Beyond Shelter

April. . .and Beyond. . .

        

See “Lifeboat Lines”–the New Job and Housing Board!

Many in the host and support congregations (and some guests!) are already asking the right questions about “What’s Next?” after the shelter closes.  After March 31st, 50 more people will be sleeping outside again.  The lifeboat will come ashore and our guests–our fellow passengers–will disembark; they will be on their own, searching for refuge and a safe place to sleep–a place to belong.

The beauty of this model of sheltering is the relationships that grow as people are welcomed with warm hospitality, a shared meal, a safe and quiet place to sleep each night.  Yet, once homelessness has a face and name, once a person has been a regular guest in one’s community home, there may be no going back.  The voyage has already been shared.  Compassion has been the light at every port, and humanity has been our brief campsite. 

So, we ask and ask rightly:  What is Next?  Where will our new friends go?  What will they do?  Can we let them go back to the dangerous and uncertain life of sleeping (illegally) under bridges, in dark alleyways, in their cars, in the woods?  Will they once again be out of sight and out of mind?  Will be ever be able to put each woman, each man, out of our mind?  Wouldn’t this drive us all out of our minds?

Listening to our guests and learning from their direct experience with homesearching we can begin to build realistic strategies for the next steps as the journey continues.  Is another shelter, permanent or temporary, the answer?  Do we need another lifeboat?  Is a “cruise ship” any better?  Or are there islands of refuge where people can find something to call “home?” 

This will be the last year the little lifeboat sails the seas of sheltering (and my last as director).  Hundreds, maybe thousands, of our neighbors are awaiting real solutions, not simply lifeboats, cruise ships, rest stops, tents, or year after year of endless meetings with continual talking among the “leaders.”  People stand waiting for more than the uncertainty of a door that may unlock, a floor that may open.

Here, on these pages, we can explore some of the creative housing solutions that may be possible for Marin.  Together, we may begin to discover that the voyage of the lifeboat called Emergency Shelter does not end on March 31st–the Lifeboat is Marin, or the Earth itself, our common home.  We are all passengers and crew, sailing on with a hull of hope, catching the winds of energy and cooperation that create community yet to be mapped and explored.

Cast off!  Let the waves of ideas begin!

Wild Ideas

1.  Your congregation “sponsors” one, two or a family (building on respectful relationships, making agreements with clear guidelines and goals, etc)

2.  Your congregation keeps a list of available rooms or apartments of members for specific referrals from St. Vincents and other agencies (clear rules are established with agreements; supportive options are required such as case workers, job search, group meetings, etc)

3.  A coalition of congregations operates a “rooming house,” a motel or apartment building

4.  A consortium of communities puts MCF Affordable Housing Money to work creating realistic housing

5.  A “Wet” Shelter (allowing drinkers) is made viable

6.  Housing First (a model program in Seattle)

7.  Live-in care positions working for older people or persons with disabilities 

8.  Live-in caretaking, janitorial or security positions in congregations or with members

*

Local

Buckelew (for people with mental illness)

Ecumenical Association for Housing

Ritter Center (Hamilton Housing)

St. Vincents (Model for managing a small number of apartments)

Marin Community Foundation (Increasing Affordable Housing)

Homeward Bound

Affordable Housing (Marin . Org)

Housing Marin (see “Progress”)

Let’s Do It Now Campaign

National

Transitional Housing (Cleveland)

Hope Link (Seattle)

Elim (Minnesota)

Interfaith (Virginia)

Friends (Boston)