Gold Tickets for Homeless Connect

The text message says,
can I get a Gold Ticket, is there time!
Where can I get it?
So I won't have to stand in line.
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Can I get a Gold Ticket, is there still time?

RLH Spring 2011

No Justice at All

All they have is the dumpster,
and the alley.
No tavern to buy a drink.
No bed to make love.
Nothing but old charity to fill the dumpster.
No justice at all.


RLH Summer of 2011

Homelessness is Not a Choice

Homelessness Is Not a Choice.
Homelessness Is the Fruit of Injustice

The Coalition of the Homeless at Church of the Reconciler has determined that it requires a $2000 a month take-home income and upfront cash amount of $3500 to move out of homelessness. The $2000 a month income was determined by identifying the amount of money than it takes in Birmingham to be able to sustain a marginal existence in a livable home. To work at a job in Birmingham where you can earn $2000 a month requires a reliable automobile.

The following budget amounts were arrived at that determined the $2000 a month take-home pay requirement:
1. Rent $500.
2. Utilities $500.
3. Car payment and insurance $500
4. Groceries and miscellaneous $500

Total $2000.

The upfront cash amount of $3500 was determined by the following budget items:
1. First month rent, last months rent, damage deposit $1500.
2. Back utilities and utility deposit $1000.
3. Down payment for automobile $500.
4. Miscellaneous items to set up housekeeping $500.

Total $3500

The large upfront deposit for an apartment is required because the homeless person lost all of their credit when they became homeless. The power company, the gas company, and the waterworks have an infinite memory. They remember all of the back utilities that have not been paid as long as you have received utilities with your Social Security number and personal identification. The option was also made that an agency would be contacted to donate the major furniture required, but there would still be considerable items that couldn't be donated to set up housekeeping.

There are uninformed people in our culture that say that there are many people who choose to be homeless. We hope that this analysis shows that a person couldn't choose to be homeless, unless they have a $2000 a month income and $3500 bank account that they walk away from to live on the street. The analysis also shows that a homeless person can not choose to move off the street, unless they have these resources available to them.

There are 30,000 homeless or marginally homeless people in the city of Birmingham that live in conditions that cannot be considered to be in a livable home. They are using their great human creativity to double up, or find some kind of unacceptable unlivable situation to try to sustain life off the street. This may be an abandoned building or living without utilities or in a house that has a floor caving in, or the roof falling in. They are to be complimented for this effort, but we must recognize that this effort does not mean that they're not homeless. Homelessness is not a choice, but a symptom of deep economic injustice.

R. Lawton Higgs, Sr.
January 27, 2007

Birmingham Coalition OF the Homeless
Church of the Reconciler
112 14th Street North
Birmingham, AL 35203
205 324-6402

March 24, 2004

Mayor Bernard Kincaid
President Lee Loder
And Members of the
Birmingham City Council
710 20th Street North
Birmingham, AL 35203


Dear Mayor, President, and Council Members;


We appreciate your leadership in our city and are grateful for the invitation to write you and all the members of the Birmingham City Council to express the needs we have as homeless persons to build a highway out of homelessness. We appreciate the services we receive as homeless persons but our goal is not to be more comfortable in our homelessness but to be able to have a solid way out of homelessness.

1) We find it very difficult to get out of homelessness because we do not have access to living wage jobs. We are hard working people. Yet we frequently have to work reduced hour temporary jobs often in dangerous and dirty conditions that pay $5.15 to $6.00 an hour. The low pay keeps us on the streets. We would like to have the Birmingham City Council pass an ordinance requiring the Temporary Labor Agencies in Birmingham to pay a minimum wage of $9.00 an hour.


2) We share with all who labor in environments that cause our bodies and clothes to become dirty the need for bathhouses and laundry facilities. In addition to the need for minimum wage legislation we need the Birmingham City Council to pass an ordinance to require temporary labor agencies in Birmingham to provide shower, bathroom and laundry facilities for those who are employed through their agencies. These facilities should be available before and after work hours. This will enable us to present ourselves in the city center as the people who we always want to be as significant contributors to our city.


3) With out quality public transportation, we as homeless people are trapped in downtown Birmingham. We cannot work many jobs in the metropolitan area that pay living wages because our current public transportation system is less than inadequate. We have to camp out downtown to work because public transportation does not does not allow us to manage transportation to the temporary labor agencies from the neighborhoods at 5:00 AM in the morning. We are required to be there that early to have a good chance to obtain a job ticket. So please redouble even quadruple the efforts you are giving to expand our public transportation system.


4) We find it very difficult to obtain market rate housing. We often pay $700 per month rent to stay in the inexpensive motels in downtown Birmingham and use homeless services to survive because we cannot manage the large up front deposits required for market rate housing. Rent and utility deposits, back utility bills, furniture and household supplies can amount to $1,000.00 to $3,500.00 up front cost for market rate housing. We would like for the City of Birmingham to establish a trust fund of $10,000.00 to be used to guarantee the rent and utility deposits. We would also like the city to use its influence to expand the fund through donations from financial institutions, corporations, and individuals. Recipients of the guaranteed deposits would have to show strong progress in a healthy life style and sign a covenant to be drug and violence free. The recipients would pay a monthly fee until their deposits have been covered. The Coalition of the Homeless along with others designated by the city would approve applicants.


