Feeding The Homeless Banned To What End?

Food not bombs was first persecuted in  San Francisco for feeding The homeless In golden gate park in the early 1980’s Yet the college kids That sacrificed of themselves to do it at risk of arrest where some of the most awesome Kids I have ever Met in My life.
From there the persecution of food not bombs spread to almost every college Town in America where Kids were willing to extend a Hand of compassion To there fellow Man. In and throughout the late 1980’s Reno Nevada adopted a policy where not only those handing out food would be faced with arrest but those willing to receive the blessing were faced with the same.
Now Like then, You have Cities around America Banning The Act of Human compassion. and Handing out food in a public Park Is a crime the only support this legislation has found was with Homeless services organizations, they have always been and will always be the first to jump on the Band wagon And they Will now and have always proclaimed, We are doing what is best for the Homeless.We are their protectors and we Know what is best for them, When In reality They are doing what is best for themselves. As they truly want themselves to be the Only hope the Homeless have.
If there are no other resources for the homeless to tap into than they are still going to be needed and funded, as someone who lived on the streets for 20+ years I have experienced Hunger On a Saturday and Sunday in cities that have no other place to go and eat but these small group’s of outlaw’s  who were willing to face arrest to see a brother Fed. Where were these Protectors Of mine when I was so Hungry I had to sacrifice My human dignity and climb into a dumpster for food the first time Because I was in a city where it was illegal to feed me? My question to these organizations would be Do I cease to exist.  Between Friday at 5 O’clock until Monday At noon. But I know in reality I too Them cease to exist the moment I walked out the Door. Because the Only way one of these Places feed a man is if He is first counted Because the simple act of counting Him Gives them the ability to claim Him on their annual funding report as another person served. And Their true fear is not am I going to be poisoned By the Church Ladies with the sandwich's Or the College Kids with the Hot soup or the Homeless Guy’s who thru their food stamp's  together Or the Beautiful Lady who opened Her Back yard Up to all who Might come and Sup with her,, But rather am I going to show Up to Be counted and Allow them To be funded?
Houston Tx, New York New York, Philadelphia Penn(city of Brotherly Love My *^&) Pensacola Florida, Santa Monica California,Arcata California, Las Vegas NV,Salt Lake City ,Utah, Reno Nv, Phoenix Az, Seattle Wa, Cheyenne Wyo, Bakersfield Ca, Medford Or, Portland Or, Sacramento Ca, Miami, Fl, Dallas Tx, St Lous Mo.Kansas City Ks.  Just To name a few are cities Who should Hang their Head in shame As they have all at one time or another Either passed Or tried to pass Ordinance Preventing the feeding Of Hungry People By those With Compassion.
Know that in them claiming they do this for Me and Men Like Me because people have fed Us tainted food al over this country, and They should Only do so if Regulated and If you don’t believe that you are no friend of the Homeless, what They won’t tell you is the vast Number of times where soup kitchens and dinning halls across this country have fed Homeless tainted food, and many of their clients have ended up in the emergency room with food poisoning or How the cases Of E coli and salmonella are far greater at Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, And other Fast food restaurants. than they are at a homeless feed in the Park. I have never seen After 20yrs on the street a person Sick from an Unregulated Feed. The Homeless service agencies have thus far been unable to solve the Problem of Homelessness So the Next Logical Step is To legislate Us Out of existence. Don’t eat, Don’t sleep, Don’t Camp, Don’t live!!! Another 2 decades of this and Homeless Euthanasia will be a Reality, we can just call it a cultural cleansing      
 

