Why is that?
I think it started with Pathways. Back in 2014, Haywood County had only 28 homeless. And those homeless somehow managed to find shelter without there being a Pathways. We didn't have exposure deaths just from being homeless. (https://www.haywoodpathwayscenter.org/h ... n-haywood/)
But oh how local papers promoted turning the jail into a homeless shelter! They rammed it down our throats. The opponents said it would attract homeless from out of town. We were promised that Pathways would ONLY serve locals. Citizens were worried that a homeless shelter or an institutionalized half way house would encourage complacency. We were told Pathway residents would be required to get jobs.Gene Klawetter, who has written dozens of grants for the shelter and soup kitchen, not only believes that number is artificially low, but is convinced it stands in the way of grant funding.
“If a grantor looks at homeless numbers in Haywood County and sees 28, the immediate reaction is: 1. Why do you need a facility with 96 potential beds and a second soup kitchen? or, 2. You are not serving very many people, and we want our grants to serve as many people as possible, or 3. Based on your projected budget, serving only 20 people per year, your cost per person served is out of line with other similar operations that we see or, 4. Serving such a small number of people does not provide the social impact were like to see,” Klawetter wrote in an email interview. “The above reactions are not insurmountable reactions, however, I believe the low homeless number limits us to smaller grant amounts.”
Fast forward 10 years. The number of homeless in Haywood County has skyrocketed -- not been reduced. What was the metric of "reducing homelessness" that Pathways was supposed to deliver? Who is holding them accountable for that? There are far MORE homeless new in Waynesville than the entire county had 10 years ago. Per the quote above, a low count of homeless is no longer standing in the way of grant funding. (Could THAT be part of the contention some City Council candidates have with reliance on grants?)
There are all kinds of trickery happening with commitments and statements. How is a bum from Asheville or Colorado considered "local"? How many days do they have to "wait" on the street before they are local? Are people exiting the prison system in Haywood County considered locals? People staying at Pathways need to be sober and not on drugs.... except when it's really cold out. That "residents need to find a job" really means they can't stay at Pathways all day -- they must roam the streets I guess "looking for work" during the day.
The devil is in the details. As originally conceived, Pathways was sold as a good idea. But as it stands there is no accountability to the public -- who donates the property for Pathways to use. The governing body of Pathways is not accountable to the public. They get to decide how much grant money they want and will pursue -- even if it means changing their policies from what they used to get into the community. No oversight. But the growing blight of the growing homeless is what is causing the growing dislike of non-profits. It's likely Pathways and the associated other non-profits that benefit from increased need that is the root of the problem.
But the non-profits are also keen to public sentiment. They seem to know there are limits and for now, they are respecting self-imposed limits. Why is that? Not everyone has in their minds the same "limits". But here is a case to consider....
Recently the Town of Waynesville stood up a Homeless Task Force. The present day City Council race is making us dust off our memories of how this came to be and what it accomplished. About 20 members of this Task Force were lead by a paid facilitator who is a known leftist. Perhaps 17 of the Task Force were not regular citizen/voter/taxpayer stakeholders but members of the non-profit class. And after more than a year of strife , the Task Force disbanded without action.
The non-profits refused the opportunity to use the committee to exploit and expand the need for more charitable services. How and why that was is not well documented or understood. One of the ideas floating in that committee was a low barrier shelter. Although Pathways has since published documents describing how they alone are considering how to fill that "need", we haven't yet seen an "out in the open" low barrier shelter. The public is ready to tear that idea up if/when it ever gets a true consideration. Could that backlash be what the non-profits want to avoid? Or could it be that the non-profit power structure wouldn't like a new "king of the hill" with a low barrier need challenging the existing order?
It's a well known trick to form a committee, develop a study, and conclude "by evidence" that something should be done. Clearly the task force of non-profit types was meant to do that. I think it backfired on whoever had the idea to employ the "form a committee" trick. The non-profits understood the limits of the community better than whoever owned the genesis of the task force. But there is something called an Overton Window. Consider who in Waynesville's elected positions attempted to move that Overton Window and how they might continue that in the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQvKxGehKok
Joey Reece in the Mountaineer's Candidate forum told of the Homeless Task Force not allowing consideration of a goal to minimize homeless impact to the community. That's an Overton Window manipulation strategy!
What was Mayor Gary Caldwell's position on the Homeless Task Force? I'm glad you asked: viewtopic.php?p=342&sid=f901ab65c7a9060 ... 15380#p342