Transcripts For WRC Viewpoint 20160221 : vimarsana.com

Points to tackle here. The firstfa ill ask you is jus to talk about what you are seeing, whatfa homeless looks l in your municipalities. Prince georges county, we inlp families about 70 are feme headed families and the other 30 are male. When you getco down to individus seeking assistance that have no are just an individual, that numberi] balances out and princ georges to about 50 50. In 2012t fa we began to work to framewo2 of a Service System for homeless and unaccompanied youth, began counting youngt peoplebl specifically between 1 and 24 and that number has averaged around 150 overt the last several counts. Who are experiencing xd sheltering assistance. Thexd larg .  area you coves fairfax county, what is the homelessly problem look like there . If you look at the numbers over the time count, were seeing a downward trend from a high in 2008 over 1800 people now last year about 1200 7gcuut the count is lower this year. Thats true for a lot of northern virginia, the count on over the course of the year we think were seeingco morexd peo experiencing homelessness for short times. Were doing well but theres still a lot of peoplexd right o the line so trying to figure oui and options for housing to keep the numberq going down. Xd jay, in d. C. We have a lae urban cityt co and the homeless issue has been getting a lot of press. Talk about what the district is dealing with inxdco terms of hog the problem is. Think first thing for aboutt homelessness in the district is to realize the district is one of a few jurisdictions and thatq means w have a law were obligated to shelter families and individuals outside as it is now. On any given night in washington, d. C. , 7,000 people arexd experiencing homelessness. You know, more than about 1400 individuals you know, over 1,000 families and so you know, whatfa we see is just a huge ne to investnr in solutions that wk and solutions and Housing Solutions that really havent been available toxd the distric in the last couple of decades, but nowrwith mayor xdnibowser coc to startconi going hahp h turn the othernr way in the district and start to decline. Iq think what people dont always realize when we talk about this topic, there arew3ni many differentrreasons how people end up in a homeless situation, you know, we talked aboutxd housingfa and talk abou housing is sort of the big thing, i dont have a place to live. There are other issues that lead to that situation. ni what are some of the other things people have toxd deal wi that will then lead to homelessness . There are social issues that create that have an impact cn homelessness. We talked about that before the show about for example the recession, right . Folks being 3w having difficy maintaining employment or lost their t employment, the hi rates of foreclosures andco that. There are economic reasons why people become homelessxd soleles homeless, whether it be a divorce or abusemyco circumstar death. Sometimes that shakes up the family scenario. Medically fragile childxd or someone who didnt have Health Insurance ands7 episodic thing occurred and they are out of come back and ask you to talk about what some of the things are youre doing to help. We talked about the housing point but there are folks families dealing withco those v individuals and individuals with substance issues. Well talk about the efforts out there to deal lywh the big well be right back on viewpoint in just a moment. [000 06 41;00] [000 06 42;00] choose, choose, choose. But at bedtime . Why settle for this . Enter sleep number, and the ultimate sleep number event, going on now. Sleepiq technology tells you how well you slept and what adjustments you can make. You like the bed soft. Hes more hardcore. Only at a sleep number store, all beds on sale right now save 50 on the ultimate limited edition bed, know better sleep with sleep number. [000 07 11;00] singing i just cant wait to meet you, sweet child youre on the way, im filled with expectation, and youre growing everyday. instrumental welcome back,co ast jf we ce our conversation about addressing the issue of homelessness in the,rjfarea. We talked earlier about solutions. I asked you, how do we solve this problem of homelessness and part of the answer was theres no one big sor5u jy right . Lp what were trying to do is find a Housing Solution that will work for each person or family where they areco in that situation. And it might be some simplew3 assistance for short term or joo assistance where they havew3 stable income. For other people who selfsufficiency might not be a possibility because of development disability, how do we find Supportive Housing for them. We think at some level housing is going to be part of the solution but what is the exactt a big part of it is really then number one reason, the inability toi] afford rent. C the reason why somebody is going to become homeless. Thatni means its not always that soane doesnt have a job or doesnt want to work, a roof over yourfa head . Absolutely. I would say homelessness isxd l people ,f experiences whether its aco sickness, job lossok o some type of event in their life that will separate them from stability. Peoplec with means dont up in the street or in coshelter. Its 100 an economic issue. I know that the entire region adopts a hou n firstq fill philosophy which is an Evidence Based Practice that just means that housingco in and of itselfs achieve their fullusbspr so that no matter what someone is going through, homelessnessn