Latest news with #homelessness
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Moses Lake homelessness debate continues
Jul. 17—MOSES LAKE — Alleviating homelessness and its impact on the community continues to be the subject of discussion in Moses Lake. An ordinance under consideration by Moses Lake City Council is the latest chapter in that discussion. Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce executive director Debbie Doran-Martinez said that, from her perspective, chamber members are looking for responses that improve the overall situation. "We would just like to see something that would move the needle in the right direction," Doran-Martinez said. The proposed ordinance would regulate the use of public sidewalks if approved by council members; they reviewed a first draft July 8 and are scheduled to vote on the measure July 22. The ordinance is among updated city regulations that Brittany Bouchouari, director of community for HopeSource of Moses Lake, said are having a negative effect on homeless residents. The new regulations follow the closure of the Open Doors Sleep Center on June 30. "Since the sleep center closed and new ordinances took effect, we're hearing the same thing from people experiencing homelessness in Moses Lake — there's nowhere to go. It's not just about a place to sleep. It's about having anywhere to be without law enforcement intervention. We are seeing a gap for those who need a safe place to exist," Bouchouari wrote in an email to the Columbia Basin Herald. Doran-Martinez said the sleep center, from the Chamber's perspective, didn't seem to be achieving the desired result. "We feel (that with) the resources that were allocated to (the sleep center), we didn't see any results," she said. Bouchouari said from her perspective, the sleep center was a valuable option. She cited data collected after its closure. More than 1,200 unique individuals have been served since its opening in 2020, according to HopeSource data. Of those, more than 1,000 eventually stopped using the sleep center, with almost 70% of them making what she called a successful exit. That meant they found alternate housing, reconnected with family or friends, or found other programs to help them. "Each of those exits reflects progress and the potential for lasting change," she said. "We are proud of what the sleep center accomplished. We're proud of our team, our partners and especially our guests, who showed up each day in pursuit of something better." From her perspective, on balance, the sleep center provided something positive, Bouchouari said. "The sleep center gave people a safe place to land where there was nowhere else to go. It wasn't without its challenges, but it met a real need and touched many lives," she said. The revised ordinance on sitting or lying on public sidewalks, now being considered by the city, would establish a zone where those activities are prohibited between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. In the draft ordinance, the zone includes West Broadway Avenue from the intersection with West Third Avenue to State Route 17. It also takes in West Third Avenue from the West Broadway intersection to the intersection with East Broadway Avenue. A section of North Stratford Road to West Valley Road was included. Regardless of the final parameters, sitting, lying and sleeping are allowed in public parks while the parks are open. Public parks in Moses Lake close at 10 p.m. Doran-Martinez sent a survey to Chamber members, asking for their opinions on locations that should be included in the ordinance. Respondents were asked to rank areas around town in order of importance. Along with Third Avenue and a bigger area of Stratford Road, the options included Kittleson Road near the Interstate 90 and SR 17 intersection and West Broadway at the I-90 intersection on the other end of town. The survey also included questions on interactions that business owners have with homeless people around their businesses. Doran-Martinez said she sent the survey to all 470 Chamber members, and 113 finished the survey. Many respondents said they must clean up debris around their businesses regularly, including drug paraphernalia, she said. Many business owners also said they've called law enforcement to deal with homeless people. "The vast majority of our businesses have to deal with this on a regular basis," Doran-Martinez said. She cited the Chamber's experience at its previous location near the Moses Lake waterfront. A homeless person camped outside the Chamber office, breaking into the patio and later setting fire to a mattress outside the building. The string of incidents resulted in multiple calls to law enforcement, she said. Chamber officials plan to survey business owners periodically over the next few months to determine how the sleep center closure has affected their businesses, she said. After about two weeks, there seem to be fewer people in the business district with wagons or shopping carts. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Thousands leave Ontario jails and end up homeless, data shows
A new report is painting a bleak picture of a 'deep link' between incarceration and homelessness in Ontario.
CBC
5 hours ago
- CBC
Thousands leave Ontario jails and end up homeless, data shows
A new report is painting a bleak picture of a 'deep link' between incarceration and homelessness in Ontario.
