Looking For a Home|Rotten Apple

“Bridging the Gap,” by Naomi Zeveloff, May 8

Looking for a Home

I appreciate the story and the informational side it seeks to provide. That being said, there is certainly a cultural misunderstanding by many about homelessness, especially the “chronic homeless.” As a former “chronic homeless” individual, I can assure you that generalization of this group is ethically the same as generalizing any population. It does make journalism easier, but it is certainly not factual. I was never ornery, mean and silent, though I was withdrawn more from fear of societal prejudice and police harassment.

It is also easier to say someone is service-resistant versus saying services have failed an individual. To this point in time in Dallas’ history, never has the homeless issue been treated as an individual issue.

Instead, unjustly, homelessness was packaged as a lack-of-morals issue. I can go to North Dallas where I grew up, Plano or other affluent sections, and at anytime walk into an AA or NA meeting and find many people who have never been homeless yet are also struggling with the very same so-called moral issues as many “chronic homeless.” The difference is one has a home while the homeless and their problems are exposed daily to the public. One might be what is known as a functional abuser of substances while the other is not. Another difference is that one also has a good support system helping them along recovery, while many homeless never had a support system that was healthy, or the system broke down. This is not even touching on the disparity when it comes to health care and recovery treatment for different social classes.

Ending homelessness is not about forcing moral mainstream ideology or religion on individuals. It’s about changing one’s environment. The reason Dallas’ “shelter” system failed as did most all others is that they had the wrong mission in the first place. And that mission was and largely still today is not about ending homelessness.

The Bridge will not end homelessness for anyone. Its main function is to replace trust and offer individualized treatment. Proper housing is going to end homelessness, and that in itself will be a far bigger hurdle than getting The Bridge built downtown. Why?

A mentally ill individual with a known substance abuse problem and a past criminal record wants a home. Where in Dallas might this person be welcomed to live as normal a life as possible? If we can’t come together with an answer for this one individual, how are we going to manage 1,000 individuals all needing the same? This is the true roadblock toward ending homelessness in Dallas. Creativity, thinking out of the box, along with headstrong vision will be keys to our community’s success. It will also be key toward saving and assisting people toward new lives.

James K. Waghorne, Dallas Homeless Neighborhood Association

“Let’s You and Him Fight,” By Jim Schutze, May 15

Rotten Apple

I was just about to ask Schutze what urban place we should become when I got to the last line of the article where he revealed that he would like Dallas to become New York. Jim, I spend a lot of time in New York and have many, many close friends in New York. I ride the subways in New York. I have had many opportunities to move to New York. Guess what? I absolutely, positively, conclusively do NOT want Dallas to be like New York. I love my little house with its nice little yard with my own little swimming pool and basketball court and my little car that takes me where I want, when I want and holds the stuff I want to take home from the grocery store and not lug on a subway. New York lives up to the old adage, “A nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.”

Robin Phelan, via dallasobserver.com