From: James I. Davis <jdav%well.sf.ca.us@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Subject: Detroit Homeless
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 21:13:05 GMT


HOMELESS IN DETROIT'S SLUM HOTELS: DO THEY HAVE ANY RIGHTS?

By Darnell Pippin

Slum hotels in Detroit known as the Billinghurst and Roosevelt now
house  the homeless.

At one time these same hotels had the same people in their hotels
who  paid rent, which allowed these hotels to receive the maximum
renter's  allowance that General Assistance (GA) would pay: up to
$220 per month.

When Michigan was hit with the budget cuts that went into effect
on  October 1, 1991, these hotels began evicting people. More and
more people  became homeless. These hotels are now being funded to
house the  homeless. They're also being funded to come up with
motivational  programs such as education, job placement, housing
and treatment for  drug and alcohol abuse, programs to help the
tenants become productive  individuals. Clients who stay in these
shelters say they need programs  that will truly help them to move
on. Instead, the programs are like this:

1. They must give community service in exchange for a place to
stay.

2. Two people to a room. One person must sleep on the roach-
infested floor  on a mat, the other one gets the bed.

3. Yes, there is a cafeteria, but one person has to eat outside or
in a room.

4. There is only cold water.

5. They must be up at 5 a.m. to start community service.

6. They cannot visit each other's rooms.

7. Drugs are available in the buildings.

8. Sexual favors are being made.

9. There is only one way in and out. Bars are on the windows. The
back door  is chained and locked. What happens if there is a fire?

10. The food is bad.

Once again people are being paid off the backs of the poor and
homeless.  The question has been asked: Do homeless people have
any rights? I'll let  you judge that for yourself. I do know that
poor and homeless people must  educate and bring about change in
our own interest.

This message goes out to the poverty pimps, slum landlords and
this  government which allows homelessness and poverty: We will
organize and  educate the victims to take this country!

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
FACTOID: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN G.A. IS CUT OFF?

Studies expose effects of GA cuts

What happens to the thousands of people who lose their job each
day?  After Employment Compensation runs out, a General Assistance
(GA) grant  is often the last resort for many adults.

The Halter study, conducted in Pennsylvania in 1985, found that
when GA  was cut out, only 37 percent could find any kind of work.
Many became  homeless.

A new study by the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., found that
the  extent of homelessness in a community is directly related to
the  availability of GA benefits.

+----------------------------------------------------------------+

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This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition),
Vol. 19  No. 30 / July 27, 1992; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654;
Email:  jdav@igc.org. Feel free to reproduce. Please include this
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