How the media portrays the homeless.

stormountainman

These are the parts I do not think are true:

• The cops have nothing better to do other than to go after the homeless
  
  Why are the police fining certain homeless people? Why are people sleeping on verges?
  Have these people got chronic drink and drug issues, and refuse to be helped?
  
  
  
• Only two shelters.
  
  
  
  http://www.denverrescuemission.org/fortcollinsrescuemission
  http://www.ccdenver.org/themission
  
  Others:
  
  http://www.homelessshelterdirectory.org/cgi-bin/id/city.cgi?city=Fort Collins&state=CO
  
  
• The other shelter is similar, only filthy with mice, bed bugs, and cock-roaches.

(The other shelter might be Fort Collins Rescue Mission - Provides shelter for up to 75 homeless men and women.
It doesn't look filthy etc.
It seems to shelter 75 rather than 25 people.

http://www.denverrescuemission.org/annual-report

Catholic Charities: In 2012 they provided 21,229 nights of shelter to 755 individuals.

• The housing authority there makes you wait five years before they would help you.

At present time, the waitlist for available subsidised affordable housing is one to two years for a single adult and two to four years for a homeless family
http://www.homeward2020.org/12/Our Plan/

http://homelessgear.org/
http://www.homeward2020.org/
http://www.coloradoan.com/interacti...2026/Special-Report-Homelessness-Fort-Collins

I was sure I'd looked into the issue there before.
I was sure the characterisation of the place only having a couple of shelters and a police force that didn't give a hoot, didn't seem fair.
Perhaps it was more what you seem to have omitted than what you actually included.
But, like I said, I do not live there - so all the info I posted could be false.
I hope I have researched sufficiently enough to have a little knowledge of what is and isn't available, and the general situation and some of the issues.
My friend was homeless for a while, so I do take this seriously.

 

Dear Odon,

Your information is geographically wrong. I know where the Denver Rescue mission is located. It is 70 miles away in Denver. The homeless people in Fort Collins cannot walk or ride a bicycle over to that place every day. You see, some of them have jobs and family in Fort Collins. While there are some who might have drug or drinking issues. Most are just unemployed good guys. Most were construction worker, until the economy went to hell. They might be poor, and in need of public help; they are not dirt under your feet.

Your information about Catholic Charities is wrong. They only have 6 beds for veterans, only 6 beds for women, and only 23 beds for walk-up guys. The homeless cannot shower there and have to leave by 6 am.

The Fort Collins rescue mission has only 24 or 25 beds. The other 50 that you read about online are just mats that go on the kitchen floor, during the winter. They are not beds.

The Murphy Center is a day-time shelter. That means they have no beds. A homeless person can get a shower, or his laundry done there, if lucky. The Murphy Center serves upwards of 180 guys each day. They only have one shower. So only about 16 out of 180 can shower there in a day.

Homeless Gear is a volunteer group that drives around and gives the homeless donated warm clothing, donated winter jackets, donated shoes, and so on. Homeless Gear is not a shelter where you could sleep. Homeless Gear is managed by David and John who happen to be personal friends of mind.

Homeward2020 is a group of people who meet to discuss homeless issues in Fort Collins. They've come up with some ideas in the past. The ideas did not get anywhere, because they have no budget. My very close friend Brian is on the board of directors. I get weekly reports from them. They have no homeless shelter. In the last four years, they have accomplished very little.

So Odon, there are only about 47 beds available each night to the homeless person in Fort Collins. Colorado is a big state, about 450 miles wide. The Rescue mission in Durango is hundreds of miles away. Some towns kick out the homeless, or arrest them for the crime of being poor.

Most local cops are assholes and scumbags who have no compassion for the poor, hungry, cold, homeless person. Last November, the management at the Murphy Center held a memorial Service to all the friends that we had lost in the last 4 years. There were 47 candles. I knew some of the good folks who froze to death on the sidewalks. Some died because of pneumonia. Some died because of their own choice, just tired of living that way, on the street and having no money.

You see Odon, most of these people are good honest people. They may be poor and homeless, but not poor in character.

 

Why does their website say this?:

316 Jefferson street Fort Collins

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=31...+Colorado+80524,+United+States&gl=uk&t=m&z=13

I wasn't labeling all the homeless people in Fort Collins as alcoholics or drug users.
I was asking why some people were sleeping on verges etc.
I do appreciate there are people/families who just do not have homes.
I would imagine they are not sleeping in the bushes and places were they are not really supposed to be.
I would imagine there is a community of homeless people who don't want any help, and are quite happy drinking all night long etc.
They just don't want any help, and certainly don't want any help from a religious organisation.
I certainly wouldn't want any help from those heavily preachy religious types who are on some mission from God.
It would be wrong of me to speculate about the people that have perished and the reasons that occurred.
I'm not trying to simplify the situation as you seem to be.
It's complicated.

