Beyond just reacting to homelessness

The image of an unkempt middle-aged man drinking on a park bench by day and bedding down in a shelter by night persistently symbolizes the homeless population. In reality, many who show up at shelters are families, young adults, and others who have recently run into hard times or just lack skills to help themselves. Advocates for the homeless know they need more than a hot meal and place to sleep. And they’re responding.

Case in point: DuPage Public Action to Deliver Shelter’s newly renovated Wheaton center is offering services like 12-step recovery meetings and computer and literacy classes to clients. As reported by Josh Stockinger, the project grew out of a continuing effort to provide tools to help the homeless reach self-sufficiency.

Other suburban organizations also are shifting their focus from providing only immediate care to seeking long-term solutions. Resources — often scarce — should not be used merely to maintain the status of homeless people. Proactive must be combined with reactive.

Such a shift could prove cost effective. The National Alliance to End Homelessness reported in 2007 that while most single adults who enter and exit the homeless system do not return, 9 percent enter and re-enter nearly five times a year. This group uses 18 percent of the system’s resources.

We all pay the costs of this vicious cycle. Homelessness drains public resources, including law enforcement, hospitals, social service agencies and prisons. And the problem could get worse before it gets better. The Illinois foreclosure rate remains stubbornly high, and typically in an economic downtown there’s a lag time between job loss and homelessness as individuals and families use up their resources until finally they have nowhere to go.

According to a January report by the National Alliance, nearly half of Illinois’ homeless abuse drugs or alcohol. Another 32 percent have a mental illness. The DuPage center has new meeting areas to help clients deal with these problems through courses on parenting, anger management and addiction recovery.

The No. 1 priority when someone walks into a shelter is finding a transitional place to stay. But once settled, that person may need computer skills to pursue a job online or further his or her education. As well-being increases, self-reliance follows. Indeed, at the DuPage center, staff members are noticing a difference in how clients perceive themselves and the work they’re doing.

While many advocacy organizations rely heavily on donations, federal and state grants also are part of the picture. Ensuring that tax dollars lead to positive outcomes is crucial, especially as state payments to agencies are delayed. There’s an old saying that giving a man a fish feeds him for a day, but teaching him to fish feeds him for a lifetime. Addressing the cycle of homelessness with such an approach is a good approach.