Thank you all again for your insight, opinions and discussions.

- Clare

What’s so bad about a homeless man seeking refuge in a heated building if he’s not bothering anybody?  On the other hand, what if he followed my friend to her apartment where she lives alone?  How do we know he’s harmless?

So I told my friend I’d post her dilemma on my blog and forward her any and all feedback I received.  So tell me what you think.

Here’s an excerpt from her email:

“What the heck should I do if this happens again?  I do not want the possibility of a homeless man making it up to outside my apartment door, and I don’t feel safe trying to wake him up and kick him out of the building myself.”

She continued:

“Is this something the police would even respond to?  Or would they laugh at me?”

Now my friend is not insensitive.  In fact, she’s a fairly liberal, young professional who lives alone in midtown Manhattan.  My gut reaction is to let this guy be unless he seems dangerous or bothers her or any other residents.  And that’s ultimately what I believe she should do.

But as a journalist who used to cover all kinds of crazy murders around the city, I also know that maybe calling the police isn’t such a bad idea (even though I’m not sure what they would do.) I want her to be safe and I know this is something that now rattles her whenever she comes home alone at night.

What do you think?

Photo Taken From TVGuide.com

I shouldn’t be ashamed to admit it.  I downloaded an episode of “America’s Next Top Model.” But I was thrown for a loop when supermodel Tyra Banks attempted to address homelessness on the show. 

After going through hair and makeup, the wannabe models emerged as high fashion homeless.  The actual women without homes were outfitted in designer duds and posed with the contestants.

I was alternatively pleased and horrified.  The show does raise awareness, but it also felt so exploitative.  And the bloggers went for blood.

According to the Undisputed Truth blog:   

“The best way to sum up the whole episode is that it was a big spit in the face to homeless people. They straight up dressed the homeless (there’s got to be a better word for that) in couture gowns that could have easily paid a month or two of rent on an apartment to pose in a picture, while the uppity, voluntarily anorexic-looking models-in-training dressed like, well, homeless people.”

 Showtracker posted similiar comments:

“Goodness knows Tyra Banks tries to make her series relevant to current events but the show’s attempts at gravitas always come off as shallow — beautiful crying, but fake.”

The blog continued:

“Tyra did fill the models in on her close relationship with homelessness based on the one day she spent pretending to be homeless for her talk show.”

I’m not sure that the bloggers are being fair.  I don’t believe the show got any great ratings boost by attempting to raise awareness of the homeless.  And it was probably well-intentioned. 

(Incidentally, the goal of this blog is also to direct attention to the thousands of individuals without homes.)

But a cash donation that could fund a food pantry or a scholarship or even a some used clothing might have had a greater impact. What do you think?

I will no longer be posting twice weekly on this site, although I will continue to blog periodically and check comments on the site. And I am still always open for suggestions. It has been a pleasure.

Twelve children died last year in New York City homeless shelters, according to The Daily News. 

“The number of children dying in homeless shelters quadrupled last year, according to a reportreleased Wednesday by Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum.”

The article continued:

“About a third of those deaths were homicides, a third were caused by improper sleeping positions of children and the remaining were natural causes or accidents, the report found.”

The Analysis of Child Fatalities in the New York City Shelter System 2004-2006 report, cited by The Daily News, also stated that all of the children who died in the shelter system were under five years old.  Most of them were infants.

But most disturbing is that in 60 percent of those cases, the Administration for Children’s Services found that least one of these children’s parents been accused of child abuse or neglect, according to The Daily News.  Sixty percent!  

Something obviously needs to be done.  The Daily News reported that Gotbaum wants to create a special shelter unit of police and case workers.  But is that enough?  Poor parenting skills need to be addressed, as does the homeless shelter and child services systems.  Any suggestions?

Photo Photo and Audio Slide Show By Clare Trapasso

This post isn’t about homelessness.  It’s about gay, New York City culture that I covered in my magazine story.  In the late 1970s, gay, black culture started holding balls in the city.  These balls were a combination of model runway, female look-alike and dance competitions.  A dancing style called vogue grew out of this subculture, which Madonna immortalized in the song.

I went to a mini-ball last night, which a few of the residents at Sylvia’s Place sometimes attend.  The ball began at 3:30 a.m. in Chinatown.  I should warn you that sound quality is poor (no one could leave the loud club without having to pay to get back inside) and I wasn’t able to capture many motion pictures without significant blurring on my camera.  But I thought that the slide show was interesting enough to post.  Click this link to view it.  

I created an audio slide show at St. Mary’s Soup Kitchen in Key West.  Click on this link to see the slideshow.

