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Contact:
Phil Rydman
816-471-8020 (office)
February 27, 2007
Rescue Mission Leader
Concerned for Mentally Ill, Injured, Non-English Speaking
The Department of Housing and Urban Development estimate of 754,000 homeless
people in 2005 has grabbed the attention of the nation, but Rev. Steve
Burger, executive director of the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions
(AGRM), hopes suggested remedies to the situation go beyond the usual
governmental answers.
“The numbers are hard to grasp; three-quarters of a million homeless people
in America.” Burger said. “However, you don’t solve the problem by
marveling at the numbers. You reduce the numbers by caring for
individuals.”
Across the country, rescue missions and other shelters are being overwhelmed
by the amount of needy citizens seeking help, especially during the cold
winter months. Missions often sleep people in chairs, or on the floor, just
to get them out of the severe weather.
Burger said the growth in the homeless population and obvious shortage of
housing are significant issues. However, his concern is focused upon groups
of homeless people for whom there is no quick answer or easy solution;
people who do not readily fit into a program or case management plan.
“More money must be spent on caring for the mentally ill,” Burger said. “We
cannot continue to assume that people who have a mental health history that
results in homelessness will be able to care for themselves on an on-going
basis, once they are stabilized on medication. Relying on them to remember
to take their medication, or believing that they will seek help from a
mental health professional when life gets tough, is an open door to the
streets.”
Burger also points to a growing number of indigent people being released, or
even abandoned, on the streets by hospitals. “You can hardly walk into a
shelter anymore without seeing people wearing casts or on crutches,” Burger
said. “You take an already vulnerable person and you reduce their ability
to cope or defend themselves, and then you leave them helpless on skid row.
It’s appalling!”
Burger called for increases in indigent care facilities and funding for
extended hospitalization for the poor and needy. “It’s hard to understand
why a hospital that would not send a person of means home without someone to
care for them, would release an individual who cannot afford to pay to the
streets.” Burger also recommended stiff penalties for anyone participating
in such practices.
Homeless families, especially women with children, continue to be the
fastest growing segment of the homeless population. But Burger points to
another rapidly growing group – intact families of non-English speaking
individuals – as one for whom solutions must be found. “So much attention
is being given to reducing illegal immigrants, it is nearly impossible for
people who are in the country legally, but experiencing personal or
financial setbacks, to find a way out of poverty,” Burger said. He
suggested additional programs to help them deal with language barriers and
job placement opportunities.
In order to freely share their Christian faith, most rescue missions do not
actively seek government funding. Burger indicated this approach has
historically allowed missions to develop rehabilitation, education and job
training programs that use and teach biblical principles and adapt to the
individual needs of those they serve.
Burger said that rescue missions have been finding innovative ways to assist
people in need for more than 135 years. He hopes government solutions to
the homeless dilemma will include inventive answers for people who are
outside the norm. “We’ve got to find ways to help ‘the system’ produce
round pegs or square holes.”
Founded in 1913, the Kansas City-based Association of Gospel Rescue Missions
represents 300 Rescue Missions in communities across North America that
provide emergency food and shelter, youth and family services,
rehabilitation programs for the addicted, and assistance to the elderly,
poor and at-risk youth. Last year, AGRM missions served more than 37
million meals, provided 14 million nights of lodging, distributed more than
26 million pieces of clothing and graduated 16,000 homeless men and women
into productive living.
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For more information contact the AGRM website at
www.rescuemissions.org or call
1-800-4RESCUE.
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