Cities across the country are finding social and economic benefits from using a housing-first approach toward helping the chronically homeless get permanently off the street. In other words, house them first, then help to stabilize their lives. This approach ends up saving communities money because chronically homeless people make such expensive use of government services.
According to a census taken last January, St. Louis has 100 chronically homeless individuals. Of those, 50 are veterans. So city officials decided to make a big push to house those needy soldiers by offering many of them furnished apartments, free of charge, as part of Operation: REVEILLE.
The money funding the program comes from a $750,000 HUD “rapid rehousing” grant. “They especially need a stable place to start their recovery journey,” Joanne Joseph, homeless program manager for the St. Louis VA, told Jesse Bogan of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
On July 30, the 50 homeless vets turned up for a meeting about the program, and each was screened to determine if they qualified for housing. According Bogan, most of the men were between the ages of 50 and 65, but one — 25 year-old Army veteran Esa Murray — “represented the next generation of homeless veterans.”
Murray served in Tikrit, Iraq, but was sent home due to mental disorders. After living in a tent in Indiana with his wife, he made his way to St. Louis after they split up. He hoped to qualify for the new housing program, but his time in the service falls a few months short of the two-year minimum requirement to qualify for an apartment.
Despite this, clinical social worker Toby Jones agreed to admit him to the program. “By the time we are done with him in a year, he should be able to walk away and sustain himself,” Jones told Bogen.
The program has enough funding to house the men for about one year, while caseworkers will help them try to achieve independence. For those who can’t obtain it, there will be continued support. The men are required to participate in services and abide by rules if they want to stay in the sponsored housing.
Near the end of the event, Antoinette Triplett, head of St. Louis’s Homeless Services Division told these often-overlooked veterans something they aren’t used to hearing: “I want to apologize on behalf of our nation that you are veterans and had to be homeless.”
MORE: The Unique Way that Charlotte Houses its Homeless
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Salute the Non-Profit That Helps Vets Continue to Serve When They Return Home
When she returned to the United States from Iraq, former Army sergeant Rachel Gutierrez struggled with depression and PTSD. Luckily, she found assistance and is now feeling better, thanks to The Mission Continues, a St. Louis-based non-profit organization that mobilizes veterans to help other veterans.
The Mission Continues organizes platoons of veterans and active duty servicemen and women to work together to solve problems in their communities. For example, there’s a Phoenix platoon that focuses on chronic veteran homelessness, while the Washington, D.C. platoon works to fight hunger among children. The Orlando, Florida platoon mentors at-risk youth.
Gutierrez is the leader of the 1st Platoon Phoenix. Tina Rosenberg of the New York Times highlighted a late-night mission Gutierrez led to find veterans sleeping on the street in Phoenix and register them for services last October. The volunteers located 75 veterans, of which 40 agreed to apply for housing. At Christmas, the service platoon follow-up with the vets, visiting their new apartments and bringing holiday gifts.
Former Navy Seal Eric Greitens founded The Mission Continues in 2007, offering vets a stipend in exchange for them spending 20 hours a week on a six-month service mission. Last year, he expanded the organization’s programs to the service platoon model when he realized it could help more people and involve more vets.
Serving with The Mission Continues has had a major impact on Gutierrez’s quality of life. “So many of us have problems with PTSD and such. This makes us realize that regardless of what’s going on, we are strong enough to still serve others and motivate others with our stories and compassion.”
MORE: This Documentarian is Filming Incredible Vets and Helping Them at the Same Time
To Fix a Neighborhood, Invite a Newcomer
The idea of the hard-working immigrant isn’t just a stereotype according to several studies, including one by Paul McDaniel, who holds a Ph.D. in Geography and Urban Regional Analysis from the University of North Carolina. In “Revitalization in the Heartland of America: Welcoming Immigrant Entrepreneurs for Economic Development,” he writes that immigrants are “risk takers by nature” and “unusually successful entrepreneurs.” Immigrants are more than twice as likely to start their own businesses as people born in the United States.
McDaniel cites the finding of the Fiscal Policy Institute that “immigration and economic growth of metro areas go hand in hand.” That’s prompted several Rust Belt cities that are losing population and declining economically to look to immigrants for revitalization. McDaniel demonstrates that an influx of immigrants is helping stabilize and invigorate parts of Detroit and St. Louis, and rural communities in Iowa. These communities have seen the benefits of immigration and have begun to advocate for more—for example, the Governor of Michigan recently requested 50,000 visas to allow high-skilled immigrants to move to Detroit. Immigrants often move into low-income neighborhoods and make them safer and more prosperous.
David G. Gutierrez studied census data for his report “An Historic Overview of Latino Immigration and Demographic Transformation of the United States” and found that 44% of medical scientists, 37% of physical scientists, 34% of software engineers, and 27% of physicians and surgeons in America are immigrants. We’ve always known that immigrants are one factor that make the United States strong, and these new reports suggest we should continue welcoming immigrants in the future.
MORE: Meet the CEO Who Wants to Bring 50,000 Immigrants to Detroit
If We Want More Women in Science, We’re Going to Have to Train Them. Here’s How to Do It
Washington University in St. Louis has established itself as a leading scientific institution with such initiatives as the Human Genome Project. Now the school is supporting a new project that could be just as revolutionary: fostering the next generation of female scientists. The university is sponsoring a girls-only charter school focused on science and engineering, projected to open in St. Louis in August 2015, and here’s the revolutionary part—it won’t cost students a dime. A combination of private donors and public funding will finance the school, which hopes to enroll 500 students a year by 2020, although it’s starting with only sixth and seventh graders.
Hawthorn’s founder, Mary Danforth Stillman, told Diane Toroian Keaggy of Washington University:
“The single-sex option is out there for people who can pay, and now we are saying, ‘Let’s provide that option to students with limited financial resources.’ At Hawthorn, every leadership role will be filled by a girl. Every classroom discussion will be led by a girl. Hawthorn girls will be encouraged to reach their highest potential in and out of the classroom, and our faculty and staff will provide the support and encouragement they need to realize that potential.”
How’s that for girl power?