Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The Bridge: We built it, they came, now what?

By Karen Shafer of Street Zine

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Comments (34)

Photo by Laura Seewoester

The Bridge, Dallas' new homeless assistance shelter

Here I sit in the same cafe where I sat exactly five years ago, thinking the exact thoughts I had the first time I went out with HungerBusters Mobile Soup Kitchen to feed the homeless on the streets of Dallas in 2003. How are the people around me going about their daily lives (and how am I?) while homeless individuals in the hundreds are starving and freezing on the streets of our city?

This time, though, the public will has been mobilized, the $21 million has been spent building the Bridge Homeless Assistance Center in downtown Dallas, the "promise" has been fulfilled, hopes have been raised for homeless and housed alike, and much good has been accomplished, only to have it come crashing down now that bitterly cold weather is upon us. It Has Been Built, and They Have Come. And now They are locked out by the hundreds.

What a grim, and, for me, unexpected lesson in failed bureaucracy. People who know much more than I do may have seen it coming. I didn't.

There is much rumor and hyperbole around the disastrous new policy implemented at the Bridge since December 1, so I am going to focus first on what I know for sure.

What I Know For Sure

* People who do not have a Bridge ID cannot get into the campus for meals. The numbers of meals served at the Second Chance Cafe by the Stewpot of First Presbyterian Church has dropped to around 1,300 per day from around 2,150. That means that, currently, 850 times a day someone is being denied a meal that has been provided since May, 2008, and that Second Chance Cafe is committed to serving. This meal service was promised in national and local media by Bridge management when the center opened.

A friend who was licensed to feed on the streets, but is now prohibited from feeding the homeless downtown by a city ordinance which does not allow feeding outside the Bridge, told me a story of a man coming up to his car on the street outside the Bridge asking for food and crying because he was so hungry several days ago. Such stories are just the tip of the iceberg.

* The Bridge ID application procedures have been unwieldy and frustrating, if not non-navigable, for the homeless, to say the least. As of the end of last week, the process for getting an ID required standing in three different lines for up to 3-4 hours, and sometimes still coming away with no ID. Add to that that to get a Bridge ID, preexisting identification is required, and many chronically homeless people don't have that, or have had their IDs stolen, and you see the potential frustration inherent in the process. Throw in the percentage of this group that are mentally ill and have poor coping skills to begin with. Add to that the number of homeless people who have to be at work 6 a.m., when the Bridge ID lines open at 9 a.m., and you start to see the complications of a solution that on its face sounds simple and reasonable. There have been promises of streamlined procedures from Bridge management, and hopefully they will/ have come through.

People who were issued temporary IDs as early as Thanksgiving still don't have their permanent IDs. Sometimes they are admitted to the Bridge with a letter from their Bridge caseworker, and sometimes not, depending upon who is on duty at the gate.

* As to the Bridge sending its overflow guests to other shelters, I was out among the homeless during the subfreezing weather a week ago and learned that the shelters were requiring payment and identification, two things they are often without. But, more importantly, I learned that on those cold nights the shelters were full. Even if you discount the "shelter-resistant" population -- and you cannot in good conscience do that -- I personally saw and spoke with many people sleeping outside shelters on those nights who told me they had tried to get in and were turned away for lack of space. And, if you can't get into a shelter, you obviously can't eat your meals there.

Additionally, the working homeless are still at work at the time most shelters require occupants to be inside, around 4 p.m., so they are essentially penalized for having jobs.

Just this afternoon I spoke on the phone with a friend who is currently sleeping under a freeway overpass and offered to let him sleep on my couch. He said overflow procedures are in practice at the shelters due to subfreezing temperatures tonight, but, at Dallas Life Foundation, for example, you have five free nights until you have to pay, and he's saving his money until he really needs it (the current temperature is around 30 degrees!) because all the homeless are having to buy their food now since the Second Chance Cafe is unable to serve them meals due to lack of access to the Bridge campus.

