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Salt Lake homeless see flaws in aid
The Deseret News ^ | 2/21/2002 | James Thalman

Posted on 02/21/2002 12:06:49 PM PST by Utah Girl

Shelters during Games minimal, jobless man says

They haven't been herded onto buses out of town or rounded up by police, but several of Salt Lake's homeless say they are feeling little more than cold comfort from the city's effort to provide shelter during the Olympics.

"The shelters are meager and minimal at best," said Jim Newfeld, an out-of-work electrician spending nights at the 500 West emergency shelter. "Not only that, the city is using us to pat themselves on the back about all they're doing. But it's not much, and it's all going away after this is over, anyway."

Newfeld and a group of aggravated residents at the convereted mattress warehouse known as the Serta Site on the west side were reacting to a Wednesday news conference there during which Mayor Rocky Anderson praised volunteers who have come to town to help the homeless. He said area social service agencies and hundreds of volunteers they coordinate have "set an Olympic record for caring for the homeless."

Had the volunteers not been there, said Pamela Atkinson, head of the Olympics homeless outreach program, "people would have been freezing to death on the street the past few weeks."

"That may be," said Mark Trujillo, who said until a couple weeks ago he had an apartment near LDS Hospital but lost his job and is temporarily disabled due to a leg injury.

"This ain't me," he said. "It's a place to go, but there are a lot of

people who want to work and can't find a job. If they really wanted to help they'd be handing out cell phones so we could chase jobs. If you don't have a phone number, or if you say you live in a shelter, they (employers) want nothing to do with you."

"We feel like we're under house detention," said a man who didn't give his name. "We're just kind of being set aside. There's a subliminal message in that sign out front. 'Perfect Sleeper.' They just want us all to be perfect sleepers and not say anything."

He said the shelter residents also resent the fact that anyone who wants to stay there must pass through a metal detector. "But none of you guys did. You just walked right on in. They think we're more likely to be criminals. But the easiest thing for a terrorist would have been to come this morning dressed like an Americorps volunteer."

The group said they don't have access to basic services such as hot water and bathroom facilities, which are limited inside or they are relegated to three portable toilets outside.

"How are we supposed to be getting our lives together?" said a woman who would only give her name as Hope. "They had plenty of time to prepare for this, and they had the money. Where is it? Where are all the shining examples of people they've helped? And when you can't even get your body clean, that is the worst," she said, adding that it appears to her several women at the shelter appear to be on the verge of suicide because they feel hopeless.

Community service agencies don't deny that homeless issues are long-range and difficult to solve. But they also say they at least deserve credit for facing up to them with the whole world watching. They report handling 200 to 300 more residents per night at shelters than is usual this time of year and they have all committed to providing help for the needy after the Games-goers have gone home.

One of the things the mayor said he is proudest of is living in a community that didn't hide the fact that there are homeless people here, noting that it is the first host city that provided overflow shelters for the expected increase in need during an Olympics. "We have set an example to every host city in the future," he told reporters at the news conference.

If there is a crunch time during the Games for the homeless, it's right now, said Atkinson, a retired health-care administrator who has volunteered and coordinated efforts for the indigent all her life. "But I think we've probably peaked. There are the constant problems of finding jobs and permanent shelter, "problems that were here before the Games and will remain afterward. But Salt Lake should be proud of the way it and the state and the contributors have stepped up."

Matthew Minkevitch, executive director of The Road Home, formerly Traveler's Aid Society and main shelter provider on the Wasatch Front, said the overflow shelter is designed to be temporary. But the commitment to making progress after the Games, and perhaps using momentum about the issue created by them along with the increase in need spurred by the declining economy, might spawn some permanent solutions.

A report released Wednesday lists Utah as one of the 10 worst welfare states in the country. The National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support says Utah has one of the worst combinations of welfare policies on the books. The low-income advocacy group said Utah has used welfare funds to pay for other programs; it has set less than federally approved time limits for welfare recipients and has cut back welfare to work programs.

