Phaedrus: The Faceless Among Us

49 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

• 

  coeurgenx on December 22 at 8:32 a.m.

  Is this in CdA or just a note on the grim reality that homeless people face? Regardless not a pretty one at this time or any time of the year

• 

  Pooey007 on December 22 at 8:43 a.m.

  It is very much here. The HELP Center documented 1433 services proved just in November, there are 237 kids in the CdA School Dist. alone who are homeless, and the Point in Time Count (a survey of the homeless over 2 days) there were 418 homeless in that snapshot.

  This time of year is rough and the economy is not helping. Those agencies serving that population would appreciate any help from the community.

• 

  Phaedrus on December 22 at 8:56 a.m.

  coeur, this gathering took place in the parking lot of the St. Vincent’s H.E.L.P. Center on Harrison Avenue.

• 

  mike_s on December 22 at 10:00 a.m.

  Phaedrus, do you think flashlights could have saved those lives?

• 

  DFO on December 22 at 10:07 a.m.

  @ Mike_S re: “Phaedrus, do you think flashlights could have saved those lives?”

  That’s two.

• 

  LarrySpencer on December 22 at 11:20 a.m.

  “there are 237 kids in the CdA School Dist. alone who are homeless”

  Umm.. not quite able to swallow that one, Pooey007.

  Are you pulling the old trick of counting the children of single mothers who live with their parents in upscale homes? True, they don’t have a home of their own, but when people hear “homeless” they think about people living on the street in the cold.

  Are you also counting the people who live in hotels? I know one such child, but her mother just sold her manufactured home and has over $5,000 that she is looking for another place with. Are they “homeless” and if they are, should the government offer to give them some help?

  I came across another homeless man living at the Days Inn last month. He was homeless because he had sold his home in Dalton Gardens, and his new home is not ready to move into.

  What criteria did you use to come up with your numbers? Ary you saying that over 200 kids are living on the streets in CdA?

• 

  Pooey007 on December 22 at 11:40 a.m.

  “LarrySpencer not agree with actual documented facts”

  STUN!!!!!!!!!!

• 

  hmoffsuite on December 22 at 11:47 a.m.

  For purposes of discussion, I think Larry’s questions are relevant and valid. What, exactly, constitutes one being homeless?

• 

  DFO on December 22 at 11:51 a.m.

  @ Pooey007; glad to have you on board as a commenter. Any chance you can post an avatar with your comments?

• 

  mike_s on December 22 at 11:56 a.m.

  Sounds like there are more homeless families than ever before.

  Certainly, the” face of homelessness” goes beyond the stereotypical image of the chronic alcoholic street person or that of the free-spirited hobo from days gone by.

  Tough times.

• 

  Soaf on December 22 at 11:58 a.m.

  HMO, PLEASE don’t encourage him. Everytime Spencer makes an entry on this blog, the relative IQ drops ten percentage points.

• 

  LarrySpencer on December 22 at 12:05 p.m.

  Soaf, the fact that you and your friends show up to jump me doesn’t always mean the IQ drops 10 points.

  I was thinking more like 8 or 9.

  ;-)

• 

  Pooey007 on December 22 at 12:08 p.m.

  While true not all children are on the street. As of the 1st day of the school year & Point in Time count 56 were counted “unsheltered” or on the street, living in a tent, car or stairwell. The definition of homeless for children is explained in the McKenney-Vento Act of 1986. There’s some light reading for Larry. Other kids are classified as precariously housed (multiple family dwelling, hotels, emergency shelters).

  While were looking at numbers, out of the Point in Time 418 homeless, 191 were “unsheltered”. Other interesting stats: out of the 151 households surveyed, 38% stay in their car, 31% have been homeless longer than 3 months, 56% are from Kootenai County, 34% are experiencing homelessness for the 1st time, & 62% are between the ages of 30-50.

  The next Point in Time count is scheduled at the end of January. Larry, can I sign you up to help?

• 

  Soaf on December 22 at 12:09 p.m.

  There’s your problem Spencer, You were “Thinking”. When that happens the IQ meter spins like the wheels on a slot machine.

• 

  Soaf on December 22 at 12:12 p.m.

  @Pooey007

  ***Larry, can I sign you up to help?***

  Don’t hold your breath!

• 

  Pooey007 on December 22 at 12:15 p.m.

  DFO-Sure, how do I do that?

• 

  hmoffsuite on December 22 at 12:15 p.m.

  Pooey007. Thank you for the stats.

• 

  Pooey007 on December 22 at 12:15 p.m.

  Soaf–-one can dream :-)

• 

  Soaf on December 22 at 12:18 p.m.

  @Pooey007,

  If its about Spencer, that would be a “Nightmare”!

  ;-)

• 

  Pooey007 on December 22 at 12:23 p.m.

