Post in Hayden Officially Files Papers for House 61B Seat

Jul 06 15:09 UTC

Greetings,

 I disagree with that surmise for some very specific and germane issues. First
of
all, on that aspect of affordable housing that deals with the homeless we pay
millions
of dollars per annum to a large number of people to deal with this social
problem.
The truth is, they have done a rotten job, overall. If they had done a good job
would
we have more homeless now than ever? The way I see it is this: Legislative
agendas
in Minnesota, invariably, when looking at housing and homelessness put far too
much
emphasis on "the lack of affordable housing". This is seemingly largely based
on
National research. While such an assertion may be true in places like New York
where they are dealing with things like rent control or in DC where my younger
brother pays 1450 per month for a 1 bedroom smaller than mine, it is not true
in
most of Minnesota.
 I spent the better part of a decade as a caseworker dealing, largely, with
housing
placement. I cannot think of a single client for whom I could not find an
apartment
or place to live. Most folks who are homeless have other barriers; criminal or
civil
records (UDs), mental health or CD issues, geographic restrictions, lack of a
credit
rating or employment history, etcetera. In fact, most of the research
corroborates
my assertions in these matters. So why is it that the mainstream advocacy
organizations put almost no energy into fixing or overcoming any of these
barriers?
 Well, first of all they believe what they are doing, for the most part. While
they
make a great show out of "getting the opinions of the homeless" when those
opinions
differ from their own, they simply ignore them. Thy've done that for a long
time now.
Gail Dorfman, while not actively engaging in this shunting aside of "the
impacted"
certainly does very little to actively repair the breach or better the
situation.
 The end result is that the vast majority of the "advocates" derive agendas
that
don't meet realities.
 Saying we all need to agree fails to acknowledge the very real problems on
the ground. Failing to acknowledge the problems helps the problems to persist.
I recently offered the mainstream folks the chance to address these gaps
between
research and reality, but received no response. I received no response for what
reason? Most homeless people would tell you legislative agendas don't match
realities. So why no discussion. The mainstream folks want to contain and
sanitize the discussion, even at the cost of NOT accomplishing what they say
it is their most earnest desire to accomplish.
 So, quashing descent due to some notion that, somehow, the providers and
advocates are more savvy than the folks who live it is dubious at best.
But hey, many of these guys, most with BAs in the Liberal Arts, at least in
the leadership positions, earn a pretty penny for what they do. I don't think
their
in any big hurry to really make a dent. But they will do as they do. 8-9 years
ago, Margaret Hastings called them "poverty pimps". At the time I thought that
very harsh...I don't think that any more.

Guy Gambill
(Northeast)