The time is always right to do the right thing
After decades of county and municipal leaders talking about homelessness and gauging public sentiment on the challenge, our county commission did the right thing by convening a countywide task force to get elected officials, nonprofit leaders, our faith community and human services/healthcare professionals on the same page. With that effort comes an overwhelming sense of responsibility and hope.
I also want to take a moment to thank all the workers, volunteers and people in the trenches who work with and show compassion to our homeless on a daily basis.
To quote the great Martin Luther King, the time is always right to do the right thing and working toward the reduction and eventual eradication of homelessness in our local communities is the moral thing to do as well as the fiscally responsible thing to do when looking at the big picture.
The days of saying it is somebody else’s problem, some other agency, some other church, some other governing body are over. This is our problem, our challenge to solve. No community in our county has been left without homelessness being a part of their city or town fabric. it is everywhere and if you cannot see it, you are either vision impaired or refusing to see what is before us on a daily basis.
County Commissioners have set aside $250,000 to address emergency sheltering for individuals without walls this winter season. And I hope our municipalities within the county will add to that total to make that money spread even further. But what do we do when that money is gone? And how do we continue the eye-opening work of the Task Force in order to implement the needed changes to make real metrics driven, human life altering differences within our county?
Quite simply we need an all-hands-on deck, ring the fire alarm, old-fashioned community involved effort that makes this the priority it needs to be. Right now, in Gaston County we have people living in tents along roadways and behind every major retail location and wooded area in our county. COVID and the economic impact of the last two years has been influential in boosting these numbers greatly.
This is not just Gastonia’s challenge or Belmont’s problem or Bessemer City’s issue to address, it is our time as residents of this county to stand in solidarity and demand that we all do better and hold one another accountable for the public health emergency that is before us. If not us, then who? If not now, then when?
What can you do to assist?
Address your local, county, state and national leaders in honest and polite dialogue urging them to make this a top budget and policy priority for the next fiscal year. Don’t yell at them, accuse them, degrade them or humiliate them. Remember that they too are human beings and this past year has many elected officials and public servants exhausted dealing with a global pandemic and other challenges competing for their attention.
They too see what is happening and are looking for your well thought and well-presented ideas and suggestions.
It is time that those who are people of wealth, influence and business leaders in our community invest in our communities with an affordable housing program that works in a collaborative manner with our local governments. We desperately need housing that is less than the average rent/lease rate and allows for individuals living with a disability or a mental health challenge the opportunity to have a safe space with walls instead of a tent on our public properties.
If you have been blessed enough to have made money off the blessings, resources, logistics and people of this county, then I want to speak to you about forming a trust of your own that allows for philanthropic endeavors aimed at collaboratively working to reduce poverty and homelessness by creating more affordable housing in our county.
We need you and the sentiment that Gaston County has no wealth or has no individuals with the means to help is not accurate. I know you are out there and I will ask that you step up and help us to help the most vulnerable in our County. Affordable housing is not only a reactionary measure for a challenge, but it is also a preventative measure that keeps vulnerable populations from falling through the cracks.
There should be no homeless veteran in Gaston County. Another way to assist in reducing this emergency is to make the eradication of veteran homelessness a focus of every town in Gaston County. There is no need to reinvent the wheel here. There are already good people doing good work in this area all across our region and state. What we need now is a concerted effort to make this an area of focus, utilizing our state and federal resources to multiply their efforts on a grander scale.
Our faith community needs to stand up and tackle this challenge in a more direct manner. Yes, we need soup kitchens and clothing drives. We need the food distributions and emergency funding for utilities and rent that many times flows from the benevolence of our local places of faith. And thank you for taking these initiatives on.
In addition, we also need a revolution in the way we think of our homeless and in how we address the issue within our own congregations. I know of several congregations who have adopted a family or even utilize a home or apartment and assist a family through a transitioning process out of homelessness and into a neighborhood where they become planted in the roots of community. That is revolutionary...Following them and assisting them from poverty to community.
I believe every church can adopt at least one family and some can do many more. To those who are already doing this, thank you!
We must stop the stereotypes and stigma attached to the faces of homelessness in our midst. Yes, many of them have mental health challenges or struggle with addiction, but most individuals experiencing homelessness don’t want to be homeless. It is hard to work on getting better or overcoming an obstacle when all you can think about are the basics of food and shelter.
The housing first model works, because it meets the individual where they are at by meeting their immediate needs for shelter, food, clothing and safety. Once those needs are addressed, it becomes easier to make the life altering changes that can lead to employment and physical/mental health maintenance. The sentiment that one needs to just pick themselves up by the bootstraps is fine if you have a pair of boots, but a great deal of our individuals experiencing homelessness don't have the boots we speak of.
We need a “One-Stop Shop” of sorts that serves as a shelter or transitional housing as well as offering connections to physical and behavioral health professionals. It should also include space for activities, educational programming, rehabilitative services and social activities. It should also be located close to essential services and have plenty of parking and outdoor space for recreation and mobile clinics.
This is one recommendation from the countywide task force that was overwhelmingly agreed upon and it is an endeavor worthy of a collaborative effort.
I share this with you as a member of our community who is concerned and sees that there must be a cohesive, collaborative effort made that places all of these challenges under the care of one organizing unit, such as a county homelessness coordinator.
They can in turn work with the local municipalities and people in the trenches on bringing much needed organization and resources in a timely and effective manner. We desperately need the leadership, accountability and guidance that comes with this.
I also share this column with you as a person of faith. I believe we can do this. I believe we can do better and I believe there are stakeholders and individuals out there who want to help, but don’t know how...Now is the time for you to stand up and be counted as part of the solution. You are needed.
If you are a faith leader, a stakeholder, a person of influence and wealth, a community leader or an individual with information that can assist; please feel free to contact me. I promise to read every email, pass along the information to a newly forming county committee and assist in any way I can to help make the necessary changes to reduce and end homelessness in our midst.
Please email me at robertjohnkellogg@gmail.com. Use the subject of homelessness so it does not get lost in all my emails. Thanks for reading and godspeed to you and yours and to all those who live without walls.
Robert Kellogg is a member of Gastonia City Council.
This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Gaston County tackling homeless issue
