Streets or Services Program Helps Chronically Homeless People
STREETS OR SERVICES PROGRAM HELPS CHRONICALLY HOMELESS PEOPLE--
Growing up the child of parental abandonment due to addiction, incarceration, or non-involvement is often the start… Spending time in foster care, often abused, and having no place to go upon turning 18 only exacerbates the situation… Physical or mental health problems are magnified by the grief and trauma of daily life. Turning to drugs and alcohol to cope leads to incarceration, serious medical issues and the point where all human values are diminished. These men and women no longer take the initiative, sometimes to even bathe or clothe themselves, and they have lost the ability to trust anyone. It is these most impaired of the homeless — some of whom have been “living” on the hard streets for 10, 15, even 20 years— that the Streets or Services (SOS) program touches and transforms.
On “maximum enforcement days” of the Safer City Initiative, implemented to improve the streets of downtown Los Angeles, individuals identified as being homeless and found sleeping on the streets between the hours of 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. are given citations. These individuals have the option of entering into SOS, a short-term emergency housing with services program, or staying in jail and dealing with the misdemeanor infraction. Even with the goal of having the citation dismissed, making it through a 21-day structured program isn’t easy for the mostly chronically homeless individuals who are cited.
The SOS program, lead by the Weingart Center and operated through a collaboration of agencies— Volunteers of America, Union Rescue Mission, People in Progress and Midnight Mission— is having a profound affect on these individuals and the community. In fact, since the program started in the Fall of 2008, 73% of the individuals that were cited were placed into a 21-day program, 37% successfully completed their programs and over 50% entered into a 6-month transitional program.
The Weingart Center conducts all the initial assessments of these homeless individuals to discover their strengths, prior arrest history, medical and mental health background, and length of homelessness in order to place them with the most appropriate agency. Once in the SOS program, their basic needs are immediately addressed — they are given clothing, shoes and toiletries; they eat regularly; and they sleep in a safe and comfortable environment. They also receive: one-on-one counseling, life management education, health care and education, money management, substance abuse services, anger management, mental health treatment and other services designed to meet the individual needs of the participant.
Going through a 21-day program helps stabilize these homeless men and women and shows them there is a different way of life. “It’s not easy for these individuals, but once they are in the program and see others moving towards goals, they want to have goals too,” states Fred Walker, Program Manager for Streets or Services at the Weingart Center.
Willie is an example of the success that the SOS program is having. He lost his wife due to a fast moving cancer and couldn’t hold his life together after that. He was homeless for 15 years. Read how the SOS program helped Willie regain his life after years on the streets.
“We are so excited and proud of the work we are doing with the SOS program,” states Gregory C. Scott, President and CEO of the Weingart Center. “Seeing significant percentages of chronically homeless individuals completely transform their lives shows the importance of, and is a real testament to, the commitment of staff and the collaboration of the SOS partner agencies.
“It takes all of us — the Weingart Center, our partner agencies, the LA police department, the Department of Mental health and the LA City Attorney’s office— working together to positively affect the population of chronically homeless individuals, which in turn is changing our community.”
Funded by LAHSA and the City of Los Angeles, the SOS program is meeting its goals and helping both downtown Los Angeles and, most importantly, people who have all but given up on life. “I think what is making the difference is that we have such an experienced staff that knows how to work with this lowest-functioning population,” says Fred. “We insist that they regain their dignity, we help them set a series of achievable goals, and we tell them we are proud of them. Some have never heard that before.”