5) We find it difficult to move out of homelessness because we do not have the resources to cover co-payment cost for doctor visits and prescription drugs needed for our health and strength. We can receive $50.00 a week for selling our blood plasma twice a week. Therefore we sell our blood plasma often to obtain money for these and other basic needs. This is a self-defeating process. We know our blood plasma is an essential health care resource for the broader community. Yet we suffer loss of health providing it. And we don’t have access to healthcare for our families or ourselves. We would like for the City of Birmingham to pass an ordinance that would require the blood shops to pay a fee for each unit of blood plasma they purchase to create a fund to cover co-payment cost for health care for persons and their families who sell their blood plasma with in a twelve-month period. The ordinance should require no reduction in the price paid for blood plasma.


6) We would like for the City of Birmingham to donate 2 houses a year and the money for their renovation to Church of the Reconciler or its partner agencies to be used for transitional housing. The Coalition of the Homeless will provide the labor for the renovation. Homeless persons who are showing strong progress in their life recovery process and who enter into a covenant to be drug free and violence free would be given the opportunity to provide labor for renovation in exchange for living in the house. When the person gains employment they would be required to pay a reasonable percentage of their income for rent and utilities to continue to stay in the house until permanent housing is obtained. The city could identify local contractors to oversee the renovation.


7) The Covenant Job Group at Church of the Reconciler encourages homeless persons to develop their vision for a small business. When the business vision is complete we network with the School of Business at Samford University to have a senior business major develop a business plan to achieve the vision. We need the City of Birmingham to use its influence to help the person with the plan to obtain a small business loan to begin the business.


8) The Coalition of the Homeless has discovered that many people are kept homeless by the criminal justice system. Small traffic or quality of life offenses result in fines that are unable to be paid because of no employment or low wage employment. Missed court dates are a common occurrence for the homeless due to no watch or calendar and an unstructured life. Missed court dates result in new fines that are further out of financial reach of the homeless. Additional missed court dates result in arrest warrants. These warrants make it impossible to work except for “cash under the table.” This situation results in increased probability of being caught in a background check run by police. The resulting jail time disrupts completely any progress made in the journey into employment, housing and meaningful life. Most come out of city jail with new probations and new court dates to be missed and a new cycle of events that lead to another round that becomes an endless cycle of hopelessness. We would like for the Birmingham City Council to work with the municipal court in conjunction with UAB TASC to develop restorative justice processes that can interrupt this cycle of hopelessness and move homeless people out of the City Jail and courts into productive life.


9) The homeless community needs the city to create specialty shelters that can focus healing and hope for our community.
A) We need a day shelter so that we can work the many night jobs in the city. The current shelter arrangements make it virtually impossible to manage night work. Night work with a place to rest in the day can enable many of us to move out of homelessness.
B) We need a surgical and hospital discharge shelter for the large number of us who are discharged from the hospital with no place to recuperate. With out this resource we suffer long recovery time and are at high risk for permanent disability.
C) We need a shelter for persons who are in sever dysfunction from mental illness or intoxication so that they can be held for three days with out criminalization and given a proper mental health evaluation and referral for treatment or drug or alcohol recovery. We recognize that there may be a number of repeat offenders that may need jail but it should not be the first line of action. If a person is held in the facility for 3 times in any twelve month period with out taking advantage of available resources they should receive significant jail time. Many homeless persons have been diagnosed with mental illness they were unaware of and with treatment have made it off of the streets. This shelter will increase the number of and speed the process of addicted people getting connected with a drug or alcohol recovery program.


10) Many homeless people provide essential labor services in our community through the informal “Catch Out Corner.” This area is often considered an eye sore by some in our community. We would like for the city to create an official “Catch Out Corner.” The official Catch out Corner” can be located out side the loop but near enough to be functional for all who use its services. This Catch Out Corner would have shelter from the elements, drinking water, restrooms, benches and pay phones. The official “Catch out Corner” should have support services to maintain a safe and clean environment.


11) We have many quality residential drug recovery programs in Birmingham. Our problem is that there are not enough of them. The waiting list are to long! We need your support to enable us to develop a world-class 12-month residential drug recovery program. This is an essential component of the highway out of homelessness.


These request we are making of the City of Birmingham are for the purpose of building a highway out of homeless not an attempt to make the homeless more comfortable in our homelessness. Most of the requests reflect the need for structural justice rather than direct services. We recognize these changes require time and effort. We commit ourselves to this task in cooperation with you and the agencies of the City of Birmingham to make them possible.

We want to hear from you in the next three weeks setting a time when we can discuss with you the development of a plan to work toward achieving the implementation of these request.


Yours in Hope and Love for our City



The Birmingham Coalition of the Homeless

3/24/04
R. Lawton Higgs, Sr.


cc:
Community Development Director James Fenstemaker
Planning, Engineering & Permits Director William Gilchrist

Birmingham Coalition OF the Homeless
Church of the Reconciler
112 14th Street North
Birmingham, AL 35203
205 324-6402

March 24, 2004

Mayor Bernard Kincaid
President Lee Loder
And Members of the
Birmingham City Council
710 20th Street North
Birmingham, AL 35203


Dear Mayor, President, and Council Members;


We appreciate your leadership in our city and are grateful for the invitation to write you and all the members of the Birmingham City Council to express the needs we have as homeless persons to build a highway out of homelessness. We appreciate the services we receive as homeless persons but our goal is not to be more comfortable in our homelessness but to be able to have a solid way out of homelessness.

