Jay Evensen
  • Front Page
  • Opinions
  • Second Thoughts
  • Portfolio
  • Awards
  • About

What will homeless services be like a year from now?

1/2/2019

0 Comments

 
What will the homeless do a year from now when it gets like this?

By “this,” I mean nighttime temperatures in the single digits or the teens, as my smartphone tells me will be the case at least part of this week.
​
Steadily rising global temperatures not withstanding, winters in northern Utah continue to feature spells of dangerously cold weather — the kind you’re not supposed to let dogs and cats out to experience before you go to bed, let alone humans.
So, a year from now we should get an idea of how well the great plan for the homeless along the Wasatch Front is working. We’ll know whether replacing the shelter on Rio Grande Street with three shelters that serve separate demographics, but with fewer combined beds than what currently is available, will work on a night when even the most hardened, shelter-averse homeless need to protect themselves from frostbite, or worse.

And if it’s not working, what then?

Let me preface this by saying I admire the effort that got us to this point. Other metro areas try to sweep the homeless away or harass them into the shadows. The combined effort here, led by the state, is an important recognition that Salt Lake City has, for too long, borne the burdens, financial and otherwise, of a problem that belongs to everyone in the state.

It also has been a recognition that homelessness often comes with a variety of ancillary burdens, whether its mental health problems, substance abuse, or both, that complicate matters and sometimes lead to crimes. Also, the homeless themselves can be magnets for criminals looking for easy targets.

Separating the homeless by sex and familial status, providing them with necessary services and tracking their progress ought to lead to improvements, at least on an individual basis, which is the most important basis.

But what of the overall picture? What if we find that — one, two or more years from now — the plan isn’t working as well as it might be?

What if we find, as I have suggested all along, that a single, large shelter campus, located away from the urban core, would be cheaper and more effective to operate?

If designed right, a single campus could effectively separate men from women, and both from women with children. But it would have the flexibility needed to move walls and adapt to needs, such as a surge in homeless men looking for warmth on a freezing cold night.

A single campus would provide one cafeteria. Even if divided into three separate parts, this would save money over providing food at three separate shelters located far from each other. The same could be said for other services. Duplication costs money.

So does transportation. I’m still not clear on how the newly homeless, conditioned by stories of a downtown shelter and, as so many are these days, oblivious to the news, will find their way to the new shelters. But any transportation system bringing them in would have to divide its human cargo by type and travel to three separate locations.

A recent legislative audit found that, between taxes and donations, about $100 million was spent on homeless services in Utah during 2017. That’s $100 million for somewhere north of 2,000 homeless people. As time goes on, who is going to ask whether the effort is cost-effective, and what will happen if someone suggests a better way?

The danger is that politicians will have so much invested in the current plan, both in terms of public money and political capital, that they won’t be nimble enough to change if necessary.

Every year, the Department of Housing and Urban Development conducts a one-night count of the homeless in major metro areas. The counters take pains to go where the homeless might be hiding. Even though there are obvious potential flaws in this method, the count can identify trends over time.

Last month, counters found 2,876 homeless people in the Salt Lake area, which was 0.8 percent higher than the year before. They found a 2 percent increase in families with children.
​
It makes sense that a growing metro area would see a growing homeless problem. So, while it’s great that so many politicians and other community leaders are devising new ways to deal with the problem, the public should be asking whether, just in case, someone has a Plan B. 
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Search this site


    Like what you read here?

      Please subscribe below, and we'll let you know when there is a new opinion.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Picture

    The author

    Jay Evensen is the Senior Editorial Columnist of the Deseret News. He has nearly 40 years experience as a reporter, editor and editorial writer in Oklahoma, New York City, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. He also has been an adjunct journalism professor at Brigham Young and Weber State universities.

    Archives

    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

    Categories

    All
    Campaign 2012
    Congress
    Crime
    Culture
    Iran
    Oil And Gas
    Poverty
    Steroids
    Taxes
    Utah
    Washington
    World Events
    World Events

    Links

    Deseret News
    Newslink
    Marianne Evensen's blog

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.