WEBVTT
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- (female announcer)
Production funding for
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Behind the Headlines
is made possible in part by
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the WKNO Production Fund,
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the WKNO Endowment Fund,
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and by viewers
like you. Thank you.
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- A major new effort to help
the homeless in Memphis,
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tonight on Behind
the Headlines.
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[intense orchestral music]
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I'm Eric Barnes with
The Daily Memphian.
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Thanks for joining us.
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I am joined tonight
by Kelcey Johnson
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Executive Director of
the Hospitality Hub.
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Thanks for being here.
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- Good to see you.
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- Ellen Roberds is a
Principal at Dragonfly.
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Thank you for being here.
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- Thanks for having us.
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- Along with Bill Dries reporter
with The Daily Memphian.
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Let's talk, I guess
maybe we start with
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some sense of the
scope and scale
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of the homelessness problem
and the homelessness challenge.
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So I'll go to you on
that Kelcey, in terms of,
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and I don't know
how you quantify it,
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but the number of people
and the ages of people,
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how do you quantify the
challenge and the problem?
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- Well, we have a diverse
homeless population
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here in Memphis.
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The bigger part, of
course, African-American
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but you see some of everybody
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'cause anybody can
experience homelessness.
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We're on track to
count, by way of intake,
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twenty-seven hundred
homeless people here in 2021,
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there was 2,500 or so last year.
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And when I say by way of intake,
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that means if I bring you in
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and sit down with you
for the first time,
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I never count you again.
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- Okay, and that's
through the hub
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or through any of
the various myriad-
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- That's just through the hub.
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- So the total
number of homeless
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could be twice that maybe.
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- I don't think it
would be twice that,
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but it'll probably push
close to 3500, 4000.
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- Go ahead.
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- The thing that's unique
about the Hospitality Hub
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is everyone sends you to us.
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Be it shelter program,
be it the police,
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be it people who you
run into on the street.
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If you're somebody who's
experiencing homelessness,
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people are gonna send you to us.
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People who exit jail
and prison come to us.
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The VA, since veterans
who are getting out
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are homeless or housing
insecure, they send them to us.
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And so we get a large number
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of those people
who are homeless.
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- Yeah, on your website,
you list the partners.
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And it's a list that I
to try to get through.
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Churches, clergy,
government agencies,
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other nonprofits,
other missions,
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all kinds of places
that you all work with.
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So you're located, before
I get to Ellen here.
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You're you are
located now downtown.
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You have multiple
locations or do you-
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- We have the
Hospitality Hub proper
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is at our plaza at
590 Washington Avenue
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and our larger building
is under construction,
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right behind that building.
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We have another property
called the Hub Hotel,
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which is located in
midtown, 28 North Claybrook.
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And then we have another
property called Hub House
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and that's in south Memphis.
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But our main building is
at 590 Washington Avenue.
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- Okay.
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I might bring Ellen in and
there is a massive project,
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I mean, the hub has been
around for quite some time,
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but the new thing is
this massive project.
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And I think at some point
we'll have some renderings
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of what's going in
down it's what Poplar,
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and Danny Thomas and Washington,
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do I have the basically
bordered by those?
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- Yes, actually at the
same site on the, where...
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So right now we're working
out of what we call the plaza,
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which was originally set
up as a satellite site,
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as we built the building
for our location,
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which was at 82 North 2nd.
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With the pandemic, our lives
changed pretty dramatically,
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Kelcey and his
staff in particular.
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And so the Hub Hotel
became a pandemic response,
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The Hub House became
a pandemic response
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for non-congregate
shelter options for folks.
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In the meanwhile,
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we shifted from
82 North 2nd to the plaza
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because it's safer.
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It's safer for the staff
'cause they have more space.
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It's actually outside
where they're working
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and able to do intensive
case management with folks.
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So adjacent to the plaza
is where we're building
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the building and an extended
part of that plaza public park.
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- Public park, and
this is the property,
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the other people
may be familiar.
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This was the inspection station,
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the downtown inspection station
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when we still did that in
Memphis and it was a massive
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and sometimes these massive
10 rows of lines of people
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coming in and out.
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Your role with Dragonfly
in this project is what?
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- So Dragonfly is a
social impact firm,
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and we have a number
of projects that we do,
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but the hub is sort of near
and dear to the hearts.
