Appleseed Humanity

As the melodramatic, stage-managed bun fight that is the debate over the debt limit continues in Congress the full horror of the cuts proposed by some members as a solution is causing concern among people who serve those at risk.

Among the cuts proposed by conservative members is a significant reduction in the funding for ‘WIC’ – a nutritional program for women, infants and children. And the cuts would be inflicted while tax breaks for billionaires and oil companies remain blocked as ‘unfair.’

For years both parties had followed an unspoken tradition to always fund WIC, but early this year the GOP-led House passed a funding bill that would slash $733-million from the program.

If it ever becomes law 300-450,000 women and children would instantly go hungry.

To propose slashing funds for programs like WIC while insisting that tax breaks for billionaires and oil companies are preserved for the good of the nation is not only blatant pandering to those who fund both their lifestyle and election campaigns it’s also unsupported by facts:

Economists say every $1 invested in feeding a pregnant woman through WIC saves up to $2.13 in health care costs over the life of her child. At the same time, just one week of the revenue lost from the tax breaks would fund WIC in full for a year – With a profit.

44.5-million Americans now live beneath the poverty line. One in three are so poor they can’t eat every day. And to propose cutting funds to programs that help those with so little while preserving vote-gaining perks for those with more than enough is callous, deceptive, self-serving malfeasance.

The election cycle is almost upon us. Next time you hear a politician tell you they love this country and truly care about the people, find out where they stand on the funding for WIC.

You might not care about them quite so much when you know.

Source: Half-in-Ten

In a move clearly tailored to do more for their image than for the intended recipients, several elected officials LAPD representatives, social services officials and other community leaders all pledged their undying support on Wednesday for a plan designed to give homeless veterans and those who have lived on the streets of LA for some time a new source of housing.

But they plan to take five years to do it.

Released on November 9, this vastly inadequate and long-overdue plan – which is still inexplicably described by its supporters as ‘ambitious’ – aims to allocate around $230-million of the city council’s budget to fund long-term homes for some of the 48,000+ people these self-satisfied leaders so blithely allowed to suffer the unwarranted misery of street life until the cameras turned up.

The money will come from savings achieved by freeing those people from the indignities of emergency shelters, hospitals and frequent spells in jail for vagrancy that is the fault of these leaders, not theirs.

“It’s over 40% cheaper to house them this way and support them than to leave them on the streets,” Jerry Neuman, who co-chaired the ‘LA Business Leaders Task Force on Homelessness,’ a joint program by the local Chamber of Commerce and the United Way.

And why, may we ask, did it take them so long to see that? Was it really necessary to get cameras there first?

LA’s Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Mayor of  Long Beach, Bob Foster have are also part of the plan, together with LA Police Chief Charlie Beck, LA’s County Sheriff Lee Baca, Los Angeles and Santa Monica city councils, federal officials, religious leaders and nonprofits.

The project was inspired by a growing belief among those who work with the homeless that putting a permanent roof over their client’s heads must be the priority. This also matches President Obama’s declared aim to end homelessness among veterans and those who have been displaced for more than a year.

Naturally, a plan to help those Americans whose lives have been blighted by homelessness, usually by no fault of theirs, has hit fierce resistance – from their fellow Americans;

LA County Supervisor Michael Antonovich has complained about the program’s intent to use taxpayer funds to provide housing for people who abuse drugs and refuse treatment. He calls it “Warehousing without healing.”

Previous programs were also short-lived, thanks to a vocal minority who were perfectly willing for homeless people to get a new start – as long as it was not in their zip code.

”We think every city in the county has to recognize they have homeless people in their community, and they have to help  take care of them,” Neuman told the LA Times.

The task force now plans to engage other county and city officials in order to expand the program and its benefits.

And with such selfish, bigoted, knee-jerk resistance ranged against it we can only hope this plan’s leaders are thick-skinned.

[Appleseed] – America is a nation of bounty, but a report released on Monday by the US Department of Agriculture proves that bounty is not universally shared.

It reveals that 45-million Americans can’t even afford to eat every day.

Roughly 14-percent of the nation’s homes suffered what the report pompously calls “food insecurity” in 2009, meaning they had difficulty feeding one or more of their members last year.

And the cause was always the same. ‘Lack of financial resources,’ says the report.

In short, poverty. In this nation. In the 21st century.

The report also shares the depressing statistic that this is the highest number of people they have found going hungry since the Federal Government started keeping score of such figures in 1995.

One third of the number – about 6.8-million homes or 5% of the nation’s total of households – suffered ‘Very low food security.’ Which basically means they were close to starvation.

According to the report, the usual response of those who endured such injustice was to eat far less than normal, and sometimes not at all. Single-parent households were worst affected, it says, and the percentage of people who frequently went without food was higher among black and Hispanic homes.

“This report highlights how critical federal nutrition assistance programs are for American families,” USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon told CNN in a statement.

And he’s right – Most of those who suffered an unstable diet received some level of benefits from the Government’s three anti-hunger programs: ‘The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,’ the ‘National School Lunch Program’ and the typically long-winded ‘Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children,’ known as WIC.

