首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
The Street-Level Solution [A]When I was growing up, one of my father’s favorite sayings(borrowed from the humorist Will Rogers)w
The Street-Level Solution [A]When I was growing up, one of my father’s favorite sayings(borrowed from the humorist Will Rogers)w
admin
2014-07-25
84
问题
The Street-Level Solution
[A]When I was growing up, one of my father’s favorite sayings(borrowed from the humorist Will Rogers)was: "It isn’t what we don’t know that causes the trouble; it’s what we think we know that just ain’t so. " One of the main insights to be taken from the 100,000 Homes Campaign and its strategy to end chronic homelessness is that, until recently, our society thought it understood the nature of homelessness, but it didn’t.
[B]That led to a series of mistaken assumptions about why people become homeless and what they need. Many of the errors in our homelessness policies have stemmed from the conception that the homeless are a homogeneous group. It’s only in the past 15 years that organizations like Common Ground, and others, have taken a street-level view of the problem—distinguishing the " episodically homeless" from the " chronically homeless" in order to understand their needs at an individual level. This is why we can now envisage a different approach—and get better results.
[C]Most readers expressed support for the effort, although a number were skeptical, and a few utterly dismissive, about the chances of long-term homeless people adapting well to housing. This is to be expected; it’s hard to imagine what we haven’t yet seen. As Niccolo Machiavelli wrote in The Prince, one of the major obstacles in any effort to advance systemic change is the "incredulity of men," which is to say that people "do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them. " Most of us have witnessed homeless people on the streets for decades. Few have seen formerly homeless people after they have been housed successfully. We don’t have reference points for that story. So we generalize from what we know—or think we know. [D]But that can be misleading, even to experts. When I asked Rosanne Haggerty, founder of Common Ground, which currently operates 2,310 units of supportive housing(with 552 more under construction), what had been her biggest surprise in this work, she replied:"Fifteen years ago, I would not have believed that people who had been so broken and stuck in homelessness could thrive to the degree that they do in our buildings. " And Becky Kanis, the campaign’s director, commented; "There is this sense in our minds that someone who’s on the streets is almost in their DNA different from someone who has a house. The campaign is creating a firsthand experience for many people that that is really not the case. "
[E]One of the startling realizations that I had while researching this column is that anybody could become like a homeless person—all it takes is a traumatic(创伤的)brain injury. A bicycle fall, a car accident, a slip on the ice, or if you’re a soldier, a head wound—and your life could become unrecognizable. James O’Connell, a doctor who has been treating the most vulnerable homeless people on the streets of Boston for 25 years, estimates that 40 percent of the long-term homeless people he’s met had such a brain injury. " For many it was a head injury prior to the time they became homeless," he said. "They became unpredictable. They’d have mood swings, fits of explosive behavior. They couldn’t hold onto their jobs. Drinking made them feel better. They’d end up on the streets. "
[F]Once homeless people return to housing, they’re in a much better position to rebuild their lives. But it’s important to note that housing alone is not enough. As with many complex social problems, when you get through the initial crisis, you have another problem to solve which is no less challenging. But it is a better problem.
[G]Over the past decade, O’Connell has seen this happen. "I spend half my time on the streets or in the hospital and the other half making house calls to people who lived for years on the streets," he said. "So from a doctor’s point of view it’s a delightful switch, but it’s not as if putting someone in housing is the answer to addressing all of their problems. It’s the first step. "
[H]Once in housing, formerly homeless people can become isolated and lonely. If they’ve lived on the streets for years, they may have acquired a certain standing as well as a sense of pride in their survival skills. Now indoors, those aspects of their identity may be stripped away. Many also experience a profound disorientation at the outset. " If you’re homeless for more than six months, you kind of lose your bearings," says Haggerty. " Existence becomes not about overcoming homelessness but about finding food, begging, looking for a job to survive another day. The whole process of how you define stability gets reordered. "
[I]Many need regular, if not continuous, support with mental health problems, addictions and illnesses—and, equally important, assistance in the day-to-day challenges of life, reacquainting with family, building relationships with neighbors, finding enjoyable activities or work, managing finances, and learning how to eat healthy food.
[J]For some people, the best solution is to live in a communal(集体)residence, with special services. This isn’t available everywhere, however. In Boston, for example, homeless people tend to be scattered in apartments throughout the city.
[K]Common Ground’s large residences in New York offer insight into the possibilities for change when homeless people have a rich array of supports. In addition to more traditional social services, residents also make use of communal gardens, classes in things like cooking, yoga, theatre and photography, and job placement. Last year, 188 formerly homeless tenants in four of Common Ground’s residences, found jobs.
