So, I’m sitting here in Lucca on Sunday afternoon. I love this little Italian trattoria in Old Towne Orange. It slightly reminds me of my life when I lived in Italy…except I can actually read the menu.

Today after church I went to the movies to see The Soloist which opened on Friday night. It’s about the relationship of a reporter and a homeless man who is schizophrenic. __I was asked by Participant Media to write a blog on homelessness.__ So I’m attempting to put thoughts onto paper that would lead to action.

But as I’m sitting here I’m wondering what I know about homelessness. The funny thing about me is that I’m not an actual expert on anything in particular and when you need to write on a particular topic it seems as if you should be. Additionally, the movie dealt with the specific kind of homelessness which I see to be rooted in the problem of mental illness. I have so many of my own questions about how to deal with mental illness that I’m not sure I could comment.

I personally have a very broad perspective on the issue of homelessness. **I’ve lived on 3 continents and seen homelessness look different in those different places.** I’ve lived in the beach community of Santa Barbara and my good friend Mason was always outside of the movie theater with his guitar singing on the streets. Late one night we went to Carrows and I learned more of Mason’s story. As I’ve visited different beach towns in my life it always feels like there is a subset of homeless that live at the beach.

I also lived in the big city of San Francisco and experienced more of the urban homelessness like the movie portrayed. The projects of San Francisco are where I got my start at the age of 20 and when I moved back at 26 I certainly encountered many years of wresting with the homeless issue. I recall my friend Charles who sat outside of the market in my neighborhood of Potrero Hill. Charles had a drug and alcohol problem as well as a mental illness. I never did come close to understanding how to help someone like Charles – I just decided that I would be his friend. And that’s what I was.

Today I live in Orange County. __And if you’ve watched the OC you think that we have no homeless here whatsoever.__ I grew up in Orange County and I think I would have agreed growing up that homelessness was not an issue here. But I would have been sorely wrong.

Since I have returned as an adult and I work for Giving Children Hope I have learned about some different facets of homelessness. As we distribute medical supplies to the US free clinics I have learned from the doctors about the healthcare issues that can’t be treated because they don’t have enough resources. I have met with our partners on Skid Row in LA, Union Rescue Mission, and learned that they turn their conference rooms into shelters at night because there aren’t enough shelter beds in LA to care for all of the homeless – women and children are especially on the rise.

More than that I have learned about what the real statistics are in Orange County for the suburban homeless. I heard for the first time in my life about this thing called “Motel Families” the month I moved to Orange County and began researching the different non-profits doing work in this area. As an adult returning to the community I was from I came to find out that not only was there in fact this problem of homelessness in this wealthy county, but it was actually a HUGE problem and somehow people didn’t know about it and didn’t really see it. The 2006 Orange County Community Indicators report (http://www.ocgov.com/pdf/2006%20Cip%20report.pdf) states:

When compared to peer regions, Orange County has the highest estimated number of homeless, 11.7 per 1,000 residents. This is according to a summary report by the Weingart Institute that presents findings from independent studies conducted in selected U.S. cities and counties. While caution is warranted in comparing these reports which may use different definitions and methodologies to count the homeless, it is interesting to note that of the cities and counties included in the regional summary, only Detroit had a higher proportion of homeless (16.5 per 1,000) than Orange County.

Wow, so second behind Detroit!

I came to find out that we have things here called armories and that people congregate in them at night so they can sleep. I learned that, at the time, there were over 11,000 elementary aged homeless children in Orange County and in the city of Orange there is even an entire school for homeless kids. Talk about the things you never knew.

As I researched further and had conversations with people in the community I learned that lack of affordable housing was one of the primary reasons causing the homelessness plight. Since Orange County lacks the necessary low-income housing and apartment complexes that exist in most major cities, those working in this large geographic area on minimum wage or in low-wage jobs often have no options. Additionally, I learned that if you managed to create bad credit for yourself and people wouldn’t rent to you, your only option was a low-rent motel. The problem with this option is two-fold. First, it’s actually more expensive to be in a low-cost motel than to rent a place for a month. Second, you could never actually re-establish your credit in these motels. You see, it’s not like paying a landlord with a lease; it’s a cash basis with utilities included. So it is entirely possible to pay your motel bill from motel to motel on time for a couple of years but still have poor credit because you have not had the opportunity to establish new credit.

**As I worked with our We’ve Got Your Back program which provides backpacks of food to homeless children in Orange County I came to learn that most of the children are going without food for the weekends.** While programs are in place to provide breakfast and lunch for them during the school week, that the weekends were really a large issue. So supplying motel-friendly food over the weekends was really one of the major needs that GCHope decided to meet.

That leads me to today. New studies emerged in recent weeks that show __over 17,000 elementary aged children in Orange County are homeless!__ So while we might think of homelessness as only people similar to Nathaniel, the character in the Soloist, the average homeless person is actually part of a homeless family. And in Orange County child homelessness is a pressing issue!

One of things that I love about our We’ve Got Your Back program is not only the fact that we are providing food for children but that while doing so we are avoiding stigma and helping families to get back on their feet.

Recently I was given a report on a young girl we’ll call Julia. Julia’s has a mom who is single and two other siblings. When Julia’s mom had her hours cut back at work they ended up living in their car as she lost their apartment. The school nurse asked the mom if Julia could join our “Nutrition Club” which would mean that in addition to learning about nutrition she would also receive a backpack filled with food every week. That was in September. Now we are in April and I’m happy to report that with the food the mom received to feed her family, she was able to focus on housing and save up enough money to get the family back into an apartment and they are no longer living in their car. What a true blessing!

**More than anything the answer to effective programs is that collaboration exists between all stakeholders because no one organization or group of people can solve the problem.** Additionally, we like to see programs that are community initiated. When a community identifies a need and wants to take responsibility for solving that need, the resources given to them are so much more likely to succeed.

In all, we have a long way to go to solve the issues of homelessness in the United States and right here in Orange County. And honestly, I won’t even pretend to have the answers to all of the contributing factors. I know that for me and GCHope, we like to focus on basic needs like food. When I hear reports that children are now able to learn and concentrate in the classroom because they are fed and that working homeless can save up enough money to get themselves into permanent housing, well, it tells me that we are at least one part of the solution.