One city councilperson's "compassion"

Schipske to Request Council to Support Asking HUD for Waiver on Homeless

Accommodation Requirements Attached to Schroeder Army Property – Says ‘Long Beach Does More than Its Fair Share’

December 30, 2008

After months of not being able to locate an alternate site for a homeless program to serve the mentally ill, Fifth District Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske, whose district contains the Schroeder Army Hall today announced that she is placing on the council agenda an item asking for the federal government to waive its requirement that in order to receive the property, the City of Long Beach must accommodate the needs of the homeless.

The City of Long Beach filed an application to reuse approximately 5 acres of land now occupied at Willow and Grand Avenue by the U.S. Army Schroeder Hall. If granted, the property will be used by the City of Long Beach for a much needed Eastside Police Substation to replace the current leased facility near the traffic circle on the condition that it accommodate the needs of the homeless.

“The City of Long Beach has historically provided a great deal of services and programs for the homeless,” said Schipske. “The City of Long Beach continues to lead the cities in Los Angeles County in addressing the needs of the homeless and this should be taken into consideration by the federal government.”

As a condition of the reuse, the City of Long Beach was informed that it was required to accommodate homeless services providers by either providing land on the site or another site that was approved by the selected homeless services provider. Mental Health America was the selected provider and it agreed to use a one acre lot adjacent to the City’s Department of Health and Human Services on Burnett, just steps from the Schroeder Hall site to provide a program aimed at the mentally ill homeless.

“It is clear that the City of Long Beach is already providing a high level of care and services for the homeless,” emphasized Schipske, citing several facts that support her case.

“In addition to having the only ‘multi-service center’ within 26 miles of Los Angeles that is specifically dedicated to providing a variety of services to the homeless, the City has a Mayor’s Taskforce on the Homeless which recently completed a 10 Year Strategy for Ending Homelessness in Long Beach.”

Schipske also noted that the City’s Department of Health and Human Services employs a Homeless Services Coordinator and the City provides shelters and vouchers for the homeless throughout the year and especially during bad weather.

The Long Beach Unified School District also provides a school specifically for homeless children. The City is also the site of the Los Angeles County Comprehensive Health Center which provides, among other services, health care services and treatment for the homeless. Long Beach is also the home of US Vets/Villages at Cabrillo which provides housing for the homeless.

“I am bringing this item to the full city Council because it was the full city council that approved the application,” Schipske said. “Also the residents who live adjacent to the proposed homeless services site and who are opposed to its location, are not convinced that the city really will find an alternative site for the homeless program and so we need a back-up plan.”

Schipske said she is also concerned that the homeless provider can turn down cash in lieu of property as an accommodation.

“We should be able to sell the Burnett and Grand acre, get it back on the tax rolls and use the money to accommodate the needs of the homeless in order for the city to receive the 5 acres from the Army. We’re not asking for a ‘bail-out’ just an accommodation of our needs,” concluded Schipske.

Another opinion

While the writer of the following opinion is right that we need to get to the root causes of homelessness, I think the tone is angry, and she seems to vilify people with mental illness, as if they have any choice in the matter:

"Most people who use the O.C. armories for emergency shelter in the winter tend to be people who have been homeless for years, often for decades ["Homeless, with cancer," Local, Dec. 23]. They are not people who just lost their jobs because of a layoff. These are people who haven't had a full-time job in 10 years, if they ever had one.

They are chronic homeless, who cycle in and out of shelters and motels all their lives. Most have been enrolled in well-funded transitional housing programs but dropped out or failed.

Unfortunately, many of these people have children whom they can't or won't provide for.

Most of these folks suffer from chronic mental illnesses or addictions. The mentally ill refuse to comply with medication and treatment that can make them functional and employable. By law, they cannot be forced into treatment and taxpayers are forced to continue to endure their psychotic episodes, irrational and unpredictable behavior, financial dependency, occasional violence and parental destructiveness.

Addicts look for free housing to free up welfare or disability money so they can purchase drugs and alcohol. All an addict has to do is have several out-of-wedlock children and then, they can claim welfare benefits. If you take the children away from addicts, they scream bloody murder because they lost their drug money (welfare).

Handing out money and benefits to this population is counter-productive. Providing free food and shelter does not address root causes. Dipsy articles about helping the homeless by giving them more money are useless and wasteful. If you don't have the stomach to address the real problems, don't give advice."

Jennifer Marks

Orange

Alternative healing

A good article in today's LA Times that returns to Steve Lopez' journey with Nathaniel Anthony Ayers...it offers hope that healing is possible...not only through "traditional" and often cruel methods. Here's the link: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez28-2008dec28,0,2059096.column

What works?

