Fort Lauderdale’s Homeless Problem: How to reduce it (or make it worse).
Posted Under: Important Issues for Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale’s Homeless Problem: How to reduce it (or make it worse).
Executive Brief:
- There are 6 different groups of homeless, each with their own needs.
- Layers of services provide assistance to those in five of the six groups
- The sixth group are the chronic addicts and alcoholic street people.
- Providing services to these people can actually make their problems worse.
As a San Francisco Commissioner in the 1990’s, I saw how efforts to help the homeless often would fail miserably. San Francisco historically dealt with homelessness by making the plight of the homeless person easier. Churches, “advocacy” organizations and dozens of groups around the City would provide meals, clothes, shelters, books, & coffee, free city-wide transit, job training, assistance in finding a job, drug counseling, bus tickets, temporary housing and cash.
What was the result? Homelessness in San Francisco in the ’90′s was out of control. With homelessness ranging from 7,000 to 15,000 people during this time, it meant (statistically) that up to one out of every 50 San Franciscans was homeless! In actuality, the City was inviting alcoholics and addicts from outside the area.
I wrote a ballot initiative to reduce handouts and provide for more housing services in 1999. The measure failed at the polls (the homeless “advocacy” groups there fought it every step of the way), but it passed two years later by the voters. Result of its passage? The homeless problem in San Francisco was reduced significantly. What was learned? Some of the following points are important to know to better understand the problem.
1: No one is a true expert on solving homelessness. That includes advocacy groups and churches. They are experts at providing services, not at solving the problem.
2: The causes of homelessness are generally either externally based (ie: getting kicked out of home), or internally based (ie: mental illness or drug or alcohol addiction).
3: Homelessness can generally be broken down into six groups. And each group requires a different set of services. In Fort Lauderdale, these services come from programs provided by the Federal Government, the State of Florida and Broward County. In addition, churches and private service-oriented groups provide needed help to many in these groups:
· To the young, who have either run away or have been kicked out of home. They usually require family counseling, foster care or group homes. Some require help with drug abuse. Many have self-esteem issues.
· Families and single people who have legitimately lost their job and their home due to the economy. They require housing, food assistance and job training, and are usually the easiest to get off the street.
· Single mothers with children. Family counseling, job training, day care, and self esteem issues are areas that require help.
· Mentally disadvantaged people. Medication and a safe secure area to locate to are usually required.
· Military vets (mostly Gulf war vets now). Medication, job training, drug abuse, and group counseling are areas that are needed the most.
The layers of services that different public and private organizations provide will usually help people in these first five groups. But it is the sixth group that is the most difficult to help: That is the group of hard-core addicts and alcoholics that are on the street daily. Unfortunately, we have largely failed this group.
You see, you cannot help an addict or alcoholic off the street by providing only external assistance (ie: shelter, food, etc). They must take the incentive themselves to fight their addiction, or they’ll stay on the street. Unfortunately, the more services you provide to addicts and alcoholics, the less incentive you give them to want to get off the street. When you make it too “comfortable” to an addict or alcoholic, then what’s their incentive to change?
We need to do a better job of balancing services to this group with a set of expectations and rules that this group must follow. We must establish a downtown zone free of loitering, panhandling and daily camping on park grounds. We must move addicts and alcoholics into programs that can help them focus on their addiction. Simply allowing addicts and alcoholics to congregate where they choose, to panhandle and to leave their garbage behind is unacceptable. We must do a better job of enforcing simple standards of behavior in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
Aid should be provided to those who can demonstrate responsible behavior. Using more “tough love” with this group will actually help them in the long run!
With my years of experience in dealing with the homeless population in San Francisco, I believe that you should not provide any free handouts to any addict or alcoholic street person unless they provide some meaningful service back to the community in exchange for their food or shelter. I feel that continuing to provide free handouts and meals to these folks actually harms them in the long run, as it makes them accustomed to living off others, with no personal responsibilities; no rules to have to follow. It also (over time) solidifies in their mind that they have to be dependent upon others to survive. This makes it even more difficult for any addict or alcoholic to “break the pattern of addiction. It eliminates any belief that they themselves have the ability and power to control their own addictive behavior.
