Activities and Opinions

About 15 people turned out Thursday night at the Galimore to have an open and frank conversation with County Commissioner Ken Bryan on the issue of homelessness and affordable housing in St Johns County. The meeting opened with musician Eli Grimes playing two of his songs: "The Homeless Dance" and "Nobody knows Her Name" and had CDs for anyone to take. It set the tone for the meeting which was relaxed and instructive. (You can listen to the songs at the bottom of the this post)

Mary started by highlighting points from a speech given at the Beyond War rally in downtown St Augustine on 4/4/09. Text can be accessed here. Bottom line from PUSH research is that Housing First is the best practice and that SJC, for numerous reasons, has no 10 year plan as mandated by president Bush in 2002.

Main points included concerns about efficiency and accuracy of reporting by agencies serving the homeless, including questions about lower numbers reported for homeless in SJC v 130% increase in foreclosures. It was also noted that Food not Bombs servings have increased dramatically both in number and composition and that the mayor’s commission to construct a 10 year plan based on federal guidelines is 6 years late and seemingly meeting in secret. We wanted to know who at the county level oversees agency expenditures. Ken stated that was Jerry Cameron, who has appeared at numerous homelessness meetings over the past few years.

Ken spoke of budget shortfalls in the county of 6M for 2010 and 17M for 2011. He mentioned Tom Crawford’s work with affordable housing and Neighborhood Stabilization Program dollars and will talk with Tom about avoiding possible cuts in the SHIP program.

Ken also mentioned the county is looking at creative uses of DRIs (development regional impact). He also noted a collaborative and innovative arrangement with NAPA auto parts and the county to avoid huge county inventory yet still have just in time delivery of needed parts. Mary wondered if mental health and medical services for the homeless and poor could be envisioned similarly.

Sandy noted the number of foreclosed houses in her neighborhood and Ken advised setting the example by taking the lead in approaching local banks for information.

Ken mentioned the need for the "face of the homeless" to be presented to politicians at higher levels and to business people. He claimed a new St Francis House was not a dead deal and that Cameron and Crawford are still reviewing sites and fund raising possibilities.

The group opened up for questions and dialogue. These included:

1. An interim housing plan utilizing safe FEMA trailers on donated property

2. Diversion programs for incarcerated veterans and homeless. (Ken noted the sheriff was trying to get drug treatment programs inside the jail) He also noted the sheriff’s CIT (crisis intervention training) and it was suggested that this be expanded to the city police forces as well.

3. Lack of a comprehensive plan for the county is impeding any planning process. Ken made note of the inaccuracy of two health reports on West Augustine that astoundingly left out African Americans in the statistics, rendering the reports basically useless.

4. Lack of leadership at higher levels of government while grassroots actions by college students with little or no money and limited time are having a huge impact on the homeless population. Where is the leadership?

5. The Salvation Army had given up outdoor servings at St Francis House and has many good ideas but is constrained by organizational hierarchy.

6. A short history of a homeless man moving huge amounts of his possessions across the county highlighted the "move ‘em out" concept of homelessness management. Interaction with this man by 2 PUSH members resulted in a story of determination and patience, even when "transported" to the next county.

The conversation ended with a realization that PUSH needs to present the facts on the ground to higher government officials in a simple, clear manner. Plans will be made to construct a presentation in the near future and to secure a place on the commission agenda.

Ken noted he will contact Ken Asplund of the Marketplace on behalf of PUSH to garner contacts in the religious community for outreach, particularly as PUSH seeks to connect with Ponte Vedra homeless efforts. Ken also stated Professor Driscoll at Flagler College is holding a class meeting 4/16 at 2PM. (place to be announced). The students will be encouraged to address homelessness as part of a class project. Mary requested more information with the intent of attending this class with permission. When more information is available, it will be emailed out to the PUSH list.