I thought I had narrowed it down to Fort Collins, but appreciate It's probably for a wider area than that.

Does that matter?

So you have said.
Thanks for a better perspective of what they provide.
The main point is:
Is there actually only two places that house people overnight?
I wouldn't try and claim I know everything that occurs there, my point was that your initial post was rather bleak.
I did no think that was fair. I do not think that is fair.

I know.
I just posted a few more links regarding help that was available.
Perhaps your aim in your original post was not to highlight all of the work that people carry out in Fort Collins.
If you had not expanded upon you original post - I'd say people would be under the impression there wasn't much help for the homeless in Fort Collins.

I know they are. I don't know how much they have accomplished.

I've read there are over 100 (at the two sites we mention). I don't know how many are living in - and still classed as homeless - temporary accommodation.

...and not nearly 500 people homeless, but reaching over 800.

See, I do appreciate you care, but you also seem cynical. I'm not so cynical.

Who said they wasn't?

On a side note:
I do wonder why a lot of the provisions are run by religious organisations.
I do wonder why there are beds for veterans.
I do understand the people that run some of the facilities etc are going to be blowing their own trumpet and praising the lord for everything they do.
You do have to wonder why there isn't as much secular shelters - probably think it's going to be run by communists.

 

Well, if there was a shelter run by communists, they would have lots of customers. You need to understand that I am there nearly all the time. I have dozens of friends there, Odon. You also need to know that the Fort Collins Rescue Mission just got started. They just took over the Open Door Mission from that crooked preacher who embezzled money. The mats that I was talking about are not available beds all the time. As I told you, they only use them in the winter, when it's very cold. They put these rubber mats on the floor in the kitchen. They are not beds. During the rest of the year, they do not let the homeless use them. They turn people away every night. So does Catholic Charities. They have a draw at 6pm and only take 23 guys at 10pm. The rest are turned away and they go and find a camp next to the river to hide. Why can't you absorb that information when I -one who sees the situation in Fort Collins every day- am telling you that?

And concerning Homeless Gear and Homeward2020, it was you who had said there were 6 shelters in Fort Collins. I've told you there are only two. The other shelters are very far away.

And while there may be some people who drink al night, a bunch of them are just looking to get some sleep, so they can work during the next day. They are only trying to get on their feet again. Please do not generalize them with cheap shots about drinking all night, or not wanting help. They go to the shelters looking for shelter. And many need a hot meal. Since you do not know them and I do on a first name basis, please do not disparage my friends.

 

hi storm.. what happens to the people who don't have $125 for a ticket?

 

Hi mvmcd1950,

First you would have to appear in court. You can plead guilty, not guilty, or take a plea bargain agreement from the district attorney. If you do not have the money for the fine, you will get jail time and community service. The harshness of your punishment depends on the color of your skin, your prior record, and if you are a Muslim, or a woman. They might go easy on a woman; but, they'll stick it hard to a Muslim or a black man.

 

big sigh..

 

Most homeless people i've known have had mental illness, even the drug addicts!

imagine that...

 

@odonII

what happened to your screen name Odon?

I haven't posted in a year or more.

 

Hey Rudenoodle, How would you like it if someone made generalized statements about your people? I know hundreds of homeless people in Colorado who have no sign of mental illness. They are just poor, because they cannot find work. We can talk about the people who control the economy and deny them employment, couldn't we?

 

Personally I think we are all one people so your point is null.

Ok.

Well I'd imagine so...

Concentrate and try that sentence again please.

 

Departed. Time passed. I forgot my password. I forgot my email addy. I forgot my email addy details. /started fresh (ish)

Yeah, for sure.
I was just thinking that sometimes people don't want help for a variety of reasons.
I would say that is more evident in the U.S.
We don't have that many 'veterans' shelters.
We don't have that many shelters run by overtly religious organisations.
It's a lot more secular.
It seems - and correct me if I'm wrong - shelters are more orientated away from 'government' and more towards charitable organisations.
An aversion to 'big government'.
So some people don't look for help because of political/ideological reasons.
I don't know how much of an issue that is - I'm just throwing that out there.

I read about it. And the bed bugs etc.

I can absorb information.
Just because you are there doesn't mean you can't be partisan about it.
Every comment you made in your original post was negative.
I struggled to believe that the shelters/police/temp' housing etc etc was completely terrible, and there was absolutely nothing positive to say.
You seemed to be highlighting the worst case scenarios.
Which is ironic given the thread we are within.

