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"By Staff ©<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> </span>\r\n\r\nMayor Jerry Dyer’s recently unveiled his homeless plan. The plan relies on a simple idea.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">  </span>Get people off the street and back into the community. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> </span>\r\n\r\nIn California, giving homeless people needles and leaving them on the street is the deadly combination that is no longer acceptable.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">  </span>Getting homeless people off the streets does wonders.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">  </span>As a complement to the “Housing First” model, Sprung structure navigation centers bridge the gap between life on the streets and affordable housing.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">  </span>San Francisco and Los Angles offer tragic examples of the alternative. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> </span>\r\n\r\n<i>Sprung</i> is the name of <a href=\"https://www.sprung.com/structures/municipal-buildings/homeless-shelters/\">a company</a> with a long history. It makes<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">  </span>large, tension-membrane structures.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">  </span>They are not “tents.”<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">  </span>The Fresno Rescue Mission already has two of them.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">  </span>Sprung structures<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">  </span>provide a cost-effective way to create large indoor spaces.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">  </span>Native American community centers, manufacturers, colleges, cities, churches and homeless navigation centers use them.\r\n\r\nReverend Andy Bales, head of LA’s largest nonprofit <a href=\"https://www.dailynews.com/2016/12/29/rescue-mission-rehab-resident-to-mark-sobriety-with-rose-parade-wagon-ride/\">navigation center</a>, framed the problem. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> </span>\r\n\r\nNew York puts a roof immediately over 90 percent of people experiencing homelessness, and is embarrassed about the 10 percent on the streets. We, in turn, put a roof over 25 percent and are not embarrassed about the 75 percent on the street. The answer is immediate shelter. You can’t leave a precious human being on the streets.\r\n\r\nIn January 2020, investigative reporter John Hirshhauer wrote that <a href=\"https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/01/is-california-governor-gavin-newsom-serious-about-homelessness/\">San Francisco’s</a> homeless population had “grown at least 17 percent since 2017. . . .”<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">  </span>Despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars, Hirshhauer noted, “Major cities in California are awash in familiar pathologies: A sea of used heroin needles, piles of human waste, and a precipitous spike in crime and disorder.”<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">  </span>The lesson from successful programs is simple. Helping homeless Americans is possible for communities not burdened by leaders with conflicting agendas. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> </span>\r\n\r\nHomeless people in California tend to come from the <a href=\"https://www.dailydemocrat.com/2020/01/02/californias-homelessness-crisis-and-possible-solutions-explained/\">local community</a>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">  </span>Only 10 to 15 percent have long term drug and mental health issues.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">  </span>They include survivors of domestic violence, the formerly incarcerated and youth who age out of the foster care system.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">  </span>Many have lost jobs and expect to return to work. The homeless population includes few undocumented aliens\r\n\r\nSharon Lee oversees a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCzBi-TLKu0&amp;list=PL39HkZXO7CwlTZH1-8byKq0-j5sgRxhr7&amp;index=93&amp;app=desktop\">tiny home village</a> in Seattle. Interviewed in 2019, she said, “The idea is that people stay for a short time.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">  </span>We help them with their paper work, applying for housing, applying for employment, getting their kids in school, lining up their health care.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">  </span>Then they are able to move on with their lives.”\r\n\r\nPatricia Walker of the Orange County Register reported in 2017 on Potter’s Lane, a project by the nonprofit American Family Housing, the first permanent <a href=\"https://www.ocregister.com/2017/04/04/how-these-shipping-containers-converted-to-housing-have-affected-homeless-veterans/\">container housing</a> complex in California created primarily for homeless veterans. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> </span>\r\n\r\nWalker wrote that “those who champion shipping housing note that the building process is much cheaper and faster – about half the time – than traditional home or apartment construction. Last summer, the 54 Potter’s Lane containers spent about a day each being processed at GrowthPoint’s factory, each emerging shrink-wrapped and ready for delivery”<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">  </span>In the end, “the containers had been reborn as bright and comfortable living quarters – insulated, air-conditioned and fully furnished, and with floor-to-ceiling windows to let in the sunshine.”\r\n\r\nRehabbing existing housing is another cost-effective alternative.\r\n\r\nSan Francisco and Los Angles show how to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to make the tragedy of homelessness worse. Needle programs enable self-destructive behavior.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">  </span>Bringing people in off the streets saves lives and brings them back into the community.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> </span>"
<https://kingsburgtimes.com/2020/02/14/helping-homeless-americans/>