Shelter

<v Speaker>KCTS9 program shelter produced by Dave Davis. <v Speaker>It's 57 43 recorded March 21st, 1984. <v speaker 1>This bottle with me, I gotta find my own jug. <v narrator>This is a story with a large cast of characters. <v narrator>It includes the Downtown Drunk, a family that has just arrived <v narrator>on a bus from Maine. <v narrator>And the head of the largest agency in the federal government. <v narrator>There's a cop on the beat. <v narrator>The mayor of a large West Coast city and the director of a shelter for the homeless. <v narrator>All of these people and a complicated set of issues are linked together by this man. <v narrator>And thousands of others like him.

<v narrator>They are a national crisis. Headlines on the nightly news. <v narrator>These are the homeless. <v narrator>Each is here for different reasons, but they all have one thing in common, no place <v narrator>to live. Surrounding them, often without their knowing it is an elaborate <v narrator>maze of social services, budget debates and policy decisions. <v narrator>At issue is how much should be done to help and who will pay the cost. <v narrator>For the time being, a search for food and a place to sleep. <v narrator>At night, they go looking for shelter. <v narrator>Every day, this ritual repeats itself.

<v narrator>A crowd gathers on a downtown sidewalk. <v narrator>At noon, the doors open and people go inside. <v narrator>Inside, the waiting begins again. <v narrator>Sandwiches are being prepared out of leftovers donated by supermarkets and food banks. <v narrator>This is dinner for the 230 people sleeping here tonight. <v narrator>When the food is gone, there's more waiting. <v narrator>Until the sleeping mats are put down each one in a numbered space on the floor. <v narrator>At 11 p.m., the lights will be turned off and another day is over. <v narrator>We are in a shelter for the homeless in Seattle, Washington. <v narrator>But this happens every day in cities across the country. <v narrator>There are more than two million homeless nationwide. <v narrator>The question is why and what should be done about it? <v narrator>Budget allocations and policy decisions will be based on the answer to a fundamental <v narrator>question who are these people and why are they here?

<v speaker 2>I was in L.A. Dancing. <v speaker 2>Doing videos and the contract I had ran out. <v speaker 2>And the friend that I had met up in California, L.A., they told me about <v speaker 2>Seattle and they told me how beautiful it was. <v speaker 2>They had a pretty nice place for me to stay if I come up with them. <v speaker 2>Since I didn't know anybody in L.A., I decided to do that and <v speaker 2>come here and I come to find it was a little different than what they told me. <v speaker 3>It was because my drinking. It was my fault, you know. <v speaker 3>It just got way out of proportion. <v interviewer>Do you still have a drinking problem? <v speaker 3>Oh, yeah. Three fifths of wine a day. <v speaker 3>Fourth fifths, depends on how my panhandling goes. <v speaker 4>I was bounced around in foster home to foster home until I was 13. <v speaker 4>And at the age of 13, I was on my own on the street. <v speaker 4>I really shouldn't be up here. <v speaker 4>I should be at my own place because I've got two kids right now that I'm in the process <v speaker 4>of trying to get back.

<v speaker 5>If somebody says, hey, I want you to go to work for me tomorrow, you know, <v speaker 5>where's my where's your tools? <v speaker 5>You don't have any tools. How are you going to go to work for me? <v speaker 6>I got my SSI got fouled up. <v speaker 6>And if I ever get it straightened out again, we can get an apartment again and <v speaker 6>live like people again. <v Eddie Sayen>I I ge- I try I try to try to get myself together and <v Eddie Sayen>get my belongings and- and <v Eddie Sayen>do my things, you know, and and um. <v Robert Wilson>I save up every piece of garbology that I can possibly find. <v Robert Wilson>What it goes into is, is the idea that starving <v Robert Wilson>artist without a home, homeless. <v Robert Wilson>And from there I collected before I left, I collected all my friends and where they're <v Robert Wilson>working. If they are working in places that I stop off and live jobs <v Robert Wilson>that I've had. I've been on the road for about five years now and

<v Robert Wilson>my last paycheck from a one day job that I took that somebody offered me one whole day's <v Robert Wilson>work and my girlfriends. <v Robert Wilson>All the places I've lived in the past five years, the addresses of the people that I've <v Robert Wilson>lived with, that's the bottom line. <v Robert Wilson>You know, it's taken its toll on people, so they rely on drugs and alcohol. <v Robert Wilson>And uh-. <v interviewer>Is that a big problem for you? <v Robert Wilson>Yeah, that has been I am an alcoholic and. <v Robert Wilson>I'm not proud of it, but I drink for, you know, for faith. <v Robert Wilson>You know, it's it's Dutch courage in the dictionary. <v Robert Wilson>You know, it's alcoholism. <v speaker 8>If you're not, like, depressed, you can't really do anything good for yourself. <v speaker 8>If you feel bad about yourself. <v speaker 9>See a lot of people come in, but we don't see many people get well and leave. <v interviewer>Why? <v speaker 9>Maybe in an enduring sense of hopelessness. <v speaker 9>So. <v speaker 9>Hopelessness about what, I don't know. <v speaker 9>That'd be relative to each person.

<v speaker 9>But maybe a sense of hopelessness. <v narrator>The causes of homelessness are complicated. <v narrator>It often seems to be a combination of things not easily separating. <v narrator>But spend time in a shelter like this one and there is another unavoidable question, <v narrator>to what degree are these people personally responsible for the problems that brought them <v narrator>here? Could they have made different choices? <v narrator>How much help do they deserve? <v narrator>For most of us, the answers will depend on knowing more about why these people are here. <v Ken Cole>I know when I first came into the Senate and saw what I immediately <v Ken Cole>deduced in my own mind as being able bodied adults wondering, <v Ken Cole>well, gee, they're kind of ripping off things. <v Ken Cole>Just stand down here, getting a free meal at Salvation Army and <v Ken Cole>everything. But the more I talked with the people, the more <v Ken Cole>I realized that this was no joy ride.