[L]Because the properties have many services and are well-managed, Haggerty has found posthousing problems to be surprisingly rare. In the past 10 years, there have been only a handful of incidents of quarrels between tenants. There is very little graffiti(涂鸦)or vandalism(破坏). And the turnover is almost negligible. In the Prince George Hotel in New York, which is home to 208 formerly homeless people and 208 low-income tenants, the average length of tenancy is close to seven years.(All residents pay 30 percent of their income for rent; for the formerly homeless, this comes out of their government benefits.)When people move on, it is usually because they’ve found a preferable apartment.
[M]"Tenants also want to participate in shaping the public areas of the buildings," said Haggerty. "They formed a gardening committee. They want a terrace on the roof. Those are things I didn’t count on. " The most common tenant demand? " People always want more storage space—but that’s true of every New Yorker," she adds. "In many ways, we’re a lot like a normal apartment building. Our tenants look like anyone else. "
[N]As I mentioned, homelessness is a catch-all for a variety of problems. A number of readers asked whether the campaign will address family homelessness, which has different causes and requires a different solution. I’ve been following some of the promising ideas emerging to address and prevent family homelessness. Later in 2011, I’ll explore these ideas in a column. For now, I’ll conclude with an update on the 100,000 Homes Campaign. Since Tuesday, New Orleans and a few other communities have reported new results. The current count of people housed is 7,043.
Housing the homeless is only the first step to solving all their problems.
选项
答案
G
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/Som7777K
0
大学英语六级
相关试题推荐
A、Feelingsandthoughts.B、Colorandemotions.C、Colorandshapes.D、Symbolsandshapes.C在谈到抽象画时,短文提到这位艺术家运用色彩(color)和形状(shapes
A、Thelevelofeducationvariesaroundtheworld.B、Theeconomists’attitudestopopulationdiffergreatly.C、Thelivingstandar
没有哪个国家比中国对汽车更痴狂了(bonkers),这里新到达中产阶层(middle—class)的人们的梦想就是一辆闪闪发光的新汽车。但仅仅有汽车对这些渴望超越中产阶层的人们是不够的,牌照号(licenseplate)就成为与汽车一样能够象征身份和地位
玉龙雪山(YulongSnowMountains)指的是丽江附近高大的山峰们。这些山脉南部离古城区北部只有30公里左右。玉龙雪山滑雪区是这里的当地人冬日里最喜欢去的地方。很少有中国人滑雪,但人们喜欢去那儿,在雪地里玩。它有一个初学者用的滑雪场,约半公里
A、Ittakestimeforthehumanbodytogetusedtoit.B、Itlacksthevitaminsandmineralsessentialforhealth.C、Itenhancesi
A、Affectionandpoliteness.B、Situationsandintimacy.C、Attitudesandrelationships.D、Emotionsandbehavior.B短文开篇表明.面部表情所携带的信
TheAdvantagesofBeingHelplessAteverystageofearlydevelopment,humanbabieslagbehindinfantsfromotherspecies.A
A、MakingtheilliteratehaveaccesstoInternet.B、Creatingsimplerlanguageforitsusers.C、Attractingmorephoneuserstojoi
A、Thecolorsofclothing.B、Theindividualtasteonclothing.C、Theideaofpsychologyofclothing.D、Theclothingfashion.C细节题
A、Sheisfamiliarwithallkindsofsportequipment.B、Sheisanexperiencedmountainclimber.C、Sheisaconfidentmountain-cli
随机试题
公司解散
根据我国法律规定,城镇国有土地使用权出让合同的出让方应为()。
人们在房地产估价的反复实践和理论探索中,逐渐认识了房地产价格()的客观规律,在此基础上总结出了一些简明扼要的,在估价活动中应遵循的法则或标准,这就是房地产估价的原则。
《安全生产法》规定,生产经营项目、场所有多个承包单位、承租单位的,()对承包单位、承租单位的安全生产工作统一协调、管理。
碎片式学习:指学习者通过一点一滴的方式积累或获取知识和信息。下列不属于碎片式学习的是()。
文化的核心是()
求=__________.
Todaywe’lldiscussproposals_____theimprovementofquality.Allotherproposalswillbelefttothenextmeeting.
A、Oceanicsnails,B、Largegreenjellyfish.C、Differentplanktonicplants.D、Sunkentreasurechests.A
Lyingundertheskull,thehumanbraincontainsanaverageof______nervecellscalledneurons.
最新回复
(
0
)