WINTER STORM 2021
At least six people experiencing homelessness died during the winter storm. That number could rise.
Lessons Not Learned, Lives Lost, Homeless Uncared For
Sweeps, fines, and destruction of what little they have, along with the fear of jail, is why some homeless refuse to go to a shelter in a storm. The other factors are that shelters are rarely open in time, dirty, crowded, and without enough room for the need. Rubix cube of problems, not solutions
Let’s look at His word as we start today
Psalm 46: 1 to 3
God is my Refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come, and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!
Isaiah 4: 10
Yes, the Sovereign Lord, is coming in power. He will rule with a powerful arm. See, He brings His reward with Him as He comes
What say you…
All you hear about these days is encampments, homeless, drugs, and the mess they create, can’t we just sweep them up and put them somewhere, out of sight, out of the way
Storm, no storm, what does it matter, what they do is illegal after all, so what does it matter if they struggle for survival, they should respond to the people trying to make them go to a shelter
Introduction
Lack of connected efforts and legislation worked together to hinder the saving of lives in a massive Texas winter storm. A law has been passed banning camping, which puts the homeless on edge around authorities, fearing fines and jail.
Then you have a mixed-up bunch of agencies that do not communicate, and the result is lost lives. Now the blame and outcomes do not lay 100% on either group, but the end result still was death.
Storm Preparation 2.1 Failure
Freezing temperatures, electricity failures, coldest weather in decades, and people left unprepared. The state had warnings that this storm was coming, but the authorities took notice of it and did not warn people, and did not take precautions with the infrastructure and failures resulting. Is it any wonder that we are hearing of only the homeless that have died, the state is fearful to let any death notices out, for fear of recriminations over their repeated failures.
But, after all that the homeless are dying in the storm, well they are just the homeless after and they ‘should have known better,’ right? Really, how do you justify their being left to die on the streets through improper notifications, shelters destroyed by broken pipes, and inadequate shelter space overall? Did they get what was needed in time to move, was there space available, were restrictions in places, what about the damaged shelters, none of this is mentioned.
Restrictions/Requirements Isolate Vulnerable Homeless
There is a reference to the homeless being isolated and then moving them into a crowded and noisy environment, almost sounding like an excuse for not doing more to compel them to come in out of the impending storm. It is known from experience in my area that storm warnings and shelter openings are held off until the very last minute making it exceedingly hard for the homeless to make it to the shelters.
Shelters and buildings being used for housing the homeless and vulnerable during the storm were often found to have serious problems. Frozen or burst pipes limiting water or increasing flood potential. The cost to repair will be felt for years is the prevailing remarks, not the loss of the ability to care for the homeless. Each day the number seeking shelter did increase, but was it enough?
Outreach workers traveled the city before and during the storm to bring the homeless into the shelters. How is it that the volunteers were better at reaching the homeless then the million-dollar city-funded agencies? They were able to keep going and bring the numbers from 1 in 20 to far less than that and save lives. Red tape and restrictions and regulations are the big differences. Thankfully, there simply would have been more dead for the city to count.
Broken Promises/Communications
When I speak of broken and poor communication I am speaking of several different levels of communication. The state first of all did a poor job with the warning for the impending storm after the disaster of the first storm not all that long ago.
The shelters that did exist were not made ready for the numbers that needed to come in to be protected. City and county officials left too much to chance in the period of the storm which led to deaths and damage across a lot of different areas. This simply highlights the situation that getting the homeless out of harm’s way is not a priority for any city or county official.
It takes time to find, contact, and communicate with any one homeless person, but an entire community in the face of an impending storm and grave danger, takes days, and they did not have days. That is the critical point of the failure of communication. The homeless by fear and protection are not easy to find or locate so to attempt to locate on the verge of a storm when you want to round them up,’ they will be even harder to find.
But with volunteers going out during the storm and searching for the homeless and getting some to shelters and warming stations, lives were saved. That was an example of working together and communication that the state needs to learn. They simply did not deal with the pre-storm situation properly and the disaster could have been avoided and lives saved. It is not as simple as the homeless prefer to be outside, it is fear, mistrust, and years of dirty dealing that have been ingrained that prevent them from wanting to come into an emergency shelter situation.
Why Sweeps are a Tough Catch-22
To bring in a group of homeless people either into a shelter, emergency or otherwise, or into jail, it is called a sweep, and they are often merciless. In a traditional sweep the person, yes, a homeless individual is a human, is removed from the location where they are and every belonging that they cannot carry is destroyed. Everything, without question This is why the homeless resist sweeps out of hand.
So, they need the protection of the shelters, the weather is turning wicked bad, but the shelters are going to be crowded and there is no room for them, their belongings, and possibly their pet, what to do. Think about it for a moment, your home is destroyed, and you must go to a hotel, you can only take a box that measures 24 by 24 by 24 and you cannot take your pet, and everything you leave behind will be destroyed, would you go?
No, it is not always unless and wasted junk that they haul around, it is their vital documents, clothing, medications, records, police papers, and the like, this is why sweeps even in the face of a storm are hard for the homeless to handle and they often head unground with very bad outcomes. But this is not something the average house human can think or image.
TX House Passes House Bill 1925
Sadly, this is yet another bill banning sleep, camping, and resting in public. Now what you must understand is the hard spot where I stand, I do not like encampments, they are unsafe and an eyesore. But, if the city or county has no other option for the homeless then should that homeless person be criminally punished for sleeping or resting in public? Remember the causes of homelessness have changed drastically since the Pandemic of 2020 and have not improved.
Most of the time with these new and dangerous bills they put in a clause that each city or county is ‘required’ to develop an encampment in each area that is approved for use. Bit, then they negate with the statement that it is to be reviewed by this or that department and can be shut down. There is no search to end homelessness or help a person get off the streets, it is merely to hide the problem from public sight and in many cities protect tourism.
Here is the root of the problem when it comes to working with removing encampments, we have depended on the government for way too long! That is the problem with many areas that are in the process of failing in America and we need to stop looking to the government and start all over again and get back to the way it used to be before we got comfortable doing nothing but complaining. The church and families and communities used to be the go-to for individuals going through tough times, never the government and we have to go back to that to bring forth real change.
Conclusion
Dead in a van, frozen and dead in a tent, what went wrong, this was not a surprise storm, everyone knew it was coming. Reading through the article you can pick up the unwritten theme, homeless are afraid.
The newest homeless ban on sleeping and camping has driven the homeless deeper into hiding and fear. Which makes connecting with them and communicating very difficult. Th blame game is not for this forum, but it can be said that the outcome was death.
Broken water pipes, broken communication lines, broken promises, do you see the theme, and the alphabet soup of government agencies have no answers as they search for the dead, will they institute change for next year?
CTA…
Answer this,
How do we approach the homeless issue, and the people trapped in the cycle of homelessness when a winter storm literally threatens their lives, as a state of emergency or as a life-threatening issue?
Answer this,
When you already know that the homeless are in fear of being contacted because of the laws being passed do you plan ahead and make alternate plans, or plow on with the failed and ineffective
Answer this,
By the time this storm showed up and killed several people the illegal crisis was well underway, did they suffer and die as the homeless, or were they better preserved, if so, why, they are not American citizens, but illegals
