Advocates suggest alternative measures in addressing homelessness

Last week, the ACLU held a press conference and released copies of a Sarasota Police Department internal text message communications log that revealed at least two officers using the phrase “bum hunting” when describing activities pertaining to policing the homeless.

Local homeless advocates Ali Kleber and Richard Martin were on hand that day and provided some additional insight into how to better address homelessness in Sarasota.

The formal portion of the press conference featured ACLU members Michael Barfield and Andrea Flynn Mogensen discussing the shortcomings of a current approach that is heavily reliant on the criminal justice system and policing as means to deal with the homeless.

After the formal portion of the press conference ended, a Q & A session took place, allowing Martin and Kleber to provide additional insight into approaches to homelessness that have proven successful in other cities.

Kleber is among the foremost experts and hardest-working advocates for the homelessness in Sarasota. In addition to her work as a volunteer counselor at Resurrection House, she also works with the Salvation Army, the Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness and the Sarasota Police Department as part of her ongoing efforts to change the current manner in which the city of Sarasota as a whole approaches homelessness.

When asked where Sarasota is dropping the ball, Kleber said, “It’s not the police department’s job to take care of the homeless, and I think that’s the problem. We haven’t decided whose job it is.”

Kleber mentioned the work being done in the St. Petersburg area by a noted homelessness expert from San Antonio, Texas: “Dr. Robert Marbut is solving this problem around the country, presently finishing up in Pinellas County. He told me last night that homeless issues have gone down 82 percent in Pinellas County,” Kleber said.

“His solution is to get the community together, which we did. Richard and I created the summit, we have the 10-year plan and the culmination of that is the Step Up plan. We need to come together, find someone to be in charge of the Step Up plan, and let’s get it done together.”

Pointing to a sign held by an ACLU member standing behind her, Kleber said, "The sign over here says 'Compassion for a strong community'---that’s what we have to do. Tom Barwin is here. He’s the new city manager. We’re getting a new police chief in the new year. Let’s just get together and have a new solution. We’re all trying to work on the problem. It’s not us and them, it’s all of us together … that’s the way I see it.”

Who is Robert Marbut?

In 2006, Marbut was hired to serve as President and CEO of the Haven for Hope homeless facility in San Antonio, Tex. Utilizing an all-encompassing one-stop campus approach to reducing homelessness, Haven for Hope relies on nearly 80 partner organizations working out of 15 different buildings located on a 37-acre campus. The facility originally provided housing for 300 people and now has the capacity to provide shelter for 1,600 people on any given night. Numerous social and rehabilitation services are provided at this same location.

Marbut now serves as a paid consultant to other cities that are willing to re-think their approaches to homelessness. In 2010, he said, “I don’t think you can ever end homelessness … There’s probably about 20 percent of folks that, even if you spend a million dollars on that one person, you aren’t going to be successful. But I think you can end 80 percent of homelessness. You can end the vast majority of homelessness.”

Earlier this year, while attending a homelessness summit in Panama City, Fla., Marbut was interviewed by the local NBC news affiliate and said, “If you do not do anything, the issues are going to get worse here, not better.”

Sadly, this has been more or less been the approach taken by our elected officials here in the Sarasota area.

Marbut believes that addressing chronic homelessness is an important component to addressing the issue by assisting the long-term homeless who typically will not seek assistance in escaping their life situations.

He is a proponent of programs that help the homeless become self-reliant and he opposes programs that “enable the homeless” to continue non-productive behaviors. To the chagrin of some organizations, Marbut disagrees with the notion that a homeless person should be subjected to prayer requirements in exchange for meals or services.

In his consulting work, Marbut utilizes his "Seven Guiding Principals of Transformation" and the "Core Tenets of a Transformative System."

In 2010, the City of St. Petersburg hired Marbut to devise the “Strategic Action Plan to Reduce Homelessness for Pinellas County.”

In his final report, issued November 2011, Marbut stated: “Pinellas County is a service rich community and has more service providers than most communities. These services are provided by very dedicated and thoughtful staff members and volunteers, but for the most part, these services are neither strategically nor formally coordinated within an integrated system, especially at the tactical level. This results in poorly prioritized funding and lacks strategic engagement. The homeless service sector in Pinellas County has lacked ‘connective tissue’ and ‘unity-of-command structure,’ and has had no clear accountable leadership structure. Furthermore, homelessness is a county-wide challenge that requires a set of coordinated county-wide strategic solutions.”

This sounds very much like the situation we have here in Sarasota.

In his list of recommendations, Marbut writes: “All strategic decision making must occur within one organization. This organization will need a strong chair to lead the way. This organization needs to promote the 'culture of transformation' throughout the entire system. Additionally, it will need to develop common culture, nomenclature, systems, policies and procedures throughout the system and ordinances should be harmonized and standardized throughout the County.”

Step Up SarasotaDuring the ACLU press conference, former Mayor and former Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness Director Richard Martin was asked to share his views on how Sarasota could take a more productive approach to addressing homelessness.

It is not coincidental that the ideas contained in the Step Up: End Homelessness in Sarasota County Now plan unveiled in 2011 are similar in many ways to the St. Petersburg plan put forth by Dr. Marbut.

In explaining the core components of the Step Up plan, Martin said, “There are really five key objectives in that plan. One is to deal now with the emergency of homelessness. We need to expanded services; we need to serve south Sarasota County, which we don’t do now. We need public restrooms, we need showers, we need mail drops and we need these in decentralized places---that’s dealing with the emergency of homelessness, the compassionate part.

“The other is to really focus on prevention of homelessness, and we’ve learned a lot about that over past two or three years. With federal stimulus dollars, we have prevented a lot of homelessness. We know how to do it.

“Thirdly, we really need to address housing---the cost of housing in this community and livable wage issues. It’s out of reach for most people. It takes $13 to $14 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment in this community. That’s just not in the cards for some.

“Then we really need to look at the health and human services sector, making sure they’re available for long-term recovery and supporting recovery from addictions and mental illness. Within that there is outreach to be done, which we don’t do now---outreach with social workers and others is a very key and important piece, and Manatee County excels in it.”

“And then lastly, when people have their home, to provide them the skills to keep their home, and that’s the economic aspect of it: skills, jobs and benefits they may be eligible for but not aware of.

“Those are the five pieces of that puzzle. They’re based on common sense and they are tried and true over 20 years in other communities. The proof’s out there. We just need to reach for the brass ring instead of doing what we do now: taking the low road.”

The Step Up plan outlined by Martin and Dr. Marbut’s plans for St. Petersburg show us that better solutions to addressing homelessness do exist. What remains to be seen here in Sarasota is whether we have the leadership, the financial support, the political will and the community engagement to make these things happen?

- Ali Kleber will appear on WSLR's "Maternally Yours" radio show on Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 6 p.m. The show will look at homelessness as it impacts women and children. Joe Hendricks will serve as guest co-host for this show.