We are reluctant to address this– but we have to. Downtown Mobile has come too far to see it slide back into neglect.
We have heard significantly more complaints from Downtown visitors about panhandlers recently. One couple has stopped eating at a great restaurant off Cathedral Square because they were harassed twice in one meal. They were harrassed for five minutes until the panhandler left – and then the people at the next table gave him some money either out of smugness or to avoid his harassment themselves. Dauphin Street and the parks seem to contain more panhandlers than customers in the last few weeks.
The first distinction is – All homeless are not panhandlers or loiterers. Newspaper reports contain numerous accounts of harassment, littering, urination, criminality etc. from businesses, parks, churches downtown in the Press-Register – but these reportedly are the minority. The strongest support for this distinction is from Lyn Manz-Walters, Director of 15 Place, as quoted in Lagnaippe, May 6, 2008 (http://www.lagniappemobile.com/articles/1832-untitled) :
She quickly draws a distinction between the homeless and “panhandlers.” “Not all the homeless are begging,” Walters said. “Panhandlers are people with limited income and an unlimited addiction and they will do whatever they can to get that money. A great deal of them have homes, have places to stay where they go back and get whatever high they can with what they buy from what they beg. The way to stop panhandling is don’t ever give anyone anything.” She carries a black-and-white pamphlet, a simple tract that pleads on the front to ‘Please help reduce panhandling in Mobile’ above directions to ‘Give this pamphlet to someone on the street.’ The pamphlet contains information needed to find meals and assistance, a map to area facilities and shelters. In short, it’s all the help any beggar would need to cease solicitation. “We’d like to see people start handing these out to anyone that tries to hit them up,” Walters said. Walters believes further panhandling should meet a stronger rebuff. “I just call the law,” she said.
We have to give a disclaimer so we are not rejected as being cruel before we can make our point. Although we have never been homeless ourselves, we have devoted many hours to working with the homeless. And anyone that thinks they are all good people is naive.For a more pointed view of this, see Roy Pope’s blog post, from someone who was homeless himself: http://www.mobilealonline.com/index.php?mode=viewid&post_id=80
Our second disclaimer is that we don’t have enough knowledge of homelessness in general, or in Mobile in particular, and of all the work that has gone into addressing the problem so far. We are not the reporters who spend a night or two with the homeless and say they understand the problem. This is not intended to be critical of the people that have devoted so much time to the problem. They are better people than we are – and are inspire us to help address the problem. We feel, however, that we have to look at how the problem and how it is being addressed.
How is homelessness is Mobile being addressed?
In 1992, business and church leaders founded the Homeless Task Force in Mobile. This eventually (2001) became the Homeless Coalition of the Gulf Coast (http://www.housingfirst-al.org/ ) . In 2000, the Homeless Coalition founded 15 Place (see below) in downtown Mobile.
The 2005 “Plan to End Chronic Homelessness In Mobile and Baldwin Counties” is available here: http://www.endhomelessness.org/files/641_file_MobileBaldwinCoAL.pdf. The goal was to end chronic homelessness by 2012. In 2006, a $200,000 grant was awarded to the city of Mobile by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs to address the homeless issue. We can’t find any subsequent reports of major grants, although we are still looking.
Mobile has several resources for the homeless that do much good. These include:
15 Place: 15 N. Joachim, run by Loaves & Fishes Ministry. http://15place.org/. Opened in 2000 by the Homeless Coalition under the Plan to End Chronic Homelessness. See Lagniappe’s excellent article from May 6, 2008: http://www.lagniappemobile.com/articles/1832-untitled
Waterfront Rescue Mission: 206 N. State St.
Salvation Army: 1009 Springhill Ave. (which requires a breathalyzer according to the website).
Women’s Shelters: Penelope House, (also Mary’s Shelter on Perdido Key)
Catholic Social Services, and area churches
Health Care for the Homeless Clinic: 555 Dauphin St.
Which bring us to the hardest part of this. One Meal (http://1-meal.org/) is a charity that hands out food to the homeless in Bienville Square every Sunday afternoon. It was started by Mobilian Mike McKinley after the Gumbo Cook-Off one year when he and his family were “deluged” by homeless people asking for food. Several Sunday afternoons went by where we noticed a larger homeless presence than usual recently until we found this was likely the cause. A similar effort is the LoDa Project, which distributes food at Cathedral Square on Thursdays.
Some saycare for the homeless has to involve “the whole person” – be it though medical and psychiatric care, assistance with housing and employment, mission work (if desired), and rehab services. Although well-intentioned, handing people money or food is at best a temporary fix and at worse exacerbates the situation. Unfortunately it caters to the panhandlers, when the homeless are being fed in shelters.
And we have to question the placement of these shelters and services in the middle of our city’s main tourist area. It’s just common sense. The area is filled with bars and liquor, not to mention drugs and tourists and natives on which to prey. It’s just not a good environment. Wouldn’t the shelters be better served near an area where jobs (Brookley?) and education (Bishop State?) are available for those willing to get help?
Mr. Pope of Busaba’s was very critical of 15 Place in response to the Lagniappe article: http://www.lagniappemobile.com/articles/1857-untitled . What this justified? We hope not, but it is certainly a reasonable question to ask if the shelters around Dauphin St. should be relocated.
What has been done so far about panhandling in particular? The Downtown Mobile Regents are supposed to prevent panhandling by assisting the homeless, but we have not seen any evidence of this
Some humble recommendations (based on our limited knowledge):
1. DO NOT GIVE PANHANDLERS MONEY. No matter how compassionate you are. Refer them to a shelter.
2. Support the area shelters – more details on activities to follow(Cardboard City 10/30, Art Soup 11/13).
3. Homeless Coalition, Downtown Mobile, Mayor Jones and the City: Reassess current programs designed to address panhandling and homelessness. Measurable goals are needed becauseprogress is not evident on the streets.
4. Consider moving shelters from outside of the center of Downtown to an area near jobs and other essential services.
5. Consider integrating food distribution programs (One Meal, LoDa Project) with the shelters and other comprehensive aid.
6. A stronger police stance towards panhandlers is needed. If the police have been ordered to stand down on the homeless, as it appears, after the national news accounts of the elderly lady with a bladder problem, this needs to be rescinded.
We know that we may offend some people, we apologize, and we won’t win any civic awards, but we are bringing this up for the benefit of the homeless, as well as Downtown businesses and visitors.We will plan to conduct gather more information and interview and publish a follow-up in November.
