Roanoke Times Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: TUESDAY, June 6, 1995 TAG: 9506070030 SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO SOURCE: DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
No one should think for a minute, though, that Roanoke has solved the problem of homelessness. Not only has the problem not been solved, the evidence suggests that it's getting worse - and may get worse again as the result of federal and state welfare reforms and a radical restructuring of public-housing programs.
This spring, for instance, the city manager's Committee on the Homeless released results of a biennial survey that showed a 45 percent increase since 1993 in the number of homeless using area shelters. It showed a 130 percent increase since 1987, when a report, ``No Place to Call Home: A Study of Housing and Homelessness in Roanoke, Virginia,'' led to the creation of the committee.
Moreover, the '95 survey's ``snapshot'' of homelessness was by no means the full picture. Many who suddenly find themselves on the streets don't go to emergency shelters. They bounce from relatives' to friends' households, under roof but no less under stress. Daytime interviews conducted by committee volunteers also suggested that many of Roanoke's homeless are sleeping in vehicles, abandoned buildings or outdoors. Some said they had been homeless for four years or more.
Most disturbing, the city's '95 survey replicated the findings dozens of other studies across the nation: Increasingly, the homeless are not bag ladies, not bums, not social misfits. They are children - often children with one or two parents who are working. The working poor.
What accounts for a situation wherein the Rescue Mission, for example, sees a 3,000 percent increase in homeless kids since 1989? The usual suspects, of course: Parents lose jobs. Parents grab the kids and run to escape domestic violence, drunkenness or drugs in the home. And some flee other intolerable living conditions: Rats, cockroaches, peeling paint, falling plaster, inadequate heating and plumbing - all so typical of low-cost housing - can literally make a family sick. These problems won't be solved by building more emergency shelters, though more of those will certainly be needed if the homelessness problem increases here as the city manager's committee thinks likely. Root causes need to be addressed and prevented.
Meanwhile, city programs like COPE (the police department's Community-Oriented Policing Effort) may help, by changing the image of public-housing developments as crime-infested danger zones. (Many public-housing units sat vacant this year while emergency shelters were reporting increases in clients.) More programs such as TAP's Transitional Living Center may help, by providing long-term case management for homeless families, including counseling and referrals for education and job training.
Meanwhile, it would help, too, if the private sector felt a greater obligation to provide decent, affordable housing for working-poor families, many of whom must now spend half of their income on rent or face eviction. Families should not have to choose between a roof over their heads and food, clothing or medical services for their children.
by CNB