Homelessness: Is It a “Church” or Government Responsibility? Research Paper Example

Introduction

In the United States, hundreds of thousands of people live without housing within a society of comparative abundance.  Meanwhile, millions of Americans stand on the very edge of homelessness. Debates over homelessness throughout the nation have focused on whether the problem ought to be the responsibility of the church or the state. Yet neither institution can effectively combat the problem alone. The most successful anti-homelessness programs have come from positive cooperation between the two groups. Yet some believe that the separation of church and state precludes such cooperation and the government has often hurt, rather than helped efforts to stop homelessness. The government must begin changing its policies in this regard, for without major changes in our society, homelessness will be more pervasive in the next decade.

Homelessness affects an alarming number of Americans each year. The number of elderly, women, and children among the homeless is increasing. According to The National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH), 23% of the homeless are children and families are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. Homelessness has become a stark reality in urban, suburban, and rural communities alike.  According to NCH, 3.5 million Americans go homeless every year. Every night, says the coalition, 100,000 veterans are without homes. At the same time, violent crimes against the homeless are increasing. Indeed, The National Coalition for the Homeless reports that 2009 was “the deadliest in the decade” with 43 homicides reported. Other crimes against the homeless included the following: dousing with gasoline and setting aflame, rape in exchange for shelter, spray painting and stomping upon while sleeping; and repeated incidence of gang initiations involving stabbings and beatings. (National Coalition For The Homeless 8).

Many groups have launched efforts to help combat homelessness. A large portion of these are affiliated with churches. For instance, according to The New York Times, churches in New Haven serve breakfast to the homeless. On weekends, however, churches have services and cannot do so. Therefore, one woman, Unchu Yu, asked Trinity Lutheran Church to lend her its kitchen on Sundays so that she could take over feeding the homeless while traditional churches were in session. The church agreed, and Yu began her own “Agape Church,” where she and her family breakfast to the homeless every Sunday and encourage visitors to “stay with God” and to “get off drugs and alcohol.” (Cowan B1)

Other churches have launched larger efforts. Indeed, according to The St. Petersburg Times, Catholic Charities in Tampa Florida are attempting to build a “tent city” for the homeless. The city would be built on church land and would consist of approximately 250 tents and sheds. Homeless people would be able to bathe, eat and learn a set of life-skills on the land. According to The Times, the same church already has such an operation on Pinellas County and the program and has been pronounced “humane, safe and effective” by law enforcement and social services workers (The St. Petersburg Times 8A). Private organizations have also launched drives to help combat homelessness. For instance, according to The Dallas Morning News, four groups donated $250,000 each to a fund to fight homelessness. These were the following: Baron and Blue Foundation, the Harold C. Simmons Foundation, Highland Park United Methodist Church and the Meadows Foundation. Together, the groups gave $1 million dollars to the cause (The Dallas Morning News 6).

The government has the power to help groups trying to combat homelessness, but it has sometimes hindered efforts instead. Indeed, the Tampa Bay tent city was put on hold because of red tape. According to The Times, county officials and a hearing officer recommended that the plan be denied, because the homeless city did not match the county’s definition of “camp.” (The St. Petersburg Times) Now, however, the County Commission has begun working with Catholic Charities to help with the city’s planning.

But the Tampa Case is not the only place where red tape has prevented or made harder plans to help the homeless. In an episode of Sex and The City, one character, Miranda states, “There are no available men in their thirties in New York, Giuliani had them removed along with the homeless.” Miranda is wrong – but she is also right. The homeless have not been removed from New York City. Rather, according to The Daily News’s Albor Ruiz, New York City has now surpassed its record of homelessness.

But governmental officials in New York do seem to want to try to remove the homeless from the premises. Governor Patterson, for instance, cut funding for the homelessness services. Meanwhile, public officials ordered  24 local churches to stop providing beds for homeless people, because of a new rule that requires homeless shelters to be opened five days a week or not at all. The rule came right as temperatures began to drop during last year’s winter. According to Horin, this was the time of year when the homeless most needed shelter (Ruiz 32).  Patterson is not alone. Indeed, The Bellingham Herald Reports that The Longview, Washington City Council is now drafting a ban on homeless camping, after business owners complained that transients were leaving trash and excrement near their businesses and chasing away customers (The Associated Press).

