The problem is that even the most comprehensive homeless services organizations only have limited space. I almost always start by offering a ride to one of the all-inclusive organizations, but oftentimes there are no beds available, and that sucks when you’re barely hanging onto the idea of recovery at all. Without question, the most common problem facing the homeless community is drug addiction, which means detox facilities are in high demand. It gets more complicated from there.
Drug rehab is next, but we need to find a state ID first, and that may mean coming up with a birth certificate and Social Security card if their most recently issued ID was in another state. These docs will be needed later to get further healthcare, dental, temporary shelter, counseling, legal aid, a bank account, employment, a telephone, transitional housing, money management/vocational education, and more.
They’ll need food, hygiene products, shoes and clothing, linens, and eventually, furniture and tools, cookware, flatware, silverware—and let’s not forget entertainment so everyone feels like a real human once in a while! In fact, this is it! In this moment of inspiration, we’re going to have a folding chair drive. What? Yes, a folding chair drive. We’ll grab a projection TV unit, a bunch of chairs, and some popcorn and we’ll blast movies beneath bridges like real, civilized trolls. Hmm… gonna need a lot of water. Who wants to eat hot buttery popcorn with dirty fingers? Who knows? Maybe it’ll catch on!
Ok, back on topic again. Cooperation is the key to success. The day labor place doesn’t do detox. The people who help acquire telephones don’t pass out socks and underwear. You can see where this is going. We need rescue and navigation advisors to design comprehensive pathways to help people get to the next step, and the next, and the next. Especially with matters of addiction—if detox and rehab aren’t followed immediately with shelter of some kind, people end up back in the tunnel, surrounded by drugs, and will more than likely relapse before they get to the part where they find a job.
This is an exciting time. With the border under control, the price of drugs is going to climb, and people are going to be more inclined to get off of them. You can help by contacting your city, county, and federal representatives to tell them they need to start thinking about creating or converting existing buildings into detox and rehab facilities, emergency shelters, temporary housing, and training social workers to help with the docs, supplies, counseling, and education; then transitional housing, planning, vouchers, and hopefully, jobs.
There are almost a million homeless people in the US, and we’re going to need a lot of specialized entities, working together, if we’re going to have any chance of bringing that estimate down.
Again, thank you for your continued support. Please remember to tell one other person about the End of the Tunnel project, and ask them to subscribe today.