PORTSMOUTH
City leaders are poised to enact a 10-year plan to wipe out homelessness.
The City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on the initiative, which members embraced during a work session this month.
"We've been piecemealing it for a long time, and the homeless problem is not going to go away," Councilwoman Marlene Randall said.
Portsmouth's plan comes as the Police Department has stepped up efforts downtown to address homelessness. It represents a commitment from the city to work with volunteer groups on the issue. Officials hope to recruit business and civic group leaders to the cause. But budget constraints may limit how much of the plan is enacted.
The city did not state a specific amount of money that it will devote to the effort. But documents provided to council members show Portsmouth would, among other things, commit money to pay for single-room-occupancy apartments.
The city would work with agencies and volunteer groups to provide mental, physical and financial help.
"Will we be able to do everything? No. But it would be far worse to do nothing at all," Portsmouth's director of social services, Rusty Jordan, said at a meeting last week.
The city has been working on the plan since 2006, when leaders joined a regional effort to combat homelessness. Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake have enacted similar plans.
Development of the plan fulfills a requirement of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Planning Council President Suzanne Puryear told council members.
Without it, according to the proposal, HUD could take money from the roughly $730,000 a year that city agencies receive to fund homeless programs. Portsmouth also has received additional HUD funding for homeless efforts through state agencies.
In January, a survey counted 222 homeless people in Portsmouth, Puryear told council members. The real figure is probably double or triple that, she said.
An in-depth count revealed that homeless people said they had serious mental illnesses, were chronic substance abusers, were veterans or were victims of domestic abuse, according to the city's proposal.
The city hopes to collect better data on the homeless, focus on homeless prevention, expand housing and help the coalition identify other resources that are already available, such as Medicaid.
"It helps strengthen us all to be on the same sheet of music," said Annie White-Guertin, executive director of the Portsmouth Area Resources Coalition.
The plan calls for changing the name of a homeless advisory group from the Portsmouth Homeless Advisory Committee to the Portsmouth Homeless Action Committee.
There used to be "real dynamic tension" between city leadership and the volunteer community over homelessness six to eight years ago, Councilman Doug Smith said.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Psimas, a downtown business owner and resident, said she and others have been concerned that some city visitors and customers are afraid of homeless people.
"For those of us whose livelihood depends on the customer walking in the door... those people affect us. I want to be compassionate, but I've got to make a living and I've got employees to support," Psimas said.
Puryear said the plan calls for aggressive outreach in the city's business corridors.
Jen McCaffery, (757) 446-2627, jen.mccaffery@pilotonline.com
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"Do
unto others as you would have them do unto you." It's that simple.
I wish
Portsmouth could come up with a ten year plan to improve the lives of its taxpayers in lieu of the welfare crowd. Oh this just in. Portsmouth City Council has voted 7-0 to releive the taxpayers of their wallets by 2018 to end homelessness.
Dear SONO Resident
But there are many who abuse the system and do not try to get on their feet. I have literally offered to buy a meal for the person begging for change and they just wanted the beer money, which I refused.
Walk in their shoes
Before you judge all of the people on the street in Portsmouth as being drug addicts, alcoholics, deadbeats and low life you need to look at each one individually.
Most of them are trapped in a downward spiral because of something that happened in their life. Many of them have mental disorders and cannot receive proper medical assistance to stabilize them. Most of them do not receive enough money to even rent an apartment or get off the street.
Yes they drink, some do drugs, they have body odor and wear old clothes.
What would you do if you lost everything, were turned away by society, and kicked to the curb?
These are humans beings that have gone through rough times. They need a helping hand up. They don't need to be kicked again.
I know because I work with people (not Oasis directly) that minister to these people.
They want to be loved. They want ot find value in their lives and they want to know that they are accepted by society. This is what we all want. They are trapped because of issues in their lives.
