Mark Anderson said: I think it makes sense to cluster supportive housing. Isn't it useful to have different supportive housing close to each other, so they can help each other out?
My reply: 1) A high concentration of people who need all their energies to get and keep themselves in a healthy state, is a challenge on the energy and time of those who are willing and able to give the needed support in the community. Those in supportive housing do not typically have time and energy to get involved in helping a community to be a safe and livable place. They need to put all their focus on getting themselves healthy. I live on a street with 6 facilities for mentally ill and chemically dependent people. I have picked up a resident who was walking (with a cane) to her AA meeting in the pouring rain; I kept an eye out for one of the residents as she walked home after she told me (a complete stranger) that she was carrying $500 in her purse - I didn't know how many others she told or would tell before she got home; I advised a resident to go home and put some shoes on when she was walking barefoot on a very cold day). Some of my neighbors have had sadder and scarier experiences. These people are vulnerable. If you put vulnerable people all in one area, who is going to help them when they are out on the street and not making the best choices or are being confronted by someone with not the best of intentions? In most of the supportive facilities, the residents are free to come and go....they do not have 24 hour supervision. Many don't all need it, but they do need caring neighbors who can watch out for them and get involved when they need help. 2) Why is crime higher in areas where there is a lot of supportive housing? Ask yourself: Are drug dealers likely to hang around a facility of vulnerable people who have a history of drug abuse when all the surrounding homes contain people who have the energy and wherewithal to discourage their presence? Or are they likely to hang around a facility where there are numerous other facilities of like people who do not have the energy or awareness to discourage this bad behavior. My neighbors and I know the answer to this. 3) The residents of these facilities deserve lovely, safe neighborhoods. Why should they all have to live in the poorer sections of town? Why should they not have the option of living in your neighborhood? If we really care about them, we won't continue to plug all the facilities into the same location. Should they not experience the health of a really livable place? 4) Most facilities are independent and it is not part of their charter to look after the other supportive housing residents who walk by. It doesn't happen that way. It is very easy for those who do not live in a highly concentrated area to shrug this issue off. It is easier to let someone else worry about it. I know. It took living here for me to care about this issue. I don't propose removing the facilities we have…but we'll just create a ghetto if we keep piling them into a few neighborhoods. Rita Lavin Loring Heights _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