Idaho ranked as the worst state.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: olympicslist
Yah, we have been so mean to the homeless during the Olympics. The shelters are offering two lunches daily, and they can eat both of them. But some feel that is just a ploy to keep them off the streets during the day. And shelter in the empty mattress factory is in view of downtown SLC, which really hurts the homeless people's feelings because they can see the twinkly lights and all the stuff that the Olympic money has bought. Sheesh, and if that homeless shelter would have been out in West Valley, we would have been hiding the homeless from public view. The homeless have also been offered jobs cleaning up the parks during the night, for $6.50 an hour, which is above minimum wage. "But that isn't a living wage..." I guess the homeless wanted love too. I am sorry, but it seems the more that is done for some of these men, the more they want and the more they whine...
1 posted on 02/21/2002 12:06:49 PM PST by Utah Girl
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To: olympics list; Tis The Time''s Plague; Pete-R-Bilt; Excuse_My_Bellicosity; Technocrat; Lokibob...
To find all articles indexed using "Olympics List"
  click here >>> SL 2002 Olympics <<< click here  
SL 2002 home page...(To view all FR Bump Lists, click here)


2 posted on 02/21/2002 12:07:20 PM PST by Utah Girl
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To: Utah Girl
"The shelters are meager and minimal at best," said Jim Newfeld

HAHHAAHAHAHA, I love it. Homeless critics!

EEEHHHH, this steak is a wee bit cold. I don't have to take this!!!!!

3 posted on 02/21/2002 12:10:38 PM PST by Texaggie79
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To: Utah Girl
Just give 'em plenty of (government surplus) cheese with that whine. Or, as I prefer to say, "Boo freakin' hoo."
4 posted on 02/21/2002 12:10:40 PM PST by mountaineer
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To: Utah Girl
"*WHINE!* We've been living off the dole all our adult lives, and we want MORE!!!"

But some feel that is just a ploy to keep them off the streets during the day.

This is an example of an "accusation" that, once you think about it, makes you say "And your point is...?"

Hey, in Beijing they will simply kill any vagrants that become nuisances. Here in the U.S.A., we feed 'em.

This, to me, is like hearing your crazy old Aunt Harriet, who wears tin foil under her beanie and hears voices all her waking hours, complain that you're just bundling her off to a nice motel with room service for the night because you want her out of the way when your boss is coming over for dinner.

Like I said: "And your point is...?"

5 posted on 02/21/2002 12:11:58 PM PST by Illbay
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To: Utah Girl
They had plenty of time to prepare for this, and they had the money. Where is it?

YES, where's our MONEY dammit!!!!!! It's OURS!!!!

6 posted on 02/21/2002 12:12:36 PM PST by Texaggie79
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To: Utah Girl
He said the shelter residents also resent the fact that anyone who wants to stay there must pass through a metal detector.

How unusually!!! Hope they never try to fly or get into a Olympic venue. Can't have them upset over being treated just like everyone else.

7 posted on 02/21/2002 12:17:29 PM PST by w1andsodidwe
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To: Texaggie79
This homeless situation has been a big deal here for the Olympics. I did just a little research on housing costs. The homeless are complaining that they were booted out of the cheap motels for higher paying Olympics tourists. They considered $29 a night cheap, which is. OK, so that is $203 a week and $812 a month for housing. Uh, you can get a really nice apt in SLC for $812 a month.

My personal solution would be to help these people out temporarily, but make them take budgeting classes. It is a sad situation, and I do realize that some are mentally ill, others are alcoholics and drug addicts. We are enabling their lifestyles by just giving them everything they want.

And I have seen pictures of the shelter in the empty mattress factory. It is really basic, a whole bunch of cots on the floor and that is about it. But it is inside out of the cold weather.

8 posted on 02/21/2002 12:19:43 PM PST by Utah Girl
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To: w1andsodidwe
How unusually!!!

OOPS!!!! Should read "How unusual!!!!". Must check my spelling and syntax.

9 posted on 02/21/2002 12:20:14 PM PST by w1andsodidwe
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To: Utah Girl
If they really wanted to help they'd be handing out cell phones

words escape me. (it may be a first.)