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I worked downtown 14 years
ago when downtown churches
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created the hub.
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And so I was part of the
founding group for the hub.
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And I've been involved in a
number of ways since then.
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And so now Dragonfly provides
support doing fundraising,
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capacity building,
HR, financials,
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compliance with the concept
that Kelcey and his staff
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do what they're excellent at.
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And that's being
with homeless people,
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people experiencing
homelessness,
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people who need pathways out
to their next step in life.
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- Kelcey, I know several people
who work as part of the hub
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and the effort that's
been going on in evolving
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over a number of years.
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With the new location,
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you don't just wait for people
who are experiencing homeless
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to come to you.
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It's not that simple.
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You have...
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I mean, this is what I guess
someone in economic development
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would call labor intensive,
very labor intensive work.
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You meet people where
they are, literally.
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- We do, and we have
a street outreach team
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that goes out and
seeks out people
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who are experiencing
homelessness
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and sleeping in places
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that are not fit for
human habitation:
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bridges and overpasses,
abandoned buildings,
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encampments in the woods of
Raleigh and Sycamore View area.
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And in addition to that,
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we have a work local program
which draws people in,
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it's a partnership with
the City of Memphis
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and Downtown Memphis Commission
and some other partners
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that we help to reduce blight
in the city of Memphis.
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So we were able to hire people
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who are experiencing
homelessness to work for a day,
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and they get paid that same day
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as well as they
get served lunch.
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But the thing that happens
is when they come in
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for that process, they're
able to get COVID tested,
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they're able to get vaccinated.
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We're able to get them their
state IDs, birth certificates,
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food stamps, help them
apply for disability.
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All of these things
are happening.
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The work that's being
done is beautiful
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and everybody needs a
little bit of money.
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But the thing that they get
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is this intensive case
management that goes along
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with them being able to
come and go to work with us.
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And we have employers
who seek us out and ask,
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"Do you have somebody who
can do this particular job
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or that particular job?"
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And so a lot of people who come
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to make that 50 bucks that day
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end up getting a
full-time job or end up
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getting their benefits start
at one benefit or another,
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and they ultimately get
housed through those programs.
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- So, someone who
comes in thinking,
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"Okay, I need some cash,
I'm out on the streets
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or I'm going from
one couch to another."
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They come in
and they're actually
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on the road to this concept
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that I think is called
rapid rehousing.
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- Exactly, and that's
one of the avenues we use
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for rapid rehousing and really,
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I can't help you to exit
homelessness if I don't know
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what caused your homelessness
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and what's keeping you homeless?
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Those are the two questions
that we wanna get answered.
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And then we wanna wrap
you up in supports
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by using our partners and
our caseworkers to help you,
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if you're ready to go
ahead and start on the road
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to getting out of homelessness,
hopefully permanently.
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- The site of the
inspection station,
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I think the original
plan was to adapt that,
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and then things changed
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and there was more support for
just building new, correct?
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- Yeah, and I'll
back up a little bit.
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So, Kelcey and I've been in
this business for a while
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in various forms,
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and we've known that the need
for the shelter for women
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has been anecdotally
and in front of our faces
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for a long, long time.
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But what we did
several years back
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was really hone our data system
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and internal data system
for the hub initially,
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and learned that 37% of our
newly homeless individuals
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each year are women and only
6% of the emergency beds
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were available for women.
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So we took that data point.
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The thing that we knew, we now
have the data to back it up.
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And we were able to build a
strong coalition with the city,
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and with the county,
and with philanthropy,
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and individuals, and
Downtown Memphis Commission,
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and Memphis Medical
District Collaborative
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to build this coalition
to secure a site,
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which became the vehicle
inspection station
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and to raise the funds
both for the capital
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and for operations, once we
open to build the building.
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And so the building will host
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an expanded hub
operations center,
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sort of the day service that
Kelcey has been describing,
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including like
a work local room
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to help shore up
that program.
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And then the women's side,
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which will be a
shelter for women,
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which includes a
private courtyard.
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We've been working with
the national foundation
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on the green spaces
called Nature Sacred.
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So we're in the process of...
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We've raised all the
dollars for the building,
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now we're raising dollars
for these green spaces,
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which include this
private courtyard
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which is a really significant
part of the program.
