Try a new approach

Hello homeless services leaders,

Wouldn’t it be amazing if our community chose to take our dollars and actually address the root causes of homelessness? It is entirely possible to create a low-barrier, housing-focused shelter that includes a full array of harm reduction services like mental health, a needle exchange, and a direct entry point for treatment services like suboxone and methadone.

What better way to connect with individuals experiencing homelessness who do not trust the current systems as they exist, choosing to sleep outside rather than in shelters. We must meet them where they are, build connections, offer real resources to address their mental health, addiction, and homelessness. It must look different than anything we have done before.

I have worked in shelter, outreach, as well as in STD prevention and the needle exchange program in Spokane, and I have seen the HUGE gap for people suffering from addiction who are unable to obtain treatment and treatment beds, so they stay on our streets. They build camps. They fly signs. They are not garbage to be looked past or pushed into shelters so you don’t have to look at them, they are humans with unlimited potential.

I think our community is on a precipice where we can choose to take some actionable steps to make meaningful, sustainable change. We, the people with the money and the know-how, need to build the road map to get them out. We already have Cannon and UGM, let’s do something different.

Heather Schleigh

Cheney