As April began in Hillcrest, so did the neighborhood\u2019s largest homeless outreach effort to date.<\/p>\n
For the next year, two-person teams will roam the streets of Hillcrest five days a week, engaging with Hillcrest\u2019s homeless population to offer assistance and a path to stable housing. Amid what many residents say is a rapidly growing problem in the neighborhood, Hillcrest\u2019s Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) comes from a $50,000 joint effort by the Hillcrest Business Association (HBA) and Councilmember Todd Gloria\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Gloria and the HBA chose the Alpha Project, a nonprofit based in Hillcrest, to oversee the program. With experience managing comprehensive homeless outreach programs, homeless shelters and transition housing throughout the region, local leaders say the Alpha Project\u2019s approach will benefit the businesses, the homeless themselves and the community as a whole.<\/p>\n The outreach team is the main thrust of the overall effort. Through it, the Alpha Project will invite Hillcret\u2019s transient population to take part in its housing and rehabilitation programs, the ultimate goal of which are employment, sobriety and stability.<\/p>\n Alpha Project adheres to the \u201chousing first\u201d approach to addressing homelessness, which theorizes that once a person has a stable living situation, it will be much easier to address root causes of homelessness, such as addiction or mental illness.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s easier to work on other parts of your life when you\u2019re not in survivor mode, once you have a roof over your head,\u201d Alpha Project Case Manager Jessielee Coley said.<\/p>\n The second prong of the HOT efforts will educate businesses and residents on another important Alpha Project tenant: Don\u2019t nurture the homeless lifestyle. The nonprofit discourages empathetic practices like giving away spare change. Alpha Project CEO Bob McElroy acknowledged that helping the homeless by withholding short-term help can often seem counterintuitive.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s nothing better than to hand somebody a meal, than to help someone out,\u201d McElroy said. \u201cThat\u2019s a spirituality that all people have, whether you\u2019re a believer or not, you\u2019re still a spiritual being.\u201d<\/p>\n But, McElroy said, giving away food and money often enables an addiction, allowing the recipient to continue living a destructive lifestyle without feeling the need to seek treatment.<\/p>\n This outreach effort follows a pilot program last year, funded by another grant from Gloria\u2019s council office that proved a need for this new comprehensive approach to solving homelessness.<\/p>\n During the pilot project\u2019s three-month stint, Alpha Project staff estimated they found housing for over 20 people living on the Hillcrest streets. McElroy estimates there are between 100 \u2013 200 homeless in Hillcrest on any given day. He hopes to drastically cut that number before program ends in a year.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope there wouldn\u2019t be any [homeless after the program], but if we did 50 percent we\u2019d be doing great,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Gloria and others have seen what he described as an \u201cexodus\u201d of homeless moving out of Downtown and up toward Hillcrest. Many attribute this to increased homeless outreach and monitoring in Downtown, with those resisting treatment moving to surrounding neighborhoods.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has gotten more acute,\u201d Ben Nicholls, executive director of the HBA, said of the presence of homeless in Hillcrest. \u201cThe people that are here are dodging services Downtown, so we get some of the most troublesome individuals up here \u2026 because they\u2019re the ones that don\u2019t want to be treated.\u201d<\/p>\n The HBA contributed $30,000 of the $50,000 for the project. The nonprofit also spends approximately $36,000 annually on a security guard in central Hillcrest.<\/p>\n Amy Gonyeau, the Alpha Project\u2019s chief operating officer, said the liberal, open-armed atmosphere in Hillcrest creates an environment that enables the homeless to avoid treatment of underlying issues.<\/p>\n![\"IMG_1737webtop\"](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_1737webtop.jpg\")
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(Foto por Hutton Marshall)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n