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We're really interested in
women in everyone that we find
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to have places to heal.
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And we know green spaces
can help with that.
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- This is the sort of...
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And even what's built
now that I drive past
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almost every day is the
antithesis of a institution.
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It is very, very
different than anything
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I've seen in Memphis in the
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sense of this plaza,
these public spaces,
09:58.698 --> 10:02.869
the whole sense of it is
much more welcoming, I guess,
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and also much more
expensive because of that.
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I mean, not to make it
about dollars and cents,
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but that's a big
part of this, right?
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I mean, this is not a
revenue producing effort.
10:09.742 --> 10:14.247
So, the thinking behind
that, were there other models
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around the country that you
all looked at that said,
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"No, we don't want
just to house people
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"in cinder block dormitories.
10:19.853 --> 10:22.322
"We've got to have
a kind of welcoming
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just the aesthetic of it."
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- Well-, you mind?
- No, please.
10:26.793 --> 10:31.097
- So, I think the culture
of the hub is that.
10:31.097 --> 10:33.199
And then really I would give
credit to the city of Memphis
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and the mayor's office.
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They really wanted a place.
10:36.603 --> 10:39.405
So the plaza in
the expanded plans,
10:39.405 --> 10:41.574
as they get built out
over the next nine months
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includes additional park space.
10:43.810 --> 10:46.813
So right now the plaza,
it's very beautiful,
10:46.813 --> 10:49.449
it's very useful, it
functions anthropologically
10:49.449 --> 10:52.819
for someone who needs
support, but it will have,
10:52.819 --> 10:54.287
in addition to that,
10:54.287 --> 10:57.357
trees, hammocks, more
sitting places, more shade,
10:57.357 --> 10:59.259
more opportunities for rest,
10:59.259 --> 11:01.461
as folks need to
throughout the day.
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And the City really wants that.
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Like, we want a place
that feels welcoming,
11:05.431 --> 11:07.767
that is barrier-free, and
gives people an opportunity
11:07.767 --> 11:10.637
to feel safe and are
comfortable where they are.
11:10.637 --> 11:13.973
In the hub, everyone's
an autonomous adult.
11:13.973 --> 11:16.476
Our goal is to
provide opportunities,
11:16.476 --> 11:18.912
but we're never
gonna force someone.
11:18.912 --> 11:20.880
One, it doesn't work, two,
11:20.880 --> 11:22.782
they have a right
to make a choice.
11:22.782 --> 11:24.784
And so the space and
the culture of the hub,
11:24.784 --> 11:27.854
I think really are gonna
come together very nicely.
11:29.255 --> 11:30.757
- I mean this seriously,
11:30.757 --> 11:33.226
but I know it's kind of
an almost silly question,
11:33.226 --> 11:34.160
but is the mission of the hub
11:34.160 --> 11:36.229
to end homelessness in Memphis?
11:36.229 --> 11:37.797
And is that even possible?
11:39.199 --> 11:42.468
- Our mission is to end
homelessness for you,
11:42.468 --> 11:45.972
for each individual that we
can end homelessness for,
11:45.972 --> 11:47.740
we wanna end homelessness
for that person.
11:47.740 --> 11:49.042
And we strive to do that
11:49.042 --> 11:50.843
and we've been very successful
11:50.843 --> 11:53.246
at ending homelessness
for individuals.
11:53.246 --> 11:55.481
And we've ended homelessness
for a lot of individuals,
11:55.481 --> 11:57.984
but homelessness is something
11:57.984 --> 12:00.019
that's constantly
being generated,
12:00.019 --> 12:01.721
especially because of
the fact that people
12:01.721 --> 12:03.656
are constantly aging
out of foster care
12:03.656 --> 12:06.059
and people are
getting out of prison.
12:06.059 --> 12:08.595
That's one of the
bigger groups is people
12:08.595 --> 12:10.063
who are aging out
of foster care-
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- Which is 18--
- 18 years old.
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And sometimes they stumble
around 'til they're 20
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and find themselves homeless.
12:17.070 --> 12:19.305
They can couch surf
for a couple of years
12:19.305 --> 12:21.040
and then next thing you
know, they're homeless,
12:21.040 --> 12:21.975
they're arrested.