isnt their master status. Its jmko xtjrat work, Housing Solution that work and connect those people to housing and they rbvt a foundation from whichok to be going through. They are going to see much greater outcomes thanq if you waited forxd that Housing Assistance to come along. Maybe they reached aid behavioral threshold or got a job to pay rent or something. Ill bring it up, d. C. Is looking at now closing d. C. General where so many families have been house for a number of maller shelters across the ci5 outcomes youre looking to achieve there . And really against our values that we would have aq place like d. C too old, conducive to supporting families to exit shelter. Far when we hear from Community Members all the time, this is a biggish why, we have to close and replace d. C. General. We know best practices around the country sayko that smaller dignifiedq attractive places ar going to best support people back into housingt in the  community, backxd to a path to greater success. So what weve donexis put togethv9z 8 ward strategy, homelessness doesnt originate in one neighborhood in the district or one place in the originates all over the and goingqnuz take all of us working together, every ward has jurisdiction has a part to play. What bowser really wase1i] comm to was an all eightward strategy whi] ÷ we did, found eight sites in each ward around house no morei 9 50 familu  each. They are going to be lpbeautifu attractive and community. They are going to be wraparound families who are there for the time. So we can help them getok back into permanent housing in the community. You talk about the community. Obviously youre building these in thexde1cc community. Whats been the response . Has there beenzv a backlash fr folks who will live in the neighborhoods where the new shelters wirc be . inn irst off, we have a lot of support. I think more than 12,000xd peop signed a pledge to end homelessness which calls out closing and replacing d. C. Generalxd specifically. When we announce the sites we went immediately into communities and that was last week. We went into every ward of the city at the same time in community . ; meetings and going back again for monthsfa and for the years that itfa will take t m,aaa1jut a lot of questions, they have a lot of concerns. And it really up to us to answer those questions and some folks aretpu aarja t about it. On both sides. B]tv were going to enter into really healthy discussion about information that peopl nf need d show theme1 that these places tt to be in stark contrast to anything weve see. p in the really best in class kind of facilities thatxd the community can be proud of and most importantly that are going to be places tictxd are effective for the services that families need. X oc renee, jay used the term wraparound services, we talk about finding housing for people va rj a foundational thing. But then there are all of these other things that folks may need help with, thats something that has been front of mind in the work you do . Itfa crosses over the work we a do. Homelessness is sort of a subsea nfa do homelessness so its your job. It involves our health care systemg d making sure were getting our handsni on folks th are frequent users and try to get them connectede1 to a medic home that ma allows them to work. Its about how our employers structure their businesses and howfa our rental system respond to foz9n its about looking very hard down the stream and saying wheres our next group of folks going to be coming t from, this wholey1 silverlp tsunami, baby fixedi] incomes ande1 how do wer across the continueup to figure what we need wr cround folks. Different folks need different things. You have social welfarejf and Public Welfare dollars and Health Care Dollars and housing dollars and homeless dollars and veteran dollars. Veterans have put large moneys amounts of moneyok th jju and thexd feds andlp state intoni wrappin services around specifically that population and putting in place what they need to move out of homelessness. It all has to Work Together to work at all nireally. Well continue this its always worth remembering. That icing the Cinnamon Rolls is a privilege not a right. Give it a pop. Here in vineland, home of progresso, we love all kinds of chicken soups. But just one kind of chicken. White breast meat chicken every time. So if youre not going to make your own chicken soup tonight, do what we do. Make it progresso. Welcome back. As we ju aut our convers1 9 about addressing the homelessness issue thatt reall is present across the paav particularly were talking about it in our area. Jay, while we were in thexd bre, you were mentioning some of the efforts to help veteranse. C deg with homelessness have really been sort of really working and weve seen nationwide on endingt i think nationwide veteran homelessness dropped 36 jurisdictions have been solutions that work to scale thats going to meet the need. If we can bring that same type of practice to other populations, tofa families and individuals to chronicfa ni homelessness, well see those in thelp district, this first yr in the mayors budget we really invested heavily innr those solutions. I think 36 millionco in permane support and 26 million in rapid rehousing, 100 million inok eve year that shes in office. If wet can invest inco those solutions at work, just like weve seen in veteran maryland and d. C. , were having a lot of success too. If we apply those same practices, werefa goingco to s the same results. , who