Friday, January 25, 2013

Difficult but NOT impossible!

This morning I met with Alice who is the Executive Director for Va Supportive Housing.

I had read an article about Va Supportive Housing not too long ago in the newspaper

Today was a great meeting learning more about what they do.

Va Supportive Housing has learned over the years that the practice of "housing first" for the homeless, is what works best for the most vulnerable folks on the streets.


This past summer I learned about this same process at a conference here in Richmond.

It made a lot of sense to me!


This idea is actually quit simple in it's concept. 

Take someone who is most vulnerable living on the streets and put them in housing with NO conditions!

It doesn't matter whether or not you have mental issues or substance abuse.

Place them in a safe environment and then deal with their personal issues only if they want to.

Alice spoke of "not judging" who they are.

Sounds familiar!

In NY, I learned that this concept of "housing first" works!

NY was able to use this concept to cut their homeless population in half in just five years for a specific area.

People won't deal with their issues until they find a safe place to live.

It's a basic need and one that I can not truly relate to, but one that I am trying to better understand.

Here is a testimony of a homeless woman in London that speaks to this challenge!

Mark Horvath produced this video on his blog called invisiblepeople.tv.

Mark is doing incredible work to help solve homelessness across the world!

So if we don't judge and we provide a safe place to live, then maybe we can make a difference!

I know in my life I didn't deserve what Christ provided for me.

Now we have the opportunity to provide that same love to those on the streets.

Va Supportive Housing is on the right track!

It's simple in concept, but difficult to pull off.

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