Outreach Workers and the Housing First Approach

It's considered this where every day we go deep on one big news story Today, how the Trump administration is addressing homelessness among veterans Nearly seven hundred fifty thousand people are homeless in the United States, including more than thirty thousand military veterans That's according to the most recent government data President Trump wants to see those numbers come down and signed an executive order to make that happen. The Trump administration is changing federal policy when it comes to handling people who are homeless and living on the streets or in encampments. The new policy reverses putting people in housing first. Trump's approach favors placing homeless veterans under involuntary or institutional care like a guardianship against their will But advocates for homeless vets worry what that can mean for the people they serve. Rather than make it something traumatic where we're forcing you into it Let outreach workers like us build the relationship Consider this. The Trump administration issued an aggressive executive order targeting homeless people Advocates fear what that will mean for homeless veterans. NPR, I'm Scott Tetrero. NPR's tiny desk can't come to you. I mean it's a desk, but the tiny desk contest tour can. New York City join NPR's tiny desesk contest winner, Cure for Paranoia at Warsaw this july ninth. It's all the NPR tiny Desk ennergy minus the office furniture Get your tickets now at tinydesktour. org This week on Shorewave, working from home is popular. No commute, sweatpants. People who do it say it makes them happier. And the data suggests they're probably wrong about that. On average, at least. We unpack a new study about the social isolation of remote work and what it means for your health This week on Shortwave, NPR science podcast, listen daily on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts It's consonsider this from NPR. More than thirty thousand U.S. military veterans are homeless, though that number has gone down in the past decade, according to the latest government data. The Trump administration has promised new housing for vets, but President Trump also issued an executive order that aggressively targets homeless people and veterans advocates fear that includes vets Quill Lawrence Road along with some street outreach workers in Long Beach, California, and sent us this report Veronica Hood with the group US Vvets is loading up with hygiene kits and some hot meals. keey tools for doing outreach to homeless vets. I'm so sorry. The truck stereo starts blaring. automatically connected Wow. oldld school flock of seagull. Pedro like turn this off. make it stop. That's Pedro Horigi, her partner today. My name is Pedro Horigi. I serve two tours in Iraq. They're both veterans with years of military service between them, and at this point, about as many years doing street outreach so the first veter we're gonna to go meet, his name is Hur And they have a formula, a list of known homeless vets by name, and a philosophy called housing first, where they try to get the vet indoors and then after that tackle whatever other problems he or she has. And without sharing too much information, that's his first name eighty seven year old man. Yeah. Navy veteran And eighty seven, Wow. Y. You heard that right. We're looking for an eighty seven year old vet living in his truck. What's your guess about how long he's been on the street It's hard to say becauseuse he keeps his different dates. Yeah, I think it's been at le these twenty years I don't think I think that after he got his divorce and he lost his housing, it's just not been consistent housing since then. What's he driving around? It's a dodge truck moon color I account. I don't know. he sleeps or That's his whole livelihood. He switches around so we might have to search for him a bit. US Vvets, the group they work with, has a bed lined up for him And it doesn't sound hard, right? too convince an eighty seven year old man that even temporary housing is better than living in his truck. But he's reluctant. I think he might think he'd be a burden on people. So he really just wants to do it on his own. And what proud man or vet wants to be a burden on anybody? Right. Harigi and Hood say it can take months or a year of dropping by with coffee or a hot meal to get from hostility to the trust that will lure a veteran off the street. So you guys are like these experts in convincing people to live. Yes. We're experts in building relationships. We build relationships and then we use whatever we can to get the veteran the help he needs, you know It's the same thing like how I would want Pedro to be treated. I'm sure how he would want me to be treated. And here's the issue that they're talking around, maybe to avoid the politics. President Trump made an executive order last year titled Ending Crime and Disorder onn America's Streets. It leans heavily toward institutionalizing homeless people against their will This winter, NPR obtained a proposal following up on the executive order that would include veterans in that plan. It's called saafe harbor Then in March, the VA put out a memorandum of understanding with the Justice Department about state court guardianships for veterans. We have veans not homeless. just veerans who are in our facilities. They have no family. That's VA Secretary Doug Coins speaking at the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans annual confonerence last month. They have no representation and they really are not in a position to actually take make competent choices for their own health carere Collins rejected the idea that VA is going to start bringing homeless veterans into treatment against their will He said the deal with the DOJ is just for vets stranded in VA hospitals. The court will find somebody in the community, not a VA employee, not a VA attorney, will then represent that veteran with respect to their medical well being moving them along, getting them the health care that they need. Cullin says safe harbor, still just a proposal was leaked And he accused the lead Democrat on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Mark Teano of distorting it. And somebody in our building leaked it to the hill. And guess what Representative Deano happily put out information it wasn't correct. But when it came out that we were attacking homeless And going after homeless, I wanted to puke I've got veterans who are sitting in hospitals who can't make competent choices for themselves to get better care in the next level care. We're helping them do that. The attttorney general agreed with us on this. Tacano told NDR he doesn't believe the VA seecretary's claim that safe harbor is just a proposal. Mano says his staff have compiled lists of cases where VA is asking courts to put homeless veterans under guardianship and strip them of their rights Several veterans advocate groups have expressed similar concerns. Well, are you guys ready? Yeah O I'm going to ask him if it's okay. Back in Long Beach, our two outreach workers have found Curtis Irvin. He's sitting in his pickup, which is pretty full of stuff He's got a beard gone mostly white and hair sticking out under a worn Oakland Raiders cap. He's happy to see them. I was an engineering. Irvin served in the Navy just after the Korean War. I was an engine my diesel mechanic on a ship, that means you everything an engineering. What ship were you on? The last ship I was aborn was here this Bainbr nuclear powered destroyer. W. So what year were you born nineteen thirty eight. My goodness, you look good. I've been trying And if I get rid of this beard, I keep telling myself I want to be better because I never want to beard this long. But it keep the young women away from me. Well, that's the great purpose. Yeah Did you mostly stay in your truck? Right now I'm in the truck. For the last two to three years, I've beenve been dancing from hospital to hospital because I hurt my back and my hip. and I finally got out because they tried to keep me. He says he's been bouncing between hospitals for years, that and his truck, and he honestly can't remember the last time he had a home But Veronica Hood seems to have built a rapport, and Irvin says he'll be here tomorrow to go with her to the hospital and then get a roof over his head. Okay. And tomorrow, She's gonna follow me. you're gonna follow in the truck. and you guys are gonna meet me at the welcome Center. We're gonna park it there, and you're gonna go to the hospital. Okay, you sound good See you tomorrow Okay, rightight here? Right here? Okay. Hey, it was great to meet you. All right. Good luck tomorrow. Okay. All right, See you later. Thank you., that's