In a surprise to no one who has been following the progress of Mayor Joe Boles' hand-picked commission on homelessness, Home Again St. Johns, there has been no word for months on a 10-year year plan to end homelessness.
It is now 17 months since Michael German of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness spoke in St. Augustine.
"Local mayors agree to 10-year homeless plan" -- St. Augustine Record, July 17, 2008:
Michael German, an Atlanta-based regional coordinator for the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, told the crowd of about 150 at the Flagler College Auditorium that the typically cold-hearted, profit-driven private sector could benefit from the warm-hearted work of housing homeless people.
It is now a year since the mayor's commission started meeting.
"Opinion: Businesses best to lead homeless effort" -- St. Augustine Record, Feb. 15, 2009:
"We're not governmental, and we're not stakeholders. We're bankrollers. It is costing us more to ignore homelessness." That is St. Augustine Mayor Joe Boles' assessment of the impact of homelessness on businesses.
"Plans on track to curb homelessness" -- St. Augustine Record, May 31, 2009.
It's been seven months since the community was promised a plan, not a "paperweight" by the commission's chairperson. "How many "paperweights" started out with great enthusiasm and are now stacked on shelves in offices? We're confident this plan will be successful. Its leadership is in the hands of business leaders. They don't waste time. They're goal-setters and action oriented."
When People United to Stop Homelessness (PUSH), gave a presentation to the St. Johns County Commission in June 2009, they showed camps and migrant housing conditions and gave testimonies based on personal interactions with our homeless. Prior to the meeting, PUSH was assured by Jerry Cameron, Assistant County Administrator, that the Home Again St. Johns' report would be released in mid-December 2009. With that timetable in mind, PUSH volunteered to survey the county and provide the Home Again St Johns commission with some real numbers and locations of camps. This information could also be useful for both the point in time survey for HUD in January 2010 and the U.S. Census in March 2010.
After weeks of advance planning and mapping the county using topological and satellite images, volunteers spread out into the woods and rural areas as well as St. Augustine, St. Augustine Beach, Ponte Vedra, Hastings and Armstrong. A pilot survey form and a count sheet, designed by the Center for Community Initiatives at University of North Florida, were used. This project was completed over a two-week period in November 2009 and a preliminary report is available on the PUSH Web site: www.pushsjc.org The Center for Community Initiatives offered to perform the statistical analysis and release a full report at a later date.
So there's now actionable data. The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness has already provided a proven template for a Ten Year Plan, which has reduced homelessness in cities all across the nation by up to 40%. Home Again St. Johns needs to use this data and the already identified resources in our area and then acquire the necessary funding streams. Excuses about the economy and lack of funding don't wash: you don't get grant money without a clear, actionable plan.
After the massive destruction the "cold-hearted, profit-driven private sector" has wrought on our society, is it any surprise that "bankrollers" can't seem to come up with a plan to end homelessness? No, not to those of us who have been watching and waiting, along with the homeless and the impoverished, for the last year and a half.
-- Mary Lawrence
Originally appearing in the St. Augustine Record
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