<v Ken Cole>This was survival that we see in this shelter, <v Ken Cole>a very dysfunctional population. <v Ken Cole>People who are really down and out. <v Ken Cole>It's not just unemployment. <v Ken Cole>And often it is an issue of mental illness or <v Ken Cole>alcoholism, substance abuse. <v Ken Cole>We feel that at least 40 percent have some type of <v Ken Cole>identifiable mental illness problem. <v Ken Cole>And that can range from anywhere from severe depression to severe <v Ken Cole>psychosis. <v Eddie Sayen>I've been alone ever since I was seven years old and traveling, so I just a- situate <v Eddie Sayen>myself as nowhere. It just just kind of I don't wander. <v narrator>Eddie Sayen has been diagnosed by psychiatrist as a chronic schizophrenic. <v narrator>He Is 43 years old and lives at the downtown shelter. <v psychiatrist>And then when you were seven. [Eddie Sayen: Yeah.] Your dad shot your mom, huh? <v Eddie Sayen>I really want- I don't want- it's not nice- it's not a good thing to talk about. <v narrator>At the age of seven, Eddie watched as his father murdered his mother.

<v narrator>Since then, he has been in and out of state mental hospitals 21 times. <v Eddie Sayen>Small kid at seven years old that doesn't have anybody, I just go into any situation <v Eddie Sayen>that you know, that I can get into. <v Eddie Sayen>I think the shelter after a while, I found the shelter and it was it was pretty nice <v Eddie Sayen>for me. <v interviewer>What happened? <v narrator>Without hope from the shelter staff, Eddie would be totally unable to manage his life. <v narrator>They make sure that he sees a doctor when he's sick. <v narrator>That he has food, clothes and a place to sleep. <v narrator> Eddie spends his afternoons, drinking coffee at a cafe <v narrator>down the street. <v waitress>OK, here. OK, OK. <v waitress>You want something to eat today? <v Eddie Sayen>Oh no, I'm not hungry. <v waitress>Are you ok? <v Eddie Sayen>Yea, I'm all right. <v waitress>OK. <v Diner owner>So Eddie, how are you coming along on your book? <v Diner owner>How far are you into it now? <v Eddie Sayen>I wrote every book in publication already. <v Diner owner>You wrote every book and publication already? <v Eddie Sayen>Yea I did

<v Diner owner>Most of the time he writes. You know like... Sometimes he'll come in and grab <v Diner owner>a piece of newspaper and just take his pen that he always comes in <v Diner owner>with just scribbles over the whole pen, over the whole paper, you know, completely, we <v Diner owner>think. And you ask him what he's doing. <v Diner owner>He says says he's writing a book. <v Diner owner>He doesn't cause any trouble. He comes in here with the shelter program down the street. <v Diner owner>You know, they're here. He doesn't bring his friends in here. <v Diner owner>It's OK. One is enough. <v narrator>A large percentage of the homeless suffer some form of mental illness. <v narrator>Many live entirely in a paranoid world of their own delusions, scavenging for food <v narrator>and sleeping in alleyways. <v narrator>Most of these people were once in state mental hospitals.

<v narrator>Drugs developed in the 1950s led to the belief that severely disturbed no longer <v narrator>required hospitalization. <v narrator>They could be treated at walk in mental health centers. <v narrator>Over the next 20 years, tens of thousands of mentally ill were released onto the city <v narrator>streets. <v Eleanor Owen>These individuals who were formerly hospitalized and would <v Eleanor Owen>be able to come to the mental health centers, get their medication once a month, <v Eleanor Owen>occasionally see a doctor, never have to go to a hospital <v Eleanor Owen>at implying that they would get married, have jobs, pay taxes <v Eleanor Owen>and live tranquilly among their neighbors. <v Eleanor Owen>I mean, this was a farce. <v speaker 10>And I've seen all these characters in the street and the riots, <v speaker 10>the wrath. <v speaker 10>The speech, the way everyone feels. <v speaker 10>And I just had another eviction notice and more bills and more

<v speaker 10>bills and more bills. And pretty soon I won't be able to pay all my hospital bills <v speaker 10>because something will come up that that they won't be able to pay for. <v speaker 10>And I'll die. <v narrator>I know I need to be here. A group therapy session at Harborview Mental Health Center. <v narrator>All of these people are severely disturbed. <v narrator>All of them have been in state mental hospitals. <v narrator>All of them have been homeless at one time or another. <v narrator>Eddie Sayen is a member of the group. <v narrator>With a lot of help, these people barely manage to take care of themselves. <v speaker 11>I know an Eskimo girl to Morrison. <v speaker 11>She used to come there, but she just. <v speaker 11>She can't be bothered. Maybe she is not that social, she just want to talk to the nurse <v speaker 11>once a week, but she doesn't come anymore. She doesn't take her medicine. <v speaker 11>So you start sliding downhill. <v speaker 10>The limbs go numb. The legs go numb. <v speaker 10>The hands go numb. They get so bad off their hands feel like <v speaker 10>they're going to fall off. They can't see with their eyes out of their hands.

<v speaker 10>They never will be able to eat properly again, even if they do get the interest because <v speaker 10>they wore so much street strain and rejection. <v Eddie Sayen>I had some papers with the government. Just all the usual things I could be I got to <v Eddie Sayen>write to the federal government a letter to the White House, you know-. <v psychiatrist>What do you got to say in that letter Eddie? <v Eddie Sayen>Well, I had to study ?inaudible?. <v Eddie Sayen>I wri- write a good letter. You know, explain. <v narrator>Everyone agrees that the current mental health system is failing the most severely <v narrator>disturbed. Inadequate funding often means that not everyone who wants treatment <v narrator>can get it. Some are too frightened or distrustful to seek help. <v narrator>But even those getting treatment often end up living on the streets or at emergency <v narrator>shelters. <v Jim Mundt>Coming to the Community Health Center does not guarantee a decent place to live. <v Jim Mundt>And that's where a major part of the systems gap is right now, is <v Jim Mundt>that there aren't. <v Jim Mundt>Anywhere close to the kinds of residential facilities that we need, <v Jim Mundt>if we're really serious about, not only

<v Jim Mundt>in a very limited sense maintaining this group of people in the community, but also <v Jim Mundt>maintaining them in the community in some decent standard <v Jim Mundt>of living. <v narrator>Schizophrenia is not the only form of mental illness at the downtown shelter. <v narrator>Robert Wilson suffers severe depression, complicated by alcoholism. <v narrator>Homelessness itself is part of the problem. <v Robert Wilson>Basic elements of roadology is faith. <v Robert Wilson>If you lose faith on the road, you do one or two things. <v Robert Wilson>You go into a bar and get yourself smashed with what little money you have or you find <v Robert Wilson>someone to talk to or cry to, you know. <v Robert Wilson>And I've done a lot of that. <v Robert Wilson>Done a lot of crying lately. The longer you spend on the road, it seems like the longer <v Robert Wilson>I'll never get off the road.

