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Homelessness - Its About Where You Live and How You Live |
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by Dr. Carl Mumpower
Op-Ed
Asheville Citizen-Times
2005
If
you are a person of conscience and routinely visit downtown Asheville,
you have probably felt the twinge. Most often stimulated by a
disheveled person with a request for "some spare change," you have made
the abrupt shift from relaxing to soul-searching. Some of us provide
the change while others say "no" or ignore the request. All leave a
little less for thee experience. We know something good did not happen
- no matter how we played out our end of the charade.
Homelessness
is one of those social quagmires that defy our capacity for honest
discussion and realistic solutions. Our downtown offers extremes in
those who support the homeless in a manner that makes Asheville an
attraction and those on the other end who avoid the issue altogether by
avoiding downtown. Somewhere in the middle lies a mumbling majority
wearily watching the parade.
Homelessness results from a variety
of forces. Some are homeless because they are social/economic
casualties in a complex culture. Having fallen through our societys
safety net, these people merit a helping hand to regain their footing
and hope for a future.
Our mental health system is full of holes
and some people leak through and onto our streets to form a second
group of the disenfranchised. Living homeless with limited means and
faculties is no good way to go anywhere. Again, our help and
compassion, when carefully administered, is well invested.
A
third group would be those who prefer to function independently of the
encumbrances of modern l!
iving. L
ike the hoboes of legend, these free
spirits may not, by our standards, live well, but they live as they
live by choice. Here the issue of appropriate help begins to get hazy.
Why should the rest of us fund someones freedom to muse and wander
without accompanying responsibility?
A fourth group is the one
that creates the most confusion–the homeless with a substance
addiction. It is probable that most who panhandle our downtown streets
are not pursuing food, shelter or transportation to a better place.
Most likely our hand-to-hand donations wind up buying a bottle of
fortified wine, a crack rock or a 40 oz. bottle of malt liquor.
Addiction, especially in the form of hard drugs or pervasive alcohol
abuse, makes most people into predators. The degree of antisocial
behavior can vary, but the phrase "predatory panhandling" was coined
for a reason.
Representing less than 10 percent of the homeless,
yet by some estimates doing 90-plus percent of the mischief, there is a
group of 20-40 addicts using our downtown to finance their habits. Some
have been arrested over 100 times this past year. Needless to say, they
laugh at our communitys version of law enforcement and continue
harming Asheville as they destroy themselves.
Homeless substance
abusers are not such because they cant get treatment. Meaningful
opportunities for recovery are available in Asheville but are avoided
or ignored. For some it is easier to stay on the streets than face the
dragons of recovery. They take periodic "time outs" at local hospitals,
at an annual cost of millions of dollars, but thats more about
medication, rest and good food than recovery. In fact most serious
addicts do not seek meaningful treatment until they have to, and that
"have to" usually comes in the form of court ordered treatment or detox
by default during incarceration.
What are the solutions!
? We can
continue to provide temporary shelter and growth opportunities for the
majority of homeless people who harm themselves more than the rest of
us. Programs that combine help with work offer a more dignified and
effective alternative than an unencumbered handout. It might also be a
good idea for us to keep our change in our pockets and pass it on to
restaurants, merchants and other businesses downtown sporting a sign of
"Help the Homeless" participation, allowing you to log and leave your
contribution at their establishment, which they then pass on to one of
the groups trying to provide meaningful assistance.
Another
crucial resource is a place where our police and courts can effectively
enforce the law by offering meaningful sentences to those who routinely
break the law. An overnight stay in jail does not impress someone who
has a revolving-door arrest record. A longer sentence in a no-frills
facility with a work requirement will more likely force action toward
behaving, recovering or leaving our community altogether.
In For Whom the Bell Tolls,
Ernest Hemingway once wrote, "Never mistake motion for action." As
regards the homeless, handing out change, offering help without
accountability, and indulgence of individual nonsense is doing just
that. Its time we start working toward an Asheville that is more
helpful than attractive to the homeless–more about substance that does
real good than sentiment that makes us feel good. In the interim that
bell continues to toll for all of us.
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