Conversation Takes Place around Three Proposals to Help Homeless in Grant County

Photos and Article by Shirin McArthur

Every chair was taken in the Silver City Volunteer Center on Thursday night as the community gathered to discuss the issue of homelessness in Grant County.

Organized by It Takes a Village, this is the first in an intended series of €œGreat Conversations € on issues in our community. It Takes a Village is a nonprofit organization that supports education, activism, and social change in the community. It also operates a store at the corner of Market and Texas Streets.

The evening began with a short presentation by Andra Olney-Larson, who shared statistics, gathered by the Silver City Gospel Mission, on the homeless population in Grant County. Their records show that the Gospel Mission served 26,528 meals in 2014 and sheltered 1065 during the winter months.

Other organizations which serve the homeless include the Marine Corps League, which assists homeless veterans, and local businesses who hire transients to wash windows or clean floors. Businesses also give back, for example in the form of free haircuts for the homeless.

She then stated that the goal of the evening was to coordinate the various efforts in the community around the issue of homelessness. The constituents of It Takes a Village discussed and proposed three options for action. The first was to provide art supplies to the homeless in a manner similar to the MRAC youth mural projects. This would provide the homeless with something to do during the day. Similar projects in Europe are funded with lottery proceeds.

The second proposal was to house the chronically homeless in a manner similar to what is being done in Utah, where public funding supports the construction of tiny houses on public property. The funding was allocated in recognition of the fact that many of the homeless end up in jail, and that it costs $17,000 per year to house an inmate, but only $11,000 to construct one of these tiny houses.

The third proposal was to assemble additional homeless survival kits, which include first aid materials, Mylar blankets, vitamins, and other useful items. The Gospel Mission carries a number of these kits but, as Olney-Larson stated, €œyou cannot have too many. € These kits would be personalized for Grant County, and could include laminated information cards on local edible plants and business establishments that are friendly to transients.

Jason Burke, Director of It Takes a Village, then spent a few moments explaining the format for the conversations, noting that facilitated community discussions have brought forth helpful projects in Las Cruces. He then opened the floor for discussion.

The conversation was lively. The absence of the Silver City mayor, police and church leadership was discussed, while the presence of City Councilor Guadalupe Cano was applauded. Councilor Cano pledged her commitment that the town €œwill step up € once a plan of action has been decided.

Little was said about the specific proposals, although Ivan, a formerly homeless man, said that the Mylar blankets were a Band-Aid solution. He spoke of the vast difference between the services available in Silver City and those in New York City, where the city pays churches to provide social services.

Leonard Cordova expressed the need for help with classes for the homeless on chemical dependencies and finding work, and David Tercero of the Department of Workforce Solutions offered himself as a contact point for local jobs, inviting all of the homeless to come visit his office.

In response to expressions of frustration over the lack of shelter for the male homeless, the Gospel Mission explained that they have been unable to secure a property for this use. Funding is available, but until a building can be obtained, they cannot move forward on this issue. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds are also available for low-income housing, but local landlords don €™t want to rent to HUD tenants, or charge more than the HUD vouchers can cover.

Donovan Michaelson suggested that perhaps one of the empty warehouses in Silver City could be converted into a shelter. Wendy Phillips stated that, as a business landlord in Silver City, she would be glad to advocate for the homeless population with warehouse landlords.

Civil, but animated, discussions arose around respect for property and the fact that not all drug paraphernalia comes from the homeless, the legal limits on police response to squatters and the need for citizens to work for change in the laws, and the need for both homeless and propertied residents to respect each other and act as a single community.

The standing-room-only crowd was viewed as a good sign by many of those in attendance. Alexandra Neves, an Assistant Professor at WNMU, explained that she was present in order to learn from those who are homeless. €œIt is all of our problem, € she said, explaining that some of her university classes include a service learning component. Some of her students work at the Gospel Mission, which is outside their comfort zone.

Jessie Thetford said that it was amazing to hear all the different perspectives and stories. She stated that, as a member-though not a leader-in a small local church, she was interested in the development of a network of resources. €œWe are ignorant of who to talk to, € she said, as well as how to distinguish between real and perceived needs.

The meeting adjourned with a plan to hold a second meeting, hopefully with the mayor, law enforcement, and local pastors in attendance. The goal of this second meeting would be to move forward with some version of one of the proposals presented. In the meantime, everyone was invited to attend the Gospel Mission €™s monthly meetings, which take place at 1 p.m. on the fourth Wednesday of the month at 111 S Texas Street.