Make it a multimedia experience and see the video I shot at Sylvia’s Place, read the  original article, or listen a shelter suicide attempt podcast or a letters to Gay Santa podcast read by Sylvia’s Place residents .

Kerrond was watching the Channel 2 News, when his father walked into the living room.  His mother handed him a petition Kerrond had signed at school in support of gay marriage.  She had found it on his desk.  Kerrond turned to his father from his spot on the living room floor of his adopted family’s home. 

His father, a Jamaican immigrant, looked at Kerrond.  Kerrond said his father told him that he used to kill gay people in his native country.

 “I felt scared when he said it,” said Kerrond, a skinny 18-year-old with bleached blond hair who requested his last name not be used. 

After that day, Kerrond said his father called him a “faggot” and started reading Bible passages at him.  The pair used to repair the roof of their garage together and work on installing shelves in their Jamaica, Queens home.  But that stopped. 

Shortly afterwards, Kerrond and his biological brother forgot to take out the garbage.  Kerrond said that his father woke them up at 4 a.m. telling them to hurry up.  Kerrond started playing music on his computer while he got ready.  He said his father came into the room and kicked it.  His mother yelled at his father to stop, but he pushed her hard and she almost fell down the stairs.  Kerrond started screaming.  His father threw him against his computer desk, which broke.  Kerrond got up and tried to hit him, but his brother pushed him away.  His father stalked off.

He returned with a kitchen knife and Kerrond said that he announced he wanted to kill him.  His mother blocked his father and threw the knife down the stairs.  Kerrond escaped with a ripped, white t-shirt and a few scratches.  He waited until his father left and then took out the garbage before heading to school.  He was terrified.

His foster sister had been telling him that his adopted father knew he was gay, but Kerrond didn’t want to listen to her.  This was the only family he knew.  When he was only three-years-old, he said his biological father broke his right arm and hit him in his left eye.  Kerrond had cried too much.  His mother tried to protect him, but in a fit of rage, his father drugged and strangled her.  Kerrond said his father is now serving a life sentence behind bars.

But one day when he was walking home from school, it sunk in.  He was scared he and his adopted father would get into another fight and this time his mother wouldn’t be able to save him.   Instead of going home, he headed for the West Village, one of the most gay-friendly neighborhoods in the city.  He had nothing with him except the clothes he was wearing. 

He said his first night was like a party.  He hung out on the Christopher Street Piers drinking brandy with friends.  When they told him they were leaving, Kerrond said he wanted to hang out just a little longer before going home.  But he didn’t go home.  It was a warm June night and Kerrond wasn’t afraid.  He fell asleep on the grass at the piers.

He didn’t call his family or go to school the next day.  He was embarrassed to show up at his classes in the same orange t-shirt and jeans he had worn the day before.  So he stayed on the piers.  He asked acquaintances and strangers for fifty cents.  Eventually, he had enough money to buy a hamburger and fries from McDonalds.

He believes he saw his father in the Village once, returning home from his job doing laundry at St. Vincent’s Hospital, while he was still living on the streets.  Kerrond was wearing thick shades and a wig and didn’t think his father recognized him.  He could have approached him, but kept walking instead.  He didn’t know what to say.

But Kerrond knew he couldn’t stay on the piers forever.  It would be getting cold soon and he needed a place to sleep.  After about a month on the streets, someone on the piers told him about Sylvia’s Place, the only emergency shelter in New York Cityfor lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in the city.  So with nothing to lose, he trekked uptown to the Hell’s Kitchen shelter, where the staff took him in. 

“I wasn’t sure what to expect at first,” said Kerrond, who now lives in a six-bed shelter called Sylvia’s East, run by Sylvia’s Place, in the East Village.  “[Without the staff] I probably would have still been on the streets.”

Kerrond is one of approximately 7,000 homeless LGBT youth in New York City.   Although they make up less than five percent of the population, about a third of all homeless young people are gay or lesbian.  But there are only two shelters in the entire city where youth can wander in off the streets and secure a place to sleep for the night.  Only one emergency shelter bed is available for every 100 gay and straight homeless youth in the city, according to a New York City Association of Homeless and Street-Involved Youth Organizations (NYCAHSIYO) report.  

These young people are turned away from homeless shelters that serve adults 21 years and older, relegating most of them to the streets.  Many of them go from one couch to another, eventually turning to begging and prostitution for survival.  And although there is no definitive data on whether the number of homeless youths in New York City is on the rise, there is an increased demand for shelter and services.

Sylvia’s Place was created in the basement of the gay and lesbian Metropolitan Community Church of New York four years ago to address that need.  The church wanted to create a safe space for LGBT youth where they could find help and get off the streets.  Today, it serves as a last-resort shelter for some of the most desperate LGBT youth in the city. 

