A reminder that for many, the freedom to live as one wants to, overrides the common-sense belief that all people, if given the chance, really do feel it is worthwhile to live responsibly and will act on that belief.
The illegal camping by the homeless in the Parkway in the Cal Expo/North Sacramento area, also known as the Lower Reach of the Parkway (which we reported on extensively in our report on the Lower Reach at http://www.arpps.org/report.pdf ), is still a significant problem and attempts to fix it are running into this very issue, that many who are homeless choose to live the way they live.
City's homeless shelters clean, safe, but shunned when it's dry
C.W. Nevius
Thursday, October 18, 2007
I've been quoting homeless people as saying they dislike the shelters, and find them dangerous and dirty. It leaves city and independent shelter officials grinding their teeth in frustration.
"When I read in the paper the shelters are unsafe and that the staff is abusive, I know that's not the case," says Richard Springwater, a member of the board of Episcopal Community Service, which runs Next Door, a 280-bed facility that is the second-largest in the city.
Operators of shelters and single-room-occupancy hotels used by the city to house the homeless felt so strongly about correcting that perception that Trent Rhorer, San Francisco director of human services, took me on a three-hour tour of some of the shelters Tuesday afternoon. He wanted to show that the accommodations are neither dirty nor unpleasant.
The result? I have to say Rhorer & Co. have a point. At place after place, the beds were clean (mostly metal lately because wooden bed frames encouraged bed bugs), food and medical opportunities were available, and the single resident rooms looked small, but an improvement on a sheet of cardboard on the street.
Even Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Homeless Coalition, a frequent critic of the shelters, says, "The facilities are not the problem."
So why aren't the homeless using them?...Lauren Hall, director of Delivering Innovation in Supportive Housing, whose group manages the Empress, puts it diplomatically.
"I think it is difficult for people to leave their community on the street," she says.
Or, to put it more directly, life on the street has its own appeal. Despite the best efforts of shelter groups, there are those who would rather live with friends in Golden Gate Park or on the street. (And some, of course, who are mentally ill, need much more than a room.) But for the other group, it isn't that they aren't being offered a chance, it is that they do not want to take it.
