home less ness – longmont
face of home less ness in longmont observer – sept 2018
https://longmontobserver.org/media/video/video-chief-mike-butler-on-homelessness-in-longmont/
“In 2018, one-third of elderly people are homeless for the first time. The biggest reason for this is the increase in housing costs.” It’s not that one-third of the elderly in Longmont are homeless. It’s of the elderly that are homeless, one third are homeless for the first time.
“I doubt there will be a headline. Katherine was homeless.” Katherine was a 55-year-old homeless woman who was found dead on September 6th on Main Street. Homelessness is an issue that Longmont is grappling with. Many people have very strong opinions about the topic and what should be done about it.
In Longmont, 17% of the families are living under the poverty level. To be self-sufficient, a family of four in Boulder County must make $76,000 annually.
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sept 17 – 2018
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video on homeless 1 hr convo – aug 29 2018 – starts at 24 min
intro by brian bagley – mayor:
24 min – council – in 20 yrs our goal is that longmont would be the world’s greatest village where children will be most fortunate to be born and raised.. where people will have access to food.. shelter.. and *everyone.. everyone.. **has opp to thrive and feel like they belong.. you have a council that’s committed to tackle this global issue on a very local level..
*has to be all of us
begs **a quiet revolution
44 min – we (us) have the largest number of homeless ness in the developed world.. it’s housing affordability
in longmont 17% below poverty level
47 min – domestic violence 3rd leading cause of homelessness.. we serve about 600/yr.. 2017 .. turned away 751 callers.. because shelter was at capacity or didn’t meet criteria..
51 min – older adults and homeless ness.. 85+ fastest growing age group.. we’ve had some building communities for them.. but w 1-3 yrs wait lists
53 min – undocumented old folks cannot use our services
54 min – oct 2017 – launched .. single adults care
doesn’t look like many in the audience
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Mike on homeless ness in longmont – jun 2016
https://longmontobserver.org/media/video/video-chief-mike-butler-on-homelessness-in-longmont/
30 min video:
865 struggling w homeless ness.. public safety is just about overwhelmed w response/resources for folks struggling w homelessness.. about 50%.. over 50% use of force are w people struggling w homelessness
7 min – our community needs to respond to this in a way we haven’t in past.. i saw this out of love for community.. we need to figure out how to stem the tide..
9 min – we need to come up with some solutions we haven’t thought of before
try something really diff .. to belong rev
10 min – i think there’s an important ingredient in responding to homeless ness that we are missing.. accountability.. if you want a service.. you ought to be able to work for it
accountability.. a killer
12 min – i think we’ve gotten to level of accommodating a lifestyle of homelessness – w/o recip accountability.. lends to degrading community.. also lends to why this community has been a magnet..
loveland (most places) says the same thing.. i think we have to go deeper
not so much about being a magnet as there being more home less
13 min – i think if they know they have to work for it.. we’re positively impacting dignity of people.. that’s a missing link w a lot of folds.. missing dignity
dignity doesn’t come from work for pay
we don’t want to disempower because we’re giving something and expecting nothing
what we want is their art.. for that we need no strings.. we need spaces of permission where people have nothing to prove
disempower ment comes from having an agenda/expectation w a person
16 min – if we say – if get things in longmont have to work for it.. i think we could stem the tide of folks coming in.. and i think this community would react differently if they knew people were working for services.. ie: we don’t want to contribute to that sense of *entitlement
ugh
*entitlement is in thinking you have say over whether another human being should have food and shelter.. money and property is a made up construct.. in a game gone mad..
17 min – if people knew they were working toward giving *something back
huge.. if we let them decide what that is
ie: gershenfeld something else law
18 min – we will only serve those who have roots in longmont – angel initiative
22 min – on other two initiatives..
27 min – we have to come up w something much diff.. we need to somehow impact the dignity of people *in a way that they want to choose accountability/responsibility.. they want to give back to this community.. i also think we can say.. **not going to get service unless willing to give back
huge.. *those are two diff things.. if you free them up to do their art they/we can’t not give back..if you enforce .. by *various strings.. none of this will fly for the long haul.. ie: you’re just doing what we’ve always done..
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open library
from Travis Lupick‘s fighting for space
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plan was for 200 maybe 300 to attend.. 800 showed up.. lasted all day.. all of a sudden these totally radical and crazy ideas were no longer crazy or radical.. they were things that other people had done..
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be you. 