10 posted on 02/21/2002 12:29:02 PM PST by glock rocks
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To: Utah Girl
This article just proves that no good deed goes unpunished. These parasites will never appreciate what is done for them, because they all believe they are entitled to more and more and more of things that they never earned.
11 posted on 02/21/2002 1:06:13 PM PST by lady lawyer
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To: lady lawyer
When my father was a bishop several years ago, the RS president came and got him because there was a homeless man in the RS room begging for money from the women. My dad pulled him aside and talked to him for a bit. All the guy wanted was enough money to go to Chuck-a-Rama for Sunday dinner. My dad gave him some vouchers for Hotel Roberts (where the homeless sleep in Provo) and got someone to drive him down for a meal at the Food coalition. The guy was miffed because my dad wouldn't give him money. My dad said that if he would have had 10 dollars, he would have, but he didn't have any money in his wallet. And then it came out that this guy would hit the LDS chapels in the area, being careful to ask only women for money for dinner. And then he would go to Chuck-a-rama and be happy as a clam. Pretty funny, and yet very sad.
12 posted on 02/21/2002 1:15:14 PM PST by Utah Girl
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To: lady lawyer
You have summarized the problem succinctly and accurately. Replace "homeless" with "welfare recipients" - same thing. Those to whom everything is given, and from whom nothing is required, seem never to be satisfied, nor grateful.
13 posted on 02/21/2002 1:34:09 PM PST by mountaineer
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To: Utah Girl
Shelters during Games minimal, jobless man says

What do you want, breakfast in bed? Being homeless is supposed to suck. That's the incentive to not do it. Yeah, I know, the whole world owes them a living because they are so liberated in their lack of fear to be different. Having a job is overrated I guess.

14 posted on 02/21/2002 1:48:21 PM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
The homeless just want to live in 'dignity'. Well, that is something that cannot be given, especially in a homeless shelter. It is something one must do for themselves.
15 posted on 02/21/2002 1:53:10 PM PST by Utah Girl
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To: Utah Girl
"That may be," said Mark Trujillo, who said until a couple weeks ago he had an apartment near LDS Hospital but lost his job and is temporarily disabled due to a leg injury. "This ain't me," he said. "It's a place to go, but there are a lot of people who want to work and can't find a job. If they really wanted to help they'd be handing out cell phones so we could chase jobs. If you don't have a phone number, or if you say you live in a shelter, they (employers) want nothing to do with you."

Holy cow...I have been gainfully employed for most of my adult life, and can't find enough in my budget for a cell phone. It's outrageous that this guy thinks that somehow he's owed one.

Homeless people are like artichokes, in a sense: You have to do a whole lot of pulling and peeling before you get to the heart -- that is, the heart of the reason why they are outdoors rather than indoors. While there certainly are people who have legitimate and heart-breaking reasons why they sleep in the street, more often than not, the reasons have more to do with substance abuse, mental disorders that aren't honestly dealt with, and shockingly poor life choices.

I am quite sure there is more to the story of Mr. Trujillo's plight than just losing his job and being temporarily disabled. There almost always is. For instance, I will never forget an interview that Barbara Simpson (aka "The Babe in the Bunker") conducted when she was on S.F. area TV, back in the 80's. She interviewed a woman who was part of a group of homeless people who were living in the park area outside S.F. City Hall. They were protesting lack of affordable housing. Simpson asked her how she came to be homeless. The woman said that she had come to S.F. from St. Louis after being promised a position. The position had disappeared by the time she had moved here, and she was offered another job -- one that paid $9,000 less per year. She thought that salary was beneath her dignity. So she turned it down, and hit the streets. Simpson was visibly shocked, and the woman became indignant when Barbara inquired as to why she chose the street over a job.

Michael Savage attributed this line to a man who had worked his way off dope and the sidewalks: "The longer you lay in the gutter, the higher the curb gets."

16 posted on 02/21/2002 1:53:40 PM PST by L.N. Smithee
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
Being homeless is supposed to suck. That's the incentive to not do it.

LOL! :^)

17 posted on 02/21/2002 1:57:24 PM PST by Some hope remaining.
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To: L.N. Smithee
Wow, what a story about that lady in SF. And unfortunately, there will always be those who choose to live on the streets. A lot of the mentally ill are there because the libs decided it was cruel to keep them in mental hospitals. Even now, lawyers will defend the homeless from even taking their meds or being forced to take them.

And I finally broke down and got a cell phone, just for safety's sake when I drive alone. I got a break through work on the price, but they can be darn expensive if one isn't careful.

And the guy asking for a cell phone is clueless. Homeless shelters are being a little more savvy now, and getting voice mail for the homeless so they have a legitimate phone number for employment purposes.

18 posted on 02/21/2002 1:58:48 PM PST by Utah Girl
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