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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Path: sparky!uunet!wupost!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!daemon
- From: James I. Davis <jdav%well.sf.ca.us@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
- Subject: Detroit Homeless
- Message-ID: <1992Jul26.211305.5958@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
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- Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
- Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 21:13:05 GMT
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Lines: 86
-
-
- HOMELESS IN DETROIT'S SLUM HOTELS: DO THEY HAVE ANY RIGHTS?
-
- By Darnell Pippin
-
- Slum hotels in Detroit known as the Billinghurst and Roosevelt now
- house the homeless.
-
- At one time these same hotels had the same people in their hotels
- who paid rent, which allowed these hotels to receive the maximum
- renter's allowance that General Assistance (GA) would pay: up to
- $220 per month.
-
- When Michigan was hit with the budget cuts that went into effect
- on October 1, 1991, these hotels began evicting people. More and
- more people became homeless. These hotels are now being funded to
- house the homeless. They're also being funded to come up with
- motivational programs such as education, job placement, housing
- and treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, programs to help the
- tenants become productive individuals. Clients who stay in these
- shelters say they need programs that will truly help them to move
- on. Instead, the programs are like this:
-
- 1. They must give community service in exchange for a place to
- stay.
-
- 2. Two people to a room. One person must sleep on the roach-
- infested floor on a mat, the other one gets the bed.
-
- 3. Yes, there is a cafeteria, but one person has to eat outside or
- in a room.
-
- 4. There is only cold water.
-
- 5. They must be up at 5 a.m. to start community service.
-
- 6. They cannot visit each other's rooms.
-
- 7. Drugs are available in the buildings.
-
- 8. Sexual favors are being made.
-
- 9. There is only one way in and out. Bars are on the windows. The
- back door is chained and locked. What happens if there is a fire?
-
- 10. The food is bad.
-
- Once again people are being paid off the backs of the poor and
- homeless. The question has been asked: Do homeless people have
- any rights? I'll let you judge that for yourself. I do know that
- poor and homeless people must educate and bring about change in
- our own interest.
-
- This message goes out to the poverty pimps, slum landlords and
- this government which allows homelessness and poverty: We will
- organize and educate the victims to take this country!
-
- +----------------------------------------------------------------+
- FACTOID: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN G.A. IS CUT OFF?
-
- Studies expose effects of GA cuts
-
- What happens to the thousands of people who lose their job each
- day? After Employment Compensation runs out, a General Assistance
- (GA) grant is often the last resort for many adults.
-
- The Halter study, conducted in Pennsylvania in 1985, found that
- when GA was cut out, only 37 percent could find any kind of work.
- Many became homeless.
-
- A new study by the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., found that
- the extent of homelessness in a community is directly related to
- the availability of GA benefits.
-
- +----------------------------------------------------------------+
-
- ******************************************************************
- This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition),
- Vol. 19 No. 30 / July 27, 1992; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654;
- Email: jdav@igc.org. Feel free to reproduce. Please include this
- message with reproductions of this article. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE
- depends on donations from its readers -- your generosity is
- appreciated.
- xE-mail jdav@igc.org to subscribe to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online
- Edition)
- ******************************************************************
-