[Peace-discuss] update and apology on time mix-up

[E. Wayne Johnson]

Several weeks ago there was a meeting in the Wahlfeldt room in the IMC 
basement to discuss
various community needs that can arrive with the deepening of the 
economic depression.

Belden Fields and I as well as others discussed that housing will become 
a significant need, and that
local regulations that control housing and shelter would become an 
issue, and that current regulations
would exacerbate the problem, and that those regulations would need to 
be modified or relaxed
if people were to be housed.  Even taking people into your home and 
making a place for them in
your home to get them out of the cold and wet could become a serious 
violation of local codes.  The time
for modification of the codes to permit temporary and emergency housing 
has arrived.

There is a perception that people living in tents tend to be dirty 
disorderly drunken unkempt unwashed, and those who are chronically
homeless are often said to be in need of treatment for mental illness.  
Not all of those characterizations
are always totally incorrect, but the lack of concern for others is a 
major problem that plagues the genteel and well-off,
who hope that by "raising the standard" they will cause the "riff-raff" 
to "move on".

This problem of regulations that are set up to protect the "haves" from 
the "have-nots" will be more and more of a
problem as the depression deepens.  It will require specific action by 
the local governing bodies to provide emergency
aid for the economic refugees and refusees.  Otherwise the dull and 
imperceptive gentry will continue to torment those
who simply want to lend a helping hand, and they will impel the petty 
functionaries of the bureaucracy to follow the codes,
and punish those who want to do right by their fellow man.

The issue of temporary and "emergency" housing is already past the 
crisis point.  Further, winter is coming.

It is time for those who really care and who are truly are aware to take 
action.  Government is absolutely terrified that
someone is going to ask them for money.  Actually is not the 
government's money that is needed but rather
its mercy in helping to create a solution.




On 7/8/2009 12:57 PM, John W. wrote:
> Abby, you mention churches as an alternative to Catholic Worker House 
> for Safe Haven.  Wouldn't the problem be the same?  If the church is 
> within the city limits of the City of Champaign (or Urbana), wouldn't 
> local zoning regulations apply to ban a tent city?  If the church is 
> outside city limits but within Champaign County, do you happen to know 
> what the county zoning regulations are?
>
> John Wason
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 10:10 AM, Abbilyn Harmon <abbilyn at gmail.com 
> <mailto:abbilyn at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     Hi all,
>
>     First, I apologize for the mix-up on the time of the People's Potluck.
>      I really hope the corrective message got around in time!
>
>     Safe Haven invites you to view the entire 3-part series on our
>     organization, currently running in Smile Politely, an online Champaign
>     magazine (www.smilepolitely.com <http://www.smilepolitely.com>).
>
>     Safe Haven is faced with dire circumstances as I write this email.
>     Just today, News Gazette reported that the city is "cracking down" on
>     the code violations at St. Jude Catholic Worker House, who currently
>     hosts us, and that Safe Haven must be off the property by July 17 or
>     face $750 fines per day (see
>     http://www.news-gazette.com/news/living/2009/07/08/host_of_code_violations_found_at_catholic_worker_house).
>      These actions on the part of the city are overt attacks on both
>     organizations, and we, as an activist community, must respond to these
>     attacks.  We ask that you reach out to local news media through
>     letters to the editor, opinion pieces, blogging, etc.  Also, pick up a
>     copy of the Public I to see the IMC's take on our housing crisis.
>
>     More to the physical problem, Safe Haven cannot endanger the future of
>     St. Jude Catholic Worker House.  We are actively seeking churches who
>     see it as their mission to support our organization by providing land
>     for us to move to.  Please email any possibilities to
>     cu.tentcommunity at gmail.com <mailto:cu.tentcommunity at gmail.com> or
>     call 217.417.8589.  We appreciate your
>     support and assistance!
>
>     Take care,
>
>     Safe Haven
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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