Talk Is Part of a Solution

Van Nuys has gone from being one more community grumbling about the homeless to one that is doing something--and inspiring others to follow. Its model Homeless Outreach Team, or HOT, just received grants that will not only keep it operating another six months but extend the program Valleywide.

The team grew out of a Van Nuys Targeted Neighborhood Initiative meeting, a city program that provides local groups with money to leverage with private-sector dollars to pay for an array of improvements. Residents, business owners, social service workers and police met to talk about Van Nuys’ homeless problem. No bleeding hearts, they were exasperated and angry at street people who urinated on lawns and panhandlers who scared off customers.

But the key word here is “talk.” After years of complaining about the problem, they met together to talk about solutions. The program that resulted works for a number of reasons:

The Homeless Outreach Team doesn’t depend on social agencies alone but on the cooperation of residents, business owners, police and social service providers.

It fills a gap in services by providing a “sobering station” so intoxicated people can meet the 48-hour clean-and-sober requirement of many drug and detox programs.

And it not only reaches out to homeless people but uses formerly homeless people to do so. Because of their own experiences, the outreach workers are more at ease in the streets and homeless people seem almost instinctively to trust them.

Innovation is always welcome in this vexing area. That innovation is being continued and expanded is more welcome still.