Editor:
This is a request to keep a sharp eye on the hiring, by our Board of Supervisors, of the new Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) Director. The current director receives close to $250,000 in yearly salary/benefits and controls $150 million of our county’s $300 million total budget. With this amount of our community’s money in the new director’s hands, the board’s hire needs to have proven results in helping the helpless but also have creative ideas, be accountable, hold people accountable and have sound fiscal responsibility. Maybe the board will select from the private (real world) instead of the public (government) world.
Our transient population is not “transient” and it is not helpless. It’s settled here and is wrecking our community. Crime is sky high. Businesses suffer. Tourists roll up their windows and drive right through our communities. Chief Mills, who along with his department is doing a great job, stated 72 percent of his department’s violent crime arrests were of members of the transient population. To bring business, doctors, companies, entrepreneurs (job creators) to our county this homeless/drunk/drug/crazy population needs to be brought under control. Jobs create prosperity and prosperity creates jobs. Hopefully, the new DHHS director will understand throwing money at these issues is not working. It is perpetuating. As Jud Elinwood states in the Oct. 22 NCJ “… We Can Do Better.” Bring private sector stakeholders along with key DHHS personnel to find more efficient means to help our helpless.
The NCJ‘s anniversary issue listed problems facing people 25 years ago (Sept. 17). Among these were homelessness and drug/alcohol abuse. Over 25 years of untold millions spent and nothing has changed. I propose that there should not even be a sniff of any new tax put in front of the citizens until vast improvements are seen on these issues.
—Rick Brennan, Eureka
This article appears in Curtis Otto.
What a statement…….”this homeless/drunk/drug/crazy population needs to be brought under control”……
The solution is pulling programs? Then what? You “control” people. People have a multitude of different Mental Health issues, I don’t believe they are “crazy”. I would rather not label a young homeless woman who has been repeatedly sexually assaulted by her family and a string of predatory men as “crazy”. The vets that we put in harm’s way who develop PTSD because of what they are asked to do, I also shy away from calling “crazy”. There is no example of a human being with a mental illness that does not experience suffering. You believe the private sector will help our helpless (which you pointedly said are not helpless and then contradicted yourself) Tell me of an effective example where that has taken place. What do you suggest DHHS does? Where do you suggest the money is applied?
The State Department has also stated that criminalization of our most vulnerable is a violation of human rights. If the community does not apply more funding to programs and less to enforcement, the community will simply find itself with less funds. Do you suggest that we pull treatment and options for accessible food? Do you suggest that we pull funding for places like the MAC? It costs the community a lot more to criminalize than to offer help.
HUD has stated that if we continue to criminalize normal human functions (such as sleep, shelter, food, water) they will begin to pull funding for housing.
“So here’s the deal… cities are all battling in a competitive funding process to get money for social services in their community. The thing is, the money is coming from the federal government, so cities have to ‘play the game’ if they want to get that much needed money.
For the first time ever HUD is asking them to “describe how they are reducing criminalization of homelessness.” Oops!! The trend has been INCREASING criminalization, NOT decreasing it…. so that’s going to be a challenging question. The Federal Gov sees how this is costing a ton and making the issue worse… like we’ve been saying for years.
“Criminalization of homelessness is already more expensive than providing housing, but those costs—from keeping people in jail to increased emergency room visits—are often hidden,” said Eric Tars, Senior Attorney at the Law Center. “We hope HUD’s new question on their funding application brings are least one cost—the cost of lost federal dollars coming into the community—into full view. When added to the potential costs of losing litigation, there’s really no reason for communities to ignore the overwhelming data that shows housing is more effective than criminalization.”
Here is the link to the release from the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty about it… “
http://www.nlchp.org/press_releases/2015.09.18_HUD_NOFA_criminalization