When you add to that reports of theft and other problems within some of the shelters and you understand why there are, once again, hundreds of people hiding wherever they can and sleeping outdoors.

* The primary population this policy change has impacted negatively is the "chronically homeless," the exact population the Bridge was to target when it opened.

* A homeless man was seriously burned last week trying to stay warm in a parking garage stairwell in downtown Dallas.

* When I was at the Bridge campus on November 30, the last night that sleeping was allowed on the courtyard, and I spoke with a number of women sleeping there about where they'd sleep the next night. "We have no idea," they told me. All of these women were on their own, without the protection of male partners. I don't know whether you know what women alone face living on the street, but it is not a pretty picture.

* I personally know one pregnant woman who is on the street in this weather, and I would surmise from past experience that there are more.

What I Believe to be the Case

* While the stated reason the Bridge has closed its gates to those without Bridge Identification is because of issues with the Fire Marshall, it has been shown to be the case in the past that temporary compromises on these sorts of issues can be reached within the city for the greater good of the affected population, where there is a constructive plan and the public and political will to do so.

* While rumors persist among and from my homeless friends that two people have died sleeping outdoors in this weather, there has been no confirmation of this. However, what is being predicted by homeless people and service providers alike is that, before winter is out, there will be casualties of this current situation. We have to do all in our power to prevent this happening.

What Can Be Done

I am certain this problem can be solved quickly, and it must be. Here are some suggestions for what can be done. I welcome others in the comments section. It is not an exaggeration to say that people's lives are at stake.

For this winter, I respectfully request that we:

* Effective immediately, reopen the Bridge campus during meal hours to anyone who needs a meal. This has been the practice since the opening in May.

* Reopen the Bridge campus for sleeping for anyone who is nonviolent, and especially for women, and use the police manpower that is currently being used for sweeps of the homeless to keep order there if necessary. This way, people can at least be safe. Those who have previously been banned for violent or predatory behavior should remain so.

* For warmth, large outdoor heaters could be set up and a large tent with side flaps for temporary protection could be provided -- infinitely better than sleeping in the open on the concrete.

* The Fire Marshall could be asked to make special provision for the winter for an expanded number of people to be allowed at the Bridge until Spring 2009. The city or the Bridge should provide funding for a Fire Marshall to be on duty at all times to insure public safety for the numbers of individuals that need to be sheltered for the winter.

* These policies should be in place every day until a date to be determined in the Spring 2009, not just for subfreezing weather.

* Even with the cost of extra policing and fire prevention, the costs to the city are likely to be considerably less that the current cost of police sweeps of the homeless downtown and of providing for them through emergency services, (ambulances, hospitals, jails, emergency mental health services, crisis intervention, policing), as we are now back to doing, statistically proven to be by far THE MOST EXPENSIVE way to deal with homelessness, humanitarian concerns aside.

* Alternatively, or in addition, we could consider using one of the abandoned buildings downtown as temporary shelter, complete with Porta-Potties, and use Downtown Safety Patrol or Dallas Police to keep order there. Guests there could eat and use other services (bathrooms, laundry, storage) at the Bridge, as they were doing before December 1.

* Being a "Can-Do" city, I know that we can come up with the Code and Zoning permits we need to make these solutions possible if we feel they would be successful and effective.

In Conclusion

With the publicity around the Dallas International Street Church regarding its becoming a refuge for the homeless when they were turned away from the Bridge and other shelters, I don't have to tell you that there is unhappy irony in a tiny, poor, South-Dallas church trumping a $21 million state-of the art homeless assistance center in its care of the homeless population.

The homeless population is the responsibility of the Bridge now, and the staff there are being paid well, in a state-of-the-art facility, to handle these issues. It is failing to live up to that responsibility at this time. With our tax dollars supporting the Bridge, we as taxpayers are entitled to transparency and accountability, not just an effective public relations campaign.