More Freebies for those with Brown Paper Bags
Homeless shelters and programs should be targeting the veterans and the elderly who legitimately need assistance (and deserve it). From what I see as I am passing by the Oasis shelter, is that the people lining up for the free "help" are the same people who have been sitting all day just a block or two away from the shelter drinking their alcohol in a brown paper bag and congregating with the rest of their bunch. Now, if it was me sitting on the corner with a brown paper bag, I would be the first to obtain a drinking in public/open container ticket. Why aren't these people being ticketed, "shewed away", etc.? No, good ole Portsmouth offers free help just a block away. These people scare me as a resident, scare people stopping in for gas (literally, I had a girl ask me for directions to the Portsmouth Naval Hospital and she was in tears because of the scenery she was seeing in this strange town (to her)). These homeless shelters (like welfare) should not be a way of life, but a stepping stone to a better life. No, I will not give you my spare change but I will buy you a cheeseburger.
Homelessness
I think we need to concentrate on our senior citizens and retirees that
have just lost half of their income on the old city retirement plan before they become homeless. We don't need a homeless hotel for able bodied people that can work. We desparately need to take a look at the mental institutions that are putting so many people on the street and they are not mentally capable for caring for themselves. Community based case is not working. Deinstitutionalization is a farce.
Why is it
That Norfolk has 2-1/2 times the population yet has about the same amount of homeless. Because they are not trying to attract the homeless like P-town is. Norfolk spends half the amount per capita on Social Services/Welfare that P-town does. The idiots that run P-town try and tell you that for every 20 cents that they spend on welfare, the Federal Gov adds 80 cents. That is why you have people walking from New York to get here because of the great handouts P-town gives. I wish the Pilot would do an article on how much aid the derelicts that hang out at the Oasis get: full SS benefits at 2 grand a month plus free shelter, food stamps etc. Makes me wonder who is smarter, someone who has worked 1 & 2 jobs for 34 years or someone who gets a ride to the Oasis to sit on the sidewalk waiting for their handout.
TEN YEARS AND MAYBE 100,000 homeless in Portsmouth
With the continued problem of Portsmouth's residents being taxed at a higher rate than any other Hampton Roads City, the City Council should ask the Federal and States Government for additional monies to provide assistance for all the Portsmouth residents who have been TAXED out of their homes. Portsmouth also provides more public and subsidized housing per square mile than again, any other Hampton Roads City! When is enough, enough. Council should just wait until after that Lucas project that they are bound to pass, fails, and there will be plenty of room for the homeless there......at the taxpayers expense of course.
From the diary of an Urban Outdoorsman
I woke up this morning from a bed that was kindly provided for me, was bused back to Oasis where I walked over to Green Street where I can have a free breakfast and shower. Caught up with my buddies and we found a quiet spot on Queen Street to hang out and shoot the sh...! We decided to take a stroll down High Street where we can hit on people for money. Worked the streets for a couple of hours and raised enough change to buy my evening entertainment. Sat on a bench for the rest of the afternoon until time to go to the "church of the day" for my free dinner. Had a wonderful meal with my buddies. No trash can around so I threw my dinner plate and chicken bones on the side of the street so one of the resident dogs can choke on it. Time to visit 7-11 for my evening refreshments. Maybe tonite I'll camp out instead of dealing with the church bed. It is sometimes hard to stumble over when I'm three sheets to the wind. I wish things were like they use to be when the buildings on High Street were all boarded up and no one bothered me.
Let them move
to Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach. I know, it seems I'm a heartless monster. No, what I am is a realist. Portsmouth does not need to be a sinkhole for every man and woman that has probably made a series of bad choices throughout their lives. They add NOTHING to this city. They give NOTHING back to this city. We can't afford them. Oh, everyone knows how much our city leadership loves a federal handout for these projects. To what end? Does the City of Portsmouth really need to tip the scale of tax paying citizens further below the 50% mark than it already is? These one room occupancy facilities will end up with two, three, oe four to the room. Crime will escalate. Conditions will plummet. We need look no further than London Oaks or defunct Jeffery Wilson to see what this 'entitlement' mindset brings to society.
Homelessness
I'm all for lending a hand. But let's not forget the saying, "build it and they will come."