Home Page DC's My People On The Streets Project
To Whom It May Concern:
I initially became a social worker for the same reason most
do – I want to help people. More
than wanting to help people, I want to walk alongside those people and watch
them help themselves. Meeting
someone when they’re possibly at their lowest point in life and then being able
to celebrate the small and big wins with them along the way – that’s why I
became a social worker.
Honestly, I didn’t want to when I first started in the
social work field. I thought I was
going to do something that was more “glamorous”, but instead I fell in love with
working in the homeless sector. The
homeless of Lancaster City/County are hands down some of the best people I’ve
met in my life. If anything, they
have taught me the most about life and my career.
I see myself in a lot of them; it could have easily been me, or any of
us, on the street at some point in our lives.
If more people would be willing to stop and talk to our neighbors, more
would be able to see the homeless of Lancaster are intelligent, caring, funny
individuals.
The thing(s) that made me leave the field.. I had no more
options or tricks up my sleeve to help anyone.
I was just supplying bandaids.
You can only hand out so many sleeping bags, socks, hand warmers, etc.
and say “sorry, I have nowhere for you to sleep indoors tonight or for the
foreseeable future” so many times in a day.
I quite literally became burned out due to not have any resources to
offer anyone.
Things that our homeless friends need: a one stop shop,
more shelter space, housing, wrap around services.
I absolutely realize anyone who is reading this is aware of these things.
But, if we want the homeless people of Lancaster to move on, do better,
get off the streets, or however you want to word it – we need those things.
One stop shop: a vast majority of homeless people do not
have private transportation. It
takes time and money to take public transportation, or time and energy to walk
everywhere. The most demotivating
thing for someone who is homeless is to go to one agency to get help, only to be
told they have to go to another agency – clear across the city to accomplish
their task, or to accomplish something else before they can complete the initial
task at hand. It only makes sense to
have a one stop shop with several agencies represented inside, a day shelter,
night shelter, resources. We want
them to accomplish as much as they possibly can without burning them out in the
process. Sending people on a wild
goose chase through the city makes them give up.
Personally, I wouldn’t walk all through the city every day for my basic
needs, and then walk all over again to accomplish something that takes the
average person 15 minutes.
More shelter space: There needs to be a NO barrier shelter
in Lancaster. Somewhere that can house
even the hardest to house/shelter.
There absolutely needs to be somewhere for those that don’t want housed but want
to sleep indoors, even if they only want it for a few nights every so often.
We need somewhere for the people with physical disabilities, health
concerns, mental illness, drug users, families, those that don’t want religion
or services; we have to be able to serve everyone and meet them where they are
in the moment. We need this space to
be available in real time, not a waitlist.
Housing: this goes without saying, but we need more
affordable housing. Not what you and
I think is affordable to you and I.
We need what is affordable to the people in poverty; that includes those with
zero income or social security checks that are $800.