Academic

Why aren't we ashamed of ourselves yet?

Posted on June 09, 2013

Kerry, if you?re out there, come home

Posted on May 28, 2013
Virginia Fisher Murdoch, who lives in Florida, searches for her brother Kerry Fisher, whom she believes is homeless in Las Vegas.  Virginia ?Jenny? Fisher Murdoch had a dream a few months ago that her brother is alive. The signal she?s getting is that Kerry Lee Fisher, missing since the 1980s, is alive and that his presence has something to do with Las Vegas, the place where people get lost and come to get lost...

The real numbers: half of America in poverty -- and it's creeping upward

Posted on May 28, 2013
The Census Bureau has reported that one in six Americans live in poverty. A shocking figure. But it's actually much worse.Almost half of Americans had no assets in 2009, and it's even worse three years later. Putting it in perspective: While food support was being targeted for cuts, just 20 rich Americans made as much from their 2012 investments as the entire 2012 SNAP (food assistance) budget, which serves 47 million people...

Jacksonville homeless center moving forward

Posted on May 27, 2013
A day center to help homeless people in downtown Jacksonville could open in early July. Renovations at a 3,000-square-foot building started about a week ago. A ?soft opening? is scheduled July 1, though some renovations may still be underway then. The center would be open Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the daytime -- when traditional shelters are closed -- as a place homeless people can find washing machines, showers and services that might help them line up jobs, homes or other needs...

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The cost of justice denied is more than any dollars the Legislature wants to save

Posted on May 26, 2013
Reality prevailed over the wishful thinking of legislative leadership in the Florida Supreme Court's ruling that reaffirmed the right of the poor to adequate legal counsel. The court ruled that trial courts can stop assigning public defenders to new cases when the Legislature has provided so little money that the result is overwhelming case loads...

Panhandler suspended from general assistance for failing to report income

Posted on May 25, 2013
A panhandler in Maine has been removed from general assistance for 120 days for failing to reveal the income. In an effort to control panhandling in Bangor, police and shelter officials are passing the names of known panhandlers to city staff who administer and monitor general assistance, an emergency safety net program...

Drug overdoses overtake AIDS as main cause of homeless deaths

Posted on January 15, 2013
Overdoses of drugs, particularly prescription pain-killers and heroin, have overtaken AIDS to become the leading cause of death of homeless adults, according to a study of homeless residents of Boston. The finding came from a five-year study of homeless adults who received treatment from the Boston Health Care for the Homeless program...

Bill Cady is gone

Posted on November 18, 2012
Bill Cady was homeless for more than four years. "Loading what I could in my car, I wiped the tears from my eyes, fired up the engine, and proceeded down a long, dark, gloomy tunnel into a squalid place called Homelessness."Bill Cady, author of the At My Friend's Place blog, passed away peacefully in Oceanside, California, on November 17...

The high cost of poverty: Why the poor pay more

Posted on January 08, 2012
You have to be rich to be poor.That's what some people who have never lived below the poverty line don't understand.Put it another way: The poorer you are, the more things cost. More in money, time, hassle, exhaustion, menace. This is a fact of life that reality television and magazines don't often explain...

Judge says tent city residents can stay -- for now

Posted on January 06, 2012
A judge in New Jersey ? saying the government has a responsibility to provide for the poor ? refused to evict residents from a makeshift camp that township officials claim is a dangerous public nuisance.Since 2006, from 25 to 70 homeless people have been living in the communal setting...

3 homeless men killed while sleeping

Posted on January 04, 2012
Three homeless men have been stabbed to death in north Orange County, California, in recent weeks, raising alarm in homeless camps as police try to determine whether any single motive links the killings.The men were all stabbed multiple times as they slept alone...

Vacant houses outnumber homeless people in U.S.

Posted on January 03, 2012
There are more than five times as many vacant homes in the U.S. as there are homeless people, according to Amnesty International USA.About 3.5 million people in the nation are homeless while, at the same time, 18.5 million vacant homes stand vacant.Since 2007, banks have foreclosed around 8 million homes...

Gov. Scott to appeal order barring drug-testing for welfare recipients

Posted on November 03, 2011
Gov. Rick Scott announced Thursday that the state was appealing a preliminary injunction that stopped the drug testing of welfare applicants."It's disappointing ? but not surprising -- that the governor has instructed his attorneys to continue defending the indefensible," said ACLU Executive Director Howard Simon...

Court orders Florida to suspend drug-testing law

Posted on October 24, 2011
A federal court has ordered the state to temporarily suspend a law that requires welfare applicants to pass a drug test before collecting cash assistance.Read the ruling here.See previous posts here and here.

Slum Jack is homeless no more!

Posted on October 23, 2011
After more than three years of homelessness, Slum Jack has a place of his own.He says this was a direct result of some friends helping him with stunning generosities. "My major benefactors have been persons that became friends with me while I was homeless, too," he said...

