Helping The Homeless Help Themselves In Albuquerque (And Beyond)
I know from my friendship with a guy who's been homeless that for at least some homeless people, it isn't laziness, drinking, or drugs that keeps them from having it together. It's an inability to do things most of us do to hold our lives together, like maintaining a checking account and paying bills on time.

Colby Itkowitz writes in the WaPo about a terrific program to help the homeless -- one that seems to be working (in getting them working and getting them sheltered):

Republican Mayor Richard Berry was driving around Albuquerque last year when he saw a man on a street corner holding a sign that read: "Want a Job. Anything Helps."

Throughout his administration, as part of a push to connect the homeless population to services, Berry had taken to driving through the city to talk to panhandlers about their lives. His city's poorest residents told him they didn't want to be on the streets begging for money, but they didn't know where else to go.

Seeing that sign gave Berry an idea. Instead of asking them, many of whom feel dispirited, to go out looking for work, the city could bring the work to them.

Next month will be the first anniversary of Albuquerque's There's a Better Way program, which hires panhandlers for day jobs beautifying the city. In partnership with a local nonprofit that serves the homeless population, a van is dispatched around the city to pick up panhandlers who are interested in working. The job pays $9 an hour, which is above minimum wage, and provides a lunch. At the end of the shift, the participants are offered overnight shelter as needed.

...In less than a year since its start, the program has given out 932 jobs clearing 69,601 pounds of litter and weeds from 196 city blocks. And more than 100 people have been connected to permanent employment.

"You can just see the spiral they've been on to end up on the corner. Sometimes it takes a little catalyst in their lives to stop the downward spiral, to let them catch their breath, and it's remarkable," Berry said in an interview. "They've had the dignity of work for a day; someone believed in them today."

For those of you who are wondering, my once-homeless friend is now living in Illinois, with a roof over his head, which is to say he's doing okay. He uses my home address as his permanent address, so I get mail for him with some frequency (which I priority-mail to him), and I communicate with him through another female friend of his who looks after him.

By the way, this guy is a very industrious and hard-working person -- whenever I helped connect him with work or other people did, he did the work pronto and really well. There's just something about him that made him not that good about the stuff of life most people can do. That doesn't make him a bad person or lazy; it makes him somebody we should give a hand to, same as we'd help a person with a lot of packages who's having trouble making it to their car.

via @BrianDavidEarp