Blog, I

Can Chicago End Homelessness? | TIME: “Those who do not have their own housing, yet are able to ‘double up’ with friends or family, are not considered homeless by the city or the federal government.”

I just sent an email to the editor of Time Magazine on them making a mistake. The McKinney Vento Act; that protects educational rights of children experiencing homelessness; has very clear standards of what constitutes homelessness.

I don’t doubt the reporter’s hearts weren’t in the right place. It’s just probably a matter of service providers there not taking the time they should have with them.

No return on email from either City Hall or JSO. I’ll give the benefit of the doubt before jumping to conclusions.

Seems the matter of feeding homeless people…even in churches…is under attack.

It’s not your usual thing though.

A local doctor attempted to obtain permitting from Duval County to be able to legally feed homeless people. From what information I’ve received, he wasn’t even able to find the correct location to do so.

Now, he’s gotten an attorney handling the matter. Translation: Lawsuit. Not for money, but simply for exercising religious right.

He’s a Christian, and wants to exercise his religious right to simply minister to the needy. One City official made remarks to local media on camera that it wasn’t the intention of Duval government to take away anyone’s rights. Unfortunately, the news is so ‘late breaking’, there isn’t existing content on their website to link to to confirm this information.

It’s understandable that local government is wanting to curtail public homeless feeding for health reasons…trash and sanitation, and honestly the possibility of inappropriate food preparation, storage, and handling ARE reasonable concerns. Those things are HIGHLY commendable to prevent and protect our citizens from, both sheltered and not.

But for years, local churches DID open their doors and feed the needy, away from public eyes, and in many cases with very much warmth, care, and hospitality. These were acts of love and discipleship, and for those churches that did so regularly for years at their locations should be acknowledged at having done so…when others didn’t get paid to do it and weren’t in existance…they were held in high esteem by many professionals and circles in Jacksonville.

At one time. Times change. Maybe they’re changing back.

These churches don’t and didn’t generally receive USDA moneys. These churches generally didn’t and don’t write for grants. They’re choice and action of doing so is NOT based on receiving funds in following years, based on how many people they help.

In short, if homeless people do NOT migrate and feed at locations that DO receive funds from either USDA food programs or financial grants; based on numbers of people served; then those agencies will lose money. Would you as a City Leader pay something for nothing?

Don’t go there. He’s a very nice young man!

This, Jacksonville, is Duval County’s Homeless Magnet Program. It’s a matter to DRAW the tide of homeless to specific and predetermined locations daily. It’s been a force to be reckoned with. Since it’s inception, it’s guaranteed Jacksonville’s downtown workers a ‘cleaner, nicer, and darn it…I can go to my car without seeing a bum’ attitude. The latter probably wasn’t the cause, but you can’t tell me it’s not a belief of some people coming out of City Hall.

If Jacksonville’s churches were to be permitted to open their doors in the light of day, it would not harm service providers vying for much needed dollars from City Hall or other sources. Jacksonville must prepare for the future tide of increased homelessness it’s about to experience, all within a very short time frame. This post isn’t meant as a slam on ANY of our much needed and appreciated services…it’s a wake up call to better network and prepare.

Course…back to the whole imagery of homeless not being ‘magnetized’ off of Jacksonville’s downtown streets at 5:00 PM. Don’t be satisfied, believe in yourself, and hold to your dream like I did.

Yeah…
you gotta fight…
for your right…
ta PARRRRR TAY!

Sometimes I wish I did Podcasts, just to have used that as a closing song.

Deal with it. We Love Ya, Jacksonville, Florida.
::breaks an air guitar in the Jaguar statutes mouth that splinters into bits::
::closeup of the Jaguar’s eye…two seconds later a faint glimmer is seen in it::

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Feel free to eMail. Chances are if you’ve got an issue, I’ve got your solution. If not, I’ll find it. If not then still, I promise I’ll be honest enough to smile when I try to bullshit you with it. Either way, you’ll be glad you did!

I’m no lawyer, but you seem to being paying me in the form of attention.

The value of a Food Stamp allotment; or grant, whichever you want to call the means of the food getting on the table; provided to an eligible household under the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2017(b)) is qualified for income exclusion under HUD’s regulation at 24 CFR 5.609(c)(17).

Long story short, there’s case workers in Jacksonville that are including Food Stamps as ‘income’ when calculating rent in certain situations. It’s wrong. It may be illegal. Check with your attorney, regardless of what position you’re in on this.

While Food Stamps are issued through State Agencies, think about the role the U.S. Department of Agriculture has in it. Is it worth a ‘Federal Case’?

Granted, some people mean well when they do they’re job and don’t realize when they’re doing wrong. The sad thing is the people that get ripped off by this act until it’s made clear.

This is caused by CEOs failure to establish standards and procedures, when clients have this happen.