“We shouldn’t have to live like this:” Life on the streets is hard for anyone.  NPR’s Pam Fessler documents health consequences for older adults experiencing homelessness.  HCH nurse Yvonne Jaurequi and several HCH clients are featured.  This seven minute story originally aired on NPR’s Morning Edition. Listen at: http://www.npr.org/2013/ 03/13/173463462/aging-homeless-face-more-health-issues-early-death

“Health problems compound for aging homeless:” This companion story on homelessness among older adults – also by Pam Fessler – originally aired on NPR’s All Things Considered. HCH CMO Nilesh Kalyanaraman is featured in this seven minute piece.  Listen at: http://www.npr.org/2013/03/13/174106532/health-problems-compound-for-aging-homeless

“Homeless age faster:” This ten minute interview with HCH advocate Tony Simmons and reporter Pam Fessler (who produced the series above) originally aired on the NPR show Tell Me More. Listen at: http://www.npr.org/2013/03/14/174302726/homeless-age-faster

Click here to listen

Last week, it was cold enough to snow on the first day of spring.  Dee and Reggie awoke that morning beneath a pile of blankets against one of the concrete columns that holds up the Jones Falls Expressway. During the warmer months a Baltimore Farmer’s Market vendor sets up shop on the same real estate, peddling lake trout.

The couple had lived with Reggie’s mother during a lengthy illness. And after her death, when the house was taken over unpaid ground rent, Dee and Reggie turned to the streets – unwilling to separate to find shelter.  Each was all the other had left.  For four years, they subsisted on whatever they could chase down from local service providers, moving their bedroll from one secluded place to another.

But when Dee and Reggie opened their eyes that morning, as sure as the green shoots of spring flowers pushed up through the ground, they knew that before the sun set on March 20^th, they’d turn the key to their own apartment – no longer homeless thanks to a federal voucher set aside by the City for folks living on the streets.

Yesterday, I looked through the snow out my office window at the empty space near the JFX where Dee and Reggie once slept. We all tend to agree these days that housing is the solution to homelessness, but Federal disinvestment in affordable housing severely limits such subsidies while decent housing in the private market remains entirely out of reach for low income people.  You’d have to earn 16 bucks an hour to afford an efficiency in Baltimore – more than twice the minimum wage.  And on the same day that our community ended Dee and Reggie’s homelessness a long-overdue bill to raise Maryland’s minimum wage froze to death in Senate committee.

When I saw them later at our clinic, Dee barked into a pay-as-you-go cell phone arranging gas and electric service while Reggie took it all in, scanning the want ads for work. Federal and state disappointments aside, for Dee and Reggie, now safe in their own home, Hope Springs Eternal.

In January, Kevin Lindamood (HCH President & CEO) and Barbara DiPietro (HCH Director of Policy) shared their thoughts on how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will impact homeless populations during a webinar for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Click here to watch the webinar.

The presentation addresses the realities of care in our current environment and how health reform will impact health service provision for people without stable housing. Even with health reform, people will still be left out and many will continue to encounter barriers to enrollment. Kevin Lindamood and Barbara DiPietro provide recommendations on how our nation and local community can most effectively engage individuals and families experiencing homelessness in care in the years to come.

Presentation slides are available here.

Watch the presentation now.

Click here to listen.

Public begging – as old as civilization itself. During widespread prosperity, rates go down. When poverty is prevalent – well, begging goes right along with it as folks struggle to meet basic needs.

As a societal indicator, it’s a little like that orange light in your car that tells you you’re about to run out of gas. It should spur us to action when we see more of our neighbors in such desperation.

Following the most brutal economic downturn since the Great Depression, it’s hardly surprising to see more people begging in public. Nor should it shock us to see historically affluent communities all over the country introduce reactive measures to criminalize public begging.

But when Baltimore follows suit – as the City Council did last month with new legislation to prohibit so-called “aggressive panhandling” – it’s downright disappointing. We’ve been down this road before only to find it an ineffective dead end.

Our existing aggressive panhandling ordinance already is among the toughest on the books. I’m paraphrasing here, but it reads a little like a Dr. Seuss poem: You may not beg near an ATM, you cannot ask and then follow them. You shall not beg for change from cars or at nighttime when you see the stars. You get the idea. We’ve tried so many ways to outlaw such behavior that a decade ago a leading national organization named Baltimore among the meanest cities in America.

