Replacing the Revolving Door With the Front Door

by Shannon Moriarty · 2010-01-05 19:39:00 UTC
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It's known as the "revolving door:" when former inmates are released from prison or when patients are discharged from the hospital with no home to return to. So where do they typically go? The streets, in the worst cases, or emergency shelters, if they're lucky. There, they might receive a bed and warm meals, but none of the specialized services required by these unique populations. And without the stability of a home, it's likely that a person will end up in prison or the hospital again. (Hence the revolving door.)

Take, for example, Juan Nieto. At 64-years-old, he's confined to a wheelchair. His toes were amputated after sleeping outdoors during a Minnesota snowstorm. He suffers from continual foot problems, but as a resident of the Ventura County Rescue Mission, he does not receive any regular nursing care. This makes keeping up with his medication, or properly caring for his feet, virtually impossible.

But one California community is honing in on this vulnerable segment of the homeless population. The Ventura County 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness calls for a zero-tolerance policy of discharging people from jails, hospitals and other institutions to the streets. The plan also requires a coordinated effort to cut the number being discharged into homelessness by at least 10 percent annually, according to the Ventura County Star.

According to members of the committee, this effort is all about making connections between the institutions discharging patients and the programs designed to serve them. This may seem like a no-brainer, but the slow progress towards this goal is a good indication of just how challenging this task is in reality.

But the greatest challenge has nothing to do with communication at all. The greatest challenge in moving homeless people off the streets has been the complete lack of affordable housing options for low-income and ailing individuals. So while a zero tolerance discharge policy is certainly a step in the right direction, ending homelessness requires a good, hard look at our housing stock after all.

Photo credit: Zrendavir

Shannon Moriarty has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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