1) We find it very difficult to get out of homelessness because we do not have access to living wage jobs. We are hard working people. Yet we frequently have to work reduced hour temporary jobs often in dangerous and dirty conditions that pay $5.15 to $6.00 an hour. The low pay keeps us on the streets. We would like to have the Birmingham City Council pass an ordinance requiring the Temporary Labor Agencies in Birmingham to pay a minimum wage of $9.00 an hour.


2) We share with all who labor in environments that cause our bodies and clothes to become dirty the need for bathhouses and laundry facilities. In addition to the need for minimum wage legislation we need the Birmingham City Council to pass an ordinance to require temporary labor agencies in Birmingham to provide shower, bathroom and laundry facilities for those who are employed through their agencies. These facilities should be available before and after work hours. This will enable us to present ourselves in the city center as the people who we always want to be as significant contributors to our city.


3) With out quality public transportation, we as homeless people are trapped in downtown Birmingham. We cannot work many jobs in the metropolitan area that pay living wages because our current public transportation system is less than inadequate. We have to camp out downtown to work because public transportation does not does not allow us to manage transportation to the temporary labor agencies from the neighborhoods at 5:00 AM in the morning. We are required to be there that early to have a good chance to obtain a job ticket. So please redouble even quadruple the efforts you are giving to expand our public transportation system.


4) We find it very difficult to obtain market rate housing. We often pay $700 per month rent to stay in the inexpensive motels in downtown Birmingham and use homeless services to survive because we cannot manage the large up front deposits required for market rate housing. Rent and utility deposits, back utility bills, furniture and household supplies can amount to $1,000.00 to $3,500.00 up front cost for market rate housing. We would like for the City of Birmingham to establish a trust fund of $10,000.00 to be used to guarantee the rent and utility deposits. We would also like the city to use its influence to expand the fund through donations from financial institutions, corporations, and individuals. Recipients of the guaranteed deposits would have to show strong progress in a healthy life style and sign a covenant to be drug and violence free. The recipients would pay a monthly fee until their deposits have been covered. The Coalition of the Homeless along with others designated by the city would approve applicants.


5) We find it difficult to move out of homelessness because we do not have the resources to cover co-payment cost for doctor visits and prescription drugs needed for our health and strength. We can receive $50.00 a week for selling our blood plasma twice a week. Therefore we sell our blood plasma often to obtain money for these and other basic needs. This is a self-defeating process. We know our blood plasma is an essential health care resource for the broader community. Yet we suffer loss of health providing it. And we don’t have access to healthcare for our families or ourselves. We would like for the City of Birmingham to pass an ordinance that would require the blood shops to pay a fee for each unit of blood plasma they purchase to create a fund to cover co-payment cost for health care for persons and their families who sell their blood plasma with in a twelve-month period. The ordinance should require no reduction in the price paid for blood plasma.


6) We would like for the City of Birmingham to donate 2 houses a year and the money for their renovation to Church of the Reconciler or its partner agencies to be used for transitional housing. The Coalition of the Homeless will provide the labor for the renovation. Homeless persons who are showing strong progress in their life recovery process and who enter into a covenant to be drug free and violence free would be given the opportunity to provide labor for renovation in exchange for living in the house. When the person gains employment they would be required to pay a reasonable percentage of their income for rent and utilities to continue to stay in the house until permanent housing is obtained. The city could identify local contractors to oversee the renovation.


7) The Covenant Job Group at Church of the Reconciler encourages homeless persons to develop their vision for a small business. When the business vision is complete we network with the School of Business at Samford University to have a senior business major develop a business plan to achieve the vision. We need the City of Birmingham to use its influence to help the person with the plan to obtain a small business loan to begin the business.


8) The Coalition of the Homeless has discovered that many people are kept homeless by the criminal justice system. Small traffic or quality of life offenses result in fines that are unable to be paid because of no employment or low wage employment. Missed court dates are a common occurrence for the homeless due to no watch or calendar and an unstructured life. Missed court dates result in new fines that are further out of financial reach of the homeless. Additional missed court dates result in arrest warrants. These warrants make it impossible to work except for “cash under the table.” This situation results in increased probability of being caught in a background check run by police. The resulting jail time disrupts completely any progress made in the journey into employment, housing and meaningful life. Most come out of city jail with new probations and new court dates to be missed and a new cycle of events that lead to another round that becomes an endless cycle of hopelessness. We would like for the Birmingham City Council to work with the municipal court in conjunction with UAB TASC to develop restorative justice processes that can interrupt this cycle of hopelessness and move homeless people out of the City Jail and courts into productive life.


9) The homeless community needs the city to create specialty shelters that can focus healing and hope for our community.
A) We need a day shelter so that we can work the many night jobs in the city. The current shelter arrangements make it virtually impossible to manage night work. Night work with a place to rest in the day can enable many of us to move out of homelessness.
B) We need a surgical and hospital discharge shelter for the large number of us who are discharged from the hospital with no place to recuperate. With out this resource we suffer long recovery time and are at high risk for permanent disability.
C) We need a shelter for persons who are in sever dysfunction from mental illness or intoxication so that they can be held for three days with out criminalization and given a proper mental health evaluation and referral for treatment or drug or alcohol recovery. We recognize that there may be a number of repeat offenders that may need jail but it should not be the first line of action. If a person is held in the facility for 3 times in any twelve month period with out taking advantage of available resources they should receive significant jail time. Many homeless persons have been diagnosed with mental illness they were unaware of and with treatment have made it off of the streets. This shelter will increase the number of and speed the process of addicted people getting connected with a drug or alcohol recovery program.


