CASA Newsletter - March 2007
Homeless tent in St. Petersburg, Florida CASA Helps Homeless by Linda A. Osmundson Executive Director, CASA
Recent dramatic events reported in the newspaper highlight the alarming reality that being without a house is dangerous. Homelessness has become the issue of the day in St. Petersburg and CASA is doing our part to help. We have been active members of the Homeless Coalition for about 20 years and have watched the problem change over time. While we may have stereotypes of the homeless as unwashed, unshaven alcoholic men, there are women on the streets as well. For a high percentage of homeless women, battering is the original cause for their homelessness. Battered women and their children are frequently pushed out of their homes by the abuser. It is not unusual for a batterer to lock his partner and children out of the house or push her out of a car. Some battered women have used up the welfare safety net and find the cost of child care and housing is not affordable. Other battered homeless women appear less-than-sympathetic because they try to self-medicate the pain they are feeling with drugs or alcohol. It becomes a vicious cycle. A battered woman usually asks for help many times before someone believes her or offers help. Some of the well-meaning responses she receives include, “Well, he can’t be that bad. After all he is an upstanding member of our synagogue or church and a big donor.” Or, “I work with the man every day and I have never seen him act like that at work.” Or, “It must be something you say or do that makes him hit you.” When battered women repeatedly hear statements like this they become discouraged and feel like no one believes them. Some turn to alcohol or other drugs to feel better and cope with the fear they live with. Eventually they become addicted and sometimes they end up on the street. We have to be careful about the public policy we are supporting and think about all the individuals it might affect. While welfare may have needed reforming, we should have known that we were taking away a safety net for battered women and their children. When we close state mental hospitals without providing the facilities in the communities that were promised, we end up with homeless mentally ill people on our streets. When we tear down old, crime ridden public housing and replace it with fewer apartments, we reduced the stock of affordable housing in our community. The people at the bottom of the rung become houseless when they cannot afford a house or when they cannot maintain a house without help. When we make decisions about the homeless in our community, it is my hope that it is a multifaceted decision that accounts for a variety of homeless including battered women and children. CASA provides emergency shelter for homeless survivors of domestic violence and their children. We also have 14 CASA Gateway transitional living apartments. Now that we are discussing the “chronic homeless” the federal trend is away from funding transitional housing to permanent housing. I suggest that if we want a real solution, we need to keep the funding for CASA and other transitional housing programs that help domestic violence survivors, and we also need to provide housing for the chronic homeless who may be mentally ill or addicted. Like all similar community problems, this one will need a multifaceted, complex answer. Our community has a unique opportunity to struggle for a multifaceted answer to a complex problem and CASA is at the table.
Alex Calhoun, 7 years old, organized a donation drive to collect cell phones for CASA and proves that donors of any age can make a difference. Volunteer Janette Milan has donated more than 400 hours of her time to keep the Thrift Shoppe going. Without donors and volunteers, CASA could not serve victims of domestic violence. Each year CASA provides survivors with more than $80,000 dollars in thrift store merchandise. All proceeds from the Thrift Shoppe support CASA’s programs. To get involved, call Volunteer Coordinator Amy Harcar, at (727) 895-4912 x 107 or click here <mailto:
> ! Tour CASA Facilities! See for yourself where lives are transformed through CASA’s services. Tours of CASA facilities are held on the second Thursday of each month from 8 – 9:15 a.m. Tours for individuals and groups are also available at other times. For more information and for reservations, call Katherine at (727) 895-4912 x 101.
