Fresno Rescue Mission moving?

For some 20 years, the Fresno Rescue Mission and Cornerstone Church have served the interests of City Hall while they saved the souls of some of Fresno's neediest people. When local politicians finally gave up on downtown and allowed growth to sprawl to the north, the Rescue Mission and Cornerstone stayed behind to serve the homeless, poor and disadvantaged who were drawn to the city's blighted urban core.

I will comment. I have been hearing that the city has been cracking down on the homeless since the baseball stadium was built. This is what this is all about. They do think we won't go downtown because of them and fear crime and panhandling will drive those who do go away.
Now, as one who lives in the North area, I can tell you that no matter what they do, I won't go downtown, but I don't think moving the Rescue mission is the right thing to do. These people are going to stay in that area, and the mission is their only shelter and food sometimes.
The Cornerstone Church and the Rescue mission have done a wonderful job with the homeless, and should be allowed to continue to minister to them.

The Homeless are not what frightens me about downtown, it is the drug dealers and other low life that live in homes in that area that keep me away! The gang bangers are much more frightening than the panhandlers, believe me.
As usual, the Fresno powers that be get it wrong.

What's described in the article is all to common. They want to put these people where "they" won't see them. What's not discussed in this article is what the effect on the area will be where they want to move all the homeless and those needing drug treatment, methadone, and a lot of other services. Problem is where ever they go the blight that surrounds these people and that they contribute to will follow them. Crime will go up in the area where ever they are located.

Also not all the people who use the Mission are homeless. You have to remember that a lot of the people served by places like the Mission in this article are the working poor They live in the low cost housing in the surrounding area where places like the Mission are located. They walk, bike or take public transportation to work. If they have a car it’s a beater that they can’t afford to fix when it craps out on them. They have jobs (granted they aren’t high paying) in the surrounding area. Move them and tear up the housing and forcing them to other parts of the city and you will put a substantial number of them out of work.

. Pull the services out of the area and "gentrify" it and where are these people going to go? Are they going to be able to find affordable housing where the city wants to move them? Probably not and guess what they are only a heart beat away from being homeless and if you shift them without the affordable housing and services all you do is increase the homelessness.

A lot of the backers of the upgrading of the area have bought in at the bottom of the value of the property now they need to get the city to turn the area around so they can pocket a lot of cash. They've donated to the politicians to see that it happens. The homeless and working poor don’t contribute to politicians, they don’t go to the politicians and their backers clubs and they don’t have the $$$ to grease the wheels so they get the shaft as does the middle class who picks up most of the bills. Also the middle class is going to be a lot closer to the physical site that the city decides that those undesirables need to be relocated to. What’s that do to the values of the property of the middle class in that new area and to the small businesses?

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