10) Many homeless people provide essential labor services in our community through the informal “Catch Out Corner.” This area is often considered an eye sore by some in our community. We would like for the city to create an official “Catch Out Corner.” The official Catch out Corner” can be located out side the loop but near enough to be functional for all who use its services. This Catch Out Corner would have shelter from the elements, drinking water, restrooms, benches and pay phones. The official “Catch out Corner” should have support services to maintain a safe and clean environment.


11) We have many quality residential drug recovery programs in Birmingham. Our problem is that there are not enough of them. The waiting list are to long! We need your support to enable us to develop a world-class 12-month residential drug recovery program. This is an essential component of the highway out of homelessness.


These request we are making of the City of Birmingham are for the purpose of building a highway out of homeless not an attempt to make the homeless more comfortable in our homelessness. Most of the requests reflect the need for structural justice rather than direct services. We recognize these changes require time and effort. We commit ourselves to this task in cooperation with you and the agencies of the City of Birmingham to make them possible.

We want to hear from you in the next three weeks setting a time when we can discuss with you the development of a plan to work toward achieving the implementation of these request.


Yours in Hope and Love for our City



The Birmingham Coalition of the Homeless

3/24/04
R. Lawton Higgs, Sr.


cc:
Community Development Director James Fenstemaker
Planning, Engineering & Permits Director William Gilchrist

Relationships of Faithful Service to the Poor


Psalm 140:12, “I know that the LORD maintains the cause of the needy and executes justice for the poor.” (NRSV) declares the theme of the Bible as the story of the call of God for the nations, Israel, the Church and individuals to worship God with relationships of faithful service to the poor of the land. Moses says:
Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts. And this is the manner of the remission: every creditor shall remit the claim that is held against a neighbor, not exacting it of a neighbor who is a member of the community, because the LORD's remission has been proclaimed. Of a foreigner you may exact it, but you must remit your claim on whatever any member of your community owes you. There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the LORD is sure to bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as a possession to occupy, if only you will obey the LORD your God by diligently observing this entire commandment that I command you today. When the LORD your God has blessed you, as he promised you, you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.
If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be. Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, "The seventh year, the year of remission, is near," and therefore view your needy neighbor with hostility and give nothing; your neighbor might cry to the LORD against you, and you would incur guilt. Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, "Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land." Deuteronomy 15:1-11 (NRSV)

The Bible is also the story of the judgment of God upon the nations, Israel, the Church and individuals for the failure to care for the poor in the land.
Jeremiah says:
Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice; who makes his neighbors work for nothing, and does not give them their wages; who says, "I will build myself a spacious house with large upper rooms," and who cuts out windows for it, paneling it with cedar, and painting it with vermilion. Are you a king because you compete in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? says the LORD. But your eyes and heart are only on your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence. Therefore thus says the LORD concerning King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah: They shall not lament for him, saying, "Alas, my brother!" or "Alas, sister!" They shall not lament for him, saying, "Alas, lord!" or "Alas, his majesty!" With the burial of a donkey he shall be buried -- dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 22:13-23 (NRSV)

The prophet Ezekiel says that Sodom was judged because she did not care for the poor. “This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.” Ezekiel 16:49 (NRSV)

Jesus defines his ministry as a ministry to the poor in this way:
When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Luke 4:16-19 (NRSV)

Jesus says that compassion and relationship with the poor is the basis of the way God will judge the nations.
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Matthew 25:31-46 (NRSV)

The one unifying factor that came out in all the conflicts and divisions in the early church was a commitment to the poor, as Paul says about the Jerusalem Council in his letter to the Galatians: “They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do.” Galatians 2:10 (NRSV)

James makes it clear to us that God sees the poor at the heart of the land and the Church.

My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For the one who said, "You shall not commit adultery," also said, "You shall not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. James 2:1-17(NRSV)

As people of faith we must weep and work for the healing of our land as Jeremiah says:

"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved."
For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt,
I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.
Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?

O that my head were a spring of water,
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
so that I might weep day and night
for the slain of my poor people!
O that I had in the desert
a traveler's lodging place,
that I might leave my people
and go away from them!
For they are all adulterers,
a band of traitors.
They bend their tongues like bows;
they have grown strong in the land
for falsehood, and not for truth;
for they proceed from evil to evil,
and they do not know me, says the LORD.

Jeremiah 8:20-9:3 (NRSV)





RLH 2/9/96

STATIONS OF THE CROSS

Church of the Reconciler and the Birmingham Coalition of the Homeless are sponsoring an ecumenical Good Friday Worship Service at 11:00 AM, Friday, April 14. The Procession and Service will begin at Church of the Reconciler, 112 14th Street North in Downtown Birmingham. The Procession and Service will be based upon the traditional “Stations of The Cross” liturgy. The purpose of this worship service will be to focus upon the experience and pain of the poor and homeless in Birmingham as it relates to the cross of Jesus.

Worshippers will process to several “Stations” in the downtown area were the scripture, prayers, and meditations of the “Stations of The Cross” will be observed. The Processional will reach its end point at 14th Street. and 1st. Ave. South, a spot known as the “Catch-Out Corner” where the homeless and working poor are often picked-up for day-labor jobs. We plan to arrive at this location at approximately 12:30 PM. Here, the worshippers will observe a remembrance of the crucifixion of Jesus.

