NEWSBYNEIL DONOVAN

Neil Donovan is part of Change.org's Changemakers network, comprised of leading voices for social change. Neil is the Executive Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Hundreds of families on the brink of homelessness in New York City are part of a draconian experiment cooked up under the supervision of the new and troubling commissioner of the Department of Homeless Services, Seth Diamond. The two-year test, under controlled conditions, divides 400 families into "haves" and "have-nots." Two hundred families who "have" are enrolled in the Homebase project, receiving rental assistance, job training and other "wrap-around" services. The 200 families who "have-not" are required to manage without help.

The mission of the NYC Department of Homeless Services is supposedly to " ... prevent homelessness wherever possible and provide short-term emergency shelter and re-housing support whenever needed." DHS should not be in the business of social experimentation. This type of testing has grown over the past quarter century, with mounting concerns about the lack of public debate on research ethics prior to testing. This valid concern is glaringly evident in DHS' Homebase project.

Experimenters should be troubled by numerous past studies that produced little to no usable qualitative data, but produced negative effects for participants that exist far beyond the studies. Project Access, a multi-state mental health study (1992-97), which provided housing and mental health services to one group of mentally ill individuals living in persistent poverty versus another group that were left to fend for themselves, had insubstantial findings that were never published. Hundreds of thousands of tax dollars were spent affirming the common wisdom that housing the "haves" helped. But, the tragic lasting toxic effects on the "have-nots" are still evident, persistent and measurable today.

Neil Donovan is part of Change.org's Changemakers network, comprised of leading voices for social change. Neil is the Executive Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced this morning the findings from its annual report, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2009 (pdf). The Census reported a poverty rate of 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million Americans, slightly lower than the grim predictions of 14.8 to 15 percent. The 14.3 percent poverty rate jumped from last year's 13.2 percent and is the highest rate since 1994.

The new poverty rate is the clearest indicator-to-date that social constraints prevent those living in poverty from working and just as clearly refutes the notion that those living in poverty choose to not work, though given the opportunity.

The 2009 report will be the last year, since the reporting began in 1959, when only certain categories of underreporting will occur. Beginning next year, the Census will publish figures that take into account the rising costs of medical care, transportation and child care. National poverty figures will certainly show an ever higher poverty rate after factoring in the new supplemental data.

The Census further omits the impact of significant elements of the Recovery Act. While factoring household cash income received through unemployment insurance benefits, the Census leaves out household assistance received from tax credits and other non-cash benefits, such as food stamps.

Neil Donovan is part of Change.org's Changemakers network, comprised of leading voices for social change. Neil is the Executive Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Much has been reported on the tragic death of Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax, a New Yorker who stopped to help a woman being attacked and was murdered as a result. He lay unattended for more than an hour, with people walking past, before emergency workers arrived. Tale-Yax was a homeless immigrant, descriptions that seem less relevant than his heroism. But, the question "who was he?" is relevant. He symbolized people often criticized, ostracized and marginalized, who are often forgotten or passed over. However, we now draw upon the title of hero and Good Samaritan swiftly, with no dissonance or conflict, concerning our treatment of him, prior to his heroic act.

The Story of the Good Samaritan was told in response to a question posed to Jesus, "Who is our neighbor?" Samaritans were considered by many, in their time, an under-class in conflict with the Jews. The story describes a Jew attacked and left for dead. A priest and Levite passed him by, while a Samaritan stopped and helped him out. The question then asked by Jesus was "Which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?"

As New Yorkers and the National Coalition for the Homeless welcome Commissioner Seth Diamond to the Department of Homeless Services, it is both important and timely to draw from this horrific experience and ask the Commissioner, "Was Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax your neighbor?" Tale-Yax lay in the street not due to the callous response of a few New Yorkers. He lay there because homeless people lying on the streets of New York is not shocking or disturbing or unexpected.

Neil Donovan is part of Change.org's Changemakers network, comprised of leading voices for social change. Neil is the Executive Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Mayor Bloomberg accepted the resignation of New York City's embattled Homeless Services Commissioner, Rob Hess, yesterday and announced that Seth Diamond, a former Giuliani welfare over-hauler, would replace him. Diamond will be saddled with the ballooning number of homeless families and responsibility for implementing a new and highly controversial strategy of charging homeless people rent for the use of a homeless shelter.