Occupy Cincinnati claims trouble with homeless

Posted on October 21, 2011
Hours before police arrested several of them, Occupy Cincinnati protesters said homeless people were taking over their space in Piatt Park.Some protesters said there have been some thefts and in some cases violence, and they're worried that their message will also be stolen...

Denver may pursue law cracking down on people sleeping downtown

Posted on October 20, 2011
Some Denver City Council members want to make it illegal for people to sleep overnight in the main business sector."We have to stand up for our businesses downtown and our women and children who are afraid to go downtown," said Councilman Charlie Brown...

Occupy Portland asks city to suspend enforcement of ordinances criminalizing homelessness

Posted on October 19, 2011
The General Assembly of Occupy Portland has sent an open letter affirming its solidarity with the homeless people in the city. The letter asks that city ordinances currently used to criminalize homeless people be suspended until new solutions are found...

Tony died today

Posted on October 18, 2011
Tony Clemens, who gained a following of readers over the last five years through the popular blog Homeless Man Speaks, was found dead in his black camping chair in Toronto?s Roncesvalles neighborhood. He was 63.?He was able to remain genuinely cheerful ? despite the worst of circumstances, and he infused other people with that cheerfulness,? said Philip Stern, the business consultant who befriended Clemens and created the blog nearly five years ago...

Cop's son gets probation for punching homeless man

Posted on October 04, 2011
A Sanford police lieutenant's son who was captured on video sucker-punching a homeless man outside a bar, knocking him out, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was placed on a year of probation.Justin Collison, 22, of Sanford, had been charged with felony battery and disorderly conduct, but his family paid an undisclosed sum to the homeless man, Sherman Ware, and Ware asked prosecutors to drop the case...

Colorado Supreme Court declines to hear homeless camping case

Posted on September 17, 2011
A Boulder attorney is vowing to continue his crusade against the city's anti-camping law even after the Colorado Supreme Court refused to hear a case alleging the ordinance is unconstitutional.In a split decision, the high court justices announced that they would not take up the case of David Madison vs...

Rancher who helps homeless may lose control of his property

Posted on September 16, 2011
A rancher who has long been at odds with the county over housing homeless people is on the brink of losing custodianship of his property because he hasn?t complied with county codes, say lawyers for San Luis Obispo County.But Dan De Vaul, who operates who operates a nonprofit sober living program called Sunny Acres, contends that he has met terms of a court order that includes moving tenants out of illegal buildings and supplying safe drinking water on his 72-acre ranch...

Chaotic lives underlie troubles of homeless

Posted on September 14, 2011
A strong link between sleeping rough and other "chaotic life experiences" was found in a new study of Britain's homeless people called Understanding Complex Lives.Nearly half of those surveyed had spent time in institutions, had drug or alcohol dependency or had been involved in "street activities" such as begging, prostitution or shoplifting...

Registering the poor to vote is "like handing out burglary tools to criminals"

Posted on September 12, 2011
Stone Soup Station calls out a very un-American argument to disenfranchise "the poor" in a blog called the "American Thinker." Read the post here.

St. Pete mayor to Tampa: Deal with your own homeless

Posted on September 09, 2011
St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster has a message for Tampa: Don't depend on St. Petersburg to deal with your homeless ? especially during next year's Republican Convention.The warning came during a City Council meeting, when police officials described a slight increase in homeless people from Hillsborough County seeking services in Pinellas, such as bus tickets or shelter space at Pinellas Safe Harbor...

Welfare drug testing challenged in federal court

Posted on September 08, 2011
A state law that requires poor Floridians to pass a drug test before receiving cash welfare assistance -- a key tenet of Gov. Rick Scott's campaign -- is now being challenged in federal court.The lawsuit, from a Navy veteran in Orlando and the ACLU of Florida, acknowledges that the state can drug test in specific instances, such as when there are public safety issues or in cases affecting certain public school children...

Yes, there are hungry people in Orlando

Posted on September 03, 2011
One in three Orlando* households with children did not have enough money to buy needed food at times in the last 12 months. The Orlando metro area's 33.9% rate of food hardship in households with children is the second-highest in the nation. Only Winston-Salem had a higher rate...

St. Pete ordinance would make it illegal for panhandlers to tell lies on their cardboard signs

Posted on September 02, 2011
St. Petersburg is proposing a new ordinance aimed at truth in advertising -- on those cardboard signs people hold up on the side of the road.The new ordinance would ban "fraudulent panhandling," making it illegal for panhandlers to claim that they're homeless or disabled or a veteran or stranded if they're not...

Added to the blog roll

Posted on August 28, 2011
Stories from the Streets isn't really a new blog but caught my attention the other day with a post called "Anxiety and a Lost Loved One."

"Arresting someone who does not have the money to pay their fines does not solve the major problems"

Posted on August 25, 2011
As the summer heat continues to beat down, the police in Jackson, Tennessee, are doing what they can to provide assistance to people who are most susceptible to the elements, as a new division works to build lasting partnerships. The Homeless Outreach Team, or HOT division, pairs police officers with crisis intervention training with members of the community and organizations who have a heart for the homeless...

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