And folks: Bottom line here…NO ONE can make an addict or alcoholic quit. It is up to the addict or alcoholic to make the decision to quit; we can only help from that point. And when we provide food, clothing, shelter, etc., etc., we make it exceedingly difficult for that addict or alcoholic to take that all important step.
Your thoughts?
Earl Rynerson
Reader Comments
It seems a shame to me that in such situations most local governments fail to look across jurisdictional lines and learn from the experiences of others.
I suggest that Earl’s experiences in SF are of great potential value. We all should try to advance a rational discussion of this large problem. It is obvious and it is important that it be solved.
Publicity, publicity, publicity…perhaps the long dormant SUN SENTINEL will open its eyes. They have made a nice start in recent days.
I agree with you Earl.
I also support the strategies of Robin Martin of Shepherds Way/Hope Central, helping homeless families for many years now. His goals and plans for the city deserve full support and attention, without delay.
I live in downtown Fort Lauderdale and have to deal with the homeless daily. They need to keep themselves busy instead of laying around and begging for money. I agree that the drug addicts and alcoholic homeless should not receive any help unless they start contributing to the community (picking up the trash daily in the downtown area). We also need to move them away from the tourist areas (downtown, Las Olas and the beach areas)so that we can attract more tourist to visit the downtown area. Fort Lauderdale is a beautiful city and we can’t allow the homeless to takeover the city.
I have dealt with the homeless in the past here in Fort Lauderdale and learned of their problems and needs. There is one more cathegory that no one ever mention, those running from obligations of child support and spousal support. They are a bigger burden that the ones afore mentioned. The agencies trying to help the homeless are supporting their habits and giving them a reason to continue on the streets. The city’s way of dealing with the problem is telling FLPD to arrest them. Those arrested before midnight are out on the streets by noon the next day. The problem persist.
How to rid the downtown streets of the homeless, give them jobs. I did and never saw them in the area. They either move to Hollywood of Pompano. Some went out of the County. San Francisco still dealing with a homeless problem, only lowered by cold weather.
Everyone has an answer but lack a solution to the problem.
When dealing with people, there are unintended consequences of well-intentioned actions. People see the short-term benefits of some programs and fail to understand the motivations driving people. Groups of people have one set of motivations moving them to help others, while those being helped are in the situation for those reasons you’ve laid out. Your approach can be accepted only by those with a suitably long-term attitude.
Excellent point of view Earl, but I am sure a lawyer will get in and argue the addicts “rights” exceded society’s own. I feel there should be a discussion based on your idea. Unfortunately an illegal immigrant will do the job faster and better than any addict citizen. Why does the Constitution cover those that are illegal? You can’t put the down and out on a mundane job if 20 illegals will gladly do it.
Was any of this voiced at Tuesday’s afternoon conference on the issue? Seems like the City believes the only way to stop homeless feedings downtown is to provide an alternate location for them. If “establishing a downtown zone free of loitering, panhandling and daily camping on park grounds” is a legal option, I say do it. And if an alternate location is needed, then a meal, as you suggest, should be tied to community service of some kind to break the cycle of dependency. One service option: provide City carts, black for trash, pepsi blue for recycling and let able-bodied people spread out through our streets in teams of 2 collecting debris off the streets to help clean up our City.
Thank you for this clear and persuasive information about these problems. I have a course correction in my own thinking to take care of. Please keep sharing your experience and conclusions so clearly.
Dear Earl, Savannah, Robin, Bill, Bruce, Anker and Adam,
I abhor panhandling and indolence as much as you do, but, what you describe as the “Homeless Problem” will never go away by relegating your fellow human beings to outlying areas and/or specific zones. The one component that is missing from the comments I have read is simply the absence of any warmth or love. I have been caring for the homeless in Broward County for 2 decades, and I can tell you that if you want cooperation from them, the simple solution is to treat them with the same respect you show to tourists and your neighbors – they will respond positively, as they do to me, but they are so intimidated by City officials, primarily being pushed around, harassed, and arrested for breaking archaic laws that do not apply to others, that they live in fear and total apprehension, awaiting the next group of police cars to appear, officers to jump out, and menacingly order them off the premises, in 10 seconds, or be arrested. they scatter at once, many times leaving their backpacks and worldly possessions behind, which our respectful employees, police officers, promptly discard in the nearest dumpster.