<v Robert Wilson>Sometimes I'm happy, sometimes I'm sad. <v Robert Wilson>Sometimes I'm tired. And sometimes I'm glad. Glad to be tired, aching and worn, bruised <v Robert Wilson>and spit out, abused and torn. Glad to make it through another terribly long day and to <v Robert Wilson>wake up on dreams of yesterday, to step off my porch and see a blind man mugged <v Robert Wilson>and stabbed. I say, God, what is this world of such toil and waste? <v Robert Wilson>But what should I care? It'll soon be erased. <v Robert Wilson>Sometimes I'm happy and sometimes I'm sad. <v Robert Wilson>Sometimes I'm tired. Sometimes I'm glad. <v Robert Wilson> It'll be through all over some dark, rainy day, and even eternity will pass away. <v narrator>Mental illness is never a matter of choice. <v narrator>Most would agree the mentally ill deserve help.

<v narrator>But what about alcoholism? <v narrator>What do we owe the person who chooses to drink? <v narrator>These men are street alcoholics, known nationwide as skid roaders <v narrator>bums. <v Speaker>[Music plays].

<v speaker 12>I'm sleeping underneath the freeway it hurts. <v speaker 12>I'm used to making about fifteen, twenty two thousand a week. <v speaker 13>Reagan did it to me. Right there. <v speaker 14>I'm drunk, but I'm not. <v speaker 14>But I'm not wiped out. <v speaker 14>But I need a drink, man I need a drink, badly. <v speaker 14>Today I was going to be a good boy. <v speaker 14>But then I said, to hell with it. <v speaker 15>I'm an alcoholic. <v speaker 15>?Inaudible? <v speaker 15>I can't get a job no where. <v speaker 15>What am I gonna say? I've been sleeping in a shelter, same as Salvation Army. <v speaker 15>I've got nothing left, nothing left. <v speaker 15>You don't think I can do. I can't even buy a bullet to put it in my fucking <v speaker 15>brain. You understand that.

<v speaker 15>That's how sick I am. <v speaker 15>Fuck the rest of the bullshit. <v police officer>Hi, how you doing today gentlemen? <v police officer>OK. <v police officer>When they're not being obtrusive. <v police officer>Or stopping people, bumming money, drinking in public. <v police officer>Creating a scene. Then we'll probably let them stay there. <v police officer>If they get the least bit out of hand, they very well know that the big cops <v police officer>gonna move them along. And if they don't go with that, then they'll go to jail. <v police officer>Don't have you drinking right now. But if you found a way in there, make sure you kind of <v police officer>keep your bottle-. <v police officer>Downward trend in life to know how to get on welfare <v police officer>in this state, how to get food stamps <v police officer>where all the free food lines are. <v police officer>Any money they do get. Just go to whatever habits they have. <v police officer>Most of it is all revolved around alcoholism.

<v police officer>It's a shame. <v Ken Cole>We see them, they come in early in the day, they're already drunk, they've already <v Ken Cole>gotten their alcohol level up and they just spend the rest the day in <v Ken Cole>sort of a stupor. And you'll see you'll see them out here just lying around. <v Ken Cole>And that's a pretty bleak lifestyle. <v narrator>Most street alcoholics are continually cycling through treatment programs like this one <v narrator>operated by the County Health Department. <v narrator>Alcoholism renders those susceptible to it, unable to control their drinking. <v narrator>An alcoholic must completely avoid alcohol. <v narrator>But this takes a strong will and a lot of encouragement. <v narrator>For those too long on Skid Row, the incentive to make this effort is long gone. <v Craig Miller>It's a very difficult cycle to break.

<v Craig Miller>When his basic feeling is that he's worthless, <v Craig Miller>he's a bum. He can't do anything. <v Craig Miller>And that's how they get to seeing themselves. <v Craig Miller>And once they picture themselves that way, it's difficult to try and convince <v Craig Miller>them. No, it's not that way. You can live any way you choose. <v narrator>But these men have been in and out of dozens of treatment programs. <v narrator>Only 15 percent of them will remain sober for five years or more after they leave <v narrator>here. <v Craig Miller>The problem is, once they leave treatment, there is not an adequate <v Craig Miller>follow up system to care for their needs. <v Craig Miller>The resources for halfway houses, for follow up <v Craig Miller>alcoholism treatment programs are extraordinarily limited, particularly <v Craig Miller>with people who are receiving public assistance. <v Craig Miller>A number of people will end up, again, homeless wanderers, <v Craig Miller>practicing alcoholics, and the cycle starts all over. <v narrator>How far should we go for the alcoholic?

<v narrator>Should we be funding more halfway houses and follow up treatment programs? <v police officer>An awful lot of these people would have to go out and manage for themselves if they <v police officer>didn't have these social services to go to. <v police officer>We're getting a larger transient population. <v police officer>It's tougher for the police department cuts in our taxation bases, the various <v police officer>missions, social health services, people here genuinely trying to help people. <v police officer>They're doing a good job. On the other hand, they're making Seattle a mecca <v police officer>for people that come from the entire western part of the United States because it's <v police officer>easier to obtain free services here in Seattle than other places. <v narrator>Alcoholism leads to unemployment and homelessness. <v narrator>But sometimes it works the other way round. <v narrator>It all starts with a lost job. <v narrator>Unpaid bills. Idleness. <v doctor>Have you been signing in?

