News-Miner Editorial
It’s necessary
But wiping out a haven doesn’t reduce homelessness in the city
Published Monday, June 30, 2008
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Stumble It!Homelessness is a fact of city life. It’s not a pleasant fact, both for the people who for whatever reason are on the street and for the local government and residents who at times find themselves needing to confront the issue when it becomes a problem.
That’s where the city of Fairbanks finds itself right now as it prepares to clear-cut a wooded area near Fort Wainwright that has for a long time been the home of a number of the city’s homeless people.
The area has become a problem. Residents have been complaining, and crime and the usual detritus of long-term homeless life litters the ground.
The city is right to clear out the area. Local leaders are simply being responsive to complaints and acting in the name of public safety.
But we all know the problem is larger than bringing in heavy equipment to lay waste to the woods. All the city will be doing is causing the homeless people who lived among the trees to move elsewhere. And there are fewer “elsewheres” for them to move to — land clearing near the intersection of College Road and the Johansen Expressway has removed one of the other prominent areas.
Homelessness has a variety of causes: personal, economic and such. As for the economic angle, it’s said that many people are just one or two paychecks away from being homeless, and the current problems in the economy likely mean more people are now in that danger zone.
Why bring this up? Just to serve as a reminder to the wider public that cutting down some trees, while necessary, doesn’t solve the larger problem of homelessness. No one should expect that it will.
Community Discussion
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Average Joe, at least the news miner is for free speach as stated in our constitution!
Okay Joe. So you have an agenda. But it doesn't seem to have much to do with homelessness. Selling raw land outside of the city won't make homes any more affordable to those without the means to pay for the land or the cost of building a house or the cost of buying transportation to drive to and from that raw land.
I don't understand if these people can live together out doors in tents or make shift places, why can't they combine there income and live together in a house where it is warm and safe. But, I realize a lot of them have severe mental health issues. In my own family I have a sister who has these problems. I had to take guardianship of her and she is now living in asst living home. I no longer have to worry about her safety and if she is eating. The home takes pride in allowing them freedom of choices and activities but supervisors their medical condition. She really loves the home and the people that work there. If you have family members who have these problems, don't give up and continue to try to get help for them. Its a long battle but in the end maybe some can be helped.
Property taxes are high? I think someone might be high.
Maybe the Mayor and committee members would have spent their time better if instead of holding meetings they went out and talked with the 25 to 50 people identified by the police chief as homeless. I still have a problem with this whole thing wrapped into the Police Chief's graduate degree. Exactly what is the goal, to assist these people or to do a thesis study. Does anyone have the figures of homeless camps during winter months in Fairbanks, or is it primarily a summer happening.
I dont have the numbers woodman but during the winter when school is in session there are a reported 400 children (!) that are homeless in our school system. The camps are year round and I know for a fact that some of these people will not stay outside at -40 and will get arrested to get out of the cold even if it is for a short spell. Pretty sad.
400 homeless children?? Just where are you getting your facts? Sounds like you need to get a "grant" to study this. Living in a cardboard shack at -40 ? Dont think so,, at least not for long.
What is with those "homeless" people holding signs at Fred's (east), and on the corner of 3rd and Steese. It's like they are working in shifts. Such industriousness could be put to use getting a real job.
Society has provided safety nets for the mentally ill. Through government and through charity. I'm sorry that it might not be Springhill Suites, but help is available. Fahrenkamp Center, Mental Health Center, FNA provided resources, churches.
I see homeless people downtown. Most of them seem to disappear in the cold months of winter, and reappear in the spring. They must be going someplace.
I also dont believe that there are 400 homeless children.
The homeless children often have low functioning parents that can't provide for them and may find other means of shelter, not necessarily staying in a cardboard shack. Many of the kids "couch surf" to stay out of the cold. I don't doubt for one second that there are 400 children who are homeless in the Fairbanks area. Homeless doesn't mean they are living in cardboard, though I'm sure there are some. I know of some who have lived out of cars. I give these kids a ton of respect for making it to school under some of the conditions. Don't underestimate the numbers.
Bugger, there are people following the homeless children who do attend our school system. The numbers are frightening and will become more so in the near future.
As for cutting down the trees to force those living within out, perhaps we could set up something in the parking lot of Pioneer Park for them. Why do we facilitate the tourist, while throwing our own in the gutter. Come on people, put your mind where your mouth seems to be.