Ten years ago, I sued the City of Ft. Lauderdale for the right of our homeless fellow humans to eat on a public beach. The city threatened me with arrest for having the temerity to provide food to our friends on what they called a “City Park.” After five trials in the Circuit and Courts of Appeal, the city lost, and I resumed my feedings, which fills the stomachs of up to 200 hungry people in about 45 minutes. We even take the trash back with us, leaving the area cleaner than it was before.Instead of harassing people down on their luck, how about trying a random act of kindness. I will never forget a phone call with your ex-mayor Jim Naugle. After calling me various unkind names, he came up with this bit of brilliantly callous philosophy: He said, “Maybe you should let them starve to death for their own good.”
Well, the name of my organization is Love Thy Neighbor, and brotherly love is what we offer, 52 weeks a year. But, although many people agree that we are part of the solution, not the problem, there is a problem, THERE ARE NO REAL EMERGENCY SHELTERS (those that will take a woman and 3 children off the street on a Saturday night) and we need more temporary shelters of a type different than those that exist, which offer 90 days of shelter and insuffient programs to rehabilitate persons who need a minimum of 9 months to a year of intensive programming, to turn their lives around.There are plenty of complaints to be heard, let’s try some realistic probes into what really could work – offering a kind of equality, in place of harassment, to people who really respond when treated gently.
Arnold- Thank you for your email. I am sure that the feeding you do is appreciated by many of the homeless. But you’ve missed a couple of important points. First, you cannot lump all needy & homeless people together and expect to find one solution that will help all. Most of them fall in to one of the groups I have outlined and require a certain set of services to assist them. And Broward County, the State and the Federal Government all have overlapping layers of services that help now. Second, as I have mentioned, providing handouts to the chronically addicted or alcoholic street people does nothing to help them in the long run, and can actually harm them over time by reinforcing a mental belief that they cannot take care of themselves. I’ve heard your common refrain over and over for the last 15 years from many advocacy organizations; “we need more of this”, or, “if we just had more of that”, we could solve the problem. I don’t buy it.
What we need to do is to stop pitying street people so much and start reminding them (gently at first) that they have responsibilities as well. They are humans just like you and I and have personal responsibilities just like you and I. As a person, they are no different than we are. If we stop feeling sorry for them, stop giving them free handouts and start to demand more from them, then maybe they will realize that they have the ability to change for the better! Earl
Earl,
You make a very good point that there are different categories of homeless and all require different services and support to break the cycle. I do not fully agree with the classifications you propose
There are technically four types of Homeless:
Chronic Individual/Family
Crisis Individual/Family
Chronic are generally defines as those who have been homeless for over a year at one time or have had 3 or more episodes of homelessness, and have some form of disability.
Crisis are generally those who are experiencing homelessness due to some crisis in life, many times a combination of external factors (employment/abuse/lack affordable housing)and internal (substance abuse/mental illness/limited social skills).
Then subsets within each include: veterans, youth, elderly, single mothers, domestic violence victims, etc.
For instance:
Veterans can be either Crisis or Chronic, and be a part of a family or a single. For instance, one veteran could be homeless because he lost his job and has little community (family/church/etc) support. It is the first time ever and he quickly regains housing. Another veteran suffers from PTSD and uses alcohol/drugs to cope. He is on and off the streets for last five years depending upon sobriety.
Now the problem with your theory of removing services from those on the street so that they have a certain level of discomfort necessary to force change has a few flaws:
#1 There is not enough housing/shelter to accommodate all that are forced to sleep on the streets in our community. Because of this there is no “one” group of homeless that are encountered in the parks. It would be nice if we knew that only those on the streets were those that “wanted” to be there. Except, every shelter in Broward County is completely full every single night and there are still 40-60 people lined up trying to get in. They are turned away and told to come back tomorrow. Why should those that are going to day labor, lining up for shelter, and seeking employment be pushed because some confuse homelessness with personal choice.