<v speaker>Oh, yes. <v speaker>I don't-. I've been diving in from renting in fact. <v speaker>I got a family, too. <v speaker>We went together last time. <v narrator>The millionaire club in Seattle is a nonprofit agency that finds day work for the <v narrator>unemployed. But there are rarely more than 30 jobs available on any given <v narrator>day. And over 100 have signed up for work. <v narrator>Unemployment doesn't always lead to homelessness, but it can begin a downhill slide. <v speaker 16>Well, I've got an application in quite a few places, but <v speaker 16>nothing until after the first year. <v speaker 16>Luckily, we came up with the money to pay the hotel for another week. <v speaker 16>Last night. <v speaker 16>Don't get something else. <v interviewer>What do you do if you don't get any work this week? <v speaker 16>You end up having to go to the mission. <v speaker 17> They get discouraged, sometimes. <v speaker 17>But I just feel like just packing our bags, and just leaving. <v speaker 17>[laughs] Going someplace else, where I'll, <v speaker 17>go make California but I know things is tight there. <v speaker 18>We came up here looking for work in the shipyards.

<v speaker 18>I'm a ship fitter, welder by trade. I've been here for about two months and I've gotten <v speaker 18>out one day. <v speaker 18>So we're thinking about going to Southern California, if things don't pick out by the <v speaker 18>first of the year. <v interviewer>How are you feeling about things now? <v speaker 18>Pretty depressed, pretty depressed. <v speaker 18>I've been a working man all my life. I've never been out of work this long before. <v speaker 18>And it's really caused some tension in my house. <v interviewer>Do you have a family? <v speaker 19>That's a good question. I'm not sure. <v speaker 19>I was married, I don't know if I still am or not. <v speaker 19>I think she's in California, but I don't know for sure. <v narrator>Many of the homeless are men and women with families known as the new poor. <v narrator>They are victims of a long economic recession. <v narrator>Criss crossing the country in search of work, they have become modern nomads. <v narrator>Ernie and Teresa Graham arrived a few weeks ago from Maine. <v narrator>They left their home state after months of unemployment. <v Ernie Graham>Things just kept going right downhill.

<v Ernie Graham>Day after day. And it just so depressing. <v Ernie Graham>You go down to the employment office and there'd be in line all the way out to the <v Ernie Graham>parking lot, almost into the street in the newspaper you'd look <v Ernie Graham>and there'd be. Wow. Complete pays rate for <v Ernie Graham>bankruptcies. Businesses is going out of business. <v Ernie Graham>Everything falling. <v Ernie Graham>And the turn to another page and you see a whole page <v Ernie Graham>full of divorces, people getting divorced. <v Ernie Graham>It just, things just did not look any better. <v narrator>After several weeks in Seattle, the Grahams ran out of money and ended up at an emergency <v narrator>shelter for families. <v Martha Dilts>Families, you don't see as much because they're sleeping out in their cars or sleeping in <v Martha Dilts>the parks in the summer, they're crowding with other families. <v Martha Dilts>They really are the invisible homeless, but they are quite a presence in our society and <v Martha Dilts>we're very disturbed how normal the situation of being homeless has become. <v Martha Dilts>I think people also forget we're talking about children.

<v Martha Dilts>I mean, three fourths, the people we serve are, are children. <v Martha Dilts>And how can you possibly blame children for being homeless? <v Martha Dilts>They certainly can't understand why they have to move from place to place, sleep in their <v Martha Dilts>cars, why their parents seem angry, you know, and upset. <v Ernie Graham>You felt pressured because it's not really knowing where to go, who to talk to, <v Ernie Graham>or who to see what to do. <v narrator>The Grahams were lucky. This shelter turns away 10 families for everyone they accept. <v narrator>But To make room for someone else, the Grahams will soon have to move again. <v narrator>So far, they've been unable to find work. <v Martha Dilts>Until we have enough jobs for people, until we have enough job training to provoke people <v Martha Dilts>into jobs. And until we have enough low income housing, I think that the ranks of the <v Martha Dilts>homeless will keep increasing. <v narrator>Increasing most quickly are homeless families headed by single mothers. <v narrator>These women with young children are unemployed. <v narrator>Some have sought protection from family violence. <v narrator>This shelter, located in what used to be a suburban grammar school, is reserved for women

<v narrator>and children. <v narrator>Old classrooms now serve as dormitories, and the long, empty hallways are a place for the <v narrator>kids to play. <v narrator>This shelter is a refuge where families can sort out the problems that brought them here. <v speaker 20>He had told me at one time that if I ever left him <v speaker 20>and got custody of my child, he would kill me. <v speaker 20>Then there was an incident where he had been drinking and we went out in a boat <v speaker 20>and I went to get in the boat and he pushed me back into the water. <v speaker 20>And as I fell from the boat, I cut both my legs and he made me swim to shore. <v speaker 21>My husband had lost his job and had moved out of the home <v speaker 21>and I was employed. <v speaker 21>But I'd quit my job because I didn't have anyone to care for the children. <v speaker 21>And having dad gone just kind of adds to the confusion. <v speaker 22>You have to make sure that you've got enough room to where you got- enough space where <v speaker 22>your children can stay in. And then on top of that, if you don't have the amount that you

<v speaker 22>need for first and last month's rent plus deposit, you cannot <v speaker 22>get a home. And you got to have a certain amount of education before you can get a job <v speaker 22>to where you can support yourself and your family. <v speaker 23>I've never really got out on my own before, I'm only 19. <v speaker 23>I've lived alone. I've lived without my parents for a few years, <v speaker 23>but I was always living with a friend or living with my boyfriend, and I always had <v speaker 23>someone there to take care of me. <v speaker 23>Being in Seattle all alone, with no friends, <v speaker 23>no family or nothing. <v speaker 23>was- one of the most frightening things that ever happened to me. <v narrator>The burden of homelessness falls heavily on single mothers. <v narrator>Without specialized job skills, women have a hard time earning enough to support a family <v narrator>and also pay for childcare while they work.

<v narrator>Most of these women will remain dependent on welfare. <v narrator>But a welfare check is never enough to cover the cost of moving into permanent housing. <v Deanna Grace>I've seen people get 120 and there's expected to move on that. <v Deanna Grace>And then they go get a room downtown. <v Deanna Grace>On 9th or eighth, or- one of the low, low, low income rooms that may have <v Deanna Grace>a board over the window and they're there for maybe two weeks. <v Deanna Grace>And for whatever reasons, they didn't get the paperwork in or whatever. <v Deanna Grace>They don't get that regular grant check and then they're at another shelter. <v Deanna Grace>So it's just, as I was saying before, just a vicious circle. <v narrator>But finding space at another shelter is not easy. <v narrator>City shelters are usually full. <v narrator>For those that end up with nowhere to go, there is one last place to try. <v speaker>Excuse me ma'am. <v speaker>Yes? <v speaker>Can I get a coffee or something? <v speaker>Sure thing, help yourself. <v narrator>One of the older shelter agencies in the city is Operation Nightwatch. <v narrator>A church sponsored organization, Nightwatch, is open from 9:00 p.m.