A press conference will be held at 12:30 PM at the “Catch-Out Corner following the “Stations of the Cross” worship service. The new Railroad Park will displace the “Catch-Out Corner”. One more experience of pain and suffering to be endured by the homeless poor. A statement of support for the new Railroad Park and other developments in the downtown area that includes the needs of the poor and homeless will be released.


R. Lawton Higgs, Sr.
112 14th Street North, 35203
ReconUMC@aol.com
205-613-1858
205-324-6402

New Birmingham Must Be for All

The Birmingham Coalition of the Homeless enthusiastically celebrates the new development and new life in downtown Birmingham. We look forward to the new Railroad Park and continued loft and business growth in the city center. And we expect that the New Birmingham be developed for all in the tradition of The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and The Southern Christian Leadership Conference under the leadership of Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. Development in this tradition always includes the needs of least and the last from every ethnic group to be fully considered and met.
In light of these gifts Birmingham has given the world we expect the following development components to be fully funded and completed in the development of our city:

Policing carried out without any violation of civil or human rights.


Police tactical units developed and trained to respond to the needs of the mentally ill; a specialty shelter where the out of control mentally ill can be retained, evaluated and stabilized under the care of trained mental health professionals, without criminalization; and permanent housing designed for the mentally ill with full supportive services.


Public restrooms in the new Railroad Park and in three (3) other locations in the city center.


An official 24 hour Catch Out Corner with restrooms, showers, telephones, lockers and supportive services.


A Living Wage Ordinance for all city employees, contractors working on city projects and all temporary labor agencies in the City of Birmingham.


The development of African American General Contractors with the capacity to bid on major projects like the Railroad Park. And broad participation of Minority Contactors as subcontractors in all city projects that exceeds the bare minimum determined by law.


The development of five additional housing programs in the style of The Brother Bryan Mission for men and women of equal or greater capacity, located in North Birmingham, West End, Ensley, Avondale and Woodlawn.


Regulation of the Birmingham Blood Shops in accordance with the highest and best national standards.


Expanded quality regional public transportation.


No cost photo ID restoration for homeless persons born in Jefferson County.

Co-payment support for healthcare and prescription cost at Cooper Green Hospital and other healthcare providers.

RLH 3/31/06

The road into homelessness follows these general contours:


Death Experience(s): death of loved one(s); divorce; illness (physical, emotional or mental); loss of job; personal trauma (auto accident, gun shot wound, job injury, domestic violence, military service, sexual abuse, incarceration, etc.)


Mixed with drug and alcohol abuse that results in addiction:


And criminalization from quality of life offences and drug or alcohol violations.



All the above take place in an environment of poverty, racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, and high rates of illiteracy.

There are approximately 80,000 persons living below the poverty line inside the city limits of Birmingham, 30,000 are homeless or marginally homeless, and 2-3,000 are living on the streets or in shelters at any one time.

This results in a serious, deep and destructive problem for homeless persons and economic development for the city center of Birmingham.


A highway out of homelessness consists of the following:


Emergency shelter, food, and clothing:


Healing; spiritual, emotional, physical and mental:


Recovery from drug and alcohol addiction:


Recovery from criminalization:


A living wage job with private, safe, affordable and accessible housing:



R. Lawton Higgs, Sr. 6/2/05

The Death of Joe S Farmer

The Death of Joe S. Farmer,
The Fruit of Birmingham Injustice


Deborah Vaughn, Vice President for Public Relations of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, said at a Community Affairs Committee of Operation New Birmingham Race Relations Round Table reporting on her trip to Philadelphia, PA with a group of Birmingham leaders who traveled there to discover why that city was rated number one in America in eliminating homelessness, that “Philadelphia has three things that Birmingham does not have, first; they have a plan, Birmingham does not have a plan, second; they have political and business leaders that have a strong personal and public commitment to addressing the needs of the homeless, Birmingham does not have this leadership, third; Philadelphia treats homeless persons as human beings, Birmingham does not.”

Joe S. Farmer, a homeless, mentally ill Breen Beret, Special Forces Viet Nam veteran, has suffered massively over the last months because of Birmingham’s hatred of the homeless that Deborah so clearly described. I, along with many others have struggled as advocates for Joe and we have failed in the face of a void of resources and compassion here in Birmingham. This is nothing new, I have battled this hate of the homeless as pastor of Church of the Reconciler in downtown Birmingham for 12 years and the time is now for radical change!

Here is Joe Farmer’s story. It is the story of hundreds, if not thousands of others. It must not happen again. It is the story of the fruit of suffering and pain that a blind callous systemic injustice produces for the homeless poor.

Wednesday morning, January 4, 2006, I arrived at Church of the Reconciler at 7:30 AM. The homeless volunteers and homeless members of the church that make our Life Recovery Center for the Homeless a reality greeted me with a chorus of concern, “Joe’s gone and he’s been hurt. His blood, a lot of blood is on the ground where he used to stay.” I stepped around the corner of the church building and there on the concrete walkway where Joe often sat and slept to catch some warmth of the winter sun and to be out of the wind were two large deep red bloodstains. One was four feet long and six to eight inches wide, the other a foot and a half long, the same width. It reminded me of what the slaughter of a huge dove might look like because sticking to the blood was a cover of light downy feathers. I learned later that the feathers had come from Joe’s jacket that the paramedics had to cut off of his body to brace his head and neck for transport to the hospital.

