NYC Homeless Given 1-Way Tickets; At Least 100 Sent To Fla. Since 2007

Click anywhere on the article and you’ll go to the link, if interested in watching the televised report

From WKMG TV
POSTED: Wednesday, July 29, 2009
UPDATED: 7:32 pm EDT July 29, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. — New York City’s homeless are on the move, and many are being sent to the Sunshine State.

The city has been purchasing one-way tickets for homeless families to places all over the world since 2007.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg said the program is the only way to keep the people out of the city’s expensive shelter system. Some are concerned that the practice is just relocating the problem, and not resolving it.

Florida is dealing with nearly 86,000 homeless people and is in the middle of a crisis to provide shelter and affordable housing to the homeless population.

Downtown resident Ryan McKey said he doesn’t like the program.

“I just came from New York and didn’t have a problem. I get back here and get stopped for change on every corner. We already have too many homeless,” McKey said.

The practice, dubbed “Project Reconnect,” is aimed at homeless families in New York who have relatives elsewhere who are willing to take in the family member.

“I think it’s a good idea. Anything we can do to help families reconnect and possibly get them back on their feet is good,” Trey Killingsworth said.

It costs the city of New York around $36,000 a year to house and feed a family in a shelter. Considering that expense, a plane ticket can save the city thousands of dollars.

The Coalition of the Homeless of Central Florida applauds the goal of reuniting families, it said the program does not address the problem.

“On the downside of it, this is not a good way to address the homeless issue. Moving them from one corner to the next corner or one city to another is not addressing the issue of homelessness,” coalition CEO Brent Trotter said.

The New York department that oversees the program did not respond when asked for the exact number of homeless people who have been sent to Central Florida, but at least 100 families have been sent to Florida since the program began.

Copyright 2009 by Internet Broadcasting Systems and Local6.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

From Patterson, California …

Group of churches aim to help homeless
by Maddy Houk | Patterson Irrigator
Jul 22, 2009 | 136 views | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend | print
At a glance

• WHAT: Helping Others Sleep Tonight

• WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesdays

• WHERE: Federated Methodist-Presbyterian Church basement, 45 S. El Circulo

• INFO: Dennis McCord, 892-6996.

The Patterson Ministerial Association and a group of local volunteers have been busy the past few months starting a new venture, Helping Others Sleep Tonight, an effort to provide shelter for the homeless in town.

Local resident Claudia Smith first had the idea after seeing a rise in the number of people who show up for a weekly lunch program started by the St. Vincent de Paul Society and now provided by various area churches and organizations.

Dennis McCord, chairman of the HOST board, said 47 people typically line up for the free lunches downtown.

He said the homeless population HOST knows about is 62 percent men, 15 percent women and 23 percent children younger than 15.

“We think there are more, but those are the ones we know of,” McCord said. “We know the problem is getting worse and growing.”

HOST hopes to have a place for the homeless to stay by the time the winter months roll around, as there is no homeless shelter on the West Side.

“The goal is to provide a shelter starting in November,” McCord said.

Smith said people become homeless for many reasons, including the loss of a job or a home, overwhelming medical bills, drug or alcohol addictions or an abusive family life.

Many times, folks cannot get a job without a valid address or phone number, and in turn, they cannot apply for an apartment without a job.

“Often, their vicious circle on the streets pushes them to collect coins all day to pay for a meal,” Smith said. “These human beings need a helping hand for basic necessities of shelter, food, clothes and support before they could apply for work.”

Five churches — Federated Methodist-Presbyterian, Sacred Heart, Patterson Covenant, New Home Foursquare and New Hope Church of the Nazarene — have sent representatives to HOST’s weekly meetings. More churches have expressed an interest, McCord said.

HOST formed in April and has had a number of fundraisers since then. Future fundraisers will include a bowling night in August and a barbecue by the end of summer.

McCord said HOST also seeks seed money from individuals and local organizations. Once the program is fully up and running as a nonprofit, it will be eligible for public and private grants.

Thus far, HOST has collected $1,400 and has another $2,000 already pledged. Hundreds of letter requests for donations are going out in the mail and by word of mouth.

“We are still working on the details,” McCord said. “It depends on how much money we raise and what we can do, how many volunteers we get, and how the community responds. So far, when I’ve talked to people, the response has been very positive.”

