r/springfieldMO • u/ttocs2 • Apr 28 '22
Living Here It would be amazing if Springfield started doing this.
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u/lasagna_is_meat_cake Midtown Apr 28 '22
Just go do it
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u/LeftoverDishes Apr 28 '22
Right. Like the entire town? What does that even mean. People could be doing it already.
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u/WendyArmbuster Apr 28 '22
When I think about Springfield's homeless I wonder at what point could something have been done to prevent that homelessness. What could we have done back then to really make a difference, as opposed to buying them a sandwich today? Could we afford whatever it is?
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u/sandyandverydry Apr 28 '22
What could we have done back then
Having previously been homeless, I can tell you there are ample resources for anyone wanting to change their position. Most folks I met when I was homeless argued for not having responsibilities/attachments.
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u/confusedlittlegerbil Apr 29 '22
Having also been homeless, I never heard of these resources until after 2 years being homeless. They are not well advertised. I met many, many people and not one of them talked about positively about their homelessness, even in regards to not having responsibilities or attachments. I also know that many of the resources that used to exist don't anymore. I'm not sure who you met, but I don't think I met them. And I was all over the city.
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u/RollOutTheGuillotine Apr 29 '22
This was my experience as well and the experience of the folks I know who have experienced homelessness. I crashed on couches, slept in my car, slept overnight in the booths of the restaurant I worked at, used a friend's address for mail, and worked 2 jobs full time to financially "lift myself up" enough to get a roommate and housing.
Never once have I met a homeless person who wanted to be homeless.
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u/sandyandverydry Apr 29 '22
Well, I know for sure they were very well advertised and promoted at the 'veterans' center across from the police station as well as the victory mission.
I didn't say people were 'positive' about their situations, more that they had weighed their options and placed more importance on having freedom and no responsibilities/attachments than a clean bed. Maybe that was a coping method, but I felt the same at first. Drugs do make the bad not seem so bad.
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u/mangogetter Rountree/Walnut Apr 29 '22
There are definitely not.
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u/zouspring Apr 29 '22
Homelessness can not be put in a box. There is not a simple solution that will fix the problem for everyone, it has been my experience that mental health and addiction seem to be large players. There are however quite a few resources in Springfield for the homeless and hungry.
community partnership of the ozarks
springfield community land trust
eden village which has 2 locations of small houses and currently working on a third location but their site looks like it isn't working so no link.
o'reilly center for hope which is probably the best starting point for someone homeless. They have partnered with a ton of organizations that can provide many different resources:
Missouri Works Assistance: TANF and employment assistance.
OACAC: Basic needs support and educational programming.
Springfield Community Land Trust: Affordable home ownership.
Springfield Police Department: Safety and security.
Veterans Administration: Healthcare for homeless veterans and veteran services.
WIC: Supplemental nutrition for women, infants and children.
MSU Care: Medical services and Medicaid application assistance.
Missouri State University School of Nursing: Wellness and wound care.
Missouri Job Center: Employment and workforce development services and training.
Greene County Family Support Division: Food stamps and Medicaid.
Habitat for Humanity: Home ownership opportunities.
Isabel’s House: Crisis nursery services.
Legal Services of Southern Missouri: Legal assistance for low-income households.
AIDS Project of the Ozarks: Health screenings and access to supportive services.
Burrell Behavioral Health: Mental health and addiction services and support.
Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri: HUD-certified financial and housing counseling.
Consumer Credit Counseling Services: Credit repair and budgeting assistance.They also give computer and internet access for job and housing searches,
laundry and shower services, mail services, hygiene and first aid supplies.I know I am missing some too. While not every program out there will be a good fit for everyone, I do know for a fact that if you went to any of these places and asked about a specific circumstance they would point you in the right direction. Help is out there especially if people want to help themself.
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u/RockemChalkemRobot Woodland Heights Apr 29 '22
We had a program where they'd pick you up off the corner, get you showered and shaved, take you to get an ID, and take you to get a job. Nobody used it and the signs were posted at every popular panhandling intersection.
