On December 1, 2014, flanked by Steve Carnes and prompted by
Gordon Smith [from Camp Serenity], Caleb Poirier announced the homeless
community’s intent to recall Stephen Kunselman from his Ward 3 City Council
seat. Yes, it caught me off-guard too. Here is the text from his announcement
culled from the LocalWiki site [which, by the way, is being operated by the
CivCity Initiative which will only be able to continue this service if you donate
to the cause].
Specifically at three hours, zero
minutes and seven seconds, Kunselman states...he wishes to make things
difficult for the homeless. He wants to make things more difficult and his
opinion isn't one that is offhand. He prefaces it with the word
"adamant" and he states that it would be something he wishes to do in
the months going forward.
[I’ll digress briefly here to note that Caleb never once
mentions MISSION, nor has that organization ever endorsed
his efforts. It is respectfully requested that the Ann Arbor Independent issue
a correction retracting that mistake from the December 27, 2014 editorial
“Evaluating Human Services.”]
The people who participated in this recall effort have not
often had the opportunity to participate in our community discussions about
policy and program efforts to remedy their situations. What a feeling to see
people who are down on their luck, take off the shelf a political tool
available to everyone and dust it off to improve their own lot.
To my surprise and that of my peers on the MISSION board who
voted not to participate in the recall for obvious legal reasons, the tactic
worked. Homeless individuals acting as
their own direction-setting democratic body have been able to push back on Council
Members Kunselman and Eaton in their zeal to break up all camps in the city*.
I am an organizer and a housing rights activist. I obtained
my Masters in Social Work from the University of Michigan and have been a lecturer there as well as at
Eastern Michigan University. In my current position with HARC, I am a medical case manager working
with people who live with HIV. We use a harm reduction approach when engaging
our clients.
Harm reduction is a set of practical strategies aimed at
reducing negative consequences associated with drug use. The idea of harm
reduction has subsequently been expanded to refer to any strategy that
acknowledges that, while a set of unhealthy actions may need to be ceased
entirely, sometimes the only accessible behavior modification for those with
entrenched habits is one that reduces the harm of the ongoing intractable
habit. This does not do away with the push for a complete reformation. Instead,
it keeps the individual alive while a relationship can be established to assist
in that final transition away from self harm.
I apply these principles to the challenge of helping people
who are living outside and when working with people who are camping. It is not
a stretch to state that PORT [The County “Project OutReach Team] does the same
thing when they pass out tents and sleeping bags through the winter. PORT and MISSION often exchange information
about whose medical or shelter needs are not being met in order to make sure
people get the resources they need.
Rather than telling or forcing someone who is struggling to
fit our idea of what is safe when they are not yet ready to hear it, a professional
outreach social worker’s time is often better spent working to reduce the
potential harm that can happen to individuals who are living outside at any
time of the year. This includes disbursing warm clothing, camping gear,
heaters, propane, food, and water. It can also include visiting people living
in smaller group camps to help them organize themselves, look out for each
other and survive. It can also include helping someone make a case for
disability because they are no longer able to work and will never get into
housing otherwise.
Given the positions proffered by Council Members Kunselman
and Eaton, I do not think we will ever see eye-to-eye on this issue. Nor will
everyone in our community, whom they represent, necessarily appreciate the well
researched but counter-intuitive medical intervention of harm reduction.
However, this does not mean we cannot strive to find other areas of common
ground. One such area is to make sure everyone has a safe, warm space they can
sleep every night. I look forward to working on these overlapping concerns as
we move forward with affordable housing projects such as Accessory Dwelling
Units, Tiny Houses among the many other ways that we can help those living
outside improve their quality of life.
Notes:
* “‘It is not the practice of the city
of Ann Arbor to proactively seek out homeless camps for removal, nor to broadly
deploy strategies to render areas used as campsites unusable,’ the resolution
states.” --- From Jan. 21, 2015 Mlive article by Ryan Stanton, “Ann
Arbor officials: city can't turn a blind eye to homeless camps when there are
complaints”