  “There’s a lack of shelter beds, permanent housing, funding for programs to serve these young people and a lack of awareness that they even exist,” said Kate Barnhart, Director of Sylvia’s Place.  “[Demand] has just been creeping up and up, because there’s no place left to go.”

Most nights, Barnhart, a deadpan, 31-year-old wearing Lisa Loeb style glasses, attempts to go through the piles of paperwork strewn across her cluttered desk at the shelter.  She and her staff of college professors and lesbian ex-convicts are preparing for the opening of the Marsha P. Johnson Center in Harlem.  The center, which cost over $100,000 to build, will be the only 24-hour drop-in facility for gay youth in the country.  Although it is not a shelter, it will provide meals, showers, medical services and other necessities.  It was scheduled to open in October, but plumbing problems and gas inspection delays have pushed the date back.

Every few moments, a young resident approaches Barnhart with a crisis.  Barnhart calmly settles disputes between clients when shelter gossip turns malicious and physical fights break out outside.  She dispenses advice on anything from finding a job to managing a successful relationship and hands out clean socks and packets of new underwear from the locker beside her desk. 

Almost all of the residents, ages 15-24, were raised in poverty.  Most of them are graduates of foster care and detention centers with histories of violence, psychological and behavioral disorders.  They are predominantly male and transgender blacks and Hispanics.  Only a few have jobs or high school diplomas.  And about a third of the residents are H.I.V. positive and on the streets doing sex work. 

In New York City, it is estimated that between 10 to 30 percent of homeless young people are H.I.V. positive, according to NYCAHSIYO.  The group also claims about a third of the population are sex workers.  Barnhart places the numbers a little higher at Sylvia’s place, where many of the transgender clients go out on the streets to make their money.  She estimates that one in four residents are sex workers. 

Kerrond was frightened the first time he had sex for money.  He and a friend were hanging out at the Christopher Street Piers when a blue Mitsubishi approached.  The driver, a tall, chubby man in his early 40s, stared at Kerrond.  His friend told him to go up to the man and see what he wanted.  The man asked Kerrond what he was looking for.  Kerrond, who was hungry and still living on the streets, answered succinctly money.”

They drove a few blocks away, where they thought the cops wouldn’t find them.  Kerrond bent over the driver’s seat and gave the man a blowjob.  The older man didn’t want to use a condom.  Kerrond insisted.  When it was over, the man handed him $40.

“I knew it was wrong, but then again I needed the money,” said Kerrond, who bought a hamburger, fries and a pack of cigarettes with the cash.  “I didn’t have any feelings attached to it.”

Kerrond, who did not contract HIV, had sex several more times for money.  Since he’s moved into Sylvia’s, he says he’s quit sex work for good.  But many more of the residents are still out on the prowl.  And being on the streets places them at risk.

Homeless youth are easy targets for harassment, robbery, violence and even police persecution, since it’s a crime in New York City to sleep or beg in public spaces.  Being gay is an additional strike against them.  They are seven times more likely to become victims of a crime than their straight peers, according to the National Runaway Switchboard, which provides crisis intervention to youth who have left their homes. 

Sylvia’s Place is the only city shelter that caters exclusively to LGBT youth.  Covenant House, a Catholic adolescent care agency, with locations across the country and in New York, provides beds for young people of any sexuality.  These emergency shelters are unique in that they allow youth to come in and off the streets and have a place to sleep that night. 

There are transitional living residences for gay and straight youth in the city.  These shelters provide more stable long-term housing.  But since there are so many homeless youth in the city and not enough places for them to go, it can take months for a spot to open up.

This is partly because young people are coming out of the closet earlier.  Being gay is often culturally unacceptable in black and Hispanic communities and can lead to kids being kicked out of their homes.  In addition, gay youths are more likely to be abused, have complications in school, suicidal thoughts and drug and alcohol abuse problems.  LGBT youth are likely to feel isolated and move to New York from homophobic communities around the world.  But once they arrive, it can be difficult to afford the city’s high rents. 

Most of the staff at Sylvia’s have been homeless.  Usually very talkative and direct, Barnhart becomes taciturn and uncomfortable when she speaks about her own bout of homelessness.  As she stares at the paperwork in front her, she explains that growing up, her mother was mentally ill and her father was absent.  From the ages of 15 through 18, Barnhart lived in a group home.  She said she was always getting in trouble and running away.

“I have strong feelings for people who are outsiders,” said Barnhart, who now shares a Brooklyn apartment with her 14 cats and makes pottery in her spare time. 