The school district uses a state or federal definition for homeless. Children who are homeless could be staying at "friends" houses or motels, or cars, or even cardboard shacks. Homeless simply means without a home. JB's numbers are accurate and were published in the DNM within the last year or two. You could look on the FNSBSD web site and maybe they would have it. I believe they are keeping track because homelessness has such a huge impact on education. I doesn't matter how "homeless" is defined. If a child isn't in a stable situation their learning is going to be deeply impacted. You don't need a grant to study homelessness Bugger. When parents enroll their children each year you just ask them. When you get that number you just assume that it is low because many who are actually homeless won't admit it.
Woodman pick a topic. If our law enforcement acted without doing some research they would be chastized. Now that they are trying to get some numbers they are accused of trying to make a thesis out of it. Are you gonna let them get one right sometime??
"Homeless could be staying at 'friends' houses or motels."
Huh? What? I'm sorry that it's not 3 bedrooms and a picket fence, but many people live in motels up here. I've seen them. The motels have long term renters every winter. And I've stayed at friends' homes. While it is disruptive, it is also shelter.
"It doesn't matter how 'homeless' is defined."
Huh? What? Well, yes it does, if you are actually trying to deal with reality.
"When you get that number you just assume that it is low because many who are actually homeless won't admit it."
Huh? What? Why even ask? Just make up a number. Any number will do.
I'm sorry, SaltCreekBoy, but I just cant understand your logic.
ship them out to arizonia and be done with it.
Being homeless certainly does not mean being hopeless. The key is to have a good way to connect people with available resources. There is a lot of help to be had, if people can find it. Some will want to improve their lives; many won't. Whether this particular area is available is not the determining factor. Mostly it comes down to individual drive.
I don't buy that '400 homeless children' figure either. Just because the News-Miner published it, that certainly doesn't make it true! Homelessness, as defined by the school district, is a far cry from the folks who live in homeless camps.
I had a friend who had a spoiled son who decided he didn't want to obey his parents, so he ran away. Where did he go? To the now-closed Family Focus shelter. Every time. This teenager had a comfortable home, loving parents who loved him and sought to give him some guidelines and boundaries, and, materially speaking, more than most kids. His own TV, his own computer, video games and players, sports equipment - everything he wanted. His parents spent lots of time with him, doing things he wanted to do. But he refused to obey. The first time he ended up at the police station, the officer rightly told him, "You're not abused, young man. You're just spoiled rotten." He was right. True, the spoiling was not his doing. But my point is, he was one of these "homeless" kids for years. Family Focus encouraged him to come there any time things didn't go his way at home. Relatives believed his lies and took him in. There are MANY spoiled kids and teenagers in Fairbanks who are "homeless" for no other reason than that they chose not to obey their parents. And out social structure allows this to happen.
Let's not color the facts about true homelessness by looking at the borough's misleading figures.
I have'nt seen any 400 kids on the street? but things do happen!.
Because I was homeless before.My ex caused so much problems and trouble where my child and I lived I had to get a restraining order
but that was'nt good enough for them so we got evicted,there
are some people who just do'nt care and do'nt try to understand!.
with the high cost to move in to an apartment it took 10 weeks of living in a tent to save enough money to get an apartment with the way things are now it could happen to any one!.
I guess the term "homeless" student should be a bit more specific.
A child, with little or no parental support, who might be bounced from couch to couch, (friends, stranger, etc)...might not be "homeless" by many of your definitions...but it's still a large problem.
I see it on a daily basis at our elementary school. Students who are picked up by strangers, never prepared, and falling way behind. Simply because they have no "home" to go to per say.
alaskanflower is right.
And the kids don't necessarily have to be "spoiled."
Hell, it's taught in the public (euphemism for government) schools, doctors' offices...(They'll push/scare girls to get the new shots--and let them know they don't need parental permission. "Oh, and come back any time you're ready...")...
As she said, it's pushed in the so-called non-profits. It's a societal thing, and clearly, it's working to brainwash people.
I know there are plenty of loser parents. I've known plenty of kids trying to do better than and rise above their loser parents. It's really sad.
But there are a great number of kids from decent homes who just don't want to be home; they want to hang out with "friends" 24/7, and they don't want to follow the rules of the home. They take-off and couch surf. They should not be counted as homeless under any number crunching. They're generally having a teenage brain freakout.
Most of them That I've known, but certainly not all) grow-up and realize how stupid they were.