12:21.975 --> 12:24.944
They may do 11 months, 29 days
12:24.944 --> 12:28.748
at 201 Poplar and somebody
directs them to us
12:28.748 --> 12:30.650
and we're able to help them.
12:30.650 --> 12:33.319
Then there's also people who
are lots and lots of people
12:33.319 --> 12:35.588
leaving the military
every month.
12:35.588 --> 12:37.790
And some of those people come
home and are able to make it.
12:37.790 --> 12:40.793
And some people
come home with PTSD
12:40.793 --> 12:43.863
and traumatic brain injuries
and things like that
12:43.863 --> 12:46.432
and they need us to jump
in and kind of help them.
12:46.432 --> 12:49.535
And we work with our
partners at the VA
12:49.535 --> 12:53.239
and Catholic charities to
get those people housed,
12:53.239 --> 12:55.441
get them back going,
get them a job,
12:55.441 --> 12:58.011
help them with the VA
disability, that kind of thing.
12:58.011 --> 13:01.914
There's always someone who's
gonna abuse a woman tonight
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and she's gonna flee her home.
13:03.516 --> 13:05.385
And the hub is a place
that she's gonna come.
13:05.385 --> 13:07.420
Somebody is gonna
send her there.
13:07.420 --> 13:10.556
And so homelessness is
always being generated.
13:10.556 --> 13:11.991
And so can we end it?
13:11.991 --> 13:15.194
I mean, I don't
see it ever ending
13:15.194 --> 13:16.763
because it never
stops being generated.
13:16.763 --> 13:18.398
- Yeah, Bill.
13:18.398 --> 13:22.335
- Just around the corner
as if what's happening
13:22.335 --> 13:23.803
at the hub isn't enough,
13:23.803 --> 13:27.540
the Union Mission has
its expansion going.
13:27.540 --> 13:29.375
How does that...
13:29.375 --> 13:33.479
Is there a coordination
between your agency and them,
13:33.479 --> 13:35.281
or how does that work?
13:35.281 --> 13:36.949
- Union Mission is a very
close partner of ours.
13:36.949 --> 13:39.085
We have clients there every day,
13:39.085 --> 13:41.454
people who come to
us and go to work,
13:41.454 --> 13:45.058
or people who come to us and
who are getting state IDs,
13:45.058 --> 13:46.259
they may call us and say,
13:46.259 --> 13:47.593
"This person needs this
thing or that thing
13:47.593 --> 13:49.062
and we're able to
do it for them."
13:49.062 --> 13:51.597
They shelter more men than
anybody in the region.
13:51.597 --> 13:56.602
And so they are an agency
that's very, very important
13:57.837 --> 13:59.939
to the city and the city
would be in big trouble
13:59.939 --> 14:01.407
without the Union Mission.
14:01.407 --> 14:06.279
We had a person to test
positive for COVID last week
14:07.914 --> 14:10.116
and we knew that this
person was staying here
14:10.116 --> 14:11.651
at the Union Mission.
14:11.651 --> 14:13.352
So I was able to call one of
the pastors at Union Mission
14:13.352 --> 14:15.188
to say, "Hey, we're
looking for this guy.
14:15.188 --> 14:17.790
"We can get him quarantined
at a different hotel
14:17.790 --> 14:20.893
"for the next 10 days
while we wait for him
14:20.893 --> 14:22.729
"to get through the virus
14:22.729 --> 14:25.198
will work its way
out of his system."
14:25.198 --> 14:29.669
And so we're very close
partners in all of those ways.
14:29.669 --> 14:33.973
- I would imagine that
you run across people
14:33.973 --> 14:38.978
who are homeless,
but who may argue
14:40.346 --> 14:42.348
that they're not because
yeah, "I'm not on the streets,
14:42.348 --> 14:44.751
I'm sleeping in my
car for a week or two,
14:44.751 --> 14:47.687
"but I'll find
a couch somewhere.
14:47.687 --> 14:51.791
I'll find a relative to go
somewhere," is that the case?
14:51.791 --> 14:54.160
- That happens with some
people, and it doesn't matter
14:54.160 --> 14:56.262
what label a person puts on it.
14:56.262 --> 15:00.099
If they need my assistance
and they come to our door,
15:00.099 --> 15:01.701
we're gonna assist them.