At an interview yesterday, Diamond described his transition, "I think even though I haven't worked directly in the homelessness system, I think I have enough experience that I can do well there." He went on to explain, "What we've done there [in the NYC Welfare System], which I think is applicable in a lot of ways to the homeless system, is setting high expectations for people, supporting them as they try and reach those expectations, strongly supporting people who go to work, and having some consequences for people who fail to take advantage of some of the opportunities that we make available," he said.

The National Coalition for the Homeless is also setting high but reasonable expectations for Seth Diamond as NYC's new commissioner of homeless services. He should be supported, as he tries to reach his goals and expectations. But, it should also be understood, right from the beginning, that there will be some real consequences if he fails to take advantage of the resources and opportunities he has available working with and for the wonderful homeless men and women of New York City.

Photo credit: moriza

Neil Donovan is part of Change.org's Changemakers network, comprised of leading voices for social change. Neil is the Executive Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.

It is unknown nearly how many homeless people live in the United States. America's inability to define the size and nature of its homeless population is at the very least negligent, with far-reaching social, political, legal and financial implications. Governmental and community approaches to prevent, manage or end homelessness are all compromised by an inability to follow the basic principle that size, density and distribution are all essential variables to predict and ensure an effective solution to one of America's most significant and persistent social ills.

The United States Constitution describes a time-tested but imperfect enumeration process, a census of all free people, to apportion congressional representation and taxation by state. The Constitution directs the government to count those residing in America within three years of the first meeting of Congress and then within every subsequent period of ten years. The law applies to every resident, unless you're homeless, and then recent court decisions have determined that those who are un-housed are collectively innumerable — uncountable — Down for the Count.

The solution to the innumerability of those un-housed and the most appropriate method of determining the incidence and prevalence of homeless in the United States is statistical sampling. Currently there exist reliable indicators to generate local, regional and national estimates of homelessness, including eviction rates, move-out rates, public housing waiting list counts, losses in affordable housing units, foreclosure incidents, homeless children and youth numbers in school districts, and additional contacts with specialized services providers. Collectively, these indicators constitute a valid body of information from which to draw a reasonable approximation of those who are experiencing homelessness.

The U.S. Court of Appeals decided in 1996 (case link) " ... that failure to count all the homeless was not a failure to perform a constitutional duty; the Constitution does not give individuals a right to be counted or a right to a perfectly accurate census." The U.S. Census Bureau, charged with the constitutional responsibility of conducting the national census, argued in this case that statistical sampling, as a method of counting un-housed residents for apportionment, would violate the Census Act of 1976. Armed with the federal court's decision and guidance, the Bureau has since conducted legally sanctioned undercounts of American residents.

Neil J. Donovan is part of Change.org's Changemakers network, comprised of leading voices for social change. Neil is the executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.
The Butler family has honored this country for generations, at first while enslaved and now free, though persistently poor. So it came as no surprise when the youngest member of the Butler family, Adam, raised his right hand and swore to protect and defend the United States of America.
Their surprise came a decade later when Adam, living in the nation's capital, became one of the tens of thousands of mentally ill homeless veterans hidden in the shadows of the world's wealthiest country.
For the past four decades, Americans have tried unsuccessfully to cure the social ill of modern homelessness by treating its symptoms rather than its causes. A severe lack of affordable housing and a scarceness of jobs that pay a living wage are the root causes of homelessness. But, failing a final solution-based strategy to ending homelessness, we're now assigning rank-and-resources within a hierarchy of needs and conditions, measured along a compassion scale of those who are deserving, less-deserving and undeserving.

Efforts over the past eight years to reduce one of the most visible signs of America's poverty -- chronic homelessness -- have been moderately successful. But the ultimate and important goal of abolishing chronic homelessness, as a tipping point to ending all homelessness, has not been reached. So like many illnesses, chronic homelessness, as a social ill, will have its symptoms wane, its cures will lessen and attention will be paid elsewhere. And like most illnesses, the symptoms will re-emerge stronger and more resistant.

The newest campaign against homelessness is focused on homeless veteran

Neil Donovan, the Executive Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, is part of Change.org's Changemakers network, comprised of leading voices for social change. Change.org asked Donovan to respond to questions to provide context for his work and the cause he supports.

