freeway for ten solid years.
Neither Ron, nor James were counted. Shouldn't this be our goal? To make sure homeless persons are NOT counted, because they have been housed.
Follow Joel John Roberts on Twitter: www.twitter.com/joeljohnroberts
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http://progressivetoo.com/2011/01/15/hug-a-hobo/