Has anyone seen Yo Yo? That is one of his handles. He is homeless and used to hang out on the corner of 5th and Capital on the B&B side. I haven't seen him in months and am hoping someone has . He also went by Rosep.

..with the exception that it wastes a lot of money and resources.

If you want to find out whats happening? Volunteer at Bread & Roses.

Go try a lunch hour at the Community Kitchen.. ask around when you bring supplies to Camp Quixote.. but don't just speculate speculate behind the keyboard.

BE INVOLVED. All the hard working people who spend every single day with little or no pay.. are working against poor money management decisions from the City as well as CCS.

And when you see an outreach worker riding a bike downtown.. get to know a name. They don't have set hours or wage, these guys just show up and help with harm reduction .. emergency survival supplies and information.

But most of all.. ask a question or two.. and you'll start getting plugged in.

That is EXACTLY what is happening here. A community of people who just stop, ask what the problem is... and start making small changes to help make a big difference.

To answer your question, I have noticed a difference. I think it would be a bit of stretch to give the camp credit for it though. The camp has possibly taken in a couple of those folks (I can speak to this because I know the campers as well as the folks that would hang out downtown personally), but not enough to have a huge impact.

Ordinances like these are simply not as effective as those that craft them might want you to think. There have not been very many people cited or arrested because of the new amendments to the ordinances. There could be a variety of reasons for a decline, however, one being that police have a tool they can use to move "undesireables" along. Another, and one that I believe to be the true cause, is that people have moved on with their lives and don't need to hang out there anymore. I know of quite a few cases where this true, the opening of the Drexel House on Devoe Street provided living space for a number of people who would otherwise be staying at the Salvation Army or camping out either downtown or in the woods. These people now have a place to be during the day, whereas before downtown sidewalks were their only option.

This has not however, decreased the number of people that are without housing, our system is creating houseless people faster than we can build housing for them. Case in point, about a year ago we were getting 70 to 90 people signing in a Bread and Roses for services per day; today the average is somewhere between 100 to 120. Devoe managed to house many of our chronic homeless, those are the folks you see, the visible houseless. The "invisible" houseless are people that you wouldn't be able to tell if you walked past them. The average amount of time a person spends houseless is 3-5 months, the majority of people need a secure place to live while they get back on their feet, and are eager to do so. Honestly, I walk through downtown just about every day. I see a lot more people now that I recognize from Bread and Roses than I ever have, the average person just wouldn't know it by looking at them.

So in the end, the answer to your question is yes, there has been a change, but no, not because of the ordinance, and there is still a tremendous amount of work to be done in the arena of crafting services to assure that we don't see people on the sidewalks again. Drexel House is full, and openings are few and far between. The same can be said for the Salvation Army. As time goes by, unless we make some systemic changes, unless we implement a redevelopment plan for our downtown that embraces services as well as retail and mixed income housing, we'll be right back where we left off. We have come a long ways since the beginning of the year. The reason for that is because open minded people have been willing to listen for the first time in a long time to the people who are experiencing poverty and houselessness. This is a trend that I hope we can continue.

They must find it difficult...
Those who have taken authority as truth,
rather than truth as the authority."
- Gerald Massey

When I walk in Downtown, I don't know who is "homeless" and who isn't, unless they happen to tell me. I have never been bothered by anyone for any reason.

"There is only one race, the human race" - The Neville Brothers