Homeless Families

NEWS flash: Someone has invented the wheel. Again.The other day there was a story about how some old cities and their housing authorities, some urbanologists (are they doctors?) and some black people are reconsidering their alleged views on helping the homeless.It seems these institutions and individuals, labeled "liberals," are worried that homeless families are often problem families who, when moved into subsidized housing, make life more difficult for the neighbors. Really? Read on.It also seems that these institutions and individuals have concluded that providing shelter to problem families isn't enough, that families need all kinds of services.

''While women weep, as they do now, I'll fight. While men go to prison, in and out, as they do now, I'll fight. While there is a drunkard left, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I'll fight. I'll fight to the very end." -- General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army.EVERY DAY of the year, the volunteers and staff of the Salvation Army of Greater Baltimore continue their founder's pledge by fighting poverty, hunger, deprivation, abuse and all forms of human suffering.

THOUGH THEY face problems most children don't even know about, homeless children are remarkably robust and resilient, a new Stanford University study has found. Reasonably healthy and surprisingly well-adjusted, homeless children not only attend school fairly regularly but act like "little adults" helping their parents figure out how to pay bills, find food and places to sleep.But the study also shows there are limits to this resilience. Even after short bouts of homelessness, children are damaged psychologically and physically, in ways that often do not show up until after their families find permanent housing.

A few children whose drug-addicted homeless mothers have begun treatment and can't be proper parents can now live temporarily at Dayspring Children's Place, designed to give them skilled and loving care in an East Baltimore rowhouse.The small two-story home on North Glover Street is the first of its kind in the city, according to the coordinating Young Women's Christian Association. Six children up to 10 years old will live there with trained staffers for about two months. Their mothers can visit but live elsewhere until their treatment allows more normal child-caring and transitional family housing.

The Rev. Richard Wise Shreffler, who had pastored the First Presbyterian Church of Bel Air for more than 30 years and was also active in Baltimore homeless and AIDS ministries, died May 1 of pneumonia at his home in San Antonio, Texas. He was 88. Mr. Shreffler was born and raised in Shelby, Ohio. After earning a bachelor's degree in 1942 from the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio, he entered Naval Training School at Annapolis. Commissioned as an officer in 1943, he participated in the D-Day invasion and was later assigned to the Pacific theater of operations.

Although Howard County remains one of the most affluent counties in the nation and has the lowest unemployment rate in the state, the number of homeless people has increased over the past year, prompting a push to increase assistance through the county's plan to end homelessness. County Executive Ken Ulman included $366,500 in his $899 million budget to fight homelessness. If approved, this year would be the first in which the county has set aside money for the plan, which targets those who are chronically homeless — often because of a mental illness or substance-abuse problem — and others who are homeless because of job loss or other unforeseen circumstances.

The homeless man had a minor legal problem and a serious drinking problem. Staff at the Homeless Persons Representation Project tried to direct him to a clinic for the homeless, hoping he would walk the six blocks to find out about a detoxification program. Instead, he just left.For Baltimore's homeless population, estimated at 2,600 on any given night, finding the help they need can involve an overwhelming obstacle course through city streets, as they trudge from agency to agency, in between the searches for shelter and food.

I noticed him out of the corner of my eye as I drove on Route 140 past Cranberry Square in Westminster. Standing on the concrete traffic island that divides Center Street at the intersection was a young man, dressed in bib overalls and a plaid flannel shirt, holding a cardboard sign: "Homeless -- willing to work for food."My first thought was: "What's wrong with this picture?"Seeing homeless people with signs asking for work or a handout has become a regular part of the landscape in Baltimore, Washington and other American cities.

In the shadow of Aberdeen's train station, so close that you hear the clatter of passing trains, a small faith-based organization has been quietly assisting families for 14 years on a different kind of journey: from homelessness back to self-sufficiency. Started in 1989 by churches in the Episcopal Regional Council, Holy Family House was created "to provide safe transitional housing for homeless families with children." Providing support such as free transitional housing for up to six months, life-skills training and even cooking lessons, Holy Family House has grown from an all-volunteer organization with one housing unit to a full-fledged nonprofit organization with three professional staff members, 16 housing units and a budget of $225,000.

Once again, Carroll's Human Services Program, the non-profi organization that operates the county's homeless shelters, is struggling to raise what it needs to keep open its shelter for families. Last year, the organization received a $30,000 anonymous donation that covered the cost of running the shelter for the fiscal year that ends next month. This year, HSP hasn't been so fortunate.It has been unable to obtain a state emergency assistance grant because Maryland's housing department is giving money this year only to those agencies that received money last year, which leaves HSP out. So, the program is again asking the community bTC to make donations to support the family shelter.