Author Topic: Services for the homeless...  (Read 237248 times)

Offline Editor

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Re: Services for the homeless...
« Reply #120 on: August 21, 2007, 08:52:04 AM »

Offline just watching

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Re: Services for the homeless...
« Reply #121 on: September 01, 2007, 09:33:45 AM »
Some individual homeless people can be "saved" via heroic efforts, but the problem of homeless nationally is not going to be solved. Not anytime soon, the nation is heading 100% in the wrong direction.

The homeless debate is also completely off course.  It's NOT about housing, it's NOT about creating more beds for the homeless, and it's NOT about jobs.  This is a CULTURE WAR ISSUE. What the homeless debate should be about is the cultural and spiritual rot in this country.  Many of the mentally ill are afflicted with mental illness because they can't cope with all the greed and selfishness in our society, and how everyone is just out for themselves.  And that is why they are homeless or turn to substance abuse.

We don't have any kind of value system in this country that is neutral with respect to all established religions, and that could form the fabric of society.  We don't have a fabric of society in this country any more, it's everyone for themselves, and America's celebrities and popular culture is leading the way.  Some people can succeed in this environment, others can get by, but some turn to alcohol and become mentally ill.  I love the USA more than anything, and nothing would make me happier than to see a reversal in the direction we are heading

Wake up folks, things aren't going to get any better, with the media, celebrities, and popular culture are leading us further and further astray from where we need to be.  We now have a society in which only the "type A" personality can survive.  And if the Editor wants to ridicule this observation, and post a picture of a bumbling Sheriff's Deputy from Mayberry, go ahead and do it. 

Things may have been a lot simpler back then, and it's very unfortunate that women and minorities didn't have the rights that they deserved, but other than that things were better then. Someone like Barney Fyfe could get by, and even secure a job that he didn't deserve. In  our modern society Barney Fyfe would be a homeless man.  He simply wouldn't make it.  How sad.

Offline Editor

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Re: Services for the homeless...
« Reply #122 on: October 12, 2007, 10:01:27 AM »

Offline Editor

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Re: Services for the homeless...
« Reply #123 on: December 23, 2007, 10:20:51 AM »
Latest story: Annual count of homeless questioned

The initial plan for Bergen County's new homeless shelter, set to open in late 2008, called for 75 permanent and 25 temporary beds. Now there will be 62 permanent and 30 to 40 temporary beds.

"The needs have changed," said Brian Hague, a Bergen County spokesman. "We always knew it was going to be a one-stop facility but it was how you're going to divvy all of the services up that we needed to determine."

Offline Editor

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Re: Services for the homeless...
« Reply #124 on: December 25, 2007, 11:04:48 AM »
Precious gifts - Editorial

Record Photographer Danielle P. Richards recently asked the clients and staff of FAITH Foun- dation, the homeless advocacy group based in Hackensack, to reflect on their most treasured gifts.

Offline Hope Donnelly

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Re: Services for the homeless...
« Reply #125 on: January 10, 2008, 07:22:00 PM »
The author of the following Letter to the Editor (no relation to me) is a perfect of example of what is wrong with the mental health business when it comes to the chronically homeless.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Regarding Columnist Mike Kelly's "Homeless apartment plan is a shortsighted idea" (Opinion, Page O-1, Dec. 30), on housing for the homeless suffering from substance abuse and mental problems:

Have you ever had to move? Many people experience the moving process as unsettling and stressful. They find themselves becoming cranky, forgetful and much more interested in that scotch and soda after a day of packing.

Homelessness is all these things writ large, and then some. As a psychotherapist in private practice in Ridgewood, I have many times watched homeless people's psychiatric symptoms and/or substance abuse "magically" remit when they find a safe place to live.

Homelessness is a classic chicken/egg phenomenon. Please try to imagine how you would start to feel and behave if you really, truly had nowhere to live.

"Housing First" works: It saves money and it saves lives. There is mounting statistical evidence regarding its efficacy in a number of states. Furthermore, historical anthropology has evidenced that the longevity of nation-states is predicated on their response to vulnerability.

Susan Donnelly

Ridgewood, Jan. 2

The writer is a licensed clinical social worker.



Offline Editor

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Re: Services for the homeless...
« Reply #126 on: January 29, 2008, 11:54:52 AM »

Anthony

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Re: Services for the homeless...
« Reply #127 on: February 09, 2008, 04:26:21 PM »
Has anyone noticed a homeless person's campsite complete with a tent and several clothes lines at the northern most part of Johnson Avenue (beginning of Kinderkermack Road)?  The campsite is set back about 15 feet from the road just behind the northern most point of the Bergen County Police/DPW fenced in yard.  It's easier to see if you are heading south on Kinderkermack into Hackensack.  Not sure if this is county property or Hackensack property, nevertheless it's heartbreaking to see.  Is there anything that can be done to help this person?

