Colorado Springs () - The Gazette, Dec. 11, on family wanting tiny homes for the homeless:
In solving the growing problem of homelessness, the public should welcome and support innovative ideas to get people off the street.
A local mother-daughter team, looking to help veterans, thinks the “tiny house movement” might offer hope for the homeless.
Few public policy dilemmas seem more intractable than homelessness, which defies a who’s whom list of politicians promising dramatic reductions in the number of people living outdoors.
We have working families in shelters, wanting conventional housing but unable to afford the region’s soaring rents and housing prices. Enhanced community efforts are underway to improve the odds for families wanting better lives.
We also have people living in tents, boxes and makeshift shelters on public and private land who won’t use shelters for various reasons.
Despite efforts, the problem continues getting worse in this region and throughout much of Colorado - even as we see record-low unemployment and a booming economy.
The problem is complex, involving countless combinations of poverty, mental illness, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorders, other disabilities, bad luck, and population growth that drives up housing costs.
Public and private interests are building and expanding traditional shelters. The Springs Rescue Mission opened a new building Monday adding 150 beds, boosting capacity to about 450. The new beds are “low barrier,” meaning individuals can use them without the requirement of sobriety.
With the additional capacity, city officials can eject homeless campers from a large and high-profile homeless community called The Quarry on private land in the south downtown Lowell neighborhood.
The rescue mission plans additional expansion next year, which will add a large kitchen, a 200-person dining hall, a welcome center, and 450 storage lockers for residents’ belongings.
These are all tremendous developments, but we will continue seeing people living in tents and shanties.
Temporary residence in a shelter can work for individuals and families willing to accept assistance in finding permanent solutions to circumstances that landed them on the streets. By contrast, other homeless people have no desire to live in conventional homes. They tell Gazette reporters and others they prefer the autonomy of life in a tent over shelter rules, shelter community and a future of working to afford conventional housing.
A Dec. 7 story by former Gazette columnist Scott Weiser, in CompleteColorado.com, tells the story of Juliette Parker and her teenage daughter, Faith.
When Faith did not get a new cellphone she expected for Christmas last year, she complained to her mother about all she did not have. To give her daughter a new perspective, Juliette connected with the local homeless advocacy organization Blackbird Outreach. She wanted Faith to see people who have it much worse.
The mother and daughter volunteered, as coordinated by Blackbird, to help with the state’s annual Point-in-Time homeless count. In doing so, they mingled with the homeless at a variety of camps. They spent the past year getting to know, serve and love the homeless.
The mother and daughter learned no one-size-fits all solution will work.
The two studied San Antonio’s Haven for Hope community, a model also observed by the Springs Rescue Mission. San Antonio provides single-stop services within a few steps of where the homeless are sheltered.
The mother and daughter began devising plans for a community of 60 tiny homes on private property to house homeless veterans. The community would include services to help vets with a variety of hands-up counseling services. They anticipate developing the project for less than $1 million. If all goes as planned, they will develop additional tiny home communities for other homeless demographics.
No one has come close to resolving our homeless problem. Tiny home villages might not work, but we should encourage innovative thinking to improve options for homeless individuals and families mired in a mind-boggling variety of circumstances.
Editorial: https://bit.ly/2UEeIhK
___
Greeley Tribune, Dec. 7, on Dane Best for president in 2044:
By now, Dane Best has the kind of name recognition that would make many politicians green with envy.
If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few days and haven’t heard about it, we’ll fill you in. Dane is the 9-year-old from Severance who fought city hall and won.
He wanted to have a snowball fight. That activity has been illegal in the town of Severance for as long as anyone can remember. It’s likely that the ordinance dates to the town’s founding in the 1920s.
Last Monday, Dane, wearing a bowtie, testified before the town board. They had some tough questions for him.
“Can we amend this ordinance to say that if you’re over 60, no one can throw a snowball at you?” asked Trustee Dennis “Zeke” Kane, for example.
Dane held his ground and explained his reasons in a presentation that lasted three minutes.
