Denial an obstacle to ending homelessness, poverty

By: Jimmy Sailors | Dothan Eagle
Published: February 09, 2012

One obstacle to ending homelessness and poverty in the Wiregrass is overcoming the denial that they exist.

“This is a very charitable community when it knows the need,” said David Jamison of Genesis Associates in Dothan, one of the co-sponsors of Summit of Hope 2012. “Except for those of you who are working with the homeless, there is an absolute denial that this exists.”

Jamison, speaking at the summit Thursday, recalled making an appeal to the Dothan City Commission in 2003 to get some emergency housing that would result in a federal grant.

“One of the commissioners stood up after my presentation and said, ‘We don’t have any homeless in Dothan, and I don’t want you guys bringing any homeless,’” Jamison said.

A panel discussion that included Jamison sought to formulate an approach that will bring about the means to address the problems.

In a presentation made before the discussion, Dr. Bill Brown, executive director of Grace Applied Ministries, showed photos of homeless camps in Dothan.

Brown said he knows of eight camps inside the boundaries of Ross Clark Circle. He also showed photos of toys and other signs of habitation under a bridge less than a block from the Houston County Courthouse.

Brown said the homeless are wrongly stereotyped because the situations that lead to homelessness vary. Among causes he cited are a lack of affordable housing, domestic violence, less public assistance, foreclosures, substance abuse, mental illness and a health crisis that depletes a person’s financial resources.

Case management is the first step in addressing individual problems, Brown said. Other things needed are emergency and long-term shelters, education and training, referral to other agencies, job skills and job placement.

He said Dothan needs separate homeless facilities to handle the needs of men, women and families because having a single facility “would be a nightmare.”

He said problems for the community mount when people don’t have a place to live. He said the homeless often opt for the most expensive health care – going to an emergency room – because they have to be served and the public winds up paying the bills.

Brown said that money should be spent on prevention instead.

“I believe that here tonight in this room, we have all the pieces of the puzzle,” Brown said. “We just need to put it together.”