Data-Driven Hope for Homelessness
Advocates for the homeless see the centralized databases and standardized assessments of the coordinated entry approach as superior to the scattershot approaches of the past. By Sam Mire A random meal, a care package of toiletries, an occasional instance of a homeless person receiving permanent housing — these are individual approaches that don’t lend themselves to learning much about the rate of homelessness
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Vendor Profile: Michael White
From foster care to homeless: how the system failed him Photos and Story By Miranda Schumes Photo Illustration by Andrew Fraieli Michael White stood on the center median at the busy intersection between Glades Road and St. Andrews Blvd in Boca Raton, Florida. It was 2002, and he was donning a lime green shirt with “The Homeless Voice” logo on the front, gripping
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Homeless Criminalization Continues
A law firm’s report shows how city’s ordinances criminalize basic human behavior By Andrew Fraieli Sacramento, California filed a lawsuit to ban certain homeless individuals from public spaces — having declared them public nuisances; Kansas City, Missouri’s health department poured bleach on a food pantry’s food to deter the eating of it, as they considered the food a safety hazard — the homeless
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Data Privacy and Data-Driven Solutions to Homelessness
By Katie Aulenbacher The past few decades have seen a growing trend of applying data collection and analysis tools to social problems, including the problem of homelessness. While social services rely on data to assist their target populations, database vulnerabilities expose those populations to a host of privacy concerns. Homeless individuals could face threats to their employment opportunities, mental health, and physical safety
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Florida’s Work to End Homelessness
By Rupal Ramesh Shah Florida’s homeless population, as of 2018, was 31,030 or 6% of the total state population. With a homeless population that large, different organizations have developed across Florida — state and private — to help solve this problem of housing, hunger and safety over the years. One of those organizations is the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness, of which acting
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The Grey Limits of Homelessness
By Andrew Fraieli At what point does being homeless become homelessness? Federal law has a definition, and states have varying ones as well, but it’s not as simple as that. Living in a car, for example, is not considered a first choice, it’s usually done from necessity. Van life, on the other hand, is the opposite — with vans purposely and painstakingly transformed into
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The Furniture Store that Feeds the Homeless
By Andrew Fraieli Everyday there is food wasted by large businesses, thrown away because boxes are damaged or they’re close to their expiry dates, and everyday people go to sleep hungry who could benefit from this wasted food. Today, there is one more solution to this in the world, the Rose K. Boatwright Food Pantry. Created a year and a half ago in
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The Policies and Laws of Florida Cities
By Kristen Grau If you’re homeless in Jacksonville, the city will provide you showers, food and mental health counseling. But if you’re homeless in West Palm Beach, the city will blast incessant children’s music to drive you away. When it comes to being homeless in Florida, you might have a drastically different experience depending on which city you reside in; some cities have more
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The Many Laws of Florida’s Panhandling
By Maria Mor We either scramble for our bag in search of a couple dollar bills trying to beat the traffic light, or we lock our car doors and quickly avoid eye contact. Maybe we make a snarky comment about the beggar looking for some loose change; possibly, we send them prayers of hope and good faith. However, how often do we sit in
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The Word for Homeless
By Andrew Fraieli The word “homeless” holds onto its negative connotation like the people using it hold onto their purses, and their line of sight. Or rather, the word “homeless” has its derogatory connotation thrust upon it like the expectations given to them by the passersby. “Homeless” is used in common day-to-day language to describe what’s seen as a drunk/crazy/druggie/dirty/lazy bum on the sidewalk
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