Change.org: What cause would you most like to promote as a Changemaker and why?

As a Changemaker, I would like to promote the cause of changing the way Americans recognize and respond to people in the United States who experience persistent poverty or homelessness. For too long, dating back to the colonial era, we've lived with a de facto caste system or hierarchy that labels people as deserving, less deserving and undeserving. The Puritans assigned a rank in society based on moral principles and we've lived within the shadows of this framework ever since. It's important that we change the question we ask ourselves and each other from "How do we help those in need?" to "Is there grace in a life lived simply, sharing our resources, without flexing the might of ownership?" When we see poverty as a blessing, albeit mixed, and as an asset, albeit troubled, we'll be more apt to see those living in poverty and homelessness as deserving. There are real and significant consequences to poverty and homelessness. But, if we truly and actively believe that everyone is deserving, then the solutions to ameliorate the dire consequences of poverty and homelessness will logically and lovingly follow: creating affordable and accessible housing for those who are homeless and creating jobs and benefits that pay a living income for those who are persistently poor ... and, now is that time for change.

Change.org: If you could ask one million people to all do one thing to advance your cause, what would it be?

On December 21st, the longest night of the year, at the recent 20th Annual National Memorial Day for the Homeless, I spoke about how ... "We can end homelessness if every American did just one ordinary act of compassion or one million Americans did just one extraordinary act of compassion. But, perhaps the truth will be that ending homelessness must fall on the few, those who have chosen a life of service, and we can only hope that will be enough." Changemakers, however, is a current and unique vehicle for change. So, given this new opportunity to ask for change, I'd refer back to the matrix above: one million Americans doing just one extraordinary act of compassion. My favorite interpretation of the biblical story of the loaves and fish describes the "miracle" as the followers of Jesus going beyond the usual and customary act of breaking bread within their inner circle and doing something extraordinary: unconditionally donating a piece of bread or a portion of fish. The story results in ample food for all those who hungered. I can't recall an event in recent times when our society made such an extraordinary commitment to change ... and, now is the time for change.

Change.org: What is the greatest obstacle to change on the issue of homelessness in America?

Most Americans support the ending of homelessness in America, while knowingly or unknowingly accepting the temporary and partial solutions to homelessness proposed by elected officials and those in positions of authority and responsibility. Administration after administration has committed itself to ending homelessness, without developing effective permanent solutions and bringing adequate resources to bear on the problem. The result is that we develop solutions that are designed to meet the limits of the funds available, rather than designing solutions that meet the scope of the problem. Homelessness will be solved by creating affordable and accessible housing to the scale necessary to house all those without homes. We have spent much of the past few decades pathologizing those without housing, dividing them into subpopulations and developing local plans to end homelessness. The Bush administration was "Gaga for [Malcolm] Gladwell," believing that shifting limited resources towards chronically homeless individuals, and away from other homeless subpopulations, would create a "tipping point" that would ultimately lead to the ending of all homelessness. Little things can make big differences. However, too few resources cannot solve a major social illness. Every limited solution to ending homelessness, created by the administrations of recent times, has had unexpected and fateful consequences: Priority Home (Clinton), Ending Chronic Homelessness (G.W. Bush), and Zero Tolerance for Homeless Veterans (Obama). Each was or is an attempt to solve homelessness through the limited attention to one or a few special subgroups of those who are homeless. Yet I've learned that the only viable solution to ending the homelessness of veterans, chronically homeless individuals, children or any other subpopulation is to create a permanent solution that considers the problem of homelessness overall, indivisibly ... and, now is the time for that change.

Change.org: If you could ask President Obama and the U.S. Congress to do one thing to advance your cause, what would it be?

As a Changemaker, I'm asking President Obama and Congress to make homelessness part of our history and not part of our future. I ask that the path towards ending homelessness be advanced not in terms of war (America's War on Poverty), but of peace (Four Noble Truths). That just as the president is our commander-in-chief, he also show leadership as our moral compass. That just as Congress enjoys the privilege of being free from the breach of peace, that it also carrying the duty of its responsibility to represent us all with equal weight and measure. Making homelessness part of our history can be a unanimous and bipartisan act of Congress, with support by the president -- a commitment adopted by those who believe in the rights and freedom of every human being to enjoy a civil life.

Photo credit: Andrew Ciscel