It would be tragic if the promising start made by the Bridge towards a compassionate and successful resolution to the homeless problem in Dallas up until now were at this point seriously derailed by a policy that is harming in a critical way the population it is supposed to be helping.

Karen Shafer blogs at The Intermittent Volunteer's Weblog: http://theintermittentvolunteer.wordpress.com/

Pegasus News content partner - Street Zine

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Comments

alexander troup Verified

The Bridge is what Dallas needed in the 1930's during the Great Depression, and it has come a long way......Bums and Hobos of the early 20th Century made great Tramp Art later to be used for food and money in exchange for other services... 90 years later Folk Art, Tramp Art,became excepted as Modern Art, I hope the Bridge can come up with a source of creative concept to help the home bound...until then A/T. Folk Art Historian.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

gtobe Anonymous

Considering all of the big press they had with opening this facility it is mind blowing to hear it is going south in a few short months. Is it time for a management change or is it the city screwing it up? Someone must be held accountable for this mess!

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

alexander troup Verified

Hope for the homeless and hope you dont end up there on Herbert Hovers soup line.A/T. 1930S Observer from Time and Life.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Clay213 Anonymous

So in other words it's just like every other shelter in every other city.. and I'm not surprised at all.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

alexander troup Verified

Ft Worth has a unique location, while Waco and a the smaller towns have this problem under control, it is the big city problem, I recall in New Mexico, the authorites would buy and give sleeping bags and a trip out of town with some coffee at Albq....to the small folks who lost their way in life....in Dallas,

Ever since the 1870's railroad peroid, the Bum or Hobo has been a problem and a disturbing element, meanwhile they had few lady bum's back then...A/T. Cardboard Civilization.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Russ Vandeveerdonk Verified

I have spent time volunteering at The Stewpot Homeless Assistance Center, and other places over the years. The Bridge IS A GOOD idea and does help, but it is just not large enough. And we were not in a recession, at the time they made the decisions, on the size and capacity of this facility. Add on to the current site, call it The Bridge Part Two. We will need it. I might need to stay there one day, you never know with the current economy.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

alexander troup Verified

Russ, I support your deep intrest as my own on the fate of the Bridge, while in Rockwall their is an old home for the Bums and Hobos a Museum of sort that did this same thing....hang in there homeless...A/T. Got a nickle for a cup of coffee Mac.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

chrisdanger Anonymous

Its a darn shame folks who need the help arent getting it due to an overzealous fire department and overglorified mall cops working the gate. I think in this season (xmas/hanukkah), we need to take a moment and be thankful for the things we have in life: Like a warm bed, a roof over our heads and food in our stomach. These are things that the bridge is at present is lacking with providing and they should be held accountable.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

jtmbls Anonymous

That’s brilliant! Make a population that is incapable of functioning in society lots of rules and regulatory hoops to jump through when common sense should tell you that they are either unwilling or unable to negotiate rules and regulations, which is why they are homeless to begin with. Now who on the city staff did I pay to come up with that solution?

Is HungerBusters still allowed to serve food in downtown since The Bridge has opened or are they subject to this ordinance?

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

chasd00 Anonymous

wasn't The Bridge overwhelmed on day one? I think the going sentiment was they severely underestimated capacity requirements.

Still, I think you could build a facility the size of Northpark and it would be overflowing. Word gets around.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

alexander troup Verified

Life dosen't have to be so harsh, while if you think Dallas is in a fix with its homeless bridges, go East to New York, Phili, Boston, Detroit, the bread line is beginning to grow, and if we ignor the situation, which this event statement is not doing, then it will be serving the County and City of Dallas with a more positive energy to say, this is a great 21st Century City and no hype or bull about it....Peace be with you, this Christmas..A/T.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Travis Bush Verified

I swear, the people who have the money in this town are IDIOTS! Instead of utilizing the huge number of existing buildings over by the new cop shop, someone decides to build a facility that looks more like an art museum than it does a homeless shelter/support facility.