Today, we know better. A broad coalition of community leaders has reached consensus that enhanced outreach and engagement into housing and services are the most effective responses to the troubling realities of poverty and homelessness. Criminalizing low-income people living their private lives in public spaces is both ineffective and counterproductive – working against our collective efforts to end homelessness.

Here’s the real kicker: There’s nothing in the new legislation that isn’t already covered by existing law – making this latest effort a duplicative and even mean-spirited distraction.

Public begging makes us uncomfortable – and it should.

Let’s see it as the warning light that drives us to enact effective policies capable of solving the problem: affordable housing, comprehensive health care, decent wages, and a stronger safety net.

Now that’s some social change we all can spare.

This is Kevin Lindamood, President & CEO of Health Care for the Homeless for WYPR – your NPR news station.

The competition was fierce, but in the end two vendors were crowned, “People’s Choice.” Congratulations to RA Sushi (hors d’oeuvres) and Linwood’s Restaurant (dessert) for winning over the discerning palates of our guests.

This was RA Sushi’s third year at the event. They won over the crowd with a “Tootsy Maki Roll.” The roll includes a little crab meat (always a good idea in Baltimore) and typified their fresh take on sushi.

Linwood’s, a renown 10 year veteran of the event, served up a pair of decadent desserts: the “Peanut Butter Crunch” and a “Raspberry Chocolate Tart.” Two offerings that reminded guests why The HCH Chocolate Affair is known as “the sweetest night in town!”

With so much talent on display, it’s hard to say anyone lost. Every vendor was superb and contributed to success of the evening.  And we celebrated more than great food. Thanks to our vendors, sponsors, and guests, we raised nearly $300,000 to make incredible transformations possible in the lives of our homeless neighbors. Funds that ensure vulnerable individuals and families in our community get the care they need to regain their health, dignity, and a safe place to stay.

Join us February 2014 when The HCH Chocolate Affair returns and Baltimore’s best chefs showcase their talent to support the important work of ending homelessness.

To purchase yours click here or call 443-703-1345.

Celebrate the incredible changes that we – together – are making in our community. Join 1,000 of your friends,  supporters, volunteers, clients, and staff of Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) on Saturday to capture that “sweet” feeling that comes from helping our neighbors in need.

The HCH Chocolate Affair
February 9, 2013 | 6:30 – 10 PM
Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel
Dress is business to cocktail
Buy your ticket now!

Hear inspiring stories of personal transformations while raising essential resources to end homelessness. Your support ensures that individuals and families experiencing homelessness receive the care they need.

Enjoy a seated chocolate-inspired dinner prepared by  renowned Executive Chef Carlos Gomez, formerly of The Hotel Hershey. Dinner is complemented by a delectable hors d’oeuvre reception and a decadent dessert  extravaganza courtesy of Baltimore’s best restaurants, caterers, and  chocolatiers.

Find pictures and videos from The HCH Chocolate Affair on Facebook.

Buy your ticket here or call 443-703-1345.

Click here to listen.

For those of us raised on the Warner Bros., cliffs – especially metaphoric ones – are hardly something to worry about. Who could forget Wile E. Coyote’s round eyes of realization before each long fall? And then, with appropriate comedic delay, the anvil would follow. Time after time, he’d be up to his old tricks in the very next frame, eager to outsmart the tenacious Roadrunner.

Let’s face it. The majority of us had little to fear in the Congressional Fiscal Cliff cartoon playing out in the final months of last year. The very framework precluded the serious discussions that still must take place about revenue and expenses. Instead, we were distracted – in ways far more menacing than the Roadrunner’s trickery – as we engaged in a national argument about “wealth:” specifically whether it begins at a quarter or a half a million a year, with precious little mention of the “P” word – the poverty that grips our nation.

A growing percentage of the country – poor, near poor, and increasingly middle class – stare up from the bottom of far steeper and more damaging cliffs: the housing affordability gap. The wage chasm. Even those earning two or three times our outdated federal poverty levels are hurled to the bottom of these canyons. Those without parachutes, climbing equipment, or cartoon immortality can’t make ends meet. And we’re not talking about it.

