Area homeless number down from last year

Its a shame that we cannot find a way to be able to report these statistics in real time. Reading a report that stated that the ranks of homeless people has dropped by 100 people may give some of us warm and fuzzy feelings but the reality of the current economic crisis will show "next year", that figure increasing and maybe even doubling. Labor rates in this area are ridiculously low. Unemployment is up to 6.1%. Who can afford to pay an $850.00 per month rent for a singlewide trailer 15 to 20 miles from Wilmington when they are now paying more than half their hourly wage for a single gallon of gas? I moved to this area almost 4 years ago from the DC area. Paid cash for my home in Pender County. Had a nice little nestegg in the bank. Set up a small contracting business that was growing in leaps and bounds the first two years. Then the housing market slump began to hit this area. Business slacked off some but I had a couple of invesors as clients which kept me going. I was forced to contribute to the unemployment rate because I no longer had the work to support my workers and had to let them go. The past 11 months have been devistating to my livelyhood. The investors are now performing their own repairs due to the housing crash. One man has a dozen empty homes, he cannot sell them and he worries every month if he can even find qualified renters. Since January of 2008 I have spent over $1000.00 in advertising in local papers. That thousand dollar investment has returned only 1800.00 in sales. The investors are doing their own work and word of mouth has generated only 7200.00 in sales in NH Co and only 1500.00 in Pender. For 9 months I have been aggressivly searching for a construction job. I'm overqualified or I need to accept $7.50 per hour and driving almost 60 miles per day to do it. My tax bill for this year went up more than 12%. Food costs have gone up almost 30%. My worry now is that my little nestegg is gone and I will, except by the grace of God, probably not be able to pay my homeowners tax in January. This means I may be part of the homeless stats people will read about in 2010. Pretty sad reality for many of us as I cannot imagine I am the only one with this challenge.

I'd suggest that everyone who loses sleep over the plight of the homeless go to ABC News and read about Adam Shepard.

Here's a short excerpt:

"Alone on a dark gritty street, Adam Shepard searched for a homeless shelter. He had a gym bag, $25, and little else. A former college athlete with a bachelor's degree, Mr. Shepard had left a comfortable life with supportive parents in Raleigh, N.C. Now he was an outsider on the wrong side of the tracks in Charles¬ton, S.C.

Shepard's descent into poverty in the summer of 2006 was no accident. Shortly after graduating from Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass., he intentionally left his parents' home to test the vivacity of the American Dream. His goal: to have a furnished apartment, a car, and $2,500 in savings within a year.

To make his quest even more challenging, he decided not to use any of his previous contacts or mention his education.

During his first 70 days in Charleston, Shepard lived in a shelter and received food stamps. He also made new friends, finding work as a day laborer, which led to a steady job with a moving company.

Ten months into the experiment, he decided to quit after learning of an illness in his family. ***BUT BY THEN HE HAD MOVED INTO AN APARTMENT, BOUGHT A PICKUP TRUCK, AND HAD SAVED CLOSE TO $5000.***

The effort, he says, was inspired after reading "Nickel and Dimed," in which author Barbara Ehrenreich takes on a series of low-paying jobs. Unlike Ms. Ehrenreich, who chronicled the difficulty of advancing beyond the ranks of the working poor, Shepard found he was able to successfully climb out of his self-imposed poverty."

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I guess the difference was that Adam wasn't investing every cent he made in something to pour down his gullet, smoke, or snort. Plus he didn't have little green men whispering how nice it would be to sleep under a bridge into his ear. Adam Shepard was basically a normal guy.

That's the point. "Basically normal people" who fall on hard times somehow manage to get through them and aren't in tough times for long.

The chronic homeless aren't in that state because of poverty or a lack of affordable housing. They're there because they're drunks, druggies, bonkers, or a combination of all three.

There are more homeless persons than the street people we see walking downtown.
Private charities seem to do a better job of helping the career homeless, as well as the temporary homeless.
The Salvation Army has always been there for
those in dire need. This organization is a sincere, hands on group that understands the problem, and knows how to effectively deliver the necessary help.
I can understand why a huge donation went to the Salvation Army from the WalMart fortune.

Contrary to popular belief, not all homeless people are drug addicts and drunks.

Many of us are a couple of paychecks from being homeless--we are the working poor. We clip coupons. We save what we can for rainy days. We do without luxuries. Those of us without wealthy parents to help us out in times of need would be homeless if we suddenly found ourselves jobless.

I was laid off from a company in Wilmington and nearly lost my house and car---if not for my well-off parents, I would have lost everything in the months it took to find a job that would pay my bills.

For fodder: The president of the company that did the abrupt layoffs had promised a $30 million expansion in the preceding months (never happened; and he never explained why)---and because of his delusions of grandeur he let a lot of seasoned employees down. So, we nearly lost everything we owned, while he sat in Landfall with his BMW and Porshe. Many of us earning close to minimum wage had better credit than he did. I guess we should have all left the company when the collection calls for his home gym equipment and cars came to the office...Good thing he lived in a gated community where the repossession team couldn't get to him.

Maybe a few dozen of them sobered up, or headed to warmer climates where the panhandling is easier?