• Contact Maddy Houk at 892-6187 or maddy@

pattersonirrigator.com.

Several worthwhile reads …

on the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida’s blog, including: The Coalition’s take on contributors to homelessness

Click anywhere on this article, the site is also listed in the links section and here’s the address to bookmark:

http://cflhomeless.wordpress.com/

The Coalition for the Homeless responds to report that Orlando is 3rd Meanest City to Homeless

Orlando is 3rd Meanest City to Homeless – our opinion

First of all, let us say that the recent study from National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and the National Coalition for the Homeless (not affiliated with us) shocked us. In a second we will explain why.

The study (“Homes Not Handcuffs”) released a ranking of the “Ten Meanest Cities” to the homeless. According to the report, each city was evaluated by the following criteria: “the number of anti-homeless laws in the city, the enforcement of those laws and severity of penalties, the general political climate toward homeless people in the city, local advocate support for the meanest designation, the city’s history of criminalization measures, and the existence of pending or recently enacted criminalization legislation in the city.”

Since we know you love to see who made the ‘naughty list’, here it is. And yes, that’s Orlando in slot number three.
1. Los Angeles, CA
2. St. Petersburg, FL
3. Orlando, FL
4. Atlanta, GA
5. Gainesville, FL
6. Kalamazoo, MI
7. San Francisco, CA
8. Honolulu, HI
9. Bradenton, FL
10. Berkeley, CA

Now that you know exactly what we are talking about, we can explain why we are shocked.

We recognize that Orlando has made sometimes not well-received policies in dealing with the homeless. We get that. But, we are also a city that is striving hard to improve the way the homeless issue is addressed. For example, there is the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness, a group of high profile business, government, and nonprofit leaders that is busy working to carry out a newly developed 10-year plan to address homelessness in our region. And also, the city of Orlando and Orange County are working together to establish broader services for the homeless in our city. Take, for example, the Coalition’s new Men’s Service Center, the construction of which both Orlando and Orange County will help to fund.

In all, we don’t concur that Orlando is one of the top ten meanest cities to the homeless. Based on the criteria provided in this study, we can see how the City Beautiful was originally pinpointed. But when we take into account what Orlando is doing now to help the homeless, the reasoning becomes fuzzier. There is still much to be done, but we believe the third meanest city should get a recount. We’re in the right state for that anyway, are we not?

Orlando 3rd ‘meanest’ city for homeless, study finds

OrlandoSentinel.com

Advocacy groups rank Top 10 cities that ‘criminalize’ homelessness

Kate Santich

Sentinel Staff Writer

July 14, 2009

The City Beautiful? How about “The City Mean”?

Two national advocacy groups for the homeless ranked Orlando as the third “meanest” city in the nation Tuesday, citing a trend toward criminalizing activities that come with living on the streets, such as sleeping in parks or panhandling.

In a report from the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and the National Coalition for the Homeless, Orlando ranked behind Los Angeles and St. Petersburg on a Top 10 “meanest cities” list, which also included Gainesville (No. 5) and Bradenton (No. 9).

After decades apart, woman finds mom — homeless in Orlando

Click anywhere to read the full story:

OrlandoSentinel.com
Happy reunion

Jessica Wisnoski and Lani Burgos are reunited after Wisnoski spent $20,000 and decades searching for the mother she hadn’t seen since she was a toddler.

Susan Jacobson

Sentinel Staff Writer

July 20, 2009

For nearly four decades, all Jessica Wisnoski had to remember her mother was a tattered photo of 2-year-old Wisnoski sitting in her mom’s lap.

The yearning to know her mother never left Wisnoski, 38, who lives near Houston. She and her husband, Bryan, spent $20,000 and 17 years searching for Lani Burgos, 58, who left her only child with Burgos’ father and stepmother while she tried to kick a drug habit.

On Saturday night, Wisnoski finally found her mom — homeless and living in Orlando.

After years of dashed hopes and false leads, the Wisnoskis, with the help of a private investigator, tracked Burgos to a Salvation Army shelter in Ocala and, from there, to Central Florida.

During the weekend, they drove to Orlando, where they planned to hand out fliers offering a reward for helping them find Burgos. On the way to the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida, they stumbled on police Officer Jonathan Adkins. He offered to drive them.