15:01.701 --> 15:05.004
One of the things that we
also do is men who work
15:05.004 --> 15:07.039
with Shelby County
Office of Re-entry
15:07.039 --> 15:09.142
and the men who are
getting out of prison.
15:09.142 --> 15:11.444
Even if they do go and
stay with a relative,
15:11.444 --> 15:14.714
with mom, or
girlfriend, ex-whatever,
15:14.714 --> 15:17.350
we still give them
the same services
15:17.350 --> 15:19.218
as a person who is
sleeping outside.
15:19.218 --> 15:22.121
Because what we found
is sometimes people
15:22.121 --> 15:25.725
get out of prison and
they have a place to land
15:25.725 --> 15:27.059
and that place doesn't work out.
15:27.059 --> 15:29.996
So we start working on
getting them their IDs
15:29.996 --> 15:32.365
and birth certificates and
all the things they need
15:32.365 --> 15:34.801
to get work, get them
apply for food stamps
15:34.801 --> 15:36.736
while they have somewhere
to sleep and they stay,
15:36.736 --> 15:38.404
they come to us needing shelter.
15:38.404 --> 15:39.639
And so we start the ball rolling
15:39.639 --> 15:42.074
the day they come
to us out of jail.
15:42.074 --> 15:45.044
- And in terms of fundraising,
15:45.044 --> 15:48.281
where do you think
community awareness is?
15:51.117 --> 15:55.922
How do people view this problem
and the solutions to it?
15:55.922 --> 15:59.725
Who are donating
money to this effort?
15:59.725 --> 16:00.960
- Well, I mean, I think,
16:00.960 --> 16:02.595
just like in every
segment of society,
16:02.595 --> 16:05.198
the opinions vary and
it's always our job
16:05.198 --> 16:08.434
to get the message out
and to educate folks
16:08.434 --> 16:09.368
about what we're able to do
16:09.368 --> 16:10.870
and what we're not able to do.
16:10.870 --> 16:13.739
And a lot of that education
really sometimes comes around
16:13.739 --> 16:16.909
like people view,
perhaps homeless camps,
16:16.909 --> 16:19.078
perhaps differently than the
way the organization views it.
16:19.078 --> 16:22.248
And the way we engage homeless
camps, as Kelcey said,
16:22.248 --> 16:26.986
we don't believe they're
fit for human habitation.
16:26.986 --> 16:29.222
And that most folks there
don't wanna be there.
16:29.222 --> 16:30.790
That's not their first choice,
16:30.790 --> 16:32.792
but there are
barriers along the way
16:32.792 --> 16:34.760
to move people
from those spaces.
16:34.760 --> 16:38.464
And sometimes the barriers
can come from the community
16:38.464 --> 16:40.967
supporting folks with
food and so forth.
16:40.967 --> 16:42.468
And so we don't...
16:42.468 --> 16:45.838
Where we have some, I think
always have an education goal.
16:45.838 --> 16:48.407
And we're always learning too,
16:48.407 --> 16:51.110
like the pandemic,
we've learned so much
16:51.110 --> 16:54.313
and in terms of like
ending homelessness.
16:54.313 --> 16:56.916
When we get the building and
we have this emergency shelter
16:56.916 --> 16:59.719
for women and has been
such a need for so long,
16:59.719 --> 17:03.923
for me, that really helps
me clarify the next steps.
17:03.923 --> 17:06.292
So Bill, you are out
there, you saw the studios,
17:06.292 --> 17:10.329
we've built through some
Tennessee CARES funds.
17:10.329 --> 17:12.632
We were able to
build five shelters,
17:12.632 --> 17:14.100
non-congregate shelters,
17:14.100 --> 17:16.869
they're just studios,
they're lovely bedrooms
17:16.869 --> 17:19.839
adjacent to our bathrooms.
17:19.839 --> 17:21.540
So they don't have
plumbing within them,
17:21.540 --> 17:23.409
but they're a test
case to figure out,
17:23.409 --> 17:25.678
'cause there's so many
ways that someone moves out
17:25.678 --> 17:27.246
of homelessness 'cause
there's so many ways
17:27.246 --> 17:29.048
why someone's in homelessness.
17:29.048 --> 17:32.618
So, folks might not be able
to handle a group setting
17:32.618 --> 17:34.553
either because of COVID,
17:34.553 --> 17:36.355
or because of their
mental health issues.
17:36.355 --> 17:38.491
And so this allows
us to house them
17:38.491 --> 17:41.460
while working
intensively with them.
17:41.460 --> 17:43.763
And so we're looking
at additional funds
17:43.763 --> 17:46.532
and seeing how this program,
this pilot program works
17:46.532 --> 17:51.537
because we're really sharpening
the solutions and we do,
17:52.405 --> 17:53.205
and it is always generated.
17:53.205 --> 17:55.808
Homelessness is poverty.
17:55.808 --> 17:58.477
It's like a very
visible form of poverty.
17:58.477 --> 18:02.481
And we have a very high
impoverished population here,
18:02.481 --> 18:04.150
and we have more folks
who are coming in.
18:04.150 --> 18:05.618
And so it is always generated.
18:05.618 --> 18:08.921
And yet, we think that
we are really nailing in,
18:08.921 --> 18:11.490
on some solutions and
have places to expand
18:11.490 --> 18:12.992
and can build up
the next five years
18:12.992 --> 18:14.927
of the work of the hub for that.
18:14.927 --> 18:18.631
- I've been in since I got
vaccinated in early March,
18:18.631 --> 18:21.233
whenever it was, my family's
mostly on the west coast.
18:21.233 --> 18:25.137
So I've been, in that time,
to see family in Portland,
18:25.137 --> 18:26.973
in Seattle, Tacoma.
18:26.973 --> 18:29.976
My son lives in Oakland now
and lived in LA before that,
18:29.976 --> 18:33.346
so I've traveled an odd amount.
18:33.346 --> 18:37.149
The level of
visible homelessness
18:37.149 --> 18:39.452
in Portland and Seattle,
18:39.452 --> 18:44.423
Oakland, and in LA, we have
huge poverty issues here,
18:44.423 --> 18:47.259
but it reminds you that the
country has huge poverty issues
18:47.259 --> 18:52.231
and in Portland, in Seattle,
especially, just in Portland,
18:52.231 --> 18:54.000
I think people
can't quite imagine
18:54.000 --> 18:55.701
the way their rules are set up.
18:55.701 --> 18:57.837
And I don't even know
if I'm criticizing this,
18:57.837 --> 19:00.139
I just know it's
unbelievably sad to see is
19:00.139 --> 19:01.941
there are people in tents,
19:01.941 --> 19:05.077
sometimes three to a block
in downtown Portland,
19:05.077 --> 19:06.312
and they have a
right to stay there
19:06.312 --> 19:07.780
for certain amount
of time based on that
19:07.780 --> 19:09.281
the City Council kind of law.
19:09.281 --> 19:12.351
And I was walking by, and I
mean this not in a cruel way,
19:12.351 --> 19:16.422
I thought to myself first and
foremost, it's incredibly sad.
19:16.422 --> 19:18.958
Secondly, no one
is served by this.
19:18.958 --> 19:22.628
This person's living
on a sidewalk
19:22.628 --> 19:26.899
across from a restaurant,
or a business, or apartments.
19:26.999 --> 19:30.302
So the homeless person isn't
particularly well-served,
19:30.302 --> 19:34.306
the homeowner, the
business, the residents,
19:34.306 --> 19:39.311
and yet it is pervasive in
a way that is breathtaking.
19:40.479 --> 19:43.883
I am trying to turn
this into a question.
19:43.883 --> 19:46.285
Why is that happening there?
19:46.285 --> 19:48.921
And why is that
not happening here?
19:48.921 --> 19:52.391
Are we just doing a much better
job or are the rules different?
19:52.391 --> 19:53.759
What is going on that
19:53.759 --> 19:56.495
you would think that if
that's happening there
19:56.495 --> 19:59.298
in a much wealthier cities
like Portland, Seattle,
19:59.298 --> 20:01.701
and so on that it would
also be happening here.
20:01.701 --> 20:05.638
- The thing that I've done
audits in other cities,
20:05.638 --> 20:08.574
in addition to working here,
20:08.574 --> 20:12.511
and the thing that we as a city,
20:12.511 --> 20:16.182
as a City Council and County
Commission, and mayors,
20:16.182 --> 20:19.118
and service providers,
20:19.118 --> 20:23.889
we've decided that tent
cities are inhumane
20:24.924 --> 20:26.926
and we don't want them here.
20:26.926 --> 20:31.931
And so we had, after this
protest that happened downtown
20:33.332 --> 20:37.403
on Legislative Plaza, after
all the protesters left,
20:37.403 --> 20:40.039
they left tents and
all kinds of stuff
20:40.039 --> 20:42.274
for people to have
an encampment there.
20:42.274 --> 20:45.244
And it was ugly and it was bad.
20:45.244 --> 20:47.713
And so we worked with the City
20:47.713 --> 20:49.014
to get rid of that encampment.
20:49.014 --> 20:52.418
And the way we did
it was through smart
20:52.418 --> 20:55.955
and excellent case management
with us and our partners
20:55.955 --> 21:00.860
and some funding from the
City to get those people
21:02.027 --> 21:04.263
moved from the tents, we
went out to the tents
21:04.263 --> 21:07.566
with Chick-fil-A and coffee,
and tent-by-tent and said,
21:07.566 --> 21:10.336
"Hey, would you rather
be somewhere else?"
21:10.336 --> 21:12.838
And 94--
- For weeks.
21:12.838 --> 21:16.108
- It wasn't one day.
- An intensive amount of work.
21:16.108 --> 21:17.343
- Yeah, it was a lot of work.
21:17.343 --> 21:18.611
And would you rather
be somewhere else?
21:18.611 --> 21:21.247
And ultimately we
got everybody to say,
21:21.247 --> 21:22.515
"Yeah, we wanna be somewhere."
21:22.515 --> 21:26.018
But one by one, we moved
those people from tents
21:26.018 --> 21:29.488
to hotels and got
rid of all the blight
21:29.488 --> 21:30.956
that happened down there.
21:30.956 --> 21:33.259
And from those hotels, some
went to rooming houses,
21:33.259 --> 21:37.329
some went to public housing,
some got housed other places.
21:37.329 --> 21:39.698
We found that some
people had income
21:39.698 --> 21:41.934
and just didn't know
how to manage it.
21:41.934 --> 21:43.636
So, you need to go to drug
and alcohol treatment.
21:43.636 --> 21:46.272
And so it could be easier
to manage your money,
21:46.272 --> 21:47.807
if you can get out of...
21:47.807 --> 21:49.441
After you leave a treatment
program and sober living.
21:49.441 --> 21:53.078
And so it was like she said,
it was weeks and weeks,
21:53.078 --> 21:57.917
but we completely erased
that tent city from downtown.
21:57.917 --> 21:59.718
- Again, I'm dwelling on this
21:59.718 --> 22:01.320
because I just
don't think people,
22:01.320 --> 22:03.255
unless you've seen pictures
of where you see it,
22:03.255 --> 22:04.957
Skid Row in LA,
which I did not...
22:04.957 --> 22:07.893
I think I thought it was
maybe more of a notion
22:07.893 --> 22:10.863
than an actual place and
accidentally drove through it.
22:10.863 --> 22:13.265
It's what you picture
when you see a...
22:13.265 --> 22:16.869
You think this happens
in war-torn areas.
22:16.869 --> 22:19.972
It is blocks, and blocks, and
blocks, and hundreds of tents.
22:19.972 --> 22:20.973
- Right.
- And hundreds of tents.
22:20.973 --> 22:23.542
- Right.
- And a kind of squalor,
22:23.542 --> 22:26.712
that's just unbelievably
sad for everyone--
22:26.712 --> 22:28.214
- And I promise you,
22:28.214 --> 22:32.685
we would have the exact same
thing in Memphis downtown,
22:32.685 --> 22:34.720
an underpass near St. Jude
would have been a huge,
22:34.720 --> 22:37.456
huge encampment had we
all not worked together
22:37.456 --> 22:40.226
not to have that, Legislative
Plaza would have grown
22:40.226 --> 22:45.231
to 70, 80, 100 tents,
but we, as a community,
22:46.632 --> 22:49.168
not just the hub have decided
that we don't want people
22:49.168 --> 22:51.904
living outdoors and
we're gonna work together
22:51.904 --> 22:54.840
as a community to make people
not have to live outdoors.
22:54.840 --> 22:57.543
'Cause when you sleep on a bench
22:57.543 --> 22:59.612
for a night is one thing,
22:59.612 --> 23:01.247
but to set up a tent
with a coffee maker
23:01.247 --> 23:02.881
and a microwave in it,
23:02.881 --> 23:07.453
and you've given up on
traditional forms of housing.
23:07.453 --> 23:10.489
- Yeah, just a couple of
minutes left to go back, Bill.
23:10.489 --> 23:15.494
- I also wonder if some
of that is a reaction
23:16.662 --> 23:20.666
to the rules that are
in traditional shelters,
23:21.533 --> 23:23.702
is that also a part of it?
23:24.837 --> 23:25.904
- For some people,
23:27.339 --> 23:30.743
different types of
emotional injuries and PTSD,
23:32.478 --> 23:35.147
bipolar personality,
psychosis types of things,
23:35.147 --> 23:38.917
make it impossible for some
people to live in shelter.
23:38.917 --> 23:42.888
And then you have some
people who don't like
23:45.491 --> 23:48.827
the Christian things
that go on in shelter.
23:48.827 --> 23:50.329
So they refuse it
because of that.
23:50.329 --> 23:53.699
Sometimes they've gotten in
fights or that kind of thing.
23:53.699 --> 23:56.602
And so they can't go back to
shelters because they've been
23:56.602 --> 23:57.836
so combative in shelter.
23:57.836 --> 24:00.773
And so that does happen,
24:00.773 --> 24:03.042
but I don't think
that's the main reason
24:03.042 --> 24:06.145
people are outdoors,
there's other reasons,
24:06.145 --> 24:07.946
but that definitely
is one of 'em.
24:07.946 --> 24:12.952
- Yeah, this is a matter
of someone trusting you
24:14.119 --> 24:19.058
to know that they're
safe in many ways.
24:20.059 --> 24:22.127
And some of that is rules
24:22.127 --> 24:26.565
but some of it is
also programming.
24:26.565 --> 24:31.570
Calvary Episcopal Church had
a program many years ago now
24:32.771 --> 24:34.206
that was actually
a writing program
24:34.206 --> 24:37.343
for people who were
experiencing homelessness
24:37.343 --> 24:40.479
and the essays that
were read aloud
24:40.479 --> 24:41.914
at the end of the program,
24:41.914 --> 24:45.351
were, I think, some of
the best testimonies
24:45.351 --> 24:47.786
I've ever heard or experienced
24:47.786 --> 24:51.991
of what it means to
experience homelessness,
24:51.991 --> 24:53.325
are there those kinds of efforts
24:53.325 --> 24:57.429
beyond getting
someone into shelter?
24:57.429 --> 24:59.798
- So I think when we
have the new building,
24:59.798 --> 25:02.201
we'll have the
capacity to do that.
25:02.201 --> 25:05.371
We have closed down
our volunteer programs
25:05.371 --> 25:08.107
since the pandemic, but
we believe when we open
25:08.107 --> 25:09.908
the new building, and
of course obviously
25:09.908 --> 25:11.610
where it's depending upon
where the pandemic is
25:11.610 --> 25:15.047
in March of 2022, we really
hope to bring folks back.
25:16.148 --> 25:18.484
They were the
backbone for years.
25:18.484 --> 25:21.420
They were the hub, volunteers
were the hub for many,
25:21.420 --> 25:24.356
many years, we were an
all-volunteer organization.
25:24.356 --> 25:29.061
And so that's really a very
important part of our system
25:29.061 --> 25:31.497
and ideology and so we think
we can bring folks back
25:31.497 --> 25:34.700
and with that, those kinds
of innovative programs,
25:34.700 --> 25:36.869
we will have the space and
we've never had that before.
25:36.869 --> 25:39.138
And so that's really exciting.
25:39.138 --> 25:40.873
- We can talk much
more about this,
25:40.873 --> 25:43.242
I should say thank you
both for what you do
25:43.242 --> 25:44.710
and thanks for being here.
25:44.710 --> 25:46.145
I appreciate it.
25:46.145 --> 25:47.379
Thank you Bill, and
thank you for joining us.
25:47.379 --> 25:49.915
Please do join us
again next week.
25:49.915 --> 25:53.152
[intense orchestral music]
26:20.746 --> 26:22.748
[acoustic guitar chords]