dont want help . Someone says i donnt want to g to a shelt arexd or dont need your help, how do e,n helpt t ÷n live a different lifestyle . For people who refuse help, it comes down to trust. If somebody is literally t homeless, someone broke their trust it must have been a family or something, you have to build the cotrust. We have outreach workers and i cannot say enough good things outreach. Day in and day out and pack supplies and sit down and talk. shelter, i thinkni if you come into shelter, we have a housing option for you and get your own place or i cant connectni you something else. Its never about coming into shelter per se but whats going took happen after. Ill share a quick story if i can. We juste1 housed a veteran on january 20, the day before the blizzard hit, refused help fo2n years. Got out of jail, been in for ten years, he was a engage d in services. Outreachnioks7 workers we have helping, one day he saidni im getting too old for this and getting an i. D. , born in the virganz islands. That out he was a veteran, we can get you Veterans Benefits and it of help until trust was built. He was with us for seven and a half . ; years until he said im ready. 93w about the issue, the problem and think r t hahp hc more funding, but really it much is a personal level, these are pktni dealing with people and we need to sort of start thinking3wlpxd of it that way. A lot of the reasons they worked. Absolutely. There hasnt been anything to trust in. When you do invest ine1u soluti shelter neighborslp or somebody that theyve known forxd 1÷ lon time get into housing, all of a thought was possible for themselves is now possible. When you 11e start to exchange the system and really start to show folks that there is an option forni you and wev were here for you, it really changes the game. Thats great. Well pause here for just a moment. There are folks who are thinking how can i help . Well come back and tell you how you can help. Welcome back to viewpoint. We have a group oflp experts to help us understand the homelessness issue. A lot of folks want to help. We are aware of how bad the our area and people are looking for little ways andbi what do you say to someone who calls you up andco says i want o help . Individual as the0 rson making the call, right . I think weve talked about housing being a okxdw3nipreemin are you a landlord . Private homeowner who wants to rent your home . Are you willing to come on this journey with us and help us help folks make that connection between housing opportunity and theiri] ability to pay at whater that levelxd is, right . And are you a individual that has a skilled trade . Are you a dentist . Are you a doctor or lawyer or are you someone whoxd would be willing to take someone in who cant pay youxd and do somethin pro bono. What can you add to the pot that is something you have to bring to the table . Are you someone who would just so interested in theokni idea o street outreache1  talklp to folks, i want to connect with people at a different level . Can you volunteer to be partokn a street e more we remobilize the more capable we are oft helping people. Are you someone who doesnt want to get that close to the issue but do you want to write a check for things likee1 replacing somebodys i. D. Orlp getting thr birth certificate replaced because when they went onnr strt they were evicted and lost their papers. It takes money to put those things in zvplace, you cantni those qthings. Q how can we helplp you come backo a place of having your vital records together so you can handle your business . 4p theres a lot ways people can help. Its not always writing a check. Its how you connect to that person, i think. What do you say to people88 o say someone asked me for moneyc its not faunhelpful. Its not going to change someones long Term Economic status, change their economic comfortable with doing and want to do, by all means do it. If i have spare change, anoy cfo someone asks me, i often do. I dontw3 look at it its no the solution tow3 xdhomelessnes maybe the solution to hunger at the moment but xdyeah. Jan, ill ask you too about the part of thisco changing peoples minds and language really matters when were about it. Everybody here ive been listening and happy with the language we share. Using the phrase the label, the homeless, ocolpdehumanizes peopd people have different circumstances and creates a class of people that does not ex0. Fz use people first language. People experience homelessness. By describing it as an i] experience, that means thats something that can end. We can actually end thisg for ae1 community. I think that is a great thoughtxd for us to end conversation. Thanks for having us. Us for viewpoint. Kathleen matthews too many nights, i lead the 11 oclock news with stories of gun violence. And like many of you, my family lived through the beltway sniper crisis. In congress, ill fight to expand background checks on guns and ammunition, ban assault weapons, and mandate gun safety locks, because too many kids die from accidental shootings. Lets show the nra as democrats, as americans, as parents. Im Kathleen Matthews and i approve this message. Right now, mayhem in michigan. Several dead, others wounded in what police are calling random shootings in kalamazoo. What were finding out about the suspected gun man. Big wins for donald trump and Hillary Clinton in the race for the white house. The next challenges as the field of gcandidates even smaller. I people have spoken and i respect their decision so