Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 15, 1995 TAG: 9510130098
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: G-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Such is the flawed foundation of Roanoke's Justice House.
Established as the proving ground for the utopian vision of onetime salesman, onetime minister David Hayden, Justice House was to shelter the dispossessed of a materialistic society, those left homeless by the detached forces of the marketplace in a capitalist economy.
The confrontational, finger-pointing "liberation theology" of its founder caused some compassionate people to cringe and quietly turn away, but there is no denying that the people for whom he passionately fought do exist. They are not the fiction of a political marketing strategist. For whatever reason - circumstances, choices, and, yes, a society that is generally indifferent and cruelly oppressive to the poor - there were and are people who cannot afford shelter.
Justice House has been a temporary haven for some of them.
Now Hayden has gone, his vision of a new economic order departed too, and the people who remain at Justice House are living with the crumbling of his dream around them. Ceilings have fallen in, plumbing leaks, utility bills haven't been paid, trash is piling up outside.
The sad state of affairs serves to remind that effective oversight and accountability are as necessary to ameliorating poverty as to any other enterprise. To their credit, a group of residents acknowledges that Justice House has been mismanaged. Yet they have so few resources, they cannot make it livable without help.
One has to wonder whether they can accomplish this with help. The house apparently is so deteriorated that it would take a huge investment to renovate - and huge investments are not recouped by low rents. Charitable donations, meanwhile, must be stretched to do the greatest good for the most in need. Underwriting this project is unlikely to qualify.
Even so, it is a community responsibility to ensure in some way that shelter is available. Turning to the social-service agencies that Hayden bitterly denounced in years past as accomplices in subjugating the poor, Justice House residents may find that their only realistic option is to relocate.
If so, the question will become whether low-cost housing - residents have been paying $150 a month - can be found that is in better shape than what they leave behind. Improving the condition of rental properties in Roanoke's low-income neighborhoods would be a good advance, albeit incremental, for the cause of social justice.
by CNB