I often wonder if people are homeless because they drink, or drink because they are homeless. Life on the streets is no fun.
#2 You also fail to mention that there are many who are on the streets because they are mentally ill. They may be dually diagnosed with substance abuse and mental illness. If that is the case, they need treatment and support so they can get “clean and sober.” In this case, it isn’t just removing food that will get them in treatment.
#3 This method lacks a certain level of love and basic humanity that should be provided to all. If it was a family member that was on the street and addicted to drugs, you would never forgo giving that relative food. You may not let them stay in your home (they have probably stolen from you) and you would never give them money (they will buy more drugs), but you will always give them a sandwich. You may also try to spend time with them and discuss all the benefits that could come from sobriety.
For many, this is what church groups that feed are trying to accomplish. They want to gently love and nudge people into accepting treatment when it is available, while making life on the streets a little more bearable. Please don’t imply that one warm meal a day is what allows an addict to stay on the street.
Homelessness is a complex problem that requires working together to make our community a better place to live for everyone. It requires strong communities that support each other during difficult times. It requires affordable housing so that all who are employed full time can afford a safe place to live. It requires employment opportunities and ongoing job training…
Mostly, it requires a spirit of generosity and love that causes all of us to go beyond worrying about ourselves and more towards loving our neighbors (those in homes and out).
Robin Martin
Executive Director
The Shepherd’s Way
Robin- Thank you for taking the time to write, Robin. I have read your comments three times here; yet I don’t see a solution. I don’t mean to be argumentative, but I have heard comments like yours from homeless advocacy organizations for over 15 years. It’s almost like a script from some sort of “advocacy handbook”:
1: “The problem is very complex.”
2: “We need to show more pity for the people on the street.”
3: “We need to provide more services. There is not enough of this or that”.
4. “We all need to work together”.
I’ve heard this for 15 years and I don’t buy it any longer. Your organization is good at providing handouts to street people and many people appreciate that, but I don’t think that your group recognizes the long term harm you can be causing to those on the street. Every time you provide a handout to an addict or alcoholic, you are removing some of their incentive for wanting to get off the street. The very thing that you do can make the homeless problem worse. You organization should consider how to couple your help to those in need with a requirement that those receiving aid perform some sort of task that helps your group or our City FIRST before receiving that assistance. In San Francisco, I saw how advocacy groups actually seemed to want the problem to get worse; it helped those groups to become larger and more prominent in the political scene there. I’m not suggesting that is what happens here; but I think if we start expecting more from those who get handouts, maybe we’ll see better behavior and more personal responsibility demonstrated. Maybe they will start to appreciate that they have the ability to change. Constantly providing handouts reduces their ability to recognize that.
There are 5-6 acres of vacant land on the NW side of Sunrise Blvd and NE 4th Ave (across the street from Home Depot) owned by the State of Florida and leased to the Department of Children and Family Services (“DCF”) for $300/yr for 50 years. Other than a small portion of the land used as home for runaway girls, the DCF has done nothing with the property, including maintaining it. Considering the intended use for this property is to provide services for the less fortunate, the City Commissioners should look into subleasing it from the DCF.
I saw the list of properties under consideration by the City Commissioners for a Homeless Center and was surprised this one was not on it. I wonder if they even know it exists.
Eric,
I agree with your comments.
Some of these homeless could be put to work, if you could get an agreement from the state to bypass the minimum wage law. Kind of a liability waiver for the homeless to sign.
This would also help some small business.
For example, get a homeless to walk around with an advertising sign for 20 dollars for 5 hours.
This allows the homeless to pay for food, and maybe enough for other needs.It may be a bridge to something better. They no longer need to beg and bother people.
They could perform other services part time.
Jack- Good thoughts, but DO NOT provide cash!
I believe that we should provide services when the homeless do work for us, or the City or for a non-profit (ie: food, credits for shelter, clothing, etc.), do not provide cash. This provides two benefits. First, it avoids the State Minimum Wage Law; Second it keeps spendable cash out of the hands of addicts and aloholics.