There are all kinds of solutions being offered out there to "solve the problem" of mental illness, particularly as it relates to homelessness. But are these people who need to be "solved" or can we look at things differently?

First, I'm of the opinion that society is the biggest loser when it comes to people with mental illness who are homeless, and not only because of the social costs involved in providing services (the "Million Dollar Murray" thing). These are people, after all...people with gifts and abilities that are generally being ignored in favor of the people as problem perspective.

Second, forcing people (and this goes for everyone) to do things seldom results in a transformation. You know, people are stubborn...if it's not our idea, we're usually not interested. (We can blame this one on the American ideal that we occasionally like to refer to, at least when it works for us. "Self-made" is good if it means our own personal autonomy...but we're not so sure we like the idea when it comes to people with a mental illness). This means that, though we may be uncomfortable with the idea (or uncomfortable with SEEING them) some people really do choose to be on the streets. Overall, society needs to find a better balance between personal autonomy and public good.

In the end the best source of ideas and energy for healing and wholeness is the people themselves. The extraordinary gifts and abilities of people, ALL people, are the fountainhead of new life and a source of hope for us all.

The truth about mental illness and violence

Let’s do a quick Google search for synonyms of mental illness and see what we come up with:

Aberrant…Crazed…Looney…Rabid...Unbalanced…Rash…Reckless…
Maniacal…Deranged…Sick-minded…Unsound…

Lions…and tigers…and BEARS…oh MY!

So what is the truth about people with mental illness and violent behavior? Should we be afraid?

The TRUTH is, the propensity of persons with serious mental illnesses to commit violent acts has been the subject of research and debate for over 70 years (Harris & Lurigio, 2007) resulting in findings that will be surprising to the average person who has bought into society’s media-driven and unsubstantiated fear of those who have mental illnesses:

• The vast majority of people with mental health conditions are no more violent than anyone else. (SAMHSA, 2008). “The absolute risk of violence among the mentally ill population is very small…only a small proportion of the violence in our society can be attributed to persons who are mentally ill” (Mulvey, 1994).

• The news media contributes to the stigma of violence and mental illness by what they include and what they exclude (Risser, 2004). The media’s tendency is to sensationalize crime that has allegedly been committed by a person with mental illness and/or to report the assumption that the persons who allegedly committed a crime have a mental illness. The news media scares people into believing that people with mental illness are also violent.

• The majority (72%) of characters with mental illness on TV are portrayed as violent. Movie portrayals of people with mental illnesses as villainous and violent contribute to popular misconceptions (Risser, 2004).

• If a person with a mental illness does commit a violent crime, it’s more likely due to the influence of drugs or alcohol, just as it is in the general population. Research exposes a correlation between violent crime and people who are “dually diagnosed” with a mental illness and a substance abuse problem.

• The best predictors of violence are youth, male gender, substance abuse and history of prior violence, not mental illness (Risser, 2004).

• Those suffering from psychosis such as schizophrenia are more often frightened, confused and despairing than violent.

• The stigma of violence attached to people with mental illness is a leading barrier to safe housing, employment and integration into normal community life (Perese, 2007), essentials to the leading a full and meaningful life.

• People with mental illness are much more likely to be the victims of crime: studies have shown that people with mental illness are 11 times more likely to be victims of violent crime than the general population. (Teplin et al, 2005).

The TRUTH is, people with mental illness have been the victims of a fear-based smear campaign that has been going on for generations. The way we as a society seek to fully include people with mental illnesses as productive members of society is a reflection of whether or not we really mean it when we say, “and liberty and justice for all.”

“Although the world is full of suffering…it is also full of overcoming it.”
–Helen Keller

Sources:

Harris, A. & Lurigio, A. (2007). Mental illness and violence: A brief review of research and assessment strategies. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 12, 542-551.

Mulvey, E. (1994). Assessing the evidence of a link between mental illness and violence. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 45, 663-668.

Myths and facts of mental illness. What a difference a friend makes. Retrieved November 21, 2008, from http://whatadifference.samhsa.gov/learn.asp?nav=nav01_1 &content=1_1_mythsfacts.

Perese, E. (2007). Stigma, poverty and victimization: Roadblocks to recovery for individuals with severe mental illness. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurse Association, 13, 285.

Risser, P. (2004). Barriers to self-determination for people who have been identified as having mental illness in western society. In J. Jonikas & J. Cook (Eds.), “We Make the Road by Traveling on It” conference papers from the National Self-Determination and Psychiatric Disability Invitational Conference (pp. 209-230). Chicago, IL: University of Illinois at Chicago

Teplin, L., McClelland, G., Abram, K. & Weiner, D. (2005). Crime victimization of adults with severe mental illness: Comparison with the national crime victimization survey. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62, 911-921.