These laws are not the first to impede help for the homeless. Indeed, in 2007, The National Coalition for the Homeless put out a report detailing America’s “Prohibitions on Sharing Food with People Experiencing Homelessness.” Among the restrictions in the report were the following: A Las Vegas City Council ban on “the providing of food or meals to the indigent for free or for a nominal fee in city parks,” a city ordinance in Wilmington, NC that “prohibits the sharing of food on streets and sidewalks,” and an Orlando, Florida city council ban on sharing food with more than 25 people a day in city parks.

Many cities require aid to be given through specific organizations. In Atlanta Georgia, aid can only be given through one of eight groups. Meanwhile, in Baltimore, food distribution is not allowed unless sharers have access to both hot and cold water. Therefore, according to the report, the city stopped a group of college kids from sharing food with the homeless (The National Coalition for The Homeless). Meanwhile, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, police shut down a Food Not Bombs program and threatened to arrest anyone who tried to continue it. The action was caused by a regulation that states that parks are not to be used for any sort of social services” unless the group has authorization from the city (The National Coalition for The Homeless).The report also points out that violating anti-sharing laws comes with harsh consequences. In Orlando, sharers can spend up to 60 days in jail and pay $500 in fines. In Dallas, punishment is worse. Sharers, according to the report can be jailed for up to six months and fined up to $2000 (The National Coalition for The Homeless).

Meanwhile, governmental programs are often ineffective. Only 37% of those eligible for food stamps actually get them. Although cities do often provide resources such as soup kitchens, homeless people often do not have do not have the means by which to travel to them. Other plans lack adequate funding. One program in Baltimore, for instance, provided vouchers that allowed homeless to pay rent.  The program worked. One man, Joseph hill was able to use his vouchers to find himself the first “stable housing” he had had in fifteen years. However, there was a fundamental flaw in the program. It did not have enough funding. Therefore, the program is now closed to new applicants (Anderson 1).

When the government prevents aid to the homeless, either because of too much red tape or because of conscious measures to prevent food-sharing, it does little to solve the problem of homelessness. Yet NCH also points out that governments can work successfully with groups providing aid.  Indeed, in some cities, the church and state have worked together to create some of the most successful anti-homelessness programs. For instance, according to the report, The City of Cleveland and The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless teamed up together to create a program that helped people on the street keep in contact with trusted friend. The city is also supporting efforts that will let individuals call an outreach hotline instead of law enforcement if they run into any problems with the homeless.

The City of Cleveland also facilitates meetings among different churches and care giving groups to help food-sharing and care systems become more organized. One meeting, for instance, revealed that while a massive number of volunteers served meals on Sundays in one square, virtually no one served meals on Monday. This sort of coordination helps improve the effectiveness of aid efforts.

The Church and The State are individually capable of helping the homeless. Individual governments, such as that of the City of Cleveland have been instrumental in making care for the homeless better and more effective. Yet other governments have done much to hamper aid to the homeless by thoughtlessly clinging to bureaucratic provisions or intentionally restricting aid efforts. Meanwhile, many of the government’s own plans have been shown to be ill-thought out and ineffective.

If helping the homeless must be the responsibility of one group and not the other, the church has a better track record of helping the homeless than does the government. On the other hand, it would be a shame to restrict the very real contributions some governments have made to helping the homeless. Therefore, the best way for society to address the problem of homelessness would be for it to encourage the thoughtful collaboration of church, governmental and volunteer groups. Only in this way will the homeless be able to find the help they need.

Works Cited

Anderson, Jessica. “Voucher program for chronically homeless loses funding.” 25 September 2010. The Baltimore Sun. 25 September 2010 <http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-voucher-program-20100925,0,2746737.story>.

Cowan, Alison Leigh. “Counting the Homeless to Help End Their Plight.” The New York Times (2008).

National Coalition For The Homeless. “Hate Crimes Against The Homeless: America’s Growind Tide of Violence.” 19 August 2010. National Coalition For The Homeless. 23 September 2010 <http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/hatecrimes/hatecrimes2009.pdf>.

Ruiz, Albor. “city’s homeless get cold shoulder.” The Daily News (2009): 32.

The Associated Press. “Longview drafting ban on homeless camping.” 24 September 2010. The Bellingham Herald. 25 September 2010 <http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2010/09/24/1634980/longview-drafting-ban-on-homeless.html>.

The Dallas Morning News. “Grant targets homelessness.” (2007).

The National Coalition for The Homeless. “Feeding Intolerance: Prohibitions on Sharing Food with People Experiencing Homelessness.” November 2007. The National Coalition For The Homeless. 25 September 2010 <http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/foodsharing/Food_Sharing.pdf>.

The St. Petersburg Times. “A Sensible Plan To Help The Homeless.” The St. Petersburg Times (2009): 8A.