When talking about the problem of homelessness in our society, how many times have you heard someone say “Why don’t they just go get a job? McDonalds is always hiring,” or “They should just pick themselves up by their boot straps like I did,”? I was probably guilty of that before I started working for Partners In Housing. The stereotypes of homelessness are pretty common. The reality is the cause of homelessness is varied, but it is seldom laziness. Some of the causes of homelessness are the inability to find employment, lack of affordable housing, mental illness, substance abuse and domestic violence.
Imagine if you were diagnosed with cancer. You had a few weeks of paid time off but in between the chemo treatments and the days when you just didn’t feel well, you were not able to work and you lost your job. Now, with no income to pay rent, and likely no health insurance, where do you go, what do you do?
Imagine having made some bad choices in life or maybe you had a little bad luck. But things are looking up; you are getting your life back together. You found a job making minimum wage. Now all you need is an affordable place to live. Where do you go?
I believe our society should have places for these individuals to go. Everyone has a story. Regardless of your story, you have a right to safe, decent and affordable housing.
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I have worked as Community Life Coordinator for 4 1/2 years at Partners. I have been a grassroots activist in my community of Noblesville, In., working most of my life with not-for-profit agencies. When I first starting working at Colonial Park I had this notion that I would “save the world” and change some lives for the positive. Little did I know that my work planning educational and recreational activities and working closely with the people we serve would change my life.
Here’s a little something I’ve learned….the work I do is mostly about developing relationships with people who have many reasons not to trust you. Relationships take a long time to unfold. We house people, help them get food, clothes, personal items and services that they need. All this is good. But ultimately, if positive change is going to occur, a person must have a change of heart and attitude. That is the commonality of all change for the good whether you have lived on the streets or in a new home in the suburbs. We are all the same on one level….the connection of being one as human beings. When we build trusting relationships, we can affect change.
On April 14, over 300 volunteers came from BridgeWay Community Church in Fishers to participate in our annual Spring Clean-Up. They came with truckloads of pantry supplies, garden tools, fried chicken and raffle prizes. It was a huge day for the residents and staff at Colonial Park, Linwood Manor and Gladstone. All of this happened because I asked Pastor John Blatzheim from Shepherd Community to help me out in my absence. I’ve known John for 2 years now….a relationship that I welcomed when he asked if he could come on Sundays to Colonial Park and provide breakfast and Celebration Service. John is making a difference. And now the Bridgeway volunteers want to do more…Pastor Dave Ambrose said it best, “Our main purpose in coming to help is to meet people, share stories and build relationships. If we get some cleaning up done that will be good too.”
This Saturday morning, our staff and residents will come together with over 270 volunteers from Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Shepherd Community Center and Bridgeway Community Church at 9:00 at PIH’s Colonial Park Apartments for a massive spring cleaning as part of KIB’s Great Indy Clean-Up program. They will also be joined by Mayor Greg Ballard as he visits the volunteers and thanks them for their support.
Colonial Park is PIH’s second largest property, and the “Honey Do” list has grown pretty long with a limited maintenance staff. The Volunteers will work on things like mulching, mowing, painting, stocking the Colonial Commons pantry, and several other projects, both inside and outside of the buildings. They are also bringing several donations of food and cleaning & hygiene items for our residents.
So, if you’re rolling down East Washington Street on Saturday morning and you see a mob of hundreds of people, honk and wave!
New beginnings are always exciting . . . and scary at the same time. Coming to Indianapolis and Partners has mentally energized me while exhausting me physically. I’m Cynthia Shaffer, the new Executive Director of Partners. I come to Partners with a background in nonprofit management and experience in several areas of human services segment. I feel passionate about the mission of providing homes for the chronically homeless and ensuring that all people have their basic needs met.
Partners is poised to leap into the future. We are looking at the exciting things other housing organizations outside of the state are doing and determine what we can duplicate in Indianapolis. Of particular interest is how they combine the property side with provision of social services. Many people who have been chronically homeless need to learn basic life skills needed for maintaining a home. Others need help in staying clean from drugs and alcohol. It’s important to help our formerly homeless neighbors develop coping skills so that they can remain housed. Helping our neighbors stay in their home is just as important as helping them get into a home to begin with.
As director of support services at Partners, I have asked numerous residents what they would like others to know about people who find themselves homeless. In my time here I have learned so much about those who want just what I want: 1) a roof over my head; 2) a little money in my pocket; 3) somewhere to go on the weekend; and 4) to hear a friend call my name. Please, allow me to share from the collection of lessons learned about homelessness over my five years with Partners in Housing.
- First, homeless people are people.
- Homeless people have feelings.
- Homeless people often have a lot of guilt and shame.
- Homeless people have histories from every socio-economic level.
- Homeless people are resilient and resourceful.
- Homeless people sometimes want a handout, but often want a hand up.
- Homeless people can have multiple barriers to success, including:
a. Physical problems
b. Trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
c. Mental Health
d. Addictions
e. Sporadic work history
f. Criminal record
g. Bad credit which impedes getting and/or keeping housing
h. Feelings of hopelessness
i. Stuckness in the cycle of poverty
j. Being sanctioned from help due to jail, type of convictions, missed appointments, non-compliance. These histories are often tied to their pathologies. For example, a chronically depressed person who cannot get out of bed in the morning and misses scheduled appointments.
k. Transportation issues
l. Backlog of fines, fees, costs (usually $1400-3000+ spread ) keep coming up and blocking progress. When fines are finally paid in full, then the suspensions and penalties often begin on the day of payment in full. Thus, the cycle continues.
m. Many do not have family who can help or who can provide support
n. Issues with the very systems “trying” to help them (ex. Have to have picture identification to get help, must be able to show an established residence, must have children, or “helpers”, taken advantage of (especially women)).
o. Advertisers sometimes target the poor. (Check out the billboards in poverty areas: cigarettes and alcohol are disproportionate).