  Soaf-

  I figure that if there are people like Mr. Spencer in our community who know so much about this population they probably have solutions that they are bringing to some committee, and working with experts in the field.

• 

  mike_s on December 22 at 12:23 p.m.

  Pooey, can you break down the stats to how many are homeless families and how many are homeless youth, alone, trying to survive on the streets?

  (FYI, my ex-wife works with homeless youth as a program director for a large mental health agency in western Washington. I’ve gleaned some knowledge of this subject over the years.)

• 

  Pooey007 on December 22 at 12:23 p.m.

  That’s my Christmas wish….

• 

  Pooey007 on December 22 at 12:28 p.m.

  Mike_S:

  The Point in Time is just broken down into age groups (18 & under, 19-29, etc).

  Out of the 101 children surveyed under the age of 18 there were 40 unsheltered.

  The Point in Time is simply a 2 night “snapshot” of the homeless. We are fully aware that the school districts will have better long term info. The PIT people are just the folks we can find at that time.

• 

  Pooey007 on December 22 at 12:30 p.m.

  Soaf

  So I’ve noticed.

• 

  Soaf on December 22 at 12:32 p.m.

  And besides, any credible committee member out there that saw Spencer coming would run away like their hair was on fire.

• 

  Pooey007 on December 22 at 12:33 p.m.

  Another interesting tidbit:

  Causes of local homelessness?

  47% Unemployment followed closely by Unable to find affordable housing at 43%

• 

  LarrySpencer on December 22 at 12:41 p.m.

  Who is “homeless” under the act?

  (b) Children living in “motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camp grounds due to lack of alternative accommodations”

  If you live in a trailer park you are homeless?

  (d) Children “awaiting foster care placement”

  Even if they are in the CPS system? Being “homeless” under those circumstances is a problem, but I fail to see that as their biggest problem.

  (f) Children living in “cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing…..

  Is a manufactured home “substandard housing?”

  So your 200+ number falls to less than 60. How many of those were waiting for foster care placement? How many of them were living in a trailer park?

  While I would love to see every person able to own a 1500sf site built home with at least 2 full bathrooms, I still have a problem with the numbers put out by Pooey007.

  How many children (and by that I mean under 18, not 21) are living in cars, tents or homeless shelters in CdA? 5?

• 

  Pooey007 on December 22 at 12:53 p.m.

  LarrySpencer—

  Shock!

  The numbers were pulled out of a report. They probably don’t make sense to you because you are on the outside of the issue looking in.

  I’ve been following Huckleberries for a long time and other “for sure ” things in this world such as the sun coming up in the morning, there will always be Larry Spencer finding issues in everything he does not have any knowledge of.

  Again, can I sign you up for the next Point in Time count? It’s tougher poking holes in issues if the numbers actually become faces with names.

• 

  Pooey007 on December 22 at 12:57 p.m.

  LarrySpencer-“How many children (and by that I mean under 18, not 21) are living in cars, tents or homeless shelters in CdA? 5?”

  Like I said, “Out of the 101 children surveyed under the age of 18 there were 40 unsheltered”.

  The 237 homeless children in SD271 is filed with the state.

• 

  Smacky on December 22 at 12:59 p.m.

  Dear Santa,

  I’m changing my wish-list. Please disregard all the items I asked for and just give Larry Spencer a heart.

  Smacky

• 

  LarrySpencer on December 22 at 1:07 p.m.

  Pooey, I read the act, and did not see the word “unsheltered” defined in it.

  Again, would you be so kind as to tell us exactly what unsheltered means?

  Is a child living in a “substandard” dwelling like an RV in a trailer court “unsheltered”?

• 

  LarrySpencer on December 22 at 1:13 p.m.

  Smacky, I have a heart, but I also have a brain. I ask the questions because if I didn’t, some of the less bright people in here would think that there are hundreds of children living in cars or dumpsters in CdA. And that isn’t the case.

• 

  Smacky on December 22 at 1:29 p.m.

  Even if there is just one, Larry, isn’t that enough? Not seeing your point, but your message is heartless.

• 

  LarrySpencer on December 22 at 1:43 p.m.

  Enough for what, Smacky? Yes, one person is one too many, but if the public is going to be asked to support massive government expense to remedy the problem, as MikeK wants to do, shouldn’t we have some kind of understanding as to the actual scope of the problem? I would not support building a $5 million homeless shelter if there is twenty people living on the street, especially if the charities and churches were able to accomodate them.

  When those who support spending public money to fix a problem are not open and honest about the scope, how will they gain public support for funding?

• 

  LarrySpencer on December 22 at 1:48 p.m.

  Did anybody notice that Pooey is not answering the question about the what the word “unsheltered” means in this context?

  I seriously doubt that there is a single child sleeping in the street, but I am positive that there aren’t 40 of them.