No luck at the shelter. So, Adkins took the couple to other hangouts for the homeless, including Lake Lucerne, where transients said they had seen Burgos at free meals downtown, Adkins said.

Armed with a jail booking photo — Burgos has been arrested a couple of times on open-container and illegal-camping charges — they swung by the Interstate 4/ East-West Expressway underpass. There, a woman sat on the sidewalk.

“I said, ‘Oh, my gosh, I think that’s her,’” Wisnoski recalled.

Adkins checked it out.

“Are you Lani Burgos?” he asked. “How are you doing?”

Homeless Services Network of Central Florida Newsletter

Homeless Services Network of Central Florida
Volunteer Newsletter
July 9, 2009
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
in this issue
Veterans Stand Down – 8/8
Upcoming Events
The Challenge Ahead

You’re receiving the first of many messages from Homeless Services Network regarding upcoming volunteer opportunities. You are receiving this message because you previously participated or registered to participate in an HSN community event. If you would like to be removed from this mailing list, just use the convenient SafeUnsubscribe link at the bottom of this message.

If you’ve participated in one of our events before, you know what a rewarding experience it can be. Read on for news on what we have in store in the coming months and the challenges we face in providing services to the homeless.

Veterans Stand Down – Sanford, FL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seminole County is holding its first Veterans Stand Down on Saturday, August 8, 2009, through a partnership with the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida and the Veterans Administration. Veterans Stand Down events are similar to HSN’s Project Homeless Connect events, but targeted specifically at the needs of homeless veterans. About 40 service agencies will be at the event in Sanford which is anticipated to serve more than 125 homeless veterans with meals, showers, food bags, clothing, employment opportunities, shelters, medical care, IDs and other essential services

Volunteers can perform any of the following tasks:

* Intake (one-on-one interviews with homeless veterans, completing a simple intake form)
* Shepherd (assist veterans as they navigate the many services available)
* Distribution (hand out pre-assembled donations of food bags, clothing and backpacks)
* Showers/Clothing (maintain the shower area and assist with selection of underwear and clothing)
* Set-up/Take down (arrange/remove tables, chairs, signs)
* Crowd control (direct veterans and volunteers to registration; answer basic event questions)

Registration: The deadline for registration is Monday, August 3, 2009. For registration and other information, please visit our web site.

Upcoming Project Homeless Connect Events
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HSN and its partners have other events on the horizon:

* East Orange PHC, tentatively scheduled for September
* Veterans’ Stand Down, Orlando, September 26
* Discovery Church PHC, tentatively scheduled for October
* Downtown PHC, December 4, 2009

If you would like more information about these upcoming events, you don’t have to do anything. You’re already on our mailing list and we’ll update you as details are finalized. Stay tuned!

The Challenge Ahead
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part of the reason HSN is having difficulty finalizing events is because of cutbacks the Florida Legislature has made in funding homeless services across the state. As a result of these cutbacks, HSN has become increasingly dependent on its community partners, who are experiencing similar decreases in funding themselves.

All is not lost and there are still grant opportunities available. HSN will be submitting an application for a challenge grant through the Florida Department of Children & Families. We have already appealed to our community partners for their assistance, but volunteers can get involved as well.

As part of our grant applications, we are able to count every volunteer hour as evidence of community support for what we do at these events. The amount of support you have all given to Project Homeless Connect has been remarkable. We really could not ask for more.

However, what we will ask for is for you to help us keep track of the hours you volunteer for us. Please be sure to sign in and sign out whenever you volunteer for one of our events. This goes a long way in helping us accurately calculate our total volunteer hours so we can leverage our grant applications. Thanks!

Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
phone: 407-893-0133

Why are people homeless?

Click on this sentence and it will take you to an interesting article.

Another good site to bookmark …

Hope for the Homeless – A blog by the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida

Take a look through the stories, including: The prevalence of hunger in America…and why we are responsible

Our friend, Jackie Dowd, of the Homeless Services Network has a blog …

Called the 13th juror. Description: A poverty lawyer (and, by the way, law professor) comments on social justice issues, news and court decisions … with a few other random thoughts thrown in here and there

www.jackiedowd.blogspot.com

that you should bookmark … important information to be aware of. Thanks Jackie.