<v narrator>until 2:00 in the morning long after other shelters have closed. <v narrator>Nightwatch volunteers search out the last available shelter beds in the city. <v speaker 24>And we still can try filling in places. <v Rev. Norm Riggins>Yea you can filling in and then you can [inaudible] probably call you [speaker 24: Ok] <v Rev. Norm Riggins>and give you maybe two, maybe three beds at union. <v Rev. Norm Riggins>A lot of the people on the street know that they can come to our office. <v Rev. Norm Riggins>And if there are beds anywhere, we will write them a referral with the rooms that we have <v Rev. Norm Riggins>and a few beds we get at the mission. <v Rev. Norm Riggins>The various sleeping places, we'll run 25, 30 beds a night. <v narrator>But by midnight, all shelters in the city are usually full and Nightwatch will begin <v narrator>turning people away. Those turned away will have to sleep in the streets. <v Rev. Norm Riggins>We went out and did an actual count between midnight and three o'clock in the morning and <v Rev. Norm Riggins>we counted 400 in the downtown area of Seattle sleeping out. <v Speaker>[Music playing.]

<v Speaker>People be getting ready to go. <v Speaker>I'd like to welcome everybody who's been able to come today. <v Speaker>This is the fourth annual press conference of Emergency Housing Coalition.

<v narrator>Each November, the Seattle Emergency Housing Coalition holds a press conference to <v narrator>announce the results of a survey of conditions at shelters around the city. <v Ken Cole>The situation is increasingly grim, although the missions and the shelters <v Ken Cole>downtown see a certain number of regulars. <v Ken Cole>There is a staggering flow of new faces. <v Ken Cole>Our estimate for a turn away in the downtown is about 900 people per month <v Ken Cole>are trying to get into shelters and not able to make <v Ken Cole>it into one. <v Martha Dilts>During November 1983, 18 family shelters participated <v Martha Dilts>in both count of the number of people that they did serve, a number of people who were <v Martha Dilts>turned away during that month for one month period. <v Martha Dilts>Three thousand one hundred and thirteen people were denied shelter at local family <v Martha Dilts>shelters. This is a 26 percent increase over similar statistics <v Martha Dilts>that we procured during September 1982. <v Martha Dilts>I think that's quite a dramatic increase. <v Speaker>There is an institutional response possible.

<v Speaker>The feds aren't giving us any money. <v Martha Dilts>The requests for shelter have probably tripled in the last three years. <v Martha Dilts>And that's because of institutional issues, because of lack of mental health programs, <v Martha Dilts>because of lack of jobs, because public assistance is not adequate. <v Martha Dilts>I think in this community, we need to look next year to just maintaining our current <v Martha Dilts>level of shelters. And that is a problem that's at this current time. <v Martha Dilts>We're looking for a cutback of probably up to 40 percent of current shelter beds just <v Martha Dilts>because a lack of funding. <v narrator>City shelter directors are worried, despite a record increase in the demand for shelter, <v narrator>there may be budget cuts for the coming year. <v narrator>The final decisions will be made by politicians and government administrators. <v narrator>What can be done for the homeless will depend on what they decide. <v Hon. Charles Royer>We're talking about women and kids. <v Hon. Charles Royer>We're talking about people who are not lazy. <v Hon. Charles Royer>They are occasionally mentally ill or <v Hon. Charles Royer>occasionally sick. <v Hon. Charles Royer>Always unemployed.

<v Hon. Charles Royer>But they always also represent a further cost to the society. <v Hon. Charles Royer>If this kind of hopelessness and homelessness and drift is allowed <v Hon. Charles Royer>to go on. We deal with them in the courts or we deal with them in our hospitals or <v Hon. Charles Royer>we deal with them in some way that costs society money. <v Hon. Charles Royer>People seem to still believe the truth that the shelter <v Hon. Charles Royer>requirement is primarily seasonal. <v Hon. Charles Royer>That's [inaudible] you see. <v Hon. Charles Royer>It's not just winter, I mean, it's almost a 12 month operation which has terrible <v Hon. Charles Royer>staffing cost implications. <v narrator>Seattle Mayor Charles Royer is considered a liberal. <v narrator>During his year as head of the League of Cities, he gained a reputation as an advocate <v narrator>for the homeless. <v narrator>The problem is money operating shelters is expensive. <v narrator>And he must assess how many city dollars will be required for the coming year. <v speaker 25>That's where you can see the water damage that we've had over the years from the plumbing <v speaker 25>in the hotel upstairs. So the renovation, the physical renovation of the building will be <v speaker 25>an excellent change.

<v speaker 25>We'll be able to put some energy into fixing the <v speaker 25>floors once we know there won't be any more leaks from the pipe. <v Hon. Charles Royer>Now, it is not that Seattle is not taking care of its own. <v Hon. Charles Royer>We're taking care of our own and Detroit's own and and Mississippi's <v Hon. Charles Royer>own and North Carolina's own and Oklahoma's own. <v Ken Cole>Look at what the federal government did with the Social Security program. <v Ken Cole>And we certainly felt that on the streets, particularly with the mentally ill. <v Hon. Charles Royer>The president's budget, which he'll announce has <v Hon. Charles Royer>further reductions in means tested entitlement programs and <v Hon. Charles Royer>health cutbacks and job training program cutbacks and housing <v Hon. Charles Royer>and all the emergency kinds of programs. <v Hon. Charles Royer>And we'll feel that. <v Ken Cole>I think the folks involved in shelter really fear and this goes for food banks, <v Ken Cole>too, that you're involved in a Band-Aid, you're a Band-Aid on <v Ken Cole>a gaping wound, and you're worried that the solution is just