I was heartbroken and grief stricken, the day before I had been by the church on my way home from a trip to Montgomery over the New Years holiday and had noticed that Joe was gone. I thought our hopes were fulfilled and the County Sheriff had picked him up and carried him to UAB Hospital for the mental health evaluation and treatment he so desperately needed. The week before Christmas I had filled an addendum to the pick up order that Jo Sherer had filled many weeks before with the Mental Health Division of the Probate Court of Jefferson County. The staff in the Mental Health Division said they would give the pick up order to the judge after New Years Day.

Now I stood in the face of the chain of one more blasted hope in our struggle to get Joe the help he needed. I was now in the midst of the reality of our worst fears. Joe had been brutally assaulted. We did not know where he was or if he was dead or alive.

Jo Sherer had filled the documents with the Mental Health Division of the Probate Court to have him picked up because Joe Farmer was clearly psychotic. He was a threat to his own well being. He was immobile. He was refusing shelter in freezing weather. He refused shelter in heavy rain. He was not eating properly. He was urinating and defecating on himself. Joe Farmer was a very sick man. His illness was clearly identifiable to all who saw him. The staff at the probate court indicated to Jo Sherer that a six-month waiting period was required before a pick up order would be issued. We new he would be dead before then.

Joe Farmer was also a threat to the health and well being of others. He was camping in the doorway of Church of the Reconciler. The wet filthy blankets filled with urine and feces, under which he hoped to find shelter, were surrounded by rotting food. I joined with volunteers at the church and we cleaned the area daily. In spite of our efforts this situation was clearly a health threat to all who entered the church.

JBS, Jefferson Blunt Shelby Mental Health, was my next hope. I called them four times in a period of four days and left messages with their intake staff. No one returned my call.

With the failed response of JBS I thought the police was my next best hope. If we could get him arrested and in jail I hoped we could then get him over to UAB for the evaluation and treatment he needed. Joe was suffering. Even with the blankets and food provided by the Street Outreach Staff at the Old Firehouse Shelter, the round the clock care of members of the homeless community and the supportive care he received from Church of the Reconciler his situation was unacceptable and deteriorating. I would arrive at the church at 7:30 AM in 20-degree weather. He would be uncovered, his stained pants were soaking wet and steaming from his own urine. He would be shaking from the cold. Something had to be done. Even though I am opposed to the Doorways Ordinance proposed by the city. I decided it was time to have Joe arrested for trespassing. I called the North Prescient. Told them my name and the need I had. They sent two patrol cars, one Officer in each car. They arrived in about 20 minutes. A car parked in front of and on each side of Joe as he lay against the church building next to the door. They got out of their cars with their thumbs in their back pockets. I extended my hand for a handshake prior to any discussion. They refused my greeting. I expressed my request that they arrest Joe for trespassing. They refused to arrest Joe. “He is not trespassing, he is on the sidewalk,” they said. I asked if there was a form or report that I could fill out with my trespassing charge. They responded, “Pastor we are not going to accept your trespassing charge.” They finished their comments by promising to send a Community Service Officer in about an hour to see what they could do about Joe. The two officers left. An hour passed, then it was several hours and still no Community Service Officer. After two in the afternoon I called the North Prescient again. They said the CSO was on a call and when she finished she would be there. I have not seen a CSO as of yet.
Later on that afternoon I called Ms. Teresa Thorn with CAP to discuss my concern about Joe and the police response. She suggested that I call the North Prescient and ask to speak to a day supervisor, explain the situation and see if they could me any support. I made the call the next day. After I identified my self and my concern, the officer that answered the phone said that a day supervisor was not in but they would have one call me as soon as they came in. The call was never returned, one more dead end.

My ongoing relationship with Joe was marked with a difficulty in communication. I was not able to hear his words or meanings well. Communication with mentally ill persons is difficult at best. I regularly offered to take him to shelters in the area and to take him to the hospital. Joe always refused my offers.

One day in our morning conversations Joe was able to communicate to me some information about his family in Redfield, Arkansas. He knew their phone number by heart. After he gave the number to me I called them. His sister in law communicated to me a long history of deep pain and guilt of a failed history of their struggle to care for Joe. Diane made me aware that Joe was a Viet Nam veteran, Special Forces Green Beret. She indicated that the VA Hospital System had all his information and history. Following our conversation she faxed the information to the V A Hospital here in Birmingham. I began to try to get Joe to the VA Hospital. Joe refused my daily offers to carry him to the VA. Then one Wednesday to my surprise, Joe accepted my offer. I was elated. I grabbed the cleanest blanket piled beside him threw it on the seat in my pickup truck. Got him in the truck by the hardest and we were on our way to the VA Emergency Room. I got him checked in the Emergency Room with the confirmed awareness of the file they had received from Diane Farmer. When Joe was called to the examination room I left the hospital to make another appointment. As I left Joe was complaining about his leg. Later that evening I received a call from a person at the VA wanting to know if we had shelter at the church for Joe. I said no. I also informed them that there was a pick up order for Joe with the Probate Court and that he needed to stay in the hospital. Surprised and deeply disappointed, I found Joe back in the church door the next morning. He had only been treated for his leg, which was broken. Discharged from the emergency with a soft cast on his left leg and two crutches, he was placed in a cab and delivered to the church door on another night with the temperature in the mid twenties. Much to my surprise I discovered in efforts to follow up and understand this incomprehensible event that the VA Hospital in Birmingham does not have any mental health beds.