I also know kids from oh-so-respectable families that hid it well, and as they got older aren't doing so well as some of their stupid-as-a-teen peers are.
This Alaskan war-on-kids-and-parents has got to end.
If a kid takes off even for a night, if the kid is not called in as a runaway, if anything happens--even if the kid wasn't involved but in the vicinity--the parents, no matter how "good," are liable.
I got a call an hour ago from a 21 year old girl who is one of my kid's best friends. Long time. She's a good "kid," responsible, not a druggie, not a party girl...but she can't get a job. Her folks are decent, dad works at Eilson (extremely highly skilled profession)...
Why? Because when she was 15 she was on a teenage brain freakout and she stole her parents car. And they turned her in. Boy, they regret it now.
Too many people forget that kids do stupid things growing up, and are sucked in by this numbers/bad kid/bad parent government control "game." We need to get back to common sense.
I'd bet that if a bunch of we baby-boomers had computer records on every thing we ever did from our teen years, along with cops who have no sense of community relations and most seem to have such a huge chip-on-their-shoulder--maybe they got picked on in high-school, who knows--and the current war on kids/parents going on when we were teens, a lot of us would be considered pretty bad people.
After all, most of the "offenses" these kids commit (running away, stealing Dad's car--bet no one ever did that in this holier-than-thou commentland--drinking at a party...), while not a good thing, weren't things that should follow them around forever and make being a decent person that much more difficult.
But, you guys never did anything stupid as a kid...right?
corinne---
I, myself, as a teen, was homeless. For 3 days. Then my Dad kicked my butt, and made me go home.
Your comments are right on, as usual. Kids are kids. They're crazy, rebellious, curious future human beings. We love them.
I have lived here for sixty years and had parents in public service and by that I mean the actual physical and not managerial service.
I can tell you that you need look no further than our hospital, Noticed all the rooms with a donated sign?); for the plight of homeless, inebriates, unstable and mentally ill folk, adults and children. That and our unfortunate habit of suing for extra cash.
Fairbanksans want everyone to be self sufficient and admire those who stay out of trouble, out of the news and off any financial assistance.
No one thinks they, themselves; should have to pay or help out anyone. To them no one is ever quite in need enough for them to offer help. It has always been this way and probably will never change which is why we will continue to have these issues and The Real Taxpayers Alliance or the older Property Owners Association.
I'm sorry, angelface, but I can't quite follow what you're saying.
Just like most of the city's solutions to things, clear cutting this area will just shift the people from this area to another.
I agree. Why cut down the trees? Have they explored other possibilities? Maybe fence it? Most of us live in Fairbanks because we WANT trees around. If we wanted to live in places without trees, we would live in big cities in the lower 48. Fairbanks needs to wake up and slow down this continual mowing down of trees, or soon we will be in the middle of an asphalt jungle.
And, by the way, WHAT neighbors were complaining? As I see it, there ARE no neighbors close enough to be affected by people living in the area.
there is'nt going to be anyone who can help them.
AKNATUFF; I think your right FNA use to have alot going for them
not so much nowa days. as for the inebriants and sustance abusers
of all walks of life thay them selves are the only ones that can help them selves. Like the others say cutting down the trees and brush
will not solve the homeless problem thay will just move else where.
I say we mow all of the trees down in Fairbanks right now, so homeless people won't be able to shift to another tree-space. Preventing problems before they happen is the key!
Seriously though, homelessness has multiple causes, from single parents trying to raise kids on minimum wage, to other hard-working people who've been laid off because their jobs went overseas, to mentally-ill people who fall through the giant holes in our increasingly overburdened social system, to spoiled-rotten teenagers leaving their comfy homes for "freedom." To lump the "homeless" into one category does nothing but ignore the very real problem of people living in an economic/political system that rewards businesses that outsources millions more jobs every year. Most Americans are one or two paychecks away from homelessness themselves, and corporately-owned politicians are only making things worse by passing laws that support "We the Corporations" instead of "We the People.'
As wages plummet and the cost of living skyrockets, there are going to be a lot more homeless people taking to the trees, so we'd better go ahead and do what I suggested and cut down all of the trees in Fairbanks to prevent "those people" from moving into the tree-spaces in the first place. Problem solved! Conservative style!
I'll bet a dollar to a donut, that many of the anti-homeless commenters on this site are Christian. A question for you; How many trees do you think Jesus would mow down to eject the homeless they contain?
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