Birmingham Coalition OF the Homeless
Church of the Reconciler
112 14th Street North
Birmingham, AL 35203
205 324-6402
March 24, 2004
Mayor Bernard Kincaid
President Lee Loder
And Members of the
Birmingham City Council
710 20th Street North
Birmingham, AL 35203
Dear Mayor, President, and Council Members;
We appreciate your leadership in our city and are grateful for the invitation to write you and all the members of the Birmingham City Council to express the needs we have as homeless persons to build a highway out of homelessness. We appreciate the services we receive as homeless persons but our goal is not to be more comfortable in our homelessness but to be able to have a solid way out of homelessness.
1) We find it very difficult to get out of homelessness because we do not have access to living wage jobs. We are hard working people. Yet we frequently have to work reduced hour temporary jobs often in dangerous and dirty conditions that pay $5.15 to $6.00 an hour. The low pay keeps us on the streets. We would like to have the Birmingham City Council pass an ordinance requiring the Temporary Labor Agencies in Birmingham to pay a minimum wage of $9.00 an hour.
2) We share with all who labor in environments that cause our bodies and clothes to become dirty the need for bathhouses and laundry facilities. In addition to the need for minimum wage legislation we need the Birmingham City Council to pass an ordinance to require temporary labor agencies in Birmingham to provide shower, bathroom and laundry facilities for those who are employed through their agencies. These facilities should be available before and after work hours. This will enable us to present ourselves in the city center as the people who we always want to be as significant contributors to our city.
3) With out quality public transportation, we as homeless people are trapped in downtown Birmingham. We cannot work many jobs in the metropolitan area that pay living wages because our current public transportation system is less than inadequate. We have to camp out downtown to work because public transportation does not does not allow us to manage transportation to the temporary labor agencies from the neighborhoods at 5:00 AM in the morning. We are required to be there that early to have a good chance to obtain a job ticket. So please redouble even quadruple the efforts you are giving to expand our public transportation system.
4) We find it very difficult to obtain market rate housing. We often pay $700 per month rent to stay in the inexpensive motels in downtown Birmingham and use homeless services to survive because we cannot manage the large up front deposits required for market rate housing. Rent and utility deposits, back utility bills, furniture and household supplies can amount to $1,000.00 to $3,500.00 up front cost for market rate housing. We would like for the City of Birmingham to establish a trust fund of $10,000.00 to be used to guarantee the rent and utility deposits. We would also like the city to use its influence to expand the fund through donations from financial institutions, corporations, and individuals. Recipients of the guaranteed deposits would have to show strong progress in a healthy life style and sign a covenant to be drug and violence free. The recipients would pay a monthly fee until their deposits have been covered. The Coalition of the Homeless along with others designated by the city would approve applicants.
5) We find it difficult to move out of homelessness because we do not have the resources to cover co-payment cost for doctor visits and prescription drugs needed for our health and strength. We can receive $50.00 a week for selling our blood plasma twice a week. Therefore we sell our blood plasma often to obtain money for these and other basic needs. This is a self-defeating process. We know our blood plasma is an essential health care resource for the broader community. Yet we suffer loss of health providing it. And we don’t have access to healthcare for our families or ourselves. We would like for the City of Birmingham to pass an ordinance that would require the blood shops to pay a fee for each unit of blood plasma they purchase to create a fund to cover co-payment cost for health care for persons and their families who sell their blood plasma with in a twelve-month period. The ordinance should require no reduction in the price paid for blood plasma.
6) We would like for the City of Birmingham to donate 2 houses a year and the money for their renovation to Church of the Reconciler or its partner agencies to be used for transitional housing. The Coalition of the Homeless will provide the labor for the renovation. Homeless persons who are showing strong progress in their life recovery process and who enter into a covenant to be drug free and violence free would be given the opportunity to provide labor for renovation in exchange for living in the house. When the person gains employment they would be required to pay a reasonable percentage of their income for rent and utilities to continue to stay in the house until permanent housing is obtained. The city could identify local contractors to oversee the renovation.
7) The Covenant Job Group at Church of the Reconciler encourages homeless persons to develop their vision for a small business. When the business vision is complete we network with the School of Business at Samford University to have a senior business major develop a business plan to achieve the vision. We need the City of Birmingham to use its influence to help the person with the plan to obtain a small business loan to begin the business.
8) The Coalition of the Homeless has discovered that many people are kept homeless by the criminal justice system. Small traffic or quality of life offenses result in fines that are unable to be paid because of no employment or low wage employment. Missed court dates are a common occurrence for the homeless due to no watch or calendar and an unstructured life. Missed court dates result in new fines that are further out of financial reach of the homeless. Additional missed court dates result in arrest warrants. These warrants make it impossible to work except for “cash under the table.” This situation results in increased probability of being caught in a background check run by police. The resulting jail time disrupts completely any progress made in the journey into employment, housing and meaningful life. Most come out of city jail with new probations and new court dates to be missed and a new cycle of events that lead to another round that becomes an endless cycle of hopelessness. We would like for the Birmingham City Council to work with the municipal court in conjunction with UAB TASC to develop restorative justice processes that can interrupt this cycle of hopelessness and move homeless people out of the City Jail and courts into productive life.
9) The homeless community needs the city to create specialty shelters that can focus healing and hope for our community.
A) We need a day shelter so that we can work the many night jobs in the city. The current shelter arrangements make it virtually impossible to manage night work. Night work with a place to rest in the day can enable many of us to move out of homelessness.
B) We need a surgical and hospital discharge shelter for the large number of us who are discharged from the hospital with no place to recuperate. With out this resource we suffer long recovery time and are at high risk for permanent disability.
C) We need a shelter for persons who are in sever dysfunction from mental illness or intoxication so that they can be held for three days with out criminalization and given a proper mental health evaluation and referral for treatment or drug or alcohol recovery. We recognize that there may be a number of repeat offenders that may need jail but it should not be the first line of action. If a person is held in the facility for 3 times in any twelve month period with out taking advantage of available resources they should receive significant jail time. Many homeless persons have been diagnosed with mental illness they were unaware of and with treatment have made it off of the streets. This shelter will increase the number of and speed the process of addicted people getting connected with a drug or alcohol recovery program.
10) Many homeless people provide essential labor services in our community through the informal “Catch Out Corner.” This area is often considered an eye sore by some in our community. We would like for the city to create an official “Catch Out Corner.” The official Catch out Corner” can be located out side the loop but near enough to be functional for all who use its services. This Catch Out Corner would have shelter from the elements, drinking water, restrooms, benches and pay phones. The official “Catch out Corner” should have support services to maintain a safe and clean environment.
11) We have many quality residential drug recovery programs in Birmingham. Our problem is that there are not enough of them. The waiting list are to long! We need your support to enable us to develop a world-class 12-month residential drug recovery program. This is an essential component of the highway out of homelessness.
These request we are making of the City of Birmingham are for the purpose of building a highway out of homeless not an attempt to make the homeless more comfortable in our homelessness. Most of the requests reflect the need for structural justice rather than direct services. We recognize these changes require time and effort. We commit ourselves to this task in cooperation with you and the agencies of the City of Birmingham to make them possible.
We want to hear from you in the next three weeks setting a time when we can discuss with you the development of a plan to work toward achieving the implementation of these request.
Yours in Hope and Love for our City
The Birmingham Coalition of the Homeless
3/24/04
R. Lawton Higgs, Sr.
cc:
Community Development Director James Fenstemaker
Planning, Engineering & Permits Director William Gilchrist