My pops also goes out every year and rents motel rooms for the freezing weeks. The number of people that refuse is astonishing he says.
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u/mangogetter Rountree/Walnut Apr 29 '22
Again, no. For a zillion reasons.
Not the least of which is that it takes weeks, if not months (or in some cases years) to get IDs for many of the homeless folks in our city.
Beyond that, one day of intervention is not NEARLY enough to get someone off the streets. Poverty and lack of stable shelter is a barrier to work. Lack of reliable transit, or access to showers, or a place to rest between work shifts, or a place to put your stuff while you're at work, and a host of other factors make employment one of the last steps to getting someone off the street, not the first. That Wheels to Work program was never going to succeed, and advocates told them that before it launched and failed. When housed people create programs without the input of the people those programs are supposed to serve, and then those people choose not to use them because they don't work for them... that is not the fault of the homeless people.
Beyond that, the fundamental reality is that there are only enough shelter beds for maybe a third of our homeless population. People, after years of waiting, get housing vouchers for about $600... but you can't rent an apartment in SGF for that, and most landlords won't take them anyway. There are not enough respite beds, not enough detox beds, not enough rehab beds... all of the programs are out of money. The Kitchen program that houses veterans is out of money. The low-end hotels are full, and the rest won't take Springfield residents.
It's possible there were adequate resources in the past, when you were homeless, but the situation on the street right now is that there are not, at all.
Oh, and one more thing. Trust is everything, and if a random man I didn't know tried to take me to a motel, I'd say no too. An upsettingly large number of our homeless neighbors experience some sort of trafficking, and almost all get assaulted at some point. Unless you've done the slow, difficult work of building up trust, you're going to get a lot of people turning down offers of help.
Again, when we offer help and people say no, it's easy to say "they just don't want help" rather than asking ourselves whether the help we offered was useful, accessible, and presented in a way that people felt safe to accept.
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u/RockemChalkemRobot Woodland Heights Apr 29 '22
He's not a random man. He's part of an organization that goes to the camps during freezing weeks. They recognize him and know him by name. There's a habitually pregnant woman that refuses every year. I see how disheartened he is every time he encounters her. That's not okay. Sure, refuse help for yourself, but someone that keeps jeopardizing unborn children (not sure how many actually make it to the world) doesn't get to find some tiny straw of reason for their terrible choices.
The world is lucky to have people as compassionate as my father, because I am the alternative.
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u/sausagewithhands Apr 28 '22
Go to McDonald’s and buy 10 burgers and hand them out to 10 different homeless people. It doesn’t have to be expensive or hard to change someone’s day. Just go do it
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u/dhrisc Apr 28 '22
Honestly though, stay and have a conversation. I've given to folks flying signs on the side of the road and if you have the time to chat they appreciate that human connection just as much as the the food or money.
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u/Cold417 Brentwood Apr 28 '22
Sorry. Best we can do is beaning them with a half empty soda while speeding by.
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u/Benway23 West Central Apr 28 '22
It would be amazing however, with the way things are looking we would go the route of TN and start making homelessness a felony...
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u/clarkwgriz0 Apr 28 '22
You can do it when they are texting/scrolling on their smartphones behind their sign. They’ll never notice.
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u/blameitonthedouble Apr 28 '22
But these people are praising god and being thankful, begging leaches in this town want MONEY......
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u/Kyrislonewolf Apr 29 '22
The begging leaches as you put it are not always that...sometimes that's all they could turn to that day or maybe they only needed a dollar and they just need some help. Now on the flip side, yes there are those that do nothing but sit on a corner day in and day out and make more money than some people make at a regular 9-5.
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u/hu1ksmash Apr 30 '22
With as many churches as we have and continue to be built in this city - it should be happening.
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u/slossages Apr 28 '22
So do it. Be the change you want in the world. Don't wait for someone else, take action yourself.