I was pleased to read the recent news stories about Safe Harbor Nazarene Church’s plan to start a temporary homeless shelter on their property. So I was very disappointed to read a subsequent story indicating the church had backed out of the plan due to neighborhood concerns.
I understand why people would be concerned about having a homeless shelter in their neighborhood, especially if they aren’t very familiar with this population. I am a volunteer with Share, so I have met some of the homeless and those residing in their shelters. A few days ago, shelter residents were brought to Share’s warehouse to “shop” for clothing items. Of the residents I assisted — to a person — they were clean, polite, respectful and enormously grateful for this opportunity and for the volunteers assisting them. One man was attending Clark College and was able to maintain a 3.40 GPA. He was excited to graduate and find a job, so he could move out of the shelter.
There are many ways someone can become more familiar with the homeless population, and it might be surprising to learn that most of them became homeless for reasons other than mental health or addiction issues.