Later that week I arrived at church to discover that during the night before Joe had been shot by paint ball guns. The blue ruptured balls of white paint were lying all around Joe and there were 5 or 6 paint marks on the curb in front of Joe and about the same number on the church wall beside him on both sides and above where he laid. White paint marks were on Joe’s clothes. It was a result of this escalating violence toward Joe that I filled the addendum to the pick up order with the Mental Health Division of the Probate Court that I mentioned above. We were deeply concerned that this mentally ill man would suffer further harm. Our worst fears were a reality.

The word off of the street that morning was that Joe had received a severe head injury, was bleeding heavily and in shock and was picked up by the Birmingham Fire and Rescue around six or six thirty AM. I tried to find Joe. I called the Coroner’s office. He was not there under his name or as an unidentified person that fit his description. I called the North Prescient and they had no information about him. I called the #6 Fire Station and the person on duty did not know any thing about Joe being picked up or where he might have been carried. I called UAB Hospital, Cooper Green and the VA Hospital with out any results. I called the Mental Health Division Staff at the Probate Court and advised them. They offered to help find Joe. We put the word out on the street, thinking he might have been treated and discharged again. No luck. The next morning the Probate Court called and said that there was a man fitting Joe’s description and injuries at UAB. They asked me to go by and make the identification. The person was Joe. He was in the Neurological Intensive Care Unit at UAB on life support. The nurses there informed me that there was very little probability that Joe would live. I called the Probate Court to report what I had discovered. They asked me if a Birmingham Police Case Number had been assigned. I did not know and offered to find out.

I remembered what a homeless friend had shared with me several years before when I asked him what we could do to stop the violence on the street. He responded by saying that if someone killed me the city would not rest until somebody would be under the jail. But if somebody killed him there would not even be a report filled. He concluded that until that changed the violence would continue.

I called the North Prescient and ask the desk officer if there had been a report filed and a case number assigned. He did not know and referred me to the sergeant. The sergeant said that there was no case number and a report had not been filed. He transferred me to a CSO. She was on another phone call and promised to call me back. She called back and I explained the need for a case number and she said I would have to call the homicide desk to get a report filed and obtain a case number. I called the homicide desk and the desk officer transferred me to the homicide sergeant. I explained the background and asked to get a report filed and a get case number. The homicide sergeant said they did not do that and I would have to call the North Prescient to get that done. I was outraged at this runaround and fully expressed my feelings to the sergeant and after a few minutes said that he would send detectives to make the report. While I was waiting the two hours for them to arrive a homeless man came up in emotional distress and shared that he knew the man who had hurt Joe and would cooperate with the police. He said that he had shared this information with a narcotics officer and the police officer at the Firehouse. They had not requested a report or investigation. The homicide detectives filled out a report and gave me a case number. They called a technician to collect evidence. While they were there I overheard them saying to one another that they did not know why the paramedics did not request a police report.

This reminded me of the report a homeless man gave me the day after Joe was assaulted that he called a patrol car over to the site where Joe was assaulted and he got out of the car, looked things over and commented that this was a fresh incident but did not fill out a report.
The homicide detectives followed up on the lead from the homeless man and a suspect is in custody.

The life support was removed from Joe S. Farmer on January 10, 2006 at 4:30 PM. He died on January 11, 2006 at approximately 1:00 PM. His body was sent to the morgue at Cooper Green Hospital for an autopsy because he was a homicide case. His body was turned over to the Chaplain at Cooper Green for burial in the Jefferson County paupers field in Morris.

Mr. John Key of the Salvation Army who walked the journey with Joe alongside us was moved to seek a more honorable burial for Joe. He contacted the Veterans Administration and they offered him a burial plot in the National Cemetery at Fort Mitchell near Phoenix City Alabama with full military honors. Brown Rideout Funeral Home donated a metal casket. Bell Funeral Home in Fultondale donated the embalming for his body. The Salvation Army has donated a van to transport his body. And an Opelika undertaker has volunteered to meet the body at the cemetery. We are all grateful to God for Joe’s honorable burial.

However it leaves me with an uncomfortable eerie emptiness at how almost instantly the resources for his burial were given. When it was impossible to find the resources for Joe to live.

May God help us change this order.

R. Lawton Higgs, Sr.
January 12, 2006

A Day in the Life of a Birmingham Homeless Man

Isaiah 58 (The Message)
Your Prayers Won't Get Off the Ground
1-3 "Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!Tell my people what's wrong with their lives, face my family Jacob with their sins!They're busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me.To all appearances they're a nation of right-living people— law-abiding, God-honoring.They ask me, 'What's the right thing to do?' and love having me on their side.But they also complain, 'Why do we fast and you don't look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don't even notice?' 3-5"Well, here's why:
"The bottom line on your 'fast days' is profit. You drive your employees much too hard.You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist.The kind of fasting you do won't get your prayers off the ground.Do you think this is the kind of fast day I'm after: a day to show off humility?To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black?Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like?
6-9"This is the kind of fast day I'm after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts.What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once.Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage.Then when you pray, God will answer. You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.'
A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places
9-12"If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people's sins,If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.I will always show you where to go. I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places— firm muscles, strong bones.You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry.You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past.You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
13-14"If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don't use my holy day for personal advantage,If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God's holy day as a celebration,If you honor it by refusing 'business as usual,' making money, running here and there—Then you'll be free to enjoy God! Oh, I'll make you ride high and soar above it all.I'll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob." Yes! God says so!




