Homelessness is a national issue. This photo was taken in Washington DC September 2017.
This point-in-time count is a snapshot of people who are homeless in Spokane, counted by local teams on one night in January, a statistic that is limited by a variety of factors and not considered the complete picture. Because more homeless people were in shelters, and fewer were outside in hard-to-find places, it was easier to get a count, according to McCann and city officials. That might apply particularly to the chronically homeless, who are more likely to use emergency shelters.
In particular, the city’s super-tight rental market – with an estimated vacancy rate of 0.7 percent – makes it very hard for people to find affordable housing and pushes the homeless numbers upward. Nearly 500 people are qualified for federal housing vouchers but can’t find a place to use them in town, said Dawn Kinder, the director of the city’s Community, Housing and Human Services Department.
This year’s count showed:
1,090 homeless individuals, an 11 percent increase over last year. Eighty-seven percent of all people counted were in shelters. Around three-quarters of those were in emergency shelters, and one quarter were in transitional housing.
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YOU ARE PROTECTED ONLY IF WE THE PROTECTED CLASSES ORGANIZE AND JOIN WITH POOR PEOPLE AND STOP THE POLICIES OF DONALD TRUMP.
This is a needed conversation every night. What strategies can we use to protect our freedoms, families, healthcare, environment, air, schools, our vote, and to stop wars.
If you read The Black Lens News or ask Sandy she can tell you when & where.So What’s Next? What Support is Needed? Have A Seat At Your Own Table!!
What’s the Next Step? Subscribe to the Black Lens News, write an article in the Black Lens News, follow 4comculture.com. 4comculture has been posting events and things you can do. Become media literate and savvy. When your politicians hold town hall meetings show up. This past week there were two. If you weren’t there, here they are:
Black man shot in the back. Jury acquits shooter. SCAR rallies, marches and protests with libations.
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Marchers marched past East Central Community Center where a farewell and retirement dinner for Chuck and Evelyn Anderton occurred. Two celebrations Juneteenth. One struggled for emancipation. The other celebrated emancipation from the job and escape from Spokane’s plantation. Enjoy your Retirement!
On the eve of the Juneteenth march some of the Black religious community gave awards and had a catfish dinner. Excess catfish was sold to marchers at the BBQ concluding the rally, march and protest.
Waiting for “My Spokane Black People” is like Waiting For GODot. Must we die first? Life After Trump. It has been difficult getting Spokane’s African American community involved in social justice concerns. Here’s something easy you can do. Come see talented young actress Regina Carerre at the September showing of Waiting for Godot.
The last time we, Bob and Diane Lloyd, were waiting for Godot was in the mid-1980’s at 123 Arts at 123 S. Madison with Dave Gustafson & his wife, Nancy Malloy, Johnnie Montgomery, Frank Ponikvar, Ralph Busch, Tim Behrens, Tom Davis, John Schneider, Jennifer LaRue, Brian Flick. 123 Arts was on the south side of the railroad tracks across from the Otis Hotel in another historic Spokane brick warehouse, now a parking lot for condos.
I witnessed a great performance by the Gonzaga University Dept. of Theater and Dance.
The Acting : The Cast
You should have seen Regina Carerre who played Pozzo. She is a senior at Gonzaga University with an English major and a double minor in Criminal Justice and Theatre. And Jaron Fuglie as the slave Lucky gave the most tremendous monologue when asked to demonstrate that he could think.
If you did not see it, it’s OK, Godot never showed. Come see it September 7 or 9 at 7:30 pm or September 10 at 2:00 pm.
The Set : The Art
The outdoor set IS the environment and changes with the forces upon it. The installation artist J. J. McCracken says that it “responds to adjacent elements: the constant flow of materials via the BNSF Railway and the history of the Washington Cracker building. Embedded objects refer to the transformation of raw material into goods through refinement and manufacture. Items in the junk pile suggest transportation, labor, communication, marketing, demand, consumption and waste when a hill of earth material slowly weathers, washing over and reclaiming them. The tree, questionably dead, loosely references beetle kill ravaging forests as climate change warms the North American woods. other referents include the Great pacific Garbage Patch.
The Trains
A moving part of the set, we wait for the next train. Part of the ambient sounds of police sirens, ambulances, motorcycles that weave into the stream of the sound design which featured selections from Insect Courage (2016) & Califone (1998) by Califone and Guitars Tuned to Air Conditioners (2016) by Tim Rutili & Craig Ross.
Says Director Charles M. Pepiton, “We are entangled. Climate changes. Leaves grow like ashes as the BNSF railway threads its way west and east rolling pipelines of oil, coal, and lumber. We wait. ‘But at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not.'”