Barnhart now dedicates her energies on stabilizing the youth that come through the shelter’s doors.  At the main Hell’s Kitchen shelter, residents receive shelter, lockers to store their things, meals, showers and laundry service between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m.  Visiting agencies provide medical services.  The residents sleep on blankets and sleeping bags, since the shelter is too small to accommodate 30 beds.  Without beds, the shelter is unlicensed.  Clients are only supposed to stay a maximum of three to six months, but exceptions are often made that can stretch into years.  

In the morning, Sylvia’s Place, which subsists almost entirely on donations, becomes a church-sponsored community food pantry.  Staff tries to address clients’ needs and help them obtain General Education Diplomas (GEDs), higher education, employment and permanent housing, but they know what they are up against.    

Kerrond has been arrested twice since he moved into Sylvia’s.  The first time he was caught stealing CDs with a friend at Virgin Records.  Not long after he served four days in Riker’s Island for possession of marijuana. 

But Barnhart was able to convince him to re-enroll in 10^thgrade special education classes and helped him find a job handing out flyers for a hair and makeup accessories store.  He now goes back to Christopher Street Piers and talks to other youth about the dangers of prostitution.  He hopes to go college for forensic science when he finishes high school. 

Not all of the young people at Sylvia’s Place have been as successful.  Two former residents died this year.  One overdosed on heroin and another died in a train accident.  And last month, a current resident tried to strangle himself in a bathroom at Sylvia’s Place bathroom.  He would have succeeded if an overnight counselor had not broken down the bathroom door and called an ambulance.

“You’re trying to undo a lifetime of damage,” said Barnhart.  “It takes a good six to eight years to see if things are going to come together for someone.  Some of the young people don’t make it.”

And until there are more shelters and services for these youth, many of them won’t. 

I visited Key West, Florida last week to do a travel story for a New York newspaper.  At first glance the island was paradise.  The weather was warm, the ocean sparkled, the people were friendly and the food was fantastic.  However, almost as soon as I stepped outside of the resort where I was stayed, I saw homeless men on the streets. 

The island is not only a destination spot for wealthy tourists.  During the cold winter months, many homeless men also head down to the island for its year-round warm weather.  Key West’s bohemian reputation and abundance of bars is also a draw. 

The city has tried posing restrictions on the homelessness.   Yet it was actually rated one of the best places to be homeless, according to the Interested-Participant blog.

Bob & Janet Kelly wrote on their Real Key West blog:

“This is the time of year when the population of these poor souls goes up as it gets colder in the north. There are regular encampments of them at Higgs and Smathers beaches during the day, along with those who are “working” downtown.”

I was unable to find any concrete, recent statistics on the number of homeless people in Key West.  But there are 85,907 homeless people in Florida on any given day, according to The Florida Coalition for the Homeless.  And there are about 981 homeless in Monroe County, which encompasses Key West and the Florida Keys, according to a 2005 Florida State Office on Homeless report.

Several of the locals I spoke with told me the cost of living has been on the rise for about 10 years.  Corporate stores and chain restaurants only fuel high rents.  Many of the locals work more than one job to make ends meet.  This also contributes to homelessness on the island.

I had a fantastic time on Key West and I hope to return to the island.  But I guess there’s no such thing as paradise. 

I blogged about this problem in October, after reading a New York Times article about the food shortage in New York City.  Now, according to the Times, the problem has spread nationally.

The increased need can be partly attributed to an increased cost of living and stagnating wages.  According to the Homeless in America blog:

“People are working full-time, that’s not the problem – they just can’t afford to live.”

Food banks are suffering for a multitude of reasons.  According to a New York Times article:

“Experts attributed the shortages to an unusual combination of factors, including rising demand, a sharp drop in federal supplies of excess farm products, and tighter inventory controls that are leaving supermarkets and other retailers with less food to donate. “ 

The article also stated food banks are receiving fewer donations and retailers are now more likely to sell excess inventory than give it away.  In addition, since farmers had a good year, their extra crops are no longer available through the Agriculture Department’s Bonus Commodity Program.

According to the Times:

“Supplies from the surplus program dropped to $67 million worth last year, from $154.3 million in 2005 and $233 million in 2004.”

Blogger Craig Howard is skeptical that the food shortage could be dire.  He wrote on his BUFFALOg blog:

“It might be that food banks are not seeing more working people ‘needing’ assistance so much as they’re seeing more people who “want” assistance and aren’t ashamed to ask for it. Big difference between needs and wants.”

But the problem is very real.  As the weather grows colder and the price of oil continues to soar, many individuals will struggle to pay their heating and food bills.  And many will go hungry.