European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 27, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The mentally ill homeless. According to . Census Bureau 13.5 percent of the nation s almost 246 million people More than 32 million men. Women and children Ell below the government established poverty line in 19b7. Thai s More than Argentina s total population. Poorly is defined by the government by the level of income necessary Lor the Basic necessities of Lite. For a person living alone thai would be 15,778 a year. By comparison the mean income Lor Lull time workers in the United states is. Almost Lour times Hal $26,896 a year. There ate scores of programs on the Federal and slate level Lor these people. The Federal government is spending $10,5 billion this year Lor subsidized housing. $20.3 billion on Load subsidies and school lunches and $8 minion on educational Grants and Loans for the poor the Federal government spent More than $126 billion on health services Tor the poor and elderly last year and $16,3 billion on direct welfare payments to families. These programs help. But like a band Aid on a gunshot wound they Are simply not enough to tit victims out of poverty or reverse its Complex underlying causes. According to the Reagan administration the situation is not so dismal. Since the end of the 1961-82 recession which had sent the jobless rate into double digits some 15 million new jobs have been created. Tha nation s unemployment rate in september stood at 5.4 percent or roughly 6,596,000 people. The june figure of 5.3 percent was the lowest it had been in 14 years. Wilson said however hat changes in the . Economy caused a shift from goods producing industries to service industries. As a result More lobs were created but they were unskilled and not High paying Blue Collar jobs. Wilson said people were left with three choices Public assistance Low paying. Service jobs or part Lime jobs that provide no benefits. ,. It s a no win situation. Part Lime work even at a Job that pays the minimum wage of $3 65 an hour could boost a i did t know \ Fri &. Poverty owe. Thought w Jurt broke person s yearly income level High enough to Cut Olf any Public assistance. And Public assistance although barely adequate at least provides Basic medical care food and even emergency shelter. A report by the employee Benefit research Institute showed that nearly 16 percent of the civilian population under age 65 reported no health insurance from any source. Most poor people would work if they weren t prevented from doing so because of the fear of losing benefits age poor health disability or Lack of child care according to a study by the coalition on human needs i think most people think the poor become so because they Are Lazy said Susan flees executive director of the coalition. The popular notion Hal the poor Don t want to work is just not True. They have a very Strong commitment to work and taking care of their families she said. Al the dilapidated Martinique hotel one of 47 used by new York cily As temporary shelters Wanda Perry sat in the lunchroom with one of her four children and said she would work if she could find affordable childcare. She also lamented the Lack of affordable housing there Are a lot of buildings out there thai Are All boarded up. They ought to gut them clean them up and make them liable she said. Emilio Santamaria 70 jives in a government housing project with his Wile arid their son. The family collects 1691 monthly from social Security in a City where rent for a decent one bedroom apartment on the commercial Market is $850 or More. It s tight he said. It just in t.  even it the elderly have planned Well and have benefits a catastrophic illness could wipe them out  Aren t As fortunate As Bant Omaria and end up on the streets. Estimates on the number of homeless in the United slates Range from 300,000 to 3 million. At project Roach out Sonde said teams of social workers get into their Blue vans twice a Day to hand out sandwiches juice and cookies to their mentally ill homeless clients throughout thecly. She said in the Peak summer months they la see As Many As 45 clients in Central Park in less than two hours. That does not even include the homeless who Are not mentally it. Paul Ramos of the Betances health unit on Manhattan s lower East Side said that a housing shortage in t the. Only problem. Ii Points to a broader problem it Points to society in general. People come from Multi problem families he said. There s a different thing happening now this is not a poverty Hal existed 40 or so years ago. It s a different kind of anger. Drugs have also had their effect Ramos said. What Are the solutions one thing thai would improve conditions in inner cities is to increase employment opportunities Wilson said. When people Are jobless they turn to crime. Joblessness is related to other social  he said joblessness could be eradicated through a guaranteed Job program combined with an earned. Income tax credit. Huling said the welfare system has to be revamped people receiving Aid must be allowed to build assets without the Lear of losing Aid and benefits should be increased. Ronald Mir icy of the Urban Institute said ii is important to train and educate children who Are living in poverty Early so that they can break Iree of the Cycle. Women and children who slay in shelters. Officials recognize  Street people have no Homes and Don t go to shelters bul they refuse to count or estimate their numbers. As of sept. 1. The cily had 5.135 homeless families in system including10,799 children according to the cily s human resources administration they slay in a system of 39 hotels and 35 shelters. In some hotels prostitutes turn tricks on stairwells. Crack is sold openly dealings occur every Day. And a family of Lour May be crowded in a 9-by-12-fool room. There s nothing a kid does t see in Here said Jackie Macklin 31. Who lived for four years in one of the City s welfare hotels. She sent her 11-year-old twin daughters to live in Philadelphia with their grandmother in 19s7 after they  Security guard shot dead in the Holland hotel. These children live under the most extreme conditions of adversity of any child population in me developed world. They re the closest thing we have to refugees in the third world said or. Irwin Redlener of new York Hospital. It s local deprive lion they have been disconnected irom a useful support system a civilized society tries to provide. We re going to pay a Price for this Redlener said. Redlener treats 200 homeless children a week from two medical vans that Are Pydi Alryc cd macs on wheels. Half the patients Lack immunization and Many Sutler from ear infections and asthma Redlener said. It s a Way of dying on the instalment plan said Gretchen Buchenholz of the association to Benefit irreparable harm she said. Children an advocacy group that runs a shelter for we re killing a generation of very poor kids said children their life is so harsh. They lose their. Robert Hayes Lounder of new York s coalition for the childhood the magic that belongs to being a child. It s homeless. It s an abandonment of the most fragile very sad to see a child lose that resilience. We re doing people to the most devastating of  .2,635,393.2,635,394. 2,635,395. The homeless the stars and stripes Page 17