A Better Way to Give debuts at council workshop

A city council workshop was held Monday to discuss the issue of homeless people in Pensacola and how they should be handled. As of right now, there are ordinances that prohibit people from “camping” in public areas, like parks and under the I-10 interstate, as well as “panhandling”, which is asking people for money.

Many citizens who attended the meeting were concerned with the fact that if it is illegal for the homeless to sleep in public areas, they have nowhere else to go.

“In order for you to prohibit, you must have an alternative place to go,” said Nathan Monk of Pensacola.

According to Monk, the anti-homeless ordinances have initiated new problems instead of fixing them. Instead of homeless people sleeping under the interstate or in parks at night, they are now staying up all night wandering around in fear of getting arrested, and sleeping in parks during the day. The problem has not been solved, just transformed into a new one.

Mollye Barrows Vigodsky of the Studer Community Institute presented a campaign that SCI plans to launch this summer, “A Better Way to Give.”

The campaign won’t solve homelessness but to aims to increase awareness of homelessness and offer people alternative ways to helped them without merely handing over cash to panhandlers, according to Vigodsky.

Instead of giving to panhandlers, she suggested people give to a homeless trust fund. Meters are in the works of being put up to provide people a way to better to give their donation to a homeless trust fund instead of giving it directly to the panhandler, where you are unaware of where your money is going.

John Johnson, EscaRosa Coalition on the Homeless executive director, told the city council that the city needs to start with an access point, find out what the person needs in order to get them off of the street, and then send them to a place that will best meet their needs.

He said, first, there must be engagement and outreach. The client has to be met with, informed of services, provided emotional aid, and crisis intervention. It should also be known that it could take multiple times to convince the person to get off of the street.

A similar campaign in Mobile has been very successful according to Eric Jefferson of Housing First, Inc. There has to be an understanding of what a homeless person is, what they need, and to know that it is less of a social issue, and more of an economic issue.

Vigodsky and Johnson pointed out the most important thing needed for any homeless initiative to run smoothly is funding, and a proposal was in the works in hopes to get federal funding and funding from the city.

Since this was a workshop, there could be no definitive answer or vote on the outcome of this campaign, but the city council members did take a straw vote to see who is in favor of what was discussed, and a resolution to support “A Better Way to Give.”

The straw vote came back with a vote of 7-1 in support of their campaign.

—by Claudia Carlson