“The children of Severance want the opportunity to have a snowball fight like the rest of the world,” he said during his presentation. “The law was created many years ago. Today’s kids need a reason to play outside.”
In the end the town board agreed to amend the ordinance to allow snowball fights, and the town has even scheduled a town-wide snowball fight.
Dane’s efforts drew lots of attention. Journalists as far away as London called wanting to interview him. He even took the day after the town board meeting off from school so he could respond to all the interview requests.
Dane learned about the ordinance on a field trip this fall. He got a little help from town officials and has been working with them ever since to change the ordinance.
We’ll note that authorities in Severance hadn’t really been enforcing the anti-snowball provision in many years. Still, thanks to his efforts, when Dane and his friends throw snowballs at each other, they’ll only have to worry about the reaction of their teachers and parents, not the cops.
We think it’s great that town officials took this opportunity to set up such a great lesson in democracy. And we’re impressed with Dane’s poise and perseverance for his cause.
In fact, Dane already has a new cause in mind. He wants to expand the definition of pets. Right now, town code defines pets as dogs and cats.
But with Dane involved, we’ll bet that’s about to change.
Of course, none of us knows what the future holds, but we’re sure Dane’s is bright. We think he has the makings of a fine elected leader.
Editorial: https://bit.ly/2UAn1LD
___
The Denver Post, Dec. 7, on transparency being needed to protect Colorado’s disabled population from mismanagement of services:
Three years have passed since it first became apparent that Colorado’s 20 non-profit providers of care for thousands of individuals with developmental disabilities were vulnerable to mismanagement and graft.
A long-overdue audit of the systems released last week is disheartening.
Colorado Auditor Dianne Ray’s team repeatedly found that individuals weren’t receiving the services required by state and federal law, and in other instances, funds earmarked for supporting disabled individuals living independently in the community were diverted to other programs despite a large wait list.
However, it should also be noted Ray didn’t report any out-right misdeeds, missing money or abuse.
So what do we do now with news that these Community-Centered Boards are falling short of administering nearly $200 million in public funds in adherence with federal and state guidance?
The answer is more oversight from the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, and more oversight from the public.
In 2016, lawmakers responded to concerns that one care provider - Rocky Mountain Human Services had misspent large sums of money, including a $437,000 salary for its director - by requiring the entities to receive financial and performance audits from the state. The audit released last week is the outcome of that legislation.
But also that year, lawmakers considered requiring the Community-Centered Boards to be subject to the Colorado Open Records Act. They failed to take that step, and we still feel that was a mistake. These nonprofits are running almost exclusively on taxpayer money and they should be subject to intense scrutiny.
“We need a better way to manage these contracts so more money and services get to the individuals who have the disabilities,” Maureen Welch told The Denver Post’s Christopher Osher.
Welch is an advocate for the developmentally and intellectually disabled, and she described a system where clients and their families are too afraid to speak up when they have concerns about how the nonprofits are operating.
These vulnerable individuals need the system to be more transparent to protect them.
For example, 19 of the 20 nonprofits were not meeting basic state requirements for case management according to a press release from the state auditor.
“This included not monitoring the services that were being provided to recipients, not updating their service plans and not documenting case management activities,” according to the press release. “Auditors also found instances where some program recipients were not receiving the services outlined in their service plans, which could put their health, safety, and ability to remain independent at risk.”
Transparency would make it easier for families and advocates to track the services that are being provided.
Transparency would also make it easier for the public to track where public dollars are being allocated. One of the most concerning parts of the audit detailed how at least $2.5 million earmarked for supported living services were spent on other programs, despite waitlists for those independent living programs ranging from 130 to 206 individuals.
It’s the job of the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing to make sure that the money they give to these nonprofits is being properly spent and the individuals in these programs are being appropriately cared for.
This audit, on top of serious issues found in 2015 and 2016 by the Denver City Auditor, tells us that is not happening. Colorado lawmakers have another chance in 2019 to crack down on these nonprofits and require more of them and better for vulnerable Colorado residents.
Editorial: https://dpo.st/2zUpWWL
Please read our comment policy before commenting.