10 Challenges Facing Homeless Folks

There is a great article over at "HomelessTales.com" addressing the challenges and barriers that sometimes keep homeless folks from receiving the benefits of shelters. Having had the opportunity to twice visit PLOW (Portland Learning Outreach and Worship) with teams of youth where we could learn firsthand about the issues facing homeless folks I can start to appreciate what is being said in this article.

Clearly it is a tough arena to examine and improve.  With many of the organizations providing support on a voluntary basis from their own altruism, from their own budget, it just doesn't make sense to insist on a certain "quality of service".  Certainly the customers they serve don't have circumstances that make serving them easy and the work can be thankless.

Since "something" is better than nothing (an incremental improvement but not a perfect situation).  Organizations meeting the social needs of the homeless receive thanks, and the clients are not generally in a position where they necessarily feel safe suggesting improvements...  With the needs of the homeless being so immediate, the idea of feeding someone is measurable and can be achieved.  With limited resources, the idea of feeding less people to make the meal experience more humanized seems foolish.

Given the creativity and dedication of the staff I've encountered serving the homeless, I can't help but wonder if some kind of "Council of Best Practices" couldn't be established to provide a code of excellence in addressing the needs of the homeless.  Like a Kaizen Practical framework for evaluating the quality of services provided to the homeless folks.  Not some "far removed" academic bureaucratic regulatory agency imposing unrealistic standards on overworked volunteers who are already stretched thin...  My 2 cents.  If that concept interests you, please comment below.

Anyways back to me recommending you read the other article...

So head on over and check out: "Ten Reasons Homeless People Choose Homelessness".

Cheers!

Greg.

The Cause of the Credit Crisis Explained in Pictures

There is a really informative video by Jonathan Jarvis at Vimeo which provides an overview of the credit crisis. 
If you have found yourself struggling to understand how everything could get so messed up, you might find this video to be quite enlightening.  

 

[caption id="attachment_368" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Credit Crisis Explained"][/caption]

Check it out The Crisis of Credit Visualized

Thanks Jonathan for the excellent explanation which was quite easy to listen to!

Losing the battle against car theft.

I knew we had truly lost the battle against car theives the day I arrived at the shopping mall and was greeted by a huge banner plastered across the front of the mall crying out “Bait Cars are Everywhere!”. Implying that one of the cars might be a plant designed to trap car theives. http://www.baitcar.com/

I have also noticed how the slogan for the program has changed from “steal a car, go to jail” to “steal a car, get busted”. Clearly they are not going to jail every time.

Technical solutions don’t fix moral problems. Time to drop the technical triumphalism and address the root issue. CAR THEIVES’ HEARTS.

Why the government shouldn’t gamble.

I don't believe that gambling is harmless entertainment. I continue to hear stories of how it hurts people with addictive personalities. How it hurts the companies they embezel from.  How it hurts the families that are neglected while they gamble, both emotionally and financially.

Gambling  hurts the businesses that otherwise would have created value by creating something. If a tourist spends money on gambling, that money is not available for souveniers / hotel / dinner etc. We are a debt ridden society and need to encourage financial responsibility and self control not irresponsibility. Gambling is a tax on those who can’t do math well. The poor and the uneducated are its most common prey. The government has a fiduciary duty to protect those most at risk. Gambling is an unproductive activity, which entices many to throw away the money they have to chase an unlikely dream rather than working or investing what they have.

Despite the promises of economic growth, it is my understanding that increased gambling in an area typically results only in low end jobs increased crime and reduced property value.  All of  this is at a huge economic cost of government subsidies. People work hard for their taxes, their taxes should not support such an industry. Many of the arguments used to justify the gambling industry are also used to justify the pornography industry. Those are my immediate thoughts and I hope to study the issue in more detail so I can speak less from my feelings and more from my head (I do trust my gut on this one...). 

 

Here is a letter that appeared in the Abbotsford News.

“this is in regards to the article “Langley’s new caasino coming up aces” (The News, Aug. 1) Economics 101: taking $90 million out of a community and handing back $4 million is not sustainable in the long run. This means people in the langley area contributed $90 million to a single business with a percentage going to municpal, provincial and federal coffers. The amount given back to individuals as “winnings” are other people’s “losings” and are nominal, usually spent back to the house. Research confirms that the first three or four years of a casino will be a honeymoon period. National and international studies show decreases in crime, improvement in local economies, and upgrading of unattractive areas to be short-term as addictions take time to take hold and personal / family resources take time to deplete. It is the long-term effects which are so sobering. A study by Laval University on Quebec’s Hull Casino showed that after on year of the casino opening, the proportion of local residents who gambled increased from 13.8 per cent to 60.4 per cent. The at-risk gamblers more than doubled, from 3.3 per cent to 7.8 percent, like many other studies showing availability and marketing increases addiction levels. The very purpose of marketing is to attract clientele and reveals the slogan of “people would gamble anyway” as the ruse of a profit hungry gambling industry. Like smoking, decreasing availability and advertising while increasing education on the dangers decreases addiction. The gambling industry is only profitable because it does not cover its true costs of operation. It produces addicts and smillingly hands back a minute amount of the local money, leaving communities to pay for the estimated $10,500 to $19,000 costs per year, per addict. While the province earned a net $818.0 million in 2004-2005 from gambling revenues, social costs are estimated (at their lowest) at almost $1.3 billion. So family and children ministries suffer, while the government robs Peter to pay Paul and spins the numbers to look good. As for organized-crime involvement in legalized gambling, I suggest the reporter do some research on RCMP studies on the subject. It only takes a moment to search and I grieve over the lack of investigative reporting that results in gambling industry advertising being presented as facts. I challenge “Black Press” to say “This approach is far better” a few years from now to the families of those who watched their loved ones slip away.

Since the letter was written, we've had a similar push for a casino here in Abbotsford; or uh, sorry its not called that by enlightened people, its called a "community gaming centre".  There is more thoughtful commentary to share on this topic, but that will have to wait.  let me be absolutely clear.  I'm saying government shouldn't be actively profiting from it gambling.