<v Ken Cole>more Band-Aids. <v Hon. Charles Royer>Sixty seven cents out of every tax dollar collected in the city of Seattle goes back to <v Hon. Charles Royer>Washington, D.C. <v Hon. Charles Royer>Maybe they can send a few back. <v narrator> To plead the city's case, Royer sent assistant Tom Keefe to Washington, D.C., <v narrator>to testify in congressional hearings on homelessness. <v narrator>These 1982 hearings with the first time Congress had investigated this issue since <v narrator>the Great Depression. <v Tom Keefe>The homeless people in Seattle, Washington, cannot be easily stereotyped. <v Tom Keefe>The problem has grown to affect a cross-section of working class America. <v Tom Keefe>We still have the transients, seasonal workers and elderly men who have populated <v Tom Keefe>our skid roads area since Seattle was founded more than a century ago. <v Tom Keefe>But their situation has grown more desperate. <v Tom Keefe>With each reduction in federal and state assistance, there was a time when the missions <v Tom Keefe>operated by church groups were considered the bottom of our social safety net. <v Tom Keefe>Now, those who sleep in the missions are the lucky ones. <v Tom Keefe>For many, others are in far worse circumstances.

<v Tom Keefe>The city of Seattle presently spends approximately one half million dollars a year to <v Tom Keefe>provide emergency shelter to the poor. <v Tom Keefe>Double the amount we spent just three years ago. <v Tom Keefe>Fully 50 percent of the people who use Seattle's emergency shelters come from areas <v Tom Keefe>outside the Seattle metropolitan area. <v Tom Keefe>30 percent come from outside the state of Washington. <v Tom Keefe>We simply cannot meet this national problem with our local resources. <v Rev. Eduard Loring>In Atlanta, Georgia, we have. <v Rev. Eduard Loring>A conservative estimate that we make is three thousand five hundred homeless <v Rev. Eduard Loring>men and women. There are at least a conservative estimate, at least <v Rev. Eduard Loring>1500 people in Atlanta, Georgia, for whom there is absolutely <v Rev. Eduard Loring>no room. <v Carol Bellamy>It is evident from our extensive experience in New York City that localities and <v Carol Bellamy>charitable organizations simply do not have the resources to fully cope with the problem <v Carol Bellamy>of the homelessness of the homeless. <v Carol Bellamy>And so we need the help of the federal government. <v Hon. Ted Wilson>It is a function of federal responsibility to deal with interstate problems. <v Hon. Ted Wilson>Now, cities and states alone did not create this economic mess we're in.

<v Hon. Ted Wilson>The federal government does have a role. <v narrator>Following these hearings in 1982. <v narrator>Congress allocated 50 million dollars for shelters across the country back to the Federal <v narrator>Emergency Management Agency, FEMA. <v narrator>Two hundred and ninety thousand dollars went to the city of Seattle. <v narrator>It was divided among 17 different shelters. <v narrator> <v Speaker>But this year, with our FEMA funds from the federal government. <v Speaker>We purchased additional mats which you'll see over here. <v Speaker>See they're about six inches narrower. <v Speaker>[?: Yeah] The federal government helped us purchase a narrower mat so [?: they cut back] <v Speaker>fit a few more people. It's a cutback. It's a visible cutback in funding. <v Speaker>And that helped us squeeze in a few more. <v narrator>But budget projections for the coming year do not look good. <v narrator>The FEMA money will be cut from 50 million to 30 federal block grants and <v narrator>revenue sharing will also be cut. <v narrator>All told, there will be half a million dollars less for emergency services in the city. <v narrator>The mayor must decide what to do.

<v Hon. Charles Royer>We have different perspectives, the Reagan perspective is reflected in the Reagan budget. <v Hon. Charles Royer>And it's not a budget or set of priorities that <v Hon. Charles Royer>are relevant to what really goes on in the cities. <v Ken Cole>Would you like to meet the mayor? This is Dan Blowfield. <v Hon. Charles Royer> the mayor. <v Dan Blowfiled>Wow. Wow, the mayor. <v Hon. Charles Royer>At some point, leadership has to take a position that, OK, <v Hon. Charles Royer>the Moral Majority is going to the- anti-welfare people are going to take <v Hon. Charles Royer>a chunk out of me if I support this thing. <v Hon. Charles Royer>But it's the right thing to do. <v narrator> But the only source of additional revenue is the city is the city council. <v narrator>Emergency services in Seattle have traditionally been paid for with federal dollars <v narrator>allocated to the city to spend as it wishes. <v narrator>But now the mayor will ask the council for 500000 city tax dollars. <v narrator>Say something which has never before been done. <v narrator>The council is reluctant to go along. <v Norm Rice>And the mayor's proposal raises, but does not address major policy

<v Norm Rice>issues such as are the s- survival needs of our citizens a local <v Norm Rice>responsibility? How can we afford to provide these services over time <v Norm Rice>and not just on a one time only basis? <v Norm Rice>And what is the cost to providing these services? <v Tom Byers>Our community has done exceedingly well in shelter and food <v Tom Byers>and medical care, and our systems are really the envy <v Tom Byers>of a lot of. <v Tom Byers>A lot of cities around the country. <v Tom Byers>The problem is that that that system is now under assault by <v Tom Byers>a fundamental change in policy from Washington, D.C., <v Tom Byers>which has cut the supply lines for that system. <v Tom Byers>And really changed the nature of the <v Tom Byers>of the funding relationships. <v Norm Rice>My concern is what if general revenue sharing? <v Norm Rice>I'm saying this to everyone. Not to the executive, is cut severely? <v Norm Rice>And then we have made a commitment of general fund and we have

<v Norm Rice>to then make it up in police and fire. <v Norm Rice>The consequences are. And I just want to lay it out, either cut <v Norm Rice>the budget drastically, which then is cutting the same people and everything else <v Norm Rice>across the board, or we raise taxes. <v Tom Byers>We are left with our neighbors without medical care, without <v Tom Byers>food, without shelter. <v Tom Byers>And we have to wrestle with the definitions of what is basic <v Tom Byers>service in that new environment. <v narrator>The immediate problem was finding more money for emergency shelters. <v narrator>But some fear that shelters will become a substitute for permanent housing, <v narrator>downtown redevelopment has brought with it a major problem.