Well, to be fair, I was looking at transitional housing and treatment centers for the homeless.
They are not technically shelters.

Neither one of us has been 100% correct.

Something I was watching..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-4-MyJBUns"]Jim Cox -- Homeless Coordinator with Ft. Collins Housing Authority - YouTube

I'm not disparaging your friends. I am not generalising.
I was suggesting that not all homeless people are upstanding members of the community whom happen to have found themselves on hard times.
Perhaps you are right, and the police arrest/fine anybody and everybody they find wandering the streets with no home to go to - but nothing is as black and white as that, imho.

Should I just believe everything you say?

 

Odon, I didn't say that you need to believe everything that I say. In the first post I tried to say that here in the west, it is considered rude to doubt someone one who brings you news. It's looked at as something similar to calling one a liar. It just cuts against the grain, here in Colorado. Maybe it's the way you came across here. Nevertheless, I am here and see these homeless people nearly every day. And I know Jim Cox personally. He is the head of the Fort Collins Housing Authority, a government agency. Mister Cox put 88 families on the street just two or three weeks ago. I've had my name on the Housing Authority waiting list since March of 2009. Jim Cox does not give a flying frog about anyone but himself, and his nice government salary. He is the kind of jerk that just turns around and walks away, rather than answer hard questions about his own decisions and agency policies. Fort Collins has about 165000 residents and about 480 homeless. Fort Collins is very rich, with billionaires, millionaires, zillionaires, and movie stars living in it. Private donations help a great deal at the food bank; but, the homelessness has become worse. Now we have a new jerk police chief from Texas. His name is John Hutto. And he has left the corporate criminals and Rich criminals alone; but, has made an extra effort to go after homeless people.

 

stormountainman

Why did Jim Cox personally put 88 families on the streets?
What e.g's have you of Jim Cox not giving a flying frog about anything other than his salary?
Which rich criminals in Fort Collins has John Hutto left alone?

Is this polite enough?

I probably could have put a little more effort in my original post. It wasn't designed to be rude.

 

OK Odon, now you sound like a government prosecutor, in a court room. I have two degrees, in criminal justice and political science. I know what a prosecutor does to hold someone's feet to the fire. I am not a mind reader, so I don't know why Jim Cox, the top dog at the Housing Authority, thinks. I know what I read in our local paper, The Coloradoan. The information is located there, if you want me to cite my sources, like a college kid. As for Jim Cox not giving a flying frog, I know the man and have talked with him a few times. He was recently at the Murphy Center giving an announcement. I was there and heard him, and now that is my personal opinion of the man. Lastly, John Hutto is the police chief. I have talked with him personally. And I know his department has done some very unethical things over the years. Since you sound like a cop or prosecutor, you can force me to bring my evidence on that last point to a court room. Again, I live in Fort Collins and you must be at some law enforcement center.

 

Blame them, the homeless?
Fits in an unequal society .

 

Stating that the person is homeless is merely stating a fact. The only demonization is the one you have fabricated.

 

We live in a society that blames the victims, the culprit blames the victim.
FU.

 

I don't understand why those two guys are on the side of the freaking cops, against the homeless people. And they generalize about the homeless in the same manner that the KKK generalized about Black people in the 50s and 60s not wanting to work, or about Black women being welfare queens. And these two guys are on a hippy web-site, defending the cops, government official, and blaming a bunch of poor homeless guys in Fort Collins. In the 70s me and my Hippy friends called the cops "Pigs" for a very good reason. In the last four years over 50 homeless people died in Fort Collins, Colorado. And in most cases, the cops, and other government jerks, refused to help them.

 

I'm not on the side of the 'freaking cops' with out question.
What, you are by default apposed to all cops, and don't need any reason other than they are cops to call one a jerk?
Well, that seems fair.
If you are saying: 'He has left the corporate criminals and Rich criminals alone; but, has made an extra effort to go after homeless people.'
All I am asking is a simple enough question: 'Which rich criminals in Fort Collins has John Hutto left alone?' - so that I have a better understanding.
I'm not against homeless people.
Like I said, a friend was homeless, so I take this seriously.
Perhaps a difference is, because you are in your predicament, and you know so many - it kinda clouds your thoughts.
While I may seem like I'm a little more pragmatic: Dealing or concerned with facts or actual occurrences.

All you are doing is showing your prejudices...

Yes please. It would help.

What did he say?

Well, you asked me not to insinuate you was lying, but I can't tell if it is true or not with out some evidence.
^ That doesn't really tell me an awful lot.
You said he personally kicked out 88 families.
Not that you had a personal dislike of the man.
That's obviously fine if you do.

Does an opinion make something true?

What have I blamed the homeless for?

Yes, this is me generalising, isn't it: