20 = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 2003
COMMUNITY
University professor combats homelessness
By Ehren Meditz emeditz@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
A University of Kansas professor is helping the Lawrence City Commission develop the city's first comprehensive plan to combat homelessness.
Helen Hartnett, assistant professor of social welfare, met the city's Task Force on Homeless Services last Wednesday to discuss objectives. Hartnett said she would bring 14 years worth of experience to the task force, which would offer its proposal to the city commission within a year.
"I'm excited to be part of this," Hartnett said. "This is something that actually has some political will behind it."
Hartnett is one of 17 members of the task force, created by Mayor David Dunfield last month. The group includes representatives from the Salvation Army and Community Drop-In Center as well as psychologists and neighborhood groups.
"We all come from different perspectives," she said. "I don't think we'll be clashing, but there will be times where we're just going to have to agree to disagree."
Hartnett said she wanted to bring a sense of objectivity to the meetings.
Commissioner Mike Rundle will chair the task force, which is divided into three subcommittees.
Hartnett will assist one subcommittee in determining the context of homelessness in Lawrence by researching demographics, services already in place and the housing and economic market.
Another subcommittee will study what services other communities provide to the homeless, and a third will gather opinions from business providers.
Richard Forney, a task force member from the Salvation Army, said research was a priority.
"We're just going to gather information," Forney said. "We're not trying to reinvent the wheel."
Cindy Nau, Neighborhood Programs Specialist for the city, said Lawrence counted 134 homeless people in December 2001 and had not counted since then.
"Many, many people I talk to see the homeless population as the drunken bum on the sidewalk, begging for money and urinating in the alley."
Lawrence neighborhood programs specialist
Cindy Nau
TASK FORCE MEETING
The Task Force on Homeless Services's next public meeting will be at 4 p.m. on Aug.26 at the Lawrence City Commission room in City Hall, Sixth and Massachusetts streets.
"Agencies are reporting that they are seeing an increase in numbers, which makes sense given the economy," Nau said.
Paula Gilchrist, director of social services at the Salvation Army, said the number of homeless people frequenting her facility was increasing. This January, she recorded 1,731 visits, up from 969 last year for the same time period. Tami Clark director of the Community Drop-In Center, also said she saw a significant increase.
Both directors stressed that increased numbers did not necessarily indicate that the homeless population in Lawrence was on the rise.
Nay said one major problem in Lawrence was that the majority of the community did not understand who the homeless were.
"Many, many people I talk to see the homeless population as the drunken bum on the sidewalk, begging for money and urinating in the alley," she said. "While there is a subset of the homeless population that is exactly like that, the majority is not like that at all."
Nay said the top four reasons for homelessness in Lawrence were substance abuse, mental illnesses, physical disabilities and domestic violence. These reasons often occur simultaneously.
— Edited by Richard Gintowt
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