If Washington won’t have the conversation, then Annapolis must. The Maryland General Assembly will face important opportunities over the next three months to increase affordable rental housing, further improve access to health care, and bring Maryland into the company of the 19 other states that have local minimum wages higher than the federal floor. Let’s use these chances – and more – to talk about poverty and what to do about it.

And please, let’s stop making a mountain out of the so-called Fiscal Cliff. For most of the country, it’s not the fall that’s going to kill us. It’s that anvil – the troubling consequences of the poverty we’re ignoring – that’s what’s going to hit us all right on top of the head. And I’m not so sure that even good ‘ol Wile E. comes back the same after that one.

Assuring you that no actual coyotes were harmed in the taping of this commentary, I’m Kevin Lindamood, President & CEO of Health Care for the Homeless for WYPR, your NPR news station.

As a board member of Health Care for the Homeless and someone who’s lived without housing, it’s been an especially exciting week. Two projects (led by people with firsthand experience of homelessness and supported by HCH) are achieving new heights.

On Monday, Baltimore’s new street newspaper – Word on the Street – was featured in Yvonne Wenger’s front page story in The Baltimore Sun (click here to read the article).  As editor-in-chief of Word on the Street, it’s inspiring to be part of a project that builds community in so many ways – bringing together and educating students, service providers, activists, and members of the general public, both housed and homeless.  Look for a new issue to hit the streets very soon.  Check out our blog and “like” us on Facebook.

This week was also a first for Baltimore’s “Faces of Homelessness” Speakers Bureau. While our members are regularly guests in others’ classes, this week we started our own intersession course in Johns Hopkins University’s public health studies program in collaboration with staff from HCH.  “Health Care, Homelessness and the Housing Question” is an opportunity to open a dialog on these important issues with a younger generation – most of whom have never faced homelessness.  By sharing our stories and engaging in discussion, we can learn from one another and build the awareness and solidarity necessary to help end the phenomena of homelessness that affects an inexcusably large number of fellow human beings.

I hope these projects show people the skills and value of our homeless neighbors and that – even as we admirably and importantly treat the urgent needs of those living on the streets through direct actions such as providing food, clothing and blankets – we should not be distracted from the primary goal of ending homelessness through fair wages, comprehensive health care and affordable housing.

There is no excuse for homelessness in a nation as wealthy and powerful as the US.

The remembrance starts at 5pm and will be held at the Baltimore Inner Harbor Amphitheater (between the two pavilions near the corner of Pratt and Calvert Streets).

The commemoration is observed nationally on the first day of winter and the longest night of the year. Local activities are organized by SHARP, a coalition of homeless service providers and individuals united to “Stop Homelessness And Reduce Poverty.” Reverend Heber Brown, Reverend Dennis Dorsch, and Reverend CD Witherspoon will lead the service.

“As the temperatures drop, we’re reminded of the grave consequences of life on the street,” said Reverend Dennis Dorsch. “Unfortunately, more and more of our friends and neighbors are finding themselves without stable housing.”

“Many of these deaths are entirely preventable,” said Kevin Lindamood, President & CEO of Health Care for the Homeless, Inc. “The best way to honor those who died is to redouble our work to prevent and end homelessness.”

To listen to Marc Steiner’s annual show commemorating National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day, go to http://www.steinershow.org/radio/the-marc-steiner-show/december-20-2012-hour-1.

For over two decades communities across the country have come together on or about December 21 to remember those who have died without stable housing. In 2011, nearly 150 communities held events to draw attention to the tragedy of homelessness, to remember those who paid the ultimate price for our nation’s failure to address the problem, and to recommit to the important task of ending homelessness. This year, more than 100 of our neighbors will be remembered.

Listen to the Marc Steiner Show tonight and join us tomorrow at 5:00PM for Baltimore City’s commemoration of Homelessness Persons’ Memorial Day. The service will take place at the Inner Harbor Amphitheater (between the two pavilions near the corner of Pratt and Calvert Streets) and features the music of local artist Claire Anthony, a formal program in which luminaries are lit in remembrance of those who died in 2012.