On Thursday of last week, the New York Times printed the following statement on their opinion page, Room for Debate, entitled Homes for the Homeless:
Steven Samra’s report on the impact of gentrification on homeless and unstably housed people in Nashville is echoed by stories from cities across the world. The decision by the owner to sell the James Roberson apartment building, a 124 unit, Section 8 eligible residence in downtown Nashville, is a symptom of pervasive forces re-shaping urban environments. If we wish to respond meaningfully to these changes it is important to acknowledge that the shape of our cities, like any other human endeavor, is guided by a series of intentional practices. These practices are made. However, if we act, they can be unmade and different practices installed. The question is, what kind of city do we want?
I’ve been working under our SAMHSA contract Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy (BRSS TACS) to organize an annual Policy Academy to help state systems adopt a recovery orientation. Armed with a subcontract, states pull together teams of decision makers to effect a paradigm shift by bringing recovery-oriented care to their mental health and substance use services.
Sam* had an intense stare. She would look at you, eyes unblinking, with an intensity that was unwavering. It was hard not to feel uncomfortable under that gaze—to search for what it was you had said or done that was worthy of such concentrated scrutiny. Perhaps if she hadn’t seemed so intimidating, I would have asked her about her gaze the first time she locked her eyes with mine. But her very presence didn’t invite questions. Her small, but lean and muscular frame matching the hardness in her face; her skin weathered and aged by years of drug and alcohol use and a life full of uncertainty about the most basic needs—shelter, food, money to survive.