Offline just watching

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Re: Services for the homeless...
« Reply #128 on: February 10, 2008, 12:16:40 PM »
That's an easy one. It's the same answer as all homeless: 

"ROUND 'EM UP, SORT 'EM OUT."  Those with outstanding arrest warrants go to jail, those with mental illness or alcoholism go to (should go to) Bergen Regional, those that want to be helped to find jobs and housing go to the County Shelter on Kansas Street, and those that are defiantly homeless and/or refuse the rules at the County shelter go to Peters Place. 

None should be left sleeping on the banks of Coles Brook, or anywhere else outside on a cold winter night.  Homelessness is not a civil right.

Probably more homeless should be at Bergen Regional, but our Democratic County politicians who say they want to help the homeless simply don't want to pay for their treatment at Bergen Regional. It's cheaper for them to wander the streets around the Courthouse, and report at night and meal-time to the homeless shelter. And soon they'll have a bigger shelter to report to next to the jail. 

And does everyone see how that building is being built with steel I-beams instead of wood-frame construction. Some contractor is really sucking the County taxpayer dry on that design.

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Re: Services for the homeless...
« Reply #129 on: February 17, 2008, 09:46:38 AM »

Offline Editor

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Re: Services for the homeless...
« Reply #130 on: February 28, 2008, 10:31:27 PM »

Offline Editor

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Re: Services for the homeless...
« Reply #131 on: March 14, 2008, 09:02:28 AM »
Today's Record: Salvation Army razing old home

Problems at 89 State St.
Friday, March 14, 2008
[From today's Record]

Aug. 10, 2003 -- Hackensack code officials close the building after 50 ceiling tiles fall. Rather than fix the problem immediately, the Salvation Army says it will proceed with a scheduled $1.5 million renovation project.

November 2005 -- Renovation plans fall apart after structural damage is found. The Salvation Army submits plans to the city to demolish the building and construct a new one in its place.

November 2006 -- City inspectors cite the Salvation Army for not securing the building.

Jan. 10, 2007 -- Michael Johnson, a homeless man living in the building, is severely burned after he accidentally ignites his mattress with a cigarette. He dies three weeks later.

Feb. 9, 2007 -- The Salvation Army says it will put the building up for sale, saying city codes would not allow the organization to rebuild on the site.

August 2007 -- The Salvation Army decides again to demolish the building after appraisals of the building's value come back low.

Feb. 11 -- City housing inspectors issue a summons for "failure to maintain a vacant structure."

Feb. 25 -- Demolition begins.

Aug. 10, 2003 -- Hackensack code officials close the building after 50 ceiling tiles fall. Rather than fix the problem immediately, the Salvation Army says it will proceed with a scheduled $1.5 million renovation project.

November 2005 -- Renovation plans fall apart after structural damage is found. The Salvation Army submits plans to the city to demolish the building and construct a new one in its place.

November 2006 -- City inspectors cite the Salvation Army for not securing the building.

Jan. 10, 2007 -- Michael Johnson, a homeless man living in the building, is severely burned after he accidentally ignites his mattress with a cigarette. He dies three weeks later.

Feb. 9, 2007 -- The Salvation Army says it will put the building up for sale, saying city codes would not allow the organization to rebuild on the site.

August 2007 -- The Salvation Army decides again to demolish the building after appraisals of the building's value come back low.

Feb. 11 -- City housing inspectors issue a summons for "failure to maintain a vacant structure."

Feb. 25 -- Demolition begins.
« Last Edit: March 14, 2008, 09:31:19 AM by Editor »

Offline just watching

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Re: Services for the homeless...
« Reply #132 on: March 14, 2008, 06:04:10 PM »
Let's hope that the building is sold and that a taxpaying ratable will be constructed there.  Usually a vacant lot is a bad thing, but not this time.  Better to have a vacant lot than a squatters residence, drug den, and God knows what else.  I'll take a vacant lot over what was there any time

Offline Hope Donnelly

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Re: Services for the homeless...
« Reply #133 on: March 24, 2008, 09:23:17 AM »
The apartments at 40 Passaic were pretty inside to begin with.  Pest experts say that ripping up flooring really doesn't do the job - that polyurethaning the floors and into the seams by woodwork does - so this might be a recurring problem once furniture is unpacked and tenants move in. 

Offline Editor

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Re: Services for the homeless...
« Reply #134 on: April 07, 2008, 09:08:50 AM »

 

anything