Notice to Tramps: Labor Day and the homeless

Lazarus House, my charity running partner, was founded partly in response to proposed local ordinances that would make it illegal to feed a homeless person. Recently, we have seen a dramatic increase in number of such local laws, and it's troubling. It's important to speak against these wherever they occur; they don't address the issue of homelessness, they do nothing but force the homeless into hiding.

It's not the first time such a "solution" has been entertained in our suburban communities. Lizzie Swank Holmes, a labor organizer and writer who lived in Geneva, was writing about it back in 1886, right before she was arrested for agitating for workers' rights.

Lizzie Holmes and her colleague Lucy Parsons were witnesses at the Haymarket Riot trial in 1886; shortly after, Lucy's husband Albert Parsons was hanged for his involvement in the Haymarket Riot.

Lizzie co-produced and both Lizzie and Lucy wrote for The Alarm, a Chicago labor and anarchist newspaper, one of the papers at the forefront of the movement to adopt an eight hour work day. On April 24, 1886, Lizzie wrote a short piece, Notice to Tramps:

In a beautiful town, not far from Chicago, lives a large class of cultivated, well-informed people. They have Shakespeare, Lowell, Longfellow and Whittier at their tongues’ ends, and are posted in history and grow enthusiastic over the wickedness of the safely abolished institutions of the past. They say eloquent things about old fugitive slave laws, etc., which make it criminal to feed and shelter a starving human being if he were black. Posted at the roadside, in the hotels and stores, is a ‘Notice to Tramps,’ an abominable document which compares well with the old notices to runaway negroes which used to deface similar buildings. It is against the law to feed a tramp. You are liable to a fine if you give a cup of coffee and a piece of bread to a fellow-man who needs it and asks you for it. This is a Christian community, under the flag of the free. Look out, you wretched slaves. If, after toiling through your best years, you are suddenly thrown out of a job along with thousands of others, do not start out to hunt for work, for you will strike plenty of such towns as this. You must not walk from town to town. You must not stay where you are in idleness - you must move on. You must not ride - you have no money, and those tracks and cars you helped to build are not for such as you. You must not ask for anything to eat, or a place to sleep. You must not lie down and die, for then you would shock peoples’ morals. What are you to do? Great heavens! Jump into the lake? Fly up into the air? Or stay - have you a match about you?

We must not let history repeat itself. People who work for a living should be able to make enough to eat and house themselves. Feeding the homeless must not be criminalized. Our hard fought social safety nets must be preserved.

Our community's proud history includes stops on the Underground Railroad as well as abolitionist and labor organizers. Lizzie and Lucy saw that fair labor laws were the foundation to a just society, one that supports the basic rights and dignity of every person in our community.

As we enjoy our Labor Day rest, we must remember that this rest was hard fought and hard won, and only came because locals like Lizzie Swank Holmes spoke up.

5 things I've learned about homelessness

I'm lucky to live here. I'm thankful every day for the natural beauty and supportive community. Great schools, green spaces, well tended trails.

And there are also homeless people, and people at risk of homelessness every day.

Around here, it's easier to miss though. In fact, that's why Darlene Marcusson started Lazarus House in 1997; she recognized there were people in the community giving the appearance of living "normal" lives but really sleeping in their car or in shelters in communities 10+ miles away.

Here are five things I've learned about housing insecurity and homelessness since I started looking more closely to try and understand what's going on, both nationally and locally.

1) Nationally, we've tried to cope with homelessness by criminalizing it.

Banning food sharing, sleeping in public and other measures can temporarily drive homeless people underground but does nothing to reduce the numbers of people in need of shelter.

2) We've tried to cope with homelessness with hostility, or sending them somewhere else.

"Anti-homeless spikes", concrete pillars and other "hostile architecture" have become commonplace way to discourage the homeless from spending the night, as are efforts to drive homeless people out of town and drop them off elsewhere.

Neither of these strategies is particularly effective.

3) Homelessness is expensive.

"When you add up the costs of the hospitalizations and the emergency room and the cycling in and out of jails, that costs much, much more than providing someone with housing and services," said Becky Kanis of Community Solutions, a New York nonprofit that launched a 100,000 Homes non-profit in New York a few years ago with a goal of providing permanent housing for 100,000 homeless people.

Anderson Cooper profiled the organization's efforts on 60 Minutes earlier this year.

Across the US, cities are recognizing that providing housing and allied services is the most cost-effective way to address homelessness. The Housing First program in Camden, NJ, is saving money, as opposed to programs that merely tear down tent cities:

It’s estimated that the public saves $10,000 for every tenant housed in permanent supportive housing.  Had all of these individuals been placed into permanent supportive housing using the Housing First model, the net savings would have totaled nearly $1,000,000.

4) School-aged homeless kids struggle.

But they do great things when they get the right support.

Good quality homeless shelters like Lazarus House can be one part of the stability homeless students need to stay in school and excel. News media features stories regularly about the incredible, inspiring stories of homeless students achieving great things; NPR recently featured a story on D.C. high school valedectorian Rashema Melson, living in D.C. General, the area's largest homeless shelter, and Dawn Loggins' acceptance to Harvard.

5) Homeless kids go to school with my kids, and yours.

In St. Charles, during the 2013-14 school year CUSD303 had 128 registered homeless students. Lazarus House cared for 52 children as part of its emergency shelter and transitional living programs last year.

There are no perfect solutions to the problems of homelessness. Structural assistance like emergency shelter and rent assistance is only part of the solution. Addressing homelessness requires a mix of public and private programs, working in concert to provide the supports people need. It's possible, it's less expensive than ignoring or criminalizing homelessness, and it's the best way forward.

You can help Lazarus House here.