Cops Break In Through Church Windows Checking For Homeless Sleepers

http://www.aclupa.org/pressroom/boroughofbrookvilleagreest.htm

From a correspondent.

October 13, 2009

Pittsburgh - The Borough of Brookville, PA, has agreed to pay the First Apostles' Doctrine Church and its lawyers $100,000 for shutting down the church's ministry to homeless people last year. After the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed suit against the borough last year, Brookville agreed to allow the church to resume housing homeless people in its parsonage.

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The ACLU of Pennsylvania filed a federal lawsuit in November 2008 on behalf of Reverend Wisor, the church, and the "Just for Jesus Challenge Homeless Outreach," the church's ministry that Wisor founded in 2004 to help homeless people in this rural area, about 80 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, by providing them shelter and bringing Jesus Christ into their lives. The suit alleged that the borough had violated the church's religious beliefs when it effectively shut down its homeless ministry by citing the church for zoning violations and refusing to allow the church to resume housing homeless people in the parsonage.

The lawsuit also claimed that the zoning inspector and several borough police officers violated the church's privacy rights by climbing into the church through a window after they had been refused permission to enter. The zoning inspector wanted to see if the church was violating the order against allowing people to stay overnight, which they learned during their forcible entry and warrantless inspection that the church was not allowing overnight guests.

Homeless Veteran and Other News

Catholic Church Ready to Throw Homeless Under Bus in Order to Stop Gay Marriage

November 12, 2009
by Michael A. Jones
gayrights.change.org

The Catholic Church in Washington, D.C. has issued an ultimatum to the District's city council: approve same-sex marriage, and the Church will stop serving the city's disadvantaged, including the homeless.

Guess that Catholic Church commitment to the poor is only skin deep. For the Catholic Church to threaten the lives of homeless people and others who depend on church social services just to gain political points on the issue of gay marriage is sad, sorry, and a sign that no religious instutition in the country is willing to stand in the way of civil rights for gays and lesbians more than the Catholic Church.

Backlash over report showing big drop in L.A.'s homeless population
LA Times
November 11, 2009

An L.A. County report showing a 38% drop in the homeless population has been met with consternation by the region’s homeless providers, who say the findings are inaccurate and could cost them funding at a time when the need is great.

The homeless providers have written op-ed articles, public letters, blog postings and tweets — all taking issue with the census, conducted over three days in January, which showed the number of homeless people in the region had dropped 68,808 in 2007 to 42,694.

The change shown in the report, by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, seems puzzling to some because it comes in the midst of a recession, when people across the region have lost their homes.

Stars sleep out to help homeless
BBC News
November 12, 2009

Celebrities will join hundreds of people sleeping rough on Thursday night to raise money for a homeless charity.

Centrepoint hoped the sleep-out in east London's Spitafield's market would help raise more than £250,000 to help house young homeless people over Christmas.

Casualty actor Joe McFadden, Loose Women presenter Lisa Maxwell and Radio 1 DJ Sara Cox will be among those sleeping rough for the night.

Report: Thousands of homeless veterans on LI, NYC
November 11, 2009
by Michael Frazier

Homelessness among veterans was higher in Suffolk County than in Nassau and any county in New York City, according to a federal report Sen. Charles Schumer cited Wednesday.

The number of homeless vets in Suffolk totaled 1,261, compared to 1,023 in Nassau, according to a 2008 survey by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Suffolk County United Veterans, a nonprofit advocacy group in Yaphank, characterized the data as an accurate portrayal of the number of veterans living on county streets or in shelters.

Report: Number of homeless veterans down in Ga.
Associated Press

A national report shows that homelessness among veterans is declining in Georgia.

The report released Tuesday by the National Alliance to End Homelessness examined the number of military veterans who are now living on the streets.

It found there were 3,032 without permanent homes in Georgia in 2008. That's down from 3,299 in 2007.

Blind veteran on a mission to help homeless and jobless veterans
by Larry Collins
November 11, 2009

Glenn Davis is on a mission to make sure all our local veterans are well taken care of.

A veteran himself, he started an organization dedicated to making sure veterans have food, shelter and health care.

His latest push is helping those veterans find employment.

Although Davis is blind, he sees a problem that many of us refuse to see…. veterans in need.

On Holiday, Considering the Plight of Homeless Veterans
November 11, 2009
by Andrew Kew
NYT

Good article with a lot of data.

There are nearly 10,000 homeless veterans in New York City, on Long Island and in northern New Jersey, according to estimates in a new report from the Department of Veterans Affairs, which also found that veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are falling into homelessness earlier than those who served in Vietnam.

Speaking at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center on East 23rd Street in Manhattan on Wednesday afternoon, Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York and Robert Menendez of New Jersey outlined new legislation for a veterans’ housing program they are referring to as Homes for Heroes.

Schumer releases data on homeless Vets
November 11, 2009
by Eli George

Schumer today said that, out of the 603,238 veterans living in Upstate NY, an estimated 8,626 may be homeless.

In New York State, there are 14,132 total homeless veterans out of a total of 988,217 veterans. Nationwide, the study found that there are approximately 131,000 homeless veterans sleeping on the street on any given night. Below are how the numbers break out across the state:

One Homeless Veteran Is Too Many
November 11, 2009
by Mark Horvath
homelessness.change.org

The day I met Dale, he was in the middle of a crowded San Francisco sidewalk. But he was very much alone. He was in his wheelchair, trying to position his body upright so he could pick through the contents of a garbage can. Swarms of people, tourists and businesspeople, hurried past. They all seemed too busy to stop and notice one man's struggle, one man's devastating plight.

If these people knew Dale's story, maybe they would not have hurried past so quickly. Dale spent 14 years serving our country, including two tours of Vietnam. As a result, he has serious health issues that confine him to a wheelchair. Yet, he says the only help he gets from the VA is free coffee and donuts.

10 Reasons Why Homeless People Choose To Be Homeless
March 5, 2009
Homelesstales.com

This well-done piece is less about choosing than be homeless than choosing to decline services available to the homeless, for reasons that often involve safety concerns.

Homeless Karaoke

Food, Clothing, Shelter, and....Karaoke?
Shannon Moriarty
homelessness.change.org
November 10, 2009

Joy is just as important to the human existence as food, clothing, and shelter. But when you're living on the streets, it is easy to forget how to find it; among service providers, joy is a need that is too often forgotten.

But on LA's Skid Row, one couple has adopted the task of cultivating joy with a boom box and a microphone. They have turned their love of karaoke into an outlet for LA's homeless. They have no hidden agenda, no underlying motive. Each week, they simply set up the karaoke machine, open the doors and watch the room come alive with music, dancing, and community.

(short ad at beginning, sorry)

Homeless Videos

Gary Jules - Mad World



The Year I Was Homeless, by Becky Blanton



Winter in America
Gil Scott-Heron