People Get Ready

That’s the “Housing First” approach which isn’t just the dream of Sam Tsemberis — he’s actually doing it.

The Bronx Pathways to Housing project, featured on the PBS public affairs magazine Now (which WYES does a good job of burying in its programming lineup), recognizes that you can’t expect the homeless to become functional before they can get a subsidized apartment. It’s more humane, it’s actually cheaper, and it’s more effective to monitor and help them with their problems when they aren’t living on the streets.

The estimate provided in the Now feature is that it costs $100,000 in emergency room costs every year and a half to treat an average person living with mental health or self-medication problems on the street. It would be far less expensive to provide them with safe shelter where there’s someone around to make sure they’re taking medication and getting medical treatment before they need an emergency room.

The same mental health and addiction problems, compounded by a home lost during the hurricane and federal flood, is what kept Chris Turnbow on the streets for years without contacting his family. He can’t get the mental and medical treatment he needs until he gets an apartment. He’s one of the lucky ones. His family found him after they heard where he was in a prior NPR story on New Orleans homelessness.

Rumor has it that another individual with an office (and a budget) in the vicinity of Duncan Plaza was allowing funding requests by private charities for the homeless languish because he thought they needed to step up to the plate first. How’s that for turning the tables!

One charity which has stepped up to the plate, and which would no doubt benefit from a little extra assistance, is UNITY of Greater New Orleans, which recently responded to the crisis homeless problem in New Orleans by placing more than 200 of them in temporary shelters.

I hope this record of achievement isn’t going unnoticed. UNITY does now have a sizable budget to work with. With an estimated 12,000 homeless in the New Orleans area, I hope the new funds finally being provided by the city, state, and feds, are enough to handle the problem in a meaningful way.

Over six hours, including ninety minutes allocated to each side of the public housing demolition debate, was dedicated to the public housing issue in City Council chambers on Thursday. Thanks to the restoration of order after a couple of (regrettable) pepper spray and taser incidents — as Adrastos said so well, out-of-towners don’t have a clue about how we roll in New Orleans — mixed in with a little rain, locals were finally able to make impassioned appeals for and against the plans for demolition and redevelopment.

It’s a fact which is little acknowledged in the array of sensationalist reports sent around the country which merely focused on the riot.

Were I able to be in City Council for the event, I would have set up a recorder to catch those comments. I listened to the live coverage, but now regret that I couldn’t be there to record and share audio. I don’t do cable, so that’s not an option for me. Shame on you Nola.com, Entercom, Clear Channel, WWL TV, WDSU, Fox 8, and ABC 26! Now, regrettably, all I can find is coverage of the riot. Daily Kos’ Nightprowlkitty (also here) and I agree about at least one thing (despite an exasperated moment) — there’s much more to the public housing issue than the riot.

The harm being caused by our sensationalist ratings-fed corporate media ownership structure needs to be part of a media democracy discussion when presidential candidates finally recognize the need to Debate New Orleans Fate in ‘08.

At the very least, fortunately, much of the NPR coverage was balanced. In particular, Bart’s interview merits attention.

Of course, minds were already made up by the time the Council met to decide the issue. It would have been better if public officials had shown leadership by providing a poverty and housing conference to let people share their stories, unleash their fears, and express their dreams for the future.

We would all benefit from the act of taking pause once in a while from our kneejerk reactions to public policy issues (including myself), unpacking our ideological baggage, and just listening to people’s stories.

I’ll be wandering north to to the great white wonder for the holidays. Readers will no doubt agree that I could use a vacation (LOL), although visiting family is hardly the sort of relaxation I could use.

I’ll be back for the worst music ever show on New Year’s Eve, 91.5 FM.

Not at all in keeping with the above tradition, here a gift for readers — another great Leah Chase/Larry Sieberth song from a Cathedral Christmas Concert at St. Louis Cathedral (“Sing We Now of Christmas,” mp3).

And here’s something to look forward to in the New Year — in about two weeks (cross your fingers), 83-year-old Leah Chase (that’s right, mother of the chanteuse) will open Dooky Chase’s for seated dining for the first time since Katrina and the federal flood. It’s been a long, long slog for Leah and her husband Dooky.

With her restaurant located right across the street from the Lafitte project, Leah has her own views on the public housing issue from a fascinating close-up vantage point.

By the way, did you know you can save a snowflake in superglue?

Merry Christmas everyone — or whatever your celebration — and Happy New Year!