There are a TON of buildings over on Lamar that could have been renovated and used to house a very large number of homeless people. Did no one think of that, or were there heads so full of some unrealistic dream that it simply didn't matter? I imagine someone made a pretty penny building that facility and then retreated to their suburban domicile without a care. Good ole Dallas..even its best wishes turn out to be crap.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

alexander troup Verified

No kidding Sherlock, misers... and bed bugs full of scared old tight wad people who will never die.......Monster of Wallstreet, wooo I feel better now.A/T, Dime collector.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

ch0 Anonymous

Let's carve out a piece of Montana and make it the homeless state - give em some land and seeds and shovels and wish em luck. I might even join em. Some people just don't like to be shackled to utility bills and mortgages and such. We'll use the crazy ones for fertilizer.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

alexander troup Verified

CHO...They tried that up in Montana around 1873 and the Indians were later scalped by Custer, so they sent some bad indians back and then they scalped Custer...A/T...dont loss you head over poverty, or you might loose your scalp to Big Cheif..

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Travis Bush Verified

I have always believed that there should be some way that homeless people could be employed to do simple things around the city like pick up trash or help at the Gulch Recycling Center. This is probably way too complicated to actually ever be considered, but it would put some money in their pockets and maybe help them find some shelter, or even eat a hot meal. Terribly painful topic and one that doesn't seem to have a clear cut solution.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Pavel Lishin Verified

AT said what I was gonna, except somehow in a more respectful manner.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

gtobe Anonymous

Not big enough is BULL! When to advertise nationwide that you are opening a wonderful new center with great services and free meals and get this - NO RULES, every predator in the country is going to show up along with many homeless from out of town looking for better services. Many of the local homeless came with hope but when they are afraid to stay there or could not get the services they were promised because of the crowds you know there is a problem. So management makes the bright decision to start cleaning the place up when winter arrives. Great timing guys. It was out of control from the get go and now many of our Dallas chronic homeless are back on the street without meals because they have banned street feeding! They call that success? For who? Remember this article: http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-05... With a no-hassles approach to panhandlers, Dallas' new shelter hopes to kill homelessness with kindness What happened guys?

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Rick Yost Verified

I tried my best to not be critical of The Bridge. But from the start it seemed to me to be too small and flashy to be functional.
Cold, hungry, homeless folks don't really share our love of creative architecture- they're just cold and hungry.

I've been telling my street-buddies to go there thinking at least I was sending them where they could get help. Wrong again Yost!

I agree with Travis about there being many vacant buildings in the city which could offer shelter space. Of course we'd have to figure out how to get the owners of these buildings to feel benevolent enough to open up their long-term investments to the homeless. Since the homeless are a long-term problem, even if someone offered their space temporarily, until the building sold or something, if it did sell, they'd have to go through the un-savory act of running them out.

We just need to put up more facilities like The Bridge. Oh, wait, that would cost a lot more money wouldn't it? Oh well.

Still the richest country in the world, we have money for toys, gadgets, and bailing out the well-to-do, but we can't afford to feed our own countrymen and women living in poverty- many of them veterans.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

gtobe Anonymous

For those of you who would like to help, the Dallas International Street Church is making every effort to bring their building into compliance so they can reopen and continue to help many of the unfortunate souls needing love, acceptance, food and shelter. They need volunteer help, supplies and cash donations to do this. Their web site is http://www.kdministries.org/

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

georgemaze Anonymous

It appears that Dallas needs to follow suit with some of the other cities. During cold weather they provide emergency warming stations, emergency overflow shelters and not be so heartless to ban street feeders. If I see someone hungry I am going to feed them. i don't care what they say! This is Dallas politics my friends. They just want to keep the homeless and poor out of site and they for awhile at The Bridge. Now they are changing the rules. Not something I am proud of.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Travis Bush Verified

george..I agree about feeding the homeless or giving them change. You can tell when someone is living on the streets and not some downtown punk just trying to hustle some change. I always try to give something to the guys near my campus and have no intention of stopping.