The alarm on the old cell phone, no minutes left on it of course, went off at 4:00 AM. It still kept time when he could find a plug to keep it charged. And John pulled himself out from under the two dirty blankets that have been his bed for the last several months. He lit an old candle he got from the Church of the Reconciler. It cast a warm glow in the corner of the old abandoned building that was now home.

He pulled on his socks and shoes, put on a clean pair of kakis and a shirt he found in the clothes closet at Church of the Reconciler. Sighed a prayer of thanksgiving that God woke him up one more time, and that God had kept him safe during the night. He took a drink of water out of an old milk jug he kept at the camp and ate a bag of chips he brought to the camp from the church.

John stepped outside around the corner into some bushes to relive himself. There aren’t any public restrooms or portable toilets anywhere.

He began the long walk to the Temp Labor agency. He has to be there at 5 AM if he was going to get a work ticket. John was praying all the way that he would get a job that day. He couldn’t ride the bus because the busses don’t start running until 5:30 am.

The police stopped him again. They asked for his ID. They ran him on their computer. Thank God it was clear, or they would have locked him up again. John was deeply grateful because it hadn’t been long since he had completed his community service at Church of the Reconciler to get rid of the fines and warrants he had from the misdemeanors with the City.

He got the fines for driving with out insurance and with an expired license. All this happened not long after his wife died of cancer and he lost it, like many in our culture he didn’t know any response to pain and death but to get drunk or get high. So he lost control of his life and lost his job.

They towed his car and took his expired license. The storage charge on his car was $40 a day. He couldn’t pay so he lost his car.

John missed his court dates because he couldn’t pay the fines and did not want to go to jail. And with the warrant after the second missed court date he could not find a job because everybody now a day runs a background check before giving employment.

But John heard at the Life Recovery Center, Day program for the Homeless at Church of the Reconciler that he could fill out some forms, get them notarized, take them to the Municipal Court and not get arrested. And be assigned Community service hours to get the fines and warrants off his back. He did it. That morning he was glad!

The preacher at the Reconciler also got john an appointment to get his ID restored at the Highlands United Methodist Church. So he had an ID, a non-driver state ID.

So John was not arrested that day on his way to work at 4:30 AM in the morning. But he was late the police delayed him 20 minutes.

Thank God he got a work ticket anyway, $6 an hour for 6 hours, 9 to 3:30. He had to wait until 5:30 PM until they had his check cut for him. John was at the temp agency and job site for 12 ½ hours.

He had a check in his hand for $24.88. $5 deducted for transportation, $6 deducted for lunch and equipment rental, then taxes of course. He couldn’t even rent a cheap motel room for that. He cashed his check at the BP, bought a drink and a bag of chips and had less than $20 in his pocket. He walked by the Captain D’s and bought a fish dinner and walked by the grocery and bought a 2 liter drink, a pack of cigarettes and a snack for breakfast and had $5 left in his pocket.

John was relived to find out that nobody had messed up his camp during the day. Sat down and leaned against the wall and read the Upper Room devotional guide he picked up at the church, by the light coming through an old broken window. He was worried about winter coming, about how to keep warm. He didn’t know what he would do if he got sick, there are no benefits with any of the jobs he can get.

John was wondering how could he get off of the street working like this. He owed over $1,000.00 on back utility bills he still owed after his wife died. He was evicted for non-payment of rent. Lost his credit. And so the only apartment he could find required an up front deposit, first months rent, last months rent. So John was looking at over $2,500.00 to get off the street with only $5 in his pocket.

He checked the old cell phone again hoping the charge would hold until Sunday so he could charge it at church during worship. John set the alarm for 4 AM again. And went to sleep looking forward to Sunday when he could eat his fill again at the Common Meal at the Reconciler.

9/4/06

Isaiah 58 (The Message)
Your Prayers Won't Get Off the Ground
1-3 "Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!Tell my people what's wrong with their lives, face my family Jacob with their sins!They're busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me.To all appearances they're a nation of right-living people— law-abiding, God-honoring.They ask me, 'What's the right thing to do?' and love having me on their side.But they also complain, 'Why do we fast and you don't look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don't even notice?' 3-5"Well, here's why:
"The bottom line on your 'fast days' is profit. You drive your employees much too hard.You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist.The kind of fasting you do won't get your prayers off the ground.Do you think this is the kind of fast day I'm after: a day to show off humility?To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black?Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like?
6-9"This is the kind of fast day I'm after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts.What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once.Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage.Then when you pray, God will answer. You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.'
A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places
9-12"If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people's sins,If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.I will always show you where to go. I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places— firm muscles, strong bones.You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry.You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past.You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
13-14"If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don't use my holy day for personal advantage,If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God's holy day as a celebration,If you honor it by refusing 'business as usual,' making money, running here and there—Then you'll be free to enjoy God! Oh, I'll make you ride high and soar above it all.I'll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob." Yes! God says so!

A blog about the homeless in Birmingham, Alabama. Material created by Coalition of the Homeless at Church of the Reconciler.