I saw first-hand in San Francsico how the City, (in an effort to help the homeless), would provide over $350/month to the City’s homeless addicts and alcoholics. This was supposed to be used as a housing stipend. The homeless addicts and alcoholics would line up at 6am at 16 different check cashing facilities in San Francisco, waiting for their taxpayer-provided check. They would cash it, then go directly to the closest liquor store or their drug dealer, spend it on their addiction and be broke by noon. San Francsico General Hospital would be overwhelmed by overdose cases that evening.
Cash is the worst thing you can provide a homeless addict or alcoholic. Earl Rynerson
Earl,
Just want to clarify that The Shepherd’s Way, (my organization and group as you described) does not provide food and/or handouts for the homeless.
You wrote:
“Your organization is good at providing handouts to street people and many people appreciate that, but I don’t think that your group recognizes the long term harm you can be causing to those on the street.”
The Shepherd’s Way does two things: We provide shelter and support services for homeless families and we work with the Christian community to better serve the homeless.
In the capacity of partnering with the City and faith community, I am working to provide guidance and coordination so feedings can occur in a more beneficial way for all. Including what you so accurately point out, a way for the homeless to be engaged, give back, and get better.
While I like how you boiled down my statements to the following…they don’t accurately reflect my intent.
1: “The problem is very complex.” Sorry, this is a fact. The problem lies with people and people are complex.
2: “We need to show more pity for the people on the street.” Not more pity…just recognize their inherent worth as humans.
3: “We need to provide more services. There is not enough of this or that”. If we want to separate who wants to be on the street from who doesn’t…then there isn’t enough shelter or affordable housing.
4. “We all need to work together”. I think we do need to all work together, but wow that sounds like a chum-ba-ya statement the way you put it.
My point was more along the lines of strong communities that keep people from falling into homelessness, quickly help them move out of it, and provide stabilizing effects to keep them housed.
I totally agree with you that social services (be it feeding or housing) require the person receiving them to accept some form of responsibility for change.
I in no way advocate for more free handouts nor do I want to see the problem worsen. Giving addicts money is a recipe for disaster. Also, we do put homeless to work all the time, both in day labor and selling news papers. Neither truly helps.
I do advocate for better ways to serve those who are in need, so that lasting change can and will occur.
Free to discuss specifics at anytime.
Robin Martin
The Shepherd’s Way
rmartin@theshepherdsway.org
Robin- I’m impressed; your comments are articulate and there’s much you said that I agree with. I think it would be educational for both of us to have a debate over this someday. Maybe we could both learn from each other. Earl Rynerson
All in all, we have a problem with downtown Ft.Lauderdale. In the past 5 years, it has gone down. People do not even want to bring the family down to dine or walk along Las Olas or River Walk. I live down here and I do not even want to tell you what I have seen , while eating on 2nd street.
I, personally, really wish that the homeless people would get rounded up and shipped out of the area. Every single day, I have to shoo people off of my apartments property, which has no trespassing signs up all over the place. They refuse to move when I tell them that they’re trespassing and then start threatening me when I don’t give them my things, money or cigarettes. I have to carry pepper spray and a knife with me every time I leave the apartment!
And this is before I even get out to the road!
I go to the store almost every day, and it’s only 500-1,000 feet from my front door. Between my door and the grocery store, I am accosted by a MINIMUM of FIVE people asking me for money, cigarettes or my possessions! I’ve had to start instinctively threatening them in return with the pepper spray! I’m not a bad person, either! If I had any money to spare, or if there were fewer homeless people in the area, I wouldn’t mind fifty cents here or a cigarette there, but the fact that there are so many and that they seem to feel more entitled to my own belongings and hard earned money than I am…
I just want them GONE. Three years ago, I could go a couple of weeks without seeing any homeless people. Now, every single time I look out my window, they’re all over the place.
Thank you Isaac as your post brought me to this column and Robin Martin’s comment from over 2 years ago. The Sunday print on Nov. 27, 2011 ran a Q&A w/Mr. Martin by James Davis, S-S writer. All of the discussion was so timely as the FLL CC started to discuss (again) the homeless population once election challengers to them came forward. I think its time the elected officials pass their long delayed ordinance and also put in motion positive action to deal with the crisis.