An appeal to all members of my community--and communities across the country--to recognize that homelessness is an issue that affects all of us, regardless of ideology.
A conversation that Arlene Nolan (Drop Inn Center CEO) and I have fairly often is how to get people of different ideological stripes to invest in Drop Inn Center. There are certain things we do and believe that are decidedly conservative. We encourage our residents to be as self sufficient as possible. We hold our residents and ourselves accountable for executing individualized case plans, and providing top notch—verifiable—services. We respect Cincinnati and Over the Rhine’s traditions and business institutions, and want to see them thrive. We believe in competition and revitalization. These are virtues typically associated with conservatism.
There are also things that we do and believe as an organization that could be typified as liberal. We are invested in the concept of community. We believe that it is necessary for society to provide its citizens with a safety net, a hand up (not a hand out), and an even playing field on which everyone can compete fairly. We believe that we owe it to ourselves to invest in our human services and social work agencies, that everyone has a right to housing, green spaces, education, and medical treatment. These are virtues typically associated with liberalism.
We were having this conversation on the floor of Drop Inn Center the other night, talking about strategies to encourage folks on one side or the other of this ideological divide to support our shelter. We were talking—to a certain extent—as if we were balancing ourselves on the point of a knife: appeal too much to this faction, and lose the other one.
It occurred to me as I drove home, however, that homelessness is not a conservative or liberal issue. Homelessness is a human issue. It affects people of every political ideology, every race, every religion (or lack of religion), every gender, age, and sexual orientation. Ending homelessness isn’t a Republican or Democratic issue. It’s not a Christian, Muslim, or Atheist issue. It’s a human issue. Regardless of our beliefs or natural predispositions, it’s an issue that affects us all, and it’s one that we all have an interest in solving.
It’s also an issue that benefits from being approached by our different vantage points. A person with a conservative mindset may find a solution to a particular flaw in our system that might get overlooked by a person with a liberal mindset, and vice versa. The person who approaches the issue from a position of faith may see something that a freethinking person might miss, and vice versa. The issue of homelessness is something that we all need to rally on. We may have differences about how best to address the issue, but if we all present our ideas in good faith, pragmatic solutions can be arrived at.
Let me use two recent status updates from our Facebook page to highlight what I’m talking about:
“Yesterday an 8 or 9 year old boy and his mother pulled up to the shelter doors with bags full of laundry detergent, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and other hygiene items to donate to the shelter. The mother divulged to a resident as the items were being brought in that the boy had decided to purchase the items for the shelter with his birthday money. The resident brought the boy and his mother into the lobby of the shelter and announced what the boy had done, and all of the men on the benches responded with a round of applause. Little moments of grace.”
And this one:
"Today some of our staff ordered food from a local delivery restaurant. Instead of coming into the shelter--like a representative from any of the other local delivery joints we frequent would--the man let his car idle in the middle of the road and yelled at people outside the building to let us know our delivery had arrived. When staff invited him in to make his delivery, he became belligerent, and told us he 'doesn't go in that building because it's not safe'. Staff, offended, decided to cancel the order. There is nothing to be afraid of inside our doors, unless you are afraid of seeing what citizens who have been let down by our system look like. Anyone could end up at the drop, and there's no shame in that. So many of us are just a paycheck or a family member's couch away from ending up on the street. There's no shame in needing help, and there's no shame in providing it. We've invited the staff of the restaurant to come on a tour of the shelter. Fear is born of ignorance, and the only way to combat ignorance is with exposure to truth."
Both of these updates were very popular, and received a lot of ‘likes’, ‘shares’, and comments. What you see at work in the individuals in each of these stories isn’t an ideology, orientation, or worldview. What you see in the story involving the little boy is grace and selflessness. Those are virtues we all have access to, and can practice at will. In the story involving the delivery man, it’s not liberalism or conservatism at work in his behavior, but fear and ignorance. Again—unfortunately—all people can claim those vices.
At Drop Inn Center, we are interested in solutions. If you consider yourself a member of any of the groups I have highlighted throughout this piece, or are the member of an organization that has heretofore seen no connection between Drop Inn Center and itself, we would like to reach out to you. Come down to our shelter. Take a tour of our facility. See the work we’re doing. Bring your ideas.
This article is also available in the current issue of Street Vibes.
'Like' Drop Inn Center on Facebook to keep up with what we're doing, and to support homeless services.
EVERYTHING IN THE MEDICINE CABINET HAS EXPIRED.