No sprinklers required: How my church kept homeless people off church steps

WASHINGTON — St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco is getting bad press this week over a sprinkler system it installed to keep homeless people from sleeping on church grounds.

People are outraged that a church would treat the poor so callously. But St. Mary’s isn’t alone. Many houses of worship all over the country face the question of how to keep safe, welcoming grounds while being compassionate to homeless neighbors sleeping on porches and in doorways.

Here’s what we tried at Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church in Washington, DC.

A couple of months ago, we started a dialogue about how to move people off the porches of the church and assist them in moving on. Over the years, the protected and secluded porches had become sleeping quarters for a dozen or so folks, and it was now out of hand. People were using the grounds as bathroom facilities; others were leaving their belongings in plastic-covered 4-foot high mounds.

The conversation, held in a church committee meeting in January, was contentious. Some felt we had an obligation to offer a place to stay if our neighbors were homeless; others felt it was time to reclaim the building as a place that was clean and safe.

It took us hours to arrive at a decision, but we did. On March 1, no one would be allowed to stay on the porches or use the grounds for storage. We would hire security to help us enforce this decision. And here is what made our decision different: We would meet weekly with anyone who had lived on the porches to help them make the transition.

The good news was that the church has resources to support the changes we were imagining. If anyone wanted to go home, we had the money to buy a bus ticket. If folks needed something, we would do what we could to provide them with it.

So every Tuesday at 7 a.m., a small group of us met with our homeless neighbors for breakfast and discussion. We talked about what it would take to find permanent housing and kept track of commitments.

Six weeks in, when it was time for everyone to be moved to someplace else, we decided that we would continue the community we had formed beyond the March 1 deadline. At our meeting the first week of March, some miracles occurred:

Dominique came for the first time and told us he had a job if he could get a bike helmet. (Bob, a parishioner, left the meeting, went to his nearby home, and arrived back moments later with a bike helmet.)

Several folks needed help with transportation, so after the meeting, Kris, a very committed and active parishioner, put more money on their church-provided transit cards.

After six weeks of support, no one is living on the porches anymore. It wasn’t easy, and we did have challenges. We did have to call the police when Eddie refused to leave his place on the porch. Having to call the police was the single sour note in the trajectory to reclaiming the porches and building an amazing community.

As a pastor, I have had to move people off property in the past. It has always felt punitive and mean. This time it felt different because we gave ample warning; We formed a team to get to know and support everyone individually, we consistently enforced the rules, and we used the resources of the church and the neighborhood to help.

I am convinced that those individuals who were sleeping on the church porches are better off now than they were in January, before we started.

There is a way to keep safe, clean grounds while helping our homeless neighbors — and it’s both easier and harder than installing sprinkler systems or putting up fences. It requires the investment of time and resources to build relationships, listen, and help. The community we formed still gathers at 7 a.m. each Tuesday.

I recently saw Dominique, with his bike helmet. He told me he got the job. Later that day I heard that Ivy got a full-time gig. Herbert and Sonia have a place to live. The miracles keep rolling in.

Linda Kaufman is an Episcopal priest and national movement manager for Zero: 2016, an initiative of Community Solutions. Community Solutions has its offices at Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church.

As a “cradle Episcopalian” who left the church five years ago, I don't condemn pastoral care or community outreach. What I criticize is formerly Christian denominations that have become little more than social justice organizations. Many have rejected even the basic tenets of faith: the Virgin birth, the divinity of Jesus, the Resurrection, the existence of Heaven and hell, Eternal life, and - incredible to say - the existence of God. Instead, they have embraced and push left wing ideologies, including abortion, illegal immigration, unilateral disarmament, euthanasia, UN Millennium Development Goals, and assisted suicide. What they did was not for Him, but for the satisfaction their social services group.

Well, those are the reasons why I would never be Methodist or Episcopalian. Nevertheless, they aren’t all like the worst of them; and I believe in giving due credit when people are doing something right.

Most likely different situations in different places, some places may need portable toilets but dry places to sleep.

It sounds like they are doing the right thing for those people who are actually looking for a job but all people are not looking for jobs.

Other people just needs fed for today because tomorrow is out of sight, this is not the responsibility of the church as a body but it is the responsibility of the individuals.

There are really different categories of homeless...

Acknowledging that is the crux of truly dealing with the problem.

The main groups: mentally ill, substance abusers, everyone else.

One main, primary, immediate goal - get them into housing. Not a "bed," but a place, no matter how humble, from which they can form a new base for their lives. It's a fundamental human need, and not having it sabotages everything and anything else that is done.

The first two groups mostly need SMALL group environments with intense daily management. The last group needs PERSONAL private spaces and occasional management with access to re-entry services.

The reason everything is a catastrophe now is that these three groups are mixed together in large group spaces. Doesn't work, won't work, can't work.

Locally here, we used to have an asylum whose residents were integrated successfully into the community. We have a very comprehensive county mental health service that addresses every conceivable need for it's clients. We do not have a homeless and mentally ill problem here. All have useful work and jobs and our churches are involved. Our county is rural. Grant money is wisely spent. Many volunteer time from early age to assist.

In the original article here, no one mentioned was mentally ill. Everyone's problem had an easy solution.

I am all for helping people who have fallen on hard times but want to do better. My husband had an uncle who came home from WW 2 and promptly became an alcoholic. In spite of all the time and money my father in law spent on him, he died under a bridge with his wineo buddies. Regardless of what tragedy may have driven them there I have no sympathy for people like him.

I can well understand that there are a whole lot of powerful people out there who will dredge around for any issue they can use to shoot down Abp. Cordeleone--- a personal hero of mine.

However, he certainly supplied his enemies with the bullet by going along with this sprinkler strategy to deal with the homeless.

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