Irish Times
9 hours ago
- Health
- Irish Times
Better-off children ‘sailing away from the have-nots', warns Ombudsman
Children from Ireland's financially better-off families are 'sailing away from the have-nots', the State's Children's Ombudsman has warned. The number of children living in poverty has doubled in the last year, Dr Niall Muldoon told the Patrick MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal. 'They're sailing away from us. The haves are sailing away from the have-nots. And children are the ones who suffer there all the time,' he said. Nearly 5,000 children are currently homeless, even though the State has been running unprecedented budget surpluses in recent years, Dr Muldoon noted. READ MORE 'That's 2,200 families that need to be found a home. That priority has never been given to children, or families.' [ Child homelessness a 'national shame', TDs and Senators told Opens in new window ] Family homelessness was 'not even an issue' until 2012, when post-crash austerity 'kicked in properly' as the State moved away from providing public housing to depending on the private sector, he said. Currently, it costs the State €350 million a year just to house homeless families in Dublin, but the problem can be tackled, he told the summer school. 'It's not intractable. It is something that can be done.' The Government is unable to tell the Office for the Ombudsman for Children how much it spends on children, Dr Muldoon said. 'They can tell me exactly what the State spends on every brick in the [National] Children's Hospital , but not what they spend on children.' Equally, it can explain that the State's mental health budget has grown by a fifth in the last five years to €1.3 billion, 'which is still about half of what most other countries do, but they can't tell me what they spend on children'. Three-quarters of all mental health issues begin in childhood, the summer school heard. 'You would think 75 per cent of the budget, or 50 per cent of the budget should be spent on that. It's not. The reason it isn't is because it allows the other part of the system to use it as a slush fund if necessary.' Chris Quinn, Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, said the homelessness crisis is affecting even more children north of the Border, where 5,000 households are in temporary accommodation and 18,000 are registered as homeless. 'It baffles me as to why we have silence on this. In the South, there's a huge outcry about homelessness and the housing situation. In the North, it isn't, but those figures are mind-boggling. [ Children have 'borne the biggest brunt' of homelessness crisis Opens in new window ] 'Poverty's sitting at about 25 per cent. So, one in four children are living in poverty. One in four children are going to school hungry, whose mommy or daddy is choosing to heat the house, or put the dinner on the table for themselves and their children,' he said. One in 10 of 11- to 19-year-olds in a recent Northern Ireland survey declared that they would engage in self-harm, with one in eight young people having suicidal ideation: 'Our child adolescent mental health waiting lists are through the roof,' Mr Quinn went on. The consequences of poverty make people age faster, said Prof Rose Anne Kenny, the founding principal investigator of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) and the chair of Medical Gerontology at Trinity College Dublin . 'Children who experience circumstances actually have an accelerated ageing process,' she said. 'The children experiencing depression at home, alcohol, drugs, homelessness, uncertainty, et cetera – those children age faster.' The faster ageing can be tracked biologically: 'We're creating a society, or a section of society, which will not get a chance at any stage unless we get it right now,' Prof Kenny said. Looking at lessons that can be learned from the United States, Prof Kenny said it has been clearly shown that people who possess a Bachelor of Arts degree die later and are far less likely to die in middle age than people who are poorly educated. Urging parents to encourage children to read and to read to them, Patricia Forde, the State's Laureate na nÓg, warned that the number of children who read regularly, or at all, is falling dramatically – largely explained by the rise in social media use. 'My grand ambition is very simple. I would like every child in Ireland to be a reader. And when I say reader, I don't mean literate, and I don't mean reading as a hobby,' she told the summer school. 'I want children who are reading for pleasure and who form a habit of being readers so that they grow up with something that is beside them at all times that they can read. So, that would be my magic wand moment.'
The Sun
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Katie Price admits she's facing homelessness as she can't find a guarantor for new rented property days before moving
KATIE Price has revealed she's on the brink of homelessness – just days before she's due to move out of her current home. Former glamour model Katie, 46, admitted she's struggling to find a guarantor for a new rented property, despite having a glowing reference from her current landlord. Speaking on The Katie Price Show podcast with her sister Sophie, the mum-of-five explained she's only got 'a couple of months' left in her current rental after the owner decided to sell. She said: 'I was supposed to have this place for about two years. The guy who owns it – such a nice guy – he let me have the place even though I didn't have a guarantor. "And I've been on time with all the payments, as you should, bills and everything. But now he wants to sell it.' Katie added that trying to find a new home has proved more difficult than expected – even with her good track record as a tenant. She said: 'It p****s me off. Some houses I look at, I can't get a guarantor. Some people don't earn enough to be one for me. "One house I do want, the landlord wants six months' rent up front and a guarantor – even though I've got the best reference ever from this guy. 'It's so annoying. Because that guy has read the papers and that, I get judged on it.' Sophie chipped in, pointing out how competitive the rental market has become, with more landlords demanding guarantors regardless of the tenant's situation. The TV personality was evicted from her dilapidated Mucky Mansion last year amid ongoing financial issues. Katie's former home became synonymous with its down-and-out nature and its constant need for repair and upgrade. Katie Price SLAMS Love Islanders for having sex on TV and insists she would 'never' do it After being kicked out of the mega-mansion, Katie was forced to move into her current four-bedroom house in Sussex. She previously spoke of her joy at moving into a £5k-a-month new build and starting a fresh chapter. Last month, we exclusively revealed a buyer had snapped up the Mucky Mansion for less than Katie paid for it in 2014. The rundown pad, which has nine bedrooms and four bathrooms, was bought for £1.15million - £200,000 less than Katie paid for it. She previously insisted it was worth at least £2million. Katie said last year: "I absolutely have hated my mansion. "I tell you why, nine years of hell I've had there. Fly-tipping, it's haunted… And I am living with it. "Whoever buys that house, good luck! I hate it." Katie - once worth £45million - moved into the mansion ten years ago. Katie Price's missing millions At the peak of her career Katie had an estimated fortune of £45m, thanks to her lucrative modelling career, book deals, and TV appearances. The cash-strapped mum-of-five was first declared bankrupt in 2019 over unpaid debts of £3.2 million. In a podcast interview earlier this year, she blamed her exes who include Peter Andre, Alex Reid and Kieran Hayler and lawyers for her money woes. She insisted that funding her exes' lavish lifestyles with cars, watches, luxury holidays and homes left her finances in tatters. She added: "I went through a breakdown, this is how mine started - lawyers and exes, that is my bankruptcy thing. "And obviously a bit of HMRC. "When I had my breakdown, if anyone has been depressed… I don't know if you've ever had depression. "It starts with depression and you just want to sleep all day and not talk to anyone, the phone would ring and you wouldn't answer it.' In March, Katie was declared bankrupt for a second time over an unpaid tax bill of £761,994.05. The demand for payment was made by HMRC last October. Katie was due to give evidence about her finances at the High Court but failed to turn up - holidaying in Cyprus with her new man JJ Slater instead. Her Mucky Mansion was a bomb site for years after it was burgled, flooded and swamped by an overflowing septic tank. She finally moved out at the end of May and is renting a four-bed mansion in Sussex. 4 4 4