• 

  nic on December 22 at 2:30 p.m.

  “Did anybody notice that Pooey is not answering the question about the what the word “unsheltered” means in this context?” LarrySpencer on December 22 at 1:48 p.m.

  Nope. No one else noticed because Pooey DID answer the question.

  “56 were counted “unsheltered” or on the street, living in a tent, car or stairwell. ” Pooey007 on December 22 at 12:08 p.m.

  Note to self: add reading for comprehension to the list of Larry’s expert skills.

• 

  Soaf on December 22 at 2:41 p.m.

  @nic,

  The problem with the answer was that it wasn’t what Spencer wanted to hear. The link between his two somewhat functioning brain cells short circuited which would explain his lack of understanding.

  ;-)

• 

  Don_Sausser on December 22 at 2:57 p.m.

  So under Pooeys list I am also homeless. Since I am a renter I am homeless?

• 

  LarrySpencer on December 22 at 3:12 p.m.

  Actually, nic and Soaf, Pooey said

  “As of the 1st day of the school year & Point in Time count 56 were counted “unsheltered” or on the street, living in a tent, car or stairwell. The definition of homeless for children is explained in the McKenney-Vento Act of 1986.”

  So I went to Wikipedia to look up the definition, and found that it included

  “(b) Children living in “motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camp grounds due to lack of alternative accommodations”

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinney%E2%80%93Vento_Homeless_Assistance_Act

  Since a child living in a hotel hardly seems “unsheltered” I asked Pooey to clarify his/her claim. Because there has been no response, I suppose what Pooey meant was that 56 childeren live in trailer parks, hotels, motels or on the street.

• 

  Phaedrus on December 22 at 3:14 p.m.

  Man, what is so hard to understand about people living without a roof over their head? Don, your argument is absurd, and you know it. mike_s is a pseudo-intellectual only interested in playing devil’s advocate and LarrySpencer is simply practicing his day-in, day-out habit of taking a crap on anything that hints at helpfulness or compassion. LarrySpencer, last night’s gathering wasn’t government run or taxpayer supported, why weren’t you there?

• 

  LarrySpencer on December 22 at 3:17 p.m.

  If there was children living on the street, I would pass a hat to get them into a warm motel room, but if they are in a warm motel room, I’m not going to collect donations to buy a house for them.

  And for this, I get labled a heartless Scrooge, right?

• 

  Soaf on December 22 at 3:23 p.m.

  I wouldn’t necessarily call you heartless Spencer.

  I would say more on the level of “Thoughtless”.

  ;-)

• 

  Phaedrus on December 22 at 3:26 p.m.

  LarrySpencer, what do they do after their one night in a motel room? What do they do the next night? What do they eat? Who sees to it that they go to school? Where do they do their homework?
  The problem with you is that you look at everything through the filter of dollars in your pocket. Life is so much more than that. But if I explained, you wouldn’t understand. And if you understood, I wouldn’t have to explain.

• 

  nic on December 22 at 3:32 p.m.

  Larry, you’re still failing the comprehension test.

  “56 were counted “unsheltered” or on the street, living in a tent, car or stairwell. ”

  On the street, in a tent, or stairwell are not additional options to “unsheltered but a clairification of what “unsheltered” means.

  And if that is still in question, continue reading “Other kids are classified as precariously housed (multiple family dwelling, hotels, emergency shelters).” hotels & motels are considered “precariously housed” not unsheltered.

  So if 56 kids are unsheltered, and other kids are precariously housed , those then those 56 kids could not be living in a hotel room as you so desperately want to believe.

• 

  nic on December 22 at 3:35 p.m.

  And Larry, I want to know how you believe that a one room motel room with 2 beds and no kitchen is adequate housing for a family with kids.

• 

  LarrySpencer on December 22 at 3:52 p.m.

  I don’t, nic, but I wouldn’t think they are going to not be able to sleep because of the cold.

  When it comes down to it, you need to check your reading comprehension.

  “56 were counted “unsheltered” OR on the street, living in a tent, car or stairwell. ”

  Did you misread the sentence, nic? “unsheltered” is one of the possibilities, as is living on the street, tent, car or stairwell.

  To read it the way you say it reads would have required a comma after the word “unsheltered” because without a comma, the remainder of the sentence does not act to define the word “unsheltered.”

• 

  Phaedrus on December 22 at 4:03 p.m.

  Eats, Shoots and Leaves. Except I wouldn’t eat.

• 

  mike_s on December 22 at 4:21 p.m.

  “Mankind should be our business, Ebenezer, but we seldom attend to it.”
  —the Ghost of Jacob Marley

• 

  DFO on December 22 at 4:48 p.m.

  @ Nic; I’ve deleted a coupla your posts re: spencer, the ones that stepped across the line from jabbing to name-calling.

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