Living on the edge of Darkness

I can not tell you how blessed I have been In the past year,but I am going to try! after living on the streets of this country for over 2 decades, within the last year many of you who have come to know me and befriend me on the newest form of internet interaction the wonder of social media know that my life in the last year has drastically changed. I have going from what others call chronically homeless what I have called for years terminally homeless.To having a place to safely dwell a small job which provides me a place to live and a space of my own.
Most people looking at my life would say I now have everything I need to start my life over and this to a great degree is very much the truth,I have by the very definition of the word supportive housing and that given By people who have acted in faith and there desire to help people. if I live to be a hundred years old I can in no way repay them for the, Love trust and compassion they have shared with Me. This may well fly in the face of some but to me it is proof that God uses social Media Also.
But my being blessed beyond measure is not what I wish to convey, it is that there is that which I never imagined would come with the blessings, or maybe I did and just pushed it into the back of my mind and it has become a part of my persona and what has kept me homeless for so long, It is the guilt which now comes with being housed,the guilt of those I left behind, and the fear for those That I know won’t make it and find the blessings I have found because it isn’t just homeless people I left behind It was family and friends and loved ones the people who for years have been the only Love in my life and the ones who have always been there for me, people who I have met in the Highways and byways Under your bridges and In your alleyways, and with who I have shared the common bond of the oppression and human indignity we faced together these Men and women who I left behind are my brothers and sisters.
I feel as if I am one of the holocaust survivors who was only fortunate in the sense that I escaped the death camp, but know that tomorrow the gassings of my loved ones will continue on in my absence I sleep less than I ever have in my life, having suffered from insomnia for years that is of no great concern,what bothers me is now the fear of sleep. and the fear of waking and fearing that I might screw this up at any time, and that this may truly be my last shot at life and if I fail at this I am destined to die on the streets. the fear I have that is greatest is that I will no longer see or talk to these friends of mine that sleep outside this night.or will they as my life goes forward become only distant memories that soon fade into my past overshadowed by a brighter future. and I ask myself is this the reason why when the fight against homelessness become the subject matter of conversation, I get angry, I have to choke back tears and I labor to breath. because The bigger question I now often ask is why me Lord? why am I spared? there are so many more deserving and in need than I so why me?
Some would say it is even now an obsession with me because I daily search for Homeless people who have died Fearing the day when It is one that I know,I also ask myself what is wrong with me that I desire at times to return to My homeless life? where people viewed me as hopeless as if it where a bad thing because I had moved beyond hope to a place of contentment, and was happy having nothing because the people I most loved were my equals. and I wonder will they now look at me as if I am different? Or will they Know that I only sit here writing this because I am afraid to cry myself to sleep wondering if they are safe and fed and not suffering,were their needs met today as mine were I Just pray that it is so with them.
I simply wish to share with everyone that it is most difficult to get out of the homeless life because we as a society believe it should be simple not realizing that in order to leave the homeless life behind, You must also leave behind Everything that is dear to you. because for most people that are fighting the problem do not understand that while the homeless are not a part of our community and our society they have one of there own but in order to have the basic Human right to housing all that must be sacrificed. because of societies failure to recognize Housing and a safe place to dwell, as a Basic human right is why the problem persist to begin with. we would rather say they only exist because they are broken. and this is the Focus of every poverty Pimp in this country see if they convince people that they need to be fixed first, than you will continue to pay them to fix us when what needs fixed is we pay people to help others when we should if funding anything fund people to help themselves.
I have always said I was A blessed Man and that is Because I am, My greatest Blessing is That God has A plan For Me and I do not know what it is. But I have faith That if I keep My eye On him He will see Me through all of this.

Chronic

The federal government’s definition of chronic homelessness includes homeless individuals with a disabling condition (substance use disorder, serious mental illness, developmental disability, or chronic physical illness or disability) who have been homeless either 1) continuously for one whole year, or 2) four or more times in the past three years.
The above definition of the Chronic Homeless population, by Its own standard lies at the very root  of the homeless problem in This country and The continued failure to in any way bring resolve too the problem. The definition first caries with it certain connotations being that anyone experiencing long periods of homelessness are in some manner faced with disabling conditions when the homeless population at large are faced with obstacles that force them to face long periods of either shelter dependency or periods of seeking alternative living arrangements weather they be rough sleeping couch jumping vehicle dwelling or other possibilities. By research done by the Us department of housing and urban development, and the united states Interagency counsel on homelessness, 10 to 20 percent of the homeless population are effected by these disabling conditions.
Of the Homeless populations recent count totals there are still on any given night in America  900 thousand to 2.2 million people homeless in America. Taking these rough figures into account and going to the highest of there totals approximately 440 thousand Homeless individuals in this country are Chronically so. It is believed that the best way to house these individuals is by the model of permanent supportive housing. it being most cost effective, in the case of those needing help in there debilitating conditions. This I also Believe is the best possible solution.
But this is the approach that is used to address the entirety of the homeless population, It forgoes the needs of the other 80% of the homeless population and independent of this model for housing there is no viable alternative available for more cost effective ways to bring stability to peoples lives which might be of a lesser degree. It is an all or nothing approach. And Has for over 2 decades been the Standard of every homeless help organization, and Federally funded community development, or corporate block grant recipient in the help industry.
It is something that Has To this point in History failed It is by far the most costly and most ineffective program ever to have been sponsored by both public and private money, It has to date since it inception in the last 2 decades been funded with government grants alone in excess of over 800billion dollars at the expense of the American tax payer, and is overshadowed by private sector donations, which are estimated annually to surpass Government funding by a margin of 53%.
If at the very best outcome to the solution placed before us with a One Hundred Percent Success rate the model we now work with will at best house only 20% of the homeless individuals in this country, and those are mostly people receiving social security or eligible to receive disability dispersments. many of which have been approved for or started the section 8 housing requirements. We are failing at a level that future generations will look at and will think us mad. But with people who are in this industry the grant writers, the boards of directors the legal teams and the industry heads have much to lose if we seek viable alternatives to a broken system and this is something it seems that no one is willing to address, I would ask everyone interested in helping the homeless please do help stand together and call for accountability of the system which we have and lets rethink the funding of a 20 percent solution, and address the problem in a manner it deserves, where the homeless are no longer blanketed by the guidelines in place and deal with them on a individual basis. Lets try and do something different and innovative lets address the needs of the individual rather than the group, Lets give them what they need and not dictate the need of organizations, lets look at what is going on in this industry and in the looking remember, Failure is Job security for these helpers of Us.