Different approach to dealing with the homeless

[Patrick]

I think the mayor may be on the right track here.

Plight of city's mentally ill concerns mayor
Cornett plans to form a task force to review challenges facing the homeless this year.


By John David Sutter
Staff Writer

In his State of the City address this week, Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said the plight of the mentally ill is "perhaps the largest” problem facing the city in 2007.


He said local homeless shelters and the county jail are not adequate to address the needs of the mentally ill and poor.

"There is a difference between being a criminal and being sick, and we have chosen not to recognize or fund the difference,” Cornett said. "Our lack of concern for the mentally ill plays out not only at the jail, but also in many of our homeless shelters. It is unwise to spend more money at those facilities when we are not addressing the root of the problem.”

Cornett is forming a task force on homelessness, which he said could recommend putting city brain-power and money toward services to help the homeless and the mentally ill stay out of jails and shelters.

In the past, the city has relied on the local religious community and the private sector to address such issues. All eight of the city's overnight shelters are privately funded, run by churches and Christian groups.

Many other cities use tax money to fund shelters and transitional housing programs.

Attention draws praise
Advocates for the homeless have praised the new attention from the city. But some expressed concern about possible outcomes of the mayor's task force.


A possible topic of discussion is moving homeless people and shelters out of downtown, the mayor said.
Most homeless shelters in Oklahoma City are in the southwest part of downtown, near Interstate 40.

The mayor said the city receives complaints from business owners who think their customers are threatened by street walkers and panhandlers.
Dan Straughan, executive director of the Homeless Alliance, said consolidating services for the homeless and mentally ill is a good idea. But moving such services out of the downtown area raises new issues, mainly how the affected people are supposed to get to work on the public transportation system.

A "homeless highway” would develop as people would have to walk into the city to find work, he said.

Straughan said any city plan should include low-income housing, so people can transition out of shelters.

Public support needed
Public support of such programs, even if they're not funded by local government, is important, he said.


"The real value is in bringing new voices, new perspectives to look at an issue and see if we can't figure out better ways to do things,” he said.

Terry Cooper, who lives and volunteers at a local homeless shelter, said it's difficult now to try to find a job or get help while living in a homeless shelter.

If shelters were moved out of the downtown core, he said, it would be nearly impossible. Cooper said the city is out to get tax money that new commercial developments would generate. The nonprofit shelters don't pay taxes; and he said they're sitting on prime real estate.
"The poor are the ones that are going to take it in the teeth; it's just the nature of American society today,” he said.

[Pete]

That perspective really impresses me... Good one on you, mayor.


I run a non-profit agency in a poor area of Los Angeles and we have a program for the homeless, so this subject is near and dear to my heart.

And Mick is absolutely right... Most people on the street are addicts and/or mentally ill. And no matter how many shelters you establish, most of them choose not to be there -- at least for any length of time.

I was a Reagan fan but his administration shut down lots of the mental health agencies that catered to this population and essentially dumped them on the street. This is a problem that is getting worse everywhere, so clearly we need a new perspective.

Hope OKC can set the example for other ciities. It will be interesting to follow the progress.

[The Old Downtown Guy]

The Mayor's initative should bring a new level of public awareness and understanding of the realities of the homeless population . . . that most are not in that situation by choice. Along with the shelters being near downtown, many other services used by that population are located just west of the CBD between Reno and NW 13th. So, there are a lot of people walking from place to place during the day and with a still very small resident population in that area, the homeless stand out.

The idea of a campus to consolidate uses and services has been raised, and that may be an effective part of a changed approach. My concern is that just trying to move the homeless population further away from public view, not better serve their needs, will drive the process to a great extent.

Hopefully, the taskforce will be openminded, not arrive with pre-conceived ideas and produce some inovative solutions.

[Patrick]

Any change needs to include the addition of mental health services. It is true that many homeless have schizophrenia and other psychotic disorder, depression, personality disorders like borderline personality disorder, etc. Until we treat these health problems, the problem will not fix itself.