The ‘Supplemental Nutrition’ program now supports 18-percent more people than it had to just two years ago. The ‘School Lunch’ program and WIC have also seen an increased need of over 5% each.

The mere fact that such numbers could exist in this glorious land in the 21st century should have protesters with banners taking turns lining up at the Capitol steps to protest until it was stopped. Instead, nobody cares.

And people still ask why we bother to do this…

Photo: M. Ihara

[Appleseed] — A program in Massachusetts is providing yet more proof that ending homelessness is not merely possible, it’s far more affordable than those who block any such effort have the unselfish nerve to admit.

In December of 2008 the state’s Governor, Deval Patrick launched ‘Housing First.’ a program designed to end homelessness in the state by 2013.

And it’s working – On a budget of just $8-million ten regional networks have already placed 376 people in housing and helped almost 11,000 families avoid losing their homes.

And in more good news, last month the state announced another $1.56 million would be given to these teams.

“It’s a miracle and a dream come true for me,” Junior Rosario, 35, told the Globe, having been given his own apartment by the program after 15 cold years on the streets. “It’s shown me I have something to live for.”

The idea of the project is that if a long-term homeless person like Junior is given a home and some simple support they are clearly more able to secure a job, and thus restart their lives.

Individual cities say the new program has already reduced both the population in shelters and the total homeless state-wide. In 2007, Springfield officials set a goal of rehousing 250 chronically homeless people. So far, 100 have homes and another fifty homes are under construction.

The number of homeless people on the town’s streets has dropped from 98 to 10 in six years, and 75 shelter beds were no longer needed. Boston’s ‘Pine Street Inn’ was also able to discard 65 beds – directly because of ‘Housing First.’

But there’s a long way to go – As of September 27 there were still 919 families housed in hotels and motels, for which the council is paying.

And research proves that providing a homeless person with housing rather than space in a hotel or shelter saves the city $9,000 per person, chiefly because they stay healthy and thus avoid medical costs.

A fine case in point, Rosario is now studying for his GED and hopes to secure his first job very soon. But his biggest dream at the moment is Christmas:

“I haven’t set up a tree for 20-years,” he said.

None of you reading this can probably even imagine a life like that — But more than 8-million Americans can. Help us spread the word of what we do and let’s make that stop…

Photo by Spinnick

[Appleseed] — You rarely get good news in this line of work but homeless agencies in Michigan are using the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s ‘HPRP’ plan, and they’re making a real dent in what is no less than a national crisis.

At the last count Michigan had 66,051 homeless people, and nearly 15,000 of them have been helped by the new ‘Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program’ (HPRP) — And this is just its first year.

“HPRP is a great example of a successful effort to prevent homelessness,” says Linda M. Laford, Executive Director of the Sault Ste. Marie Housing Commission. “This is part of Michigan’s campaign to end homelessness in our area and across the state.”

Born as part of President Obama’s widely GOP-criticized ‘American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,’ HPRP helps people find new housing by allowing non-government agencies to provide services, and help with rent or utility payments. 80% of those who applied were spared from ever being homeless, and the rest were re-housed in under a year.

And nearly 60% of those people got their new homes in under a month.

“We believe the HPRP initiative helped prevent homelessness from substantially increasing in our area during the past year,” Bruce W. Beaudoin of the Sault Ste. Marie Housing Commission told the News.

The one dark spot on this splendid record is the cause of most of the need – Over 25% of the Michigan clients were being crushed by high medical debts, and almost the same number still had a critical medical problem that needed attention.

“Although risk factors present significant challenges, the program’s performance is something we can all be proud of,” said Mr. Beaudoin.

I’d say he’s right. And while 15,000 people saved from a national total of over 9-million is not the perfect solution it proves there are real and effective ways to help – if only people would care…

In what is believed to be a first for any administration, the United States Senate Committee on Crime and Drugs held a meeting this morning in Washington D.C., entitled ‘Crimes Against America’s Homeless: Is the Violence Growing?”

The declared goal of this unprecedented assembly is to decide on action to cure the growing trend of violence against homeless people. NCH reports that in the last ten years alone homeless people have suffered 1,074 acts of violence, resulting in 291 deaths.

There are also documented cases of homeless men, women and even children being verbally and physically harassed, set on fire, beaten and even decapitated.

After years of media indifference these sickening numbers have finally drawn some attention and were undoubtedly a factor in causing what could be an influential first meeting to devise remedial action.

The meeting’s main focus will be the ‘Hate Crimes Against the Homeless Statistics Act (S. 1765), introduced by Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Susan Collins (R-ME.) It requires the FBI to collect data on crimes against this nation’s homeless.

This is believed to be the first such collective discussion ever held by Congress that specifically seeks to protect and enforce the civil rights of those who have no claim to a home; A previously un-regarded slice of this nation who currently number in excess of 9-million.

But with just four weeks before the November mid-terms it remains to be seen if politics will play a part and block what is no more than a pledge of fair treatment and justice for those who can’t fight back…

Photo by Kevin Burkett