Religion
Related: About this forumWould closing St. Louis homeless shelter violate religious rights? Board weighs appeal Thursday
By Doug Moore
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
1 hr ago
ST. LOUIS • The Rev. Larry Rice, a long-time thorn in the side of City Hall leaders, said shutting his downtown homeless shelter would be a violation of his religious rights.
On Thursday, a city board that hears appeals will weigh Rice's argument against those made by city officials who say he is operating his New Life Evangelistic Center illegally and is in violation of numerous ordinances.
"New Life is a church that provides overnight shelter as part of its religious mission," Rice's attorney, Todd A. Lubben, wrote in an appeal to the city after Building Commissioner Frank Oswald sent Rice a cease and desist notice in November. "Requiring New Life to vacate its premises and cease operations at this point violates New Life's religious rights."
The cease and desist notice gave Rice 30 days to appeal, which he did. Now the issue goes before the city's Board of Building Appeals.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/would-closing-st-louis-homeless-shelter-violate-religious-rights-board/article_da102ab9-b514-5e1b-b8b4-04c7fd4e7d1c.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)We cannot have homeless people ruining the view in St. Louis.
So unsightly.
Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)“It’s actually 30 percent and the ten percent is voluntary, tithe. That is often emphasized because we want to be sure that person really wants to be a part of this particular work,” Rice said.
Rice said fewer than four people are paying New Life out of their disability benefits.
Not really an equivalent to the English workhouse system that I was referencing.
Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)[div class="excerpt" style="margin-left:1em; border:1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius:0.4615em; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #999999 inset;"]Members of the two-year program are often shipped off to one of Larry’s farms, where they tend to livestock, operate broadcast centers, or turn used vegetable oil into diesel fuel as part of his Missouri Renewable Energy initiative. Their work generates income for NLEC, but still, they receive no wages. In fact, members of the two-year program who collect disability or other benefits are asked to donate 40 percent.
Larry says these programs break the cycle of homelessness and provide on-the-job training. But one homeless man describes the arrangement as “almost like modern-day slavery for blacks and whites.” I meet with Chris Rice in his office to discuss the programs.
...
There's been controversy about Larry Rice locally for years, this is nothing that's really new. He's exploitative, and the entire situation is extremely complicated. The fact is that there are better run shelters in St. Louis that could use funding that don't rely on modern day serfdom to keep themselves afloat.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)30% of SSDI (disability income) is approximately $215 a month. And I do not pretend to know what percentage of his clients approve of this arrangement. The real problem is that the social safety net is so weak in the US that many people have no real alternatives.
No one can live on SSDI.
Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)so the amount can vary a lot depending on your work history.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but my fiancee gets about 10% more than her mother, and you are right, in either case, its very difficult to live off of that income alone.
Her mother lived a year in a shithole apartment with that income way out in the sticks, where such rents are low. Even that was untenable, the landlord was damn near a slumlord and now she lives with us, and we don't charge her even close to 30% for rent, even though we could use it.
What I would like to see St. Louis do is try to pool the money together for developing permanent residency for the homeless population, with no strings attached, no drug tests, no forced labor, no requirements to go to church, nothing. Give them apartments that are literally pay as you are able. Make health programs publicly available(BJC can help a lot with that, they already run such programs for Medicare/Medicaid recipients and homeless people). Give them work study programs, counseling, continuing education programs, recuitment programs, etc. Make these programs and other easily available.
The thing is, St. Louis has a lot of land in city limits that can use redeveloping, and having mixed income(including homeless) neighborhoods may help, but only if they are properly supported, we don't need another Pruitt-Igoe again. The city now actually has the opposite problem of the 1950s, back then its was overcrowded, and now its underpopulated. There are signs of growth, and it looks like population decline has slowed or halted entirely. But there is a very nice Section 8 housing in Les Chateaux, perhaps that should be a model as to where to place the homeless population.
High rises wouldn't be ideal, but slightly higher density townhomes and/or apartment buildings might be more economical, as long as public services exist to provide affordable public transportation and other services to the area. I would say this would be ideal in areas of St. Louis north of Delmar, particularly in trying to fill in the many empty lots in North St. Louis. Perhaps a surefire way to ensure such services are available to the ex-homeless would be to intersperse them into mixed income, mixed race neighborhoods, or build and redevelop such neighborhoods from the ground up. Ha, if only I could run form mayor and have a billion dollars to give away, I live less than a mile from city limits, go there all the time to spend money, have plans to perhaps buy a house or condo in city in the future. But been dreaming of what I'd spend my lottery winnings on, and that would be part of it.
Sorry, this turned into a rant about how to fix what's wrong with city, there's a mayor race going on, can't vote in it, but pulling for Antonio French all the same.
On top of all this, the NLEC is not a solution, there are alternative homeless shelters that provide similar services, the NLEC gets horribly overcrowded, the building isn't up to safety codes, its a blight on the neighborhood, and the conditions inside are horrible.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)My son receives SSDI in the amount of $735 a month. I know another adult who receives $795 a month.
And yes, your prescription for St. Louis would be a huge improvement over the current system that treats the disabled and the poor as guilty of something rather than people in need of help.
My wife and I have shopped for antiques in the St. Louis area numerous times. We frequently travel I-55 down to Collinsville. We noticed the urban renewal around the Arch.
Response to rug (Original post)
muriel_volestrangler This message was self-deleted by its author.
