Homelessness Tour, Day 10: What Works and What Doesn't in the Homelessness World

New Orleans, the city reshaped by Mother Nature, NOLA lovers and hucksters, is a perfect laboratory to demonstrate what works, what doesn't and what is needed in the world of ending homelessness.

Our ever-changing, weather-dependent Southern DisComfort tour travel plans gave us the gift of an unplanned day in the Big Easy, which filled as quickly as the levees on a rainy day.

My HuffPost blogging friend Pat LaMarche and I soon found ourselves transported through a culinary wasteland (west bank of NOLA) into Cafe Hope, a jewel of an effort to give at-risk youth a chance at success by teaching them a trade that opens doors to a hopeful future. Martin Gutierrez, head of Neighborhood and Community Services for Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans (CCANO), was our affable chauffeur and guide.

Lunch was a delightful combination of great food and dining companions. The tour of facilities and quick overview of programs impressed us. Staff—the overworked, unsung champions doing the impossible—reinforced my respect for dedicated individuals facing a mountain of challenges while maintaining a belief that they can lighten the burden of hunger, joblessness, homelessness and hopelessness.

I don't tend to hang with social service types. I'm not a social worker. I am too often a non-conformist seeking out-of-the-box solutions for entrenched problems, like homelessness. I don't think we've gotten on track to greatly alleviate homelessness, despite herculean efforts. Aside from the significant issue of rampant poverty with all its baggage (a hugely significant issue), we ignore common sense solutions. Cafe Hope is one example. CCANO's fledgling effort to run a proper day labor program is another.

Potpourri of related observations:

• Duh! The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty's new report, ironically dubbed On the Edge: How HUD Can Improve the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Rehousing Program (perhaps named after our On the Edge documentary?), points to some common sense solutions I've long suggested, like getting HUD funded agencies and school folks  to play together nicely (also a GAO issue) to use HPRP funds (a stimulus program that's helping ease homelessness) to house homeless families near their schools.
• A Good Reminder — from the esteemed Ralph da Costa Nunez about squeezing round pegs into square holes, or pushing all families into the same Housing First solution. Ralph and I agree on the need to meet the families' needs, not for the families to fit our (sometimes) lame solutions that, among other things, lead to recidivism, a painful and expensive option.
• Reality Check — as Pat and I have been spinning around the southeast, some Republicans in Congress has been breathing fire about cutting the budget. Great. Just in time for the HPRP funding to run out and dump more families into long-term homelessness.
• Census Report — NOLA fights to retain its diversity, with newly-released stats showing that the elites might be winning in the rebuilding of this fine city.
• Clock Ticking — on the hurricane-ravaged Gulf region's efforts to use federal dollars to rebuild affordable housing.

And, speaking of affordable housing, this summer, while most of were busy trying to stay cool, the U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO) roasted HUD, saying, among other things, "... narrow or multiple definitions of homelessness have posed challenges to providing services for those experiencing homelessness, and ... having different definitions made collaborating more difficult." My (and others) rant-mantra about HUD has echoed that complaint for years. This issue has been raised time after time in our Southern DisComfort meetings with advocates and agency staff. Getting HUD to change the definition of homelessness has been the focus of my petition Hey HUD! Make Homeless Kids Count! Please sign it!

Seems to me our job would be a whole lot easier if more folks put their hearts into doing what's right, striving for what works, instead of spinning wheels and spending money and effort on the same old, um, stuff. But that would require change....

Photo credit: Diane Nilan