Welcome to the feast.
The shelter where I work has been asking the question: How do we serve the truly needy?
Many of the men and women who live on the streets of Portland are not really homeless. They have family members that would offer shelter. These people are broken, and their choices reflect a lack of value in taking caring of themselves and others. They choose the streets because it is a social structure in which they are secure or powerful and there is little accountability for their actions.
It is important to determine the difference between meeting true needs and enabling unhealthy choices. Don't get me wrong, life on the streets is painful, cold and dangerous. It is not a good place for anyone to be. Yet men and women choose that lifestyle because it fits their quality world. The people who truly need services are those looking to exit the homeless lifestyle and are ready to choose a path away from addiction and into recovery.
As a person of faith, I want to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and minister to the poor. But I also want it to light the fire of hope in their lives. If services enable those on the streets to maintain an unhealthy lifestyle and reject any question of change, is that really help at all? I don't think that food and shelter services should stop, but how do you push someone in the right direction if they prefer to live in their addictions?
There is a certain demographic of those on the streets that this enabling question applies to: the "lifestyle homeless" are primarily men in substance addictions without children in their charge. They are the primary shelter users even though most have the opportunity to change their situation. Even though there are more homeless women and children in Portland than homeless men, they are less visible. Women hide out in cars or in the apartments of friends and boyfriends. They often sacrifice their own personal safety and the safety of their children to keep from the greater danger of living under a bridge. Homeless women and children tend to have the greatest needs and the least resources.
So far there has been no satisfying answer to the question. Part of the picture will be reaching outside our walls and finding those that are in crisis. Current services need to be maintained for those on the street who are looking for the way out. And my heart keeps reminding me that Jesus didn't put qualifications on feeding the hungry or clothing the naked. I just hope that is never the end of the story.
Many of the men and women who live on the streets of Portland are not really homeless. They have family members that would offer shelter. These people are broken, and their choices reflect a lack of value in taking caring of themselves and others. They choose the streets because it is a social structure in which they are secure or powerful and there is little accountability for their actions.
It is important to determine the difference between meeting true needs and enabling unhealthy choices. Don't get me wrong, life on the streets is painful, cold and dangerous. It is not a good place for anyone to be. Yet men and women choose that lifestyle because it fits their quality world. The people who truly need services are those looking to exit the homeless lifestyle and are ready to choose a path away from addiction and into recovery.
As a person of faith, I want to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and minister to the poor. But I also want it to light the fire of hope in their lives. If services enable those on the streets to maintain an unhealthy lifestyle and reject any question of change, is that really help at all? I don't think that food and shelter services should stop, but how do you push someone in the right direction if they prefer to live in their addictions?
There is a certain demographic of those on the streets that this enabling question applies to: the "lifestyle homeless" are primarily men in substance addictions without children in their charge. They are the primary shelter users even though most have the opportunity to change their situation. Even though there are more homeless women and children in Portland than homeless men, they are less visible. Women hide out in cars or in the apartments of friends and boyfriends. They often sacrifice their own personal safety and the safety of their children to keep from the greater danger of living under a bridge. Homeless women and children tend to have the greatest needs and the least resources.
So far there has been no satisfying answer to the question. Part of the picture will be reaching outside our walls and finding those that are in crisis. Current services need to be maintained for those on the street who are looking for the way out. And my heart keeps reminding me that Jesus didn't put qualifications on feeding the hungry or clothing the naked. I just hope that is never the end of the story.
posted by Erin 4:52 PM
2 Comments:
It is so hard to keep loving people when they persist in their sin. It is times when I do this, however, that I am so reminded of how God's love is like this in our lives--so persistently unconditional.
Amazing!
Thanks for this.
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