<v John Fox>What we have here are a number of buildings owned by one developer, and they <v John Fox>have made a habit of buying up low income housing and <v John Fox>systematically vacating the units, deferring maintenance, allowing them to run down, <v John Fox>and eventually they look like this. <v John Fox>And ultimately, their plan is to demolish and replace with <v John Fox>condominiums or other uses. <v John Fox>In the last 20 years, we've lost over half of the low income housing in downtown. <v John Fox>There were over 15000 units in 1960. <v John Fox>Now we're down to about eight thousand. <v John Fox>And according to the city's Department of Community Development, we are likely to lose <v John Fox>over half of what we what remains to office <v John Fox>and condominium development. And this particular building right here, the San Telmo <v John Fox>apartments, houses about one hundred to one hundred and twenty five low income people, <v John Fox>mostly elderly. Also some refugees, Asian refugees. <v John Fox>Some of them will move out of the city.

<v narrator>Some of them will move into the streets, ordinances restricting condominium conversion <v narrator>are under the jurisdiction of the city. <v narrator>But the construction and renovation of low cost housing have generally been paid for with <v narrator>federal dollars. These dollars are disappearing. <v John Fox>Prior to the Reagan administration in 1980, the city was providing assistance to <v John Fox>about 1000 households and about half of those units were in new construction. <v John Fox>Federal assistance primarily or only providing assistance now to less than <v John Fox>500 households a year. <v John Fox>That's less than two percent of the housing assistance needs. <v John Fox>In Seattle, there are over 35000 households in need of housing assistance, <v John Fox>according to the city of Seattle. And again, we're providing a minimal amount <v John Fox>of assistance to those folks. <v narrator>Federal housing policy is determined in Washington, D.C. <v narrator>It changes with the political priorities of each administration. <v narrator>Phillip Abrams is second in charge of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. <v narrator>He insists there is no shortage of low cost housing.

<v Phillip Abrams>But generally there is enough housing available <v Phillip Abrams>throughout this country to house all Americans poor middle income. <v narrator>The only problem, according to Abrams, is that some are unable to afford the housing <v narrator>that is available. <v Phillip Abrams>There is an affordability problem, but the most effective way socially <v Phillip Abrams>and from a budget point of view of assisting people who have an affordability problem, <v Phillip Abrams>poor people is with vouchers. <v Phillip Abrams>And so we are expanding the current program of vouchers, which has 750000 <v Phillip Abrams>families being assisted. <v Phillip Abrams>And our proposal in Congress has endorsed it. <v Phillip Abrams>This year is to expand the voucher program, to address <v Phillip Abrams>the affordability problem, to give poor people the money they need <v Phillip Abrams>to pay market rents so that they can use the housing that is available. <v narrator>The Reagan administration will replace the federally subsidized construction of low cost <v narrator>housing with a voucher system. But contrary to administration claims

<v narrator>a major research study predicts we will need one point seven million more low cost <v narrator>housing units by 1990. <v narrator>Will a system of rent vouchers ever be able to meet this need? <v Speaker>[chatter]. <v speaker>Come back with me, if the press will come back with me. <v Margaret Heckler>Yes. <v speaker>Secretary, is-. <v Margaret Heckler>Tell me about your [inaudible]. <v speaker>That's right. Just give you a tour. <v narrator>Margaret Heckler is secretary of Health and Human Services, the largest and one of the <v narrator>most powerful agencies in the federal government. <v narrator>She has personally intervened to help open a number of shelters across the country, <v narrator>including this one for teenage runaways. <v narrator>Another group that often ends up homeless. <v narrator>But secretary, Heckler is part of an administration whose philosophy has been to cut <v narrator>funding for social services. <v narrator>She believes that solving the problem of homelessness should not be primarily a federal

<v narrator>responsibility. <v Margaret Heckler>I think that we do have a new philosophy. <v Margaret Heckler>I think the president's philosophy is to link the private sector with the public sector <v Margaret Heckler>and to say that we just can't have unlimited growth in spending, let us use <v Margaret Heckler>our money and at the same time trigger private investment. <v Margaret Heckler>Now, Orion Center is the perfect example. <v Margaret Heckler>I'm not suggesting that this is an easy answer, but I am suggesting that creating just <v Margaret Heckler>another federal program that will go on and live beyond <v Margaret Heckler>its scope and grow like Topsy as they all do, is not <v Margaret Heckler>meeting the real needs. <v Margaret Heckler>We don't need a government that is overrun <v Margaret Heckler>with the bureaucracies and regulations and excessive cost. <v Dr. Harvey Vieth>If you start putting taxpayer dollars into these programs, strict tax dollars, <v Dr. Harvey Vieth>then you you lose a lot of the humanistic part that's so important to the poor people, <v Dr. Harvey Vieth>to the homeless people, the ones I'm speaking about and I've talked with <v Dr. Harvey Vieth>people. And what really comes out of it is they said the most important thing where you

<v Dr. Harvey Vieth>start with these people is with with love. <v Dr. Harvey Vieth>You start with love and then you and then you build from there. <v Dr. Harvey Vieth>And then the priest out there and the other providers, that's what they have to do with <v Dr. Harvey Vieth>these people. <v Rev. David Bloom>What the Reagan administration seems to want to depend on are handouts. <v Rev. David Bloom>It is incredibly taxing on those agencies that with their limited resources, try <v Rev. David Bloom>to provide it. There is no way that the churches of our community or any community <v Rev. David Bloom>can possibly begin to deal with the <v Rev. David Bloom>massive human needs in our communities, particularly in this case <v Rev. David Bloom>in terms of the need for shelter. <v Rick Gilbert>You have church organizations that have come forth with money that haven't been there <v Rick Gilbert>before. You have the corporate sector of this community through Project Transition <v Rick Gilbert>that donated money and tried to deal with some of the emergency needs. <v Rick Gilbert>You have United Way, who has the most success, most <v Rick Gilbert>United Way's around the country in terms of raising money.

<v Rick Gilbert>We're probably servicing 10 at maximum, 20 percent of the need. <v speaker>A lot of preservatives in hot dogs. <v speaker>wash 'em off, peel 'em, whatever. <v Hon. Mario Cuomo>Homelessness in the United States has quietly taken on crisis proportions. <v Hon. Mario Cuomo>We know. From an accumulation of reports and from simple observation <v Hon. Mario Cuomo>that never since the Great Depression have there been so many people without <v Hon. Mario Cuomo>homes in distress. <v narrator>A year after the first congressional hearings on homelessness, the same committee met <v narrator>once again, this time in the basement of a shelter in Washington, D.C.. <v narrator>The speakers were well-known politician and they agreed. <v narrator>Homelessness had become a national crisis and the federal government was in large part, <v narrator>responsible.