I don't think it is the City's business to tell me who I can or can't give money or food to. The cops and the city would better serve the citizenry by dealing with some of the aholes that make downtown a hostile place, instead of worrying about small acts of kindness.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

alexander troup Verified

There are two types of homeless characters to observe.. in the City,drifters looking for work or a home and a cheap Community to start all over in again and the mentally ill who need help to deal with trama and addicton, I tend to listen to the drifter who is appearing sober....the Stew Pot has an Art show over at the Library now and they have been serving the homeless since the 1970;s....A/T. ..Homeless should not exist in the U.S.A in the 21st Century.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Tracy Yost Verified

We used to have a homeless guy clean our windows. He did a great job and we paid him well. Until we noticed he was pocketing everyone's cigarettes and lighters and no telling what else, every time he entered the building. He doesn't get to clean our windows anymore. He had a good gig and couldn't manage to keep it. I guess that's why he's homeless.

I do feel sorry for some of these people. I like Cho's idea.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

alexander troup Verified

It is a problem that even the Europeans now cant handle, and has immigration strings attached, while the homeless is the "Human Condition" Andrea Malraux had to realize in China on one of his books about how Socalisim came to power in the first place, was due to the out of work or homeless condtions people become...A/T...French Homeless.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

gzrs Anonymous

I wanted to address 'jtmbls' question about mobile feeders of the homeless. It is my understanding that the ordinance outlaws all mobile feeding of the homeless since the opening of the Bridge. I have been told this is particularly enforced within the 'Downtown Loop', bounded by I-35, I-30, I-75, and Woodall Rogers. I believe that the police are often compassionate about this, but they are within the law to ticket those who feed on public property.

Thanks for your interest, Karen Shafer

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Russ Vandeveerdonk Verified

Everyone has great ideas to solve this homeless issue. Living in this "money and wealth" driven society called the USA, we tend to think those that are homeless are just lazy, drunkards and thieves. Let me tell you, it can happen to anyone on anyday now. Especially, if you have used your income to invest in Wall Street or a retirement/investment group run by a crooked jew. (sadly many jews have trusted him with retirement accounts and now many holocaust museums and jewish charities are now bankrupt because of his selfish motives) So you see, YOU COULD, wind-up being homeless one day or even overnight. So helping the current homeless population NOW, is critical to our future as many others WILL become homeless soon. We need to deal with this issue and learn how to make it work better for our society NOW. Experience teaches and helps. The homeless are no longer just dirty, filthy drunks or crack-heads and thieves. They are veterans, former co-workers, good old neighbors and regular folks who may just be down at times. But mostly they are our fellow humans!

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

alexander troup Verified

Having finished Upton Sinclars the Jungle, publihsed in 1904, I suggest it as a good read on how and why people became homeless and bums and beggars in the labor force of the inner city of Chicago around the turn of a Century, while it is a very insightful story on whey we should avoid Socialism and this kind of event in our labor and community future...A/T, Future world.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

DC Anonymous

What event? The whole premise of The Jungle was an illustration of upper class exploitation of wage-slave workers. There are probably fewer more pro-socialist American writers from that time period.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Clay213 Anonymous

Stalin already solved the homeless problem more than half a century ago..

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

alexander troup Verified

Yes..DC, You have read the book it seems but, the spin of the homeless and the folks who were immigrants who did not know this culture becomes the focus of begin homeless from the stand point of character Jurgis who evolved into the life of Hobo.,

While 2 million Mexcian Amercian homeless in this country could exist, then what would we do, while Stalan did take care of the homeless situation in Russia in the 20's to the 50's, the one's who would follow his command,received support from the goverment, while the one's who did not...SIBERIA....A/T..Got a nickle for a doughnut Mac.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

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