Home Again

I can still remember the smile on the face of the captain of the Army of Salvation. He was touring me around the newly renovated shelter facility and I must admit that it was impressive enough. Massive rooms that could accommodate almost one hundred people. Smaller rooms that could accommodate twenty. A handful of rooms which two would share. Fine offices, a small waiting room area where people would be greeted by someone behind glass after they had entered a steel door. I congratulated him and left.

A warehouse for human beings, I thought to myself. Even if it did have fresh coats of paint.

I've never been a fan of shelters. No matter how much you dress them up you stack as much misery into them as will fit. Then you tell yourself that you are doing something for homeless people.

Union Mission has one shelter now. Grace House, a 32 bed facility. We have consistently downsized it through the years and I very much look forward to the day when we do away with it entirely. Grace House was being built when I was hired or I would have done my best to talk them out of it.

Back in 1990 we built the Magdalene Project, a shelter for women and children. It had 8 individual family room and a small shelter that could accommodate 16. The family rooms were a huge success in helping families remain ... well ... families! We did away with the shelter after only a few years.

Also in 1990 we build Phoenix Place, an emergency shelter for people with HIV+/AIDS. It had no dormitory. Everyone had their own room. I remember once when my friend Terry Ball was visiting. Terry was the head of homeless programs for the state of Georgia at the time.

After touring Phoenix Place, he told me, "You know Mike, what makes this place different from St. Jude's Place in Atlanta, is that everyone here has made their room their own. They decorate it as if it their home."

Finally, I told myself! If we're going to end homelessness, we will do so by equiping people with the skills to successfully live in a home. Shelters don't do this. Shelters throw people out during the day and herd them like cattle at night. Most throw a blanket of religion on top so people can get saved several times each week.

There are some exceptions. My friend Vince Smith at the Gateway Center in Atlanta, for example, where they have created a super shelter, overlaying it an array of services that successfully respond to the reasons that people are there in the first place. It is kind of like hospital for homeless people.

Back in 1993 I wrote a book called "Why the Homeless Don't Have Homes and What to do About it." In it, I advocated for super shelters like the one that Vince runs and for much of the 1990s we implemented one on our Fahm Street campus.

Over the years however, I have come to beleive that everyone should have their own room. Or their own apartment. Or their own house. Because to end homelessness, everyone must have a home.

There is still plenty of work to do required to keep them housed, but the first step is for everyone to go home again.

This morning at the Breakfast Club, my friend John commented that my friend Trolly Joe had quipped that "none of Mike's people look homeless."

That's the point, right?