<v Hon. Marion Barry>Just last year, in our own city, we spent a great deal of money for emergency <v Hon. Marion Barry>assistance in the form of food, shelter, or shelter-related expenses. <v Hon. Marion Barry>Mr. Chairman, this represents a seventy seven percent <v Hon. Marion Barry>increase over the previous year. <v Hon. Harold Washington>In Chicago right now there are at least 12000 people who are without any place to live <v Hon. Harold Washington>in. They exist like untouchables in Calcutta, sleeping in streets <v Hon. Harold Washington>and alleys and in abandoned automobiles. <v Hon. Mario Cuomo>The federal government should be, I believe, a larger part of the solution to the <v Hon. Mario Cuomo>problem of homelessness, just as it has been responsible in part <v Hon. Mario Cuomo>for creating the conditions that led to it. <v Hon. Mario Cuomo>The country's worst economic slump since the 1930s fell hardest <v Hon. Mario Cuomo>on those already on the margins of our society, especially the poor, <v Hon. Mario Cuomo>the young, the minorities, 40 percent of the nearly 12 million <v Hon. Mario Cuomo>households living below poverty level and nineteen eighty one received no <v Hon. Mario Cuomo>welfare, no food stamps, no public housing,

<v Hon. Mario Cuomo>no Medicaid, no school lunches. <v Hon. Mario Cuomo>Those are facts. <v Hon. Mario Cuomo>The number of those in need who were not served has risen steadily since first computed <v Hon. Mario Cuomo>by the Census Bureau in 1979. <v Margaret Heckler>The problem with the homeless is not a new problem. <v Margaret Heckler>It is correlated to the problem of alcohol or drug dependency. <v Margaret Heckler>And they there have been a number of alcoholics who will become homeless throughout the <v Margaret Heckler>years, maybe centuries. <v Margaret Heckler>They are still there. <v Dr. Harvey Vieth>There are people out there, certainly who are unemployed, who are homeless. <v Dr. Harvey Vieth>These are the people that can be addressed very quickly and with the upturn in the <v Dr. Harvey Vieth>economy will be affected in a positive way. <v Margaret Heckler>I see the mentally handicapped as the latest group of the homeless. <v Margaret Heckler>But the problem is as old as time. <v Margaret Heckler>And with this new dimension complicating it, it's <v Margaret Heckler>it's a serious problem. But it always has been. <v Rick Gilbert>Mental health systems were cut. Alcohol and drug programs were cut, <v Rick Gilbert>job training programs, programs working with the youth, whatever.

<v Rick Gilbert>So now we have not only the people that we typically see looking for emergency shelter <v Rick Gilbert>in a new poor that's coming along that no longer have jobs. <v Rick Gilbert>But now we have this real complex population that is not being dealt with in any kind of <v Rick Gilbert>a program and they end up on the street and also asking for emergency assistance. <v Dr. Harvey Vieth>We've looked into two cutbacks. <v Dr. Harvey Vieth>The cutbacks have been cut from the top, from people who <v Dr. Harvey Vieth>fall within the poverty line, the highest level. <v Dr. Harvey Vieth>So I don't feel that that that's the biggest issue either. <v Hon. Charles Royer>The president and his advisers are way out of touch with the outcomes of their economic <v Hon. Charles Royer>policy. They look at numbers. <v Hon. Charles Royer>They talk to economists. They talk to the Wall Street banker who say atta boy. <v Hon. Charles Royer>You're getting that old interest rate down and the CPI is down. <v Hon. Charles Royer>And that is the measure of American health and welfare for mayors <v Hon. Charles Royer>and for people who work in cities.

<v Hon. Charles Royer>The measure is, are people slogging through the cold <v Hon. Charles Royer>because the shelters are overflowing? <v narrator>The Seattle City Council voted in favor of the mayor's request for five hundred thousand <v narrator>dollars for emergency services. <v narrator>Shelter directors were relieved. <v narrator>They would have the same level of funding for at least one more year. <v Ken Cole>But I think that we're likely to see more cuts in social program spending. <v Ken Cole>And I think it could be disastrous. <v Ken Cole>Even though the economy may be rebounding. <v Ken Cole>On the surface, those social problems will not go away. <v Hon. Harold Washington>For the long term we need more federal dollars, obviously, for our city's largest <v Hon. Harold Washington>smo. Jobs are needed.

<v Hon. Harold Washington>More job training programs should be available and funding of the existing <v Hon. Harold Washington>programs should be increased. <v Hon. Harold Washington>New low and moderate income housing programs and loan guarantees for housing <v Hon. Harold Washington>rehabilitation. More social service programs. <v Hon. Harold Washington>New state and federal programs to shelter and protect the mentally ill. <v interviewer>What is Congress going to do for the homeless in the coming year? <v Mike Lowry>Realistically, right now it's trying to duck its responsibilities. <v Mike Lowry>We have a very uphill fight to pass a 60 million <v Mike Lowry>dollar appropriation which has already been authorized, which would only keep us even <v Mike Lowry>with the inadequate amount appropriated last year. <v Mike Lowry>So the best we're gonna do is to hold the line. <v interviewer>So what's the future over the next few years for homeless people in our cities? <v Mike Lowry>Until we change the philosophy in this country, it is very bleak. <v Mike Lowry>We must change the philosophy and realize that-. <v narrator>On New Year's Eve, a handful of people gathered for a silent memorial to the 38

<v narrator>homeless people who died in the city of Seattle last year. <v narrator>They stood for an hour in front of the federal building, but no one seemed to notice. <v narrator>But the time being. Things will go on pretty much as they have been. <v narrator>The massive effort and expense required to eliminate homelessness seems unlikely. <v narrator>As a society, we must decide our priorities. <v narrator>How far are we willing to go to solve this problem? <v narrator>Who will take responsibility? And who will pay the cost? <v Speaker>[music plays]