- Homeless people know how to survive
a. Most know the systems (Welfare, Pantries, Clothing, Shelters, etc.)
b. Most know how to ask for things and put you on the spot
c. Being desperate drives some to exploit
d. The environment lends itself to crime and victimization
e. Some are ashamed to ask for help
- Homeless people keep getting pulled back into the cycle by peers and the allure of money.
- Homeless people have strengths:
a. 85% have a high school degree or GED, some college and even Masters degrees.
b. Most have had a successful job or career in their past
c. Most are willing to work (not lazy as stereotyped)
11. When given a chance 95% take pride in their new surroundings and want their place to look orderly and nice.
12. A network of agencies and resources are available (government, private, church).
13. Many “counted as homeless” have a place to stay (family, friends, place to crash). Others have limited options like: car, bushes, bridge, house to house, calls for charity, shelters, make-shift shelters.
14. Some of the veteran homeless are incarcerated for doing the very things that would have made them “heroes” if done on foreign soil.
What lessons would you have to share on your encounters with persons who are or have been homeless?
I guess I am the old timer around here. I have been with Partners going on 14 years. I started out working one day a week keeping the books for Partners. We had 2.5 employees at the time. Fast forward 14 years and now we have almost 40 employees, 11 properties and 588 units and I work way more than one day a week. What a ride it has been. It has kind of been like raising my kids, which were little when I started. We have learned a lot along the way, had our ups and downs, and now we are almost ready to go off to college. We have to figure out what we want to be when we grow up. Do we keep providing a continuum of housing ranging from affordable housing to permanent supportive housing? Or do we focus solely on permanent supportive housing as the answer to homelessness?
We have been innovative in the way that we created our properties; always searching for new partners and different ways to produce safe, decent and affordable housing units. The supportive housing industry is constantly changing, or should I say the funding sources in the supportive housing industry are constantly changing and seem to be harder to come by. One thing that hasn’t changed at Partners: we all feel that it is everyone’s right to have safe, decent and affordable housing. Our challenge going forward is how to continue to provide this housing that we feel is so important to our community. We have been visiting other providers to learn different ways of accomplishing our goals, and are always interested in new ideas. I would love your feedback, ideas, comments or thoughts, so call me if you want to share.
Indianapolis is abuzz with everything Super Bowl XLVI, and deservedly so. Downtown is amazing! Our city has been preparing itself for three years for this week, and all early impressions from the media indicate that we are succeeding!
One of the Super successes of this whole experience has been going on a couple of blocks down the street from our office. The Super Bowl Legacy Project - http://www.indianapolissuperbowl.com/legacy-project-overview/ - has re-gentrified a corridor of East 10th Street on the near-East side that suffers from abandoned homes, higher crime rates, drugs, prostitution and high unemployment. If you haven’t driven down E. 10th toward downtown for a while, you should make the drive. The transformation is nothing short of amazing!
Do these problems still exist there? Yes. In fact, just a couple of days ago, I saw a prostitute pick up a john not even 100 yards from the boundary of the beginning of the Legacy Project. But it is a giant step forward for our neighborhood. It is a battle won in the war against urban decay.
Partners In Housing has been a soldier in that war for 19 years now. Starting with The Burton Apartments in 1995, we have identified properties written off as “blight” (almost all of them on Indianapolis’ East Side) and completely renovated them into housing units for some of Indianapolis’ most vulnerable citizens.
We wish to thank the Super Bowl Host Committee for their work in bringing the Super Bowl to the Circle City, their selection of the near-East Side for the Legacy Project, and all they have done to revitalize our neighborhood!
One of my favorite books is The Soloist by Steve Lopez. It is the story of Mr. Lopez’ friendship with a gentleman, Mr. Nathaniel Ayers who after being in school at Julliard, develops schizophrenia and eventually ends up playing violin and living on the streets of Los Angles, California. The book chronicles their early friendship and the trials that Mr. Lopez sees Mr. Ayers experience.
Last year, I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Lopez at a National Alliance of Mental Illness conference in Indianapolis. During his keynote, Mr. Lopez said no less than 5 times that “supportive housing works”. This is mildly amazing when you consider that Mr. Lopez is a journalist, and prior to meeting Mr. Ayers was unfamiliar with the world that works to house those who are homeless and to provide them with the most appropriate supports available to help them maintain that housing.
Many times we drive by the chronic homeless and we don’t truly see them. I will always respect Mr. Lopez for making Mr. Ayers more than just another homeless face we don’t truly see, through this work, Mr. Ayers becomes someone for whom we care.
The residents we serve at Partners In Housing each have names and stories just like Mr. Ayers. I invite you pick up the book and after you read it, come volunteer with us and get to know our residents on a personal level.
A New Day. A Renewed Commitment. That is our staff motto for 2012 here at Partners In Housing. 2011 was, shall we say,” something else” for the staff at Partners. It saw the turnover of four of the six executive staff positions, including the founding Executive Director. It saw the turnover of much of our property management staff. It saw good people working through bad morale.
But as the year drew to a close, new leadership was in place and new expectations and attitudes were starting to take root. Several changes have already occurred internally and externally (Exhibit A – this new website), and several bigger ones are on the way in the next few months as the Board of Directors and staff work through strategic planning and rebranding. The staff feels renewed about their work once again. One Support Services staff member told me that she was the most hopeful about the organization than she had been in over two years.
2012 is a new year, but it is also a new day for Partners In Housing. Whether you’re a long-time friend and supporter or a newbie to the organization, stick with us this year and see what’s next!