Love Responds to Love

It might have appeared as an “out-of-sight-out-of-mind” strategy to hide the City’s dark side during the Democratic National Convention.  But in fact, when the City asked Project HOME to open a special, short-term “respite” for people who were homeless on the streets of Center City, it was part of a strategic initiative designed to promote real solutions.

For three weeks, starting before and continuing after the Convention (and during the worst of the summer heat wave), almost thirty guests made a temporary home in the basement of our 1515 Fairmount Avenue residence.  Their presence was part of intensified outreach to persons experiencing chronic homelessness, providing both a place to stay and access to housing and services so they could take concrete steps toward truly changing their lives (see page 4 for more details on the “100 Day Street Homelessness Challenge”).  City officials, including Mayor Jim Kenney, were clear in their public statements:  We were not “hiding” our homeless problem but doubling our efforts to bring people home.

“It was a God-given opportunity for a lot of people,” said Carmen Green from Project HOME’s Outreach Coordination Center, a core staff person at the respite.  The folks who came in, she said, had deep struggles, high barriers, and many negative experiences with shelters and programs.  The respite provided time for relationships and trust-building, with a stress on truly listening to each resident articulate what she or he wanted and needed.

Resistance to services turned into motivation.  Almost every one of the residents – a diverse group ranging from age 25 to almost 80 – were able to take the next steps – to treatment and recovery, safe havens, and permanent housing. 

Suzanne and Brooke were among the respite guests – along with their dog, Buddy, a rescue that they acquired during their time on the streets.  Their efforts to get out of homelessness were frustrated by the shelters’ prohibitions against pets, as well as limited spaces available for couples – and they were not about to be separated.  With the Convention looming and temperatures soaring, Sister Mary Scullion personally approached them, along with our amazing volunteer Mike Kinslow, with an invitation to the newly opening respite – and they gladly accepted.

They were moved by the positive and welcoming atmosphere.  “You’d think with such a broad spectrum of people there, that maybe there would be more cattiness and conflict,” Brooke noted. “But everyone was there for the same purpose, getting back on their feet.  Everyone was grateful, and when gratitude is present, good things can happen.”

“The respite really opened doors for a lot of people who weren’t getting the services they needed,” said Suzanne.

Several formerly homeless residents of Project HOME offered their time and energy and played a vital role.  Michael Oliveri, who has lived at 1515 Fairmount for three years, jumped at the chance to help.  He was down in the basement with the respite guests almost every day, all day, mainly just socializing, checking in, befriending folks and supporting them in many small ways.  He was “astounded by the miracles that were happening there.”  On the edge of tears, he speaks of one woman from the streets who was down on her luck, partly paralyzed by a recent stroke.  When she was eventually placed at our Women of Change safe haven, she told him, just before leaving, “Michael, if any more good things happen to me, I think I am going to burst.”

“I watched so many people come in broken, without any hope,” he says.  “When they came in to a setting that was clean, air-conditioned, with comfortable beds, shower, television, and three excellent meals a day, it was beyond their wildest expectations.”

“We saw the vision statement on the building many times,” Brooke said, referring to Project HOME’s motto, “None of us are home until all of us are home.”  “Now being here, we really understand it.”

Outreach staff will continue to work with many of the respite guests until all of them are fully established in housing.  And we will take the lessons we learned during those three remarkable weeks forward as we continue to make homelessness a thing of the past.

Kanika Stewart from the Outreach staff affirmed the amazing impact of the respite – due in part, she said, to the added “rapid re-housing” resources that the City made available, and also to the family atmosphere. “I would love to see this kind of respite during the winter, which allows us to be more personable, more hands-on, and more effective.”

Michael Oliveri knows what ultimately made the respite a success:  When you treat people with dignity and respect, they respond. “Love speaks to love all the time – that’s the secret.”