Human Services Policy Outcome

Human Services Policy Outcome

· Introduction

· Scene 1

· Scene 2

· Conclusion

· Credits

Introduction

You are a public policy intern at the mayor’s office in Riverbend City. The city has experienced an increase in the number of residents seeking emergency shelter, including women who are victims of domestic violence and their children. Because of this, the city has secured emergency funding to open several new shelters throughout the city.

The city has found a location to open a shelter specifically for women and children who are fleeing domestic violence. While the exact location of the shelter is not being publicized, it will be located in Lindner Hills, the wealthiest neighborhood in the city. Many residents have concerns about this, and the issue has become controversial.

The city does not currently have an established policy to implement procedures for locating emergency housing. They also don’t have a policy for how to respond to neighborhood concerns about this new housing. Your job will be to investigate this issue further and to recommend a policy outcome that will ultimately state procedures.

Scene 1

Email from Adele Walker

From: Adele Walker, Chief of Staff, Mayor’s Office

Subject: Proposed women’s shelter in Lindner Hills

I’m glad you’re going to be working on the issue of the proposed women’s shelter in the Lindner Hills neighborhood. Here’s some background on the issue that might help.

The proposed women’s shelter has met resistance by neighbors and business owners in this largely affluent neighborhood. A big part of that is because of a halfway house that used to be located in Lindner Hills. This halfway house, which housed nonviolent former prisoners who were in the process of reintegrating into society, was located in a residential neighborhood near an elementary school. After some problems and a good deal of neighborhood resistance, the city relocated the halfway house a few months ago. Because this happened so recently, some people in the neighborhood are very hesitant about the proposed women’s shelter.

There are several points of contention that I’d like to point out. One issue: we’re not releasing the address of the proposed shelter. That’s protocol when it comes to women’s shelters to prevent domestic abusers from locating the people who are fleeing them. I can tell you confidentially that the proposed shelter is located in a large home that is only blocks away from the former halfway house, and even closer to the elementary school. The other point of contention is that unlike many emergency shelters for domestic abuse victims, we are discussing the possibility of allowing families to stay for months or more if necessary. Neighbors are concerned about the impact this may have on the local schools.

A big part of the problem is this: the city does not have a policy in place for determining where to put shelters and how to address neighborhood concerns involving these shelters. Here’s what I’d like for you to do: first, I have some documents I’d like for you to read to get more background information on this issue. Then, I’d like for you to attend an upcoming town hall about this issue. Listen to what neighbors and others have to say.

Afterwards, I’d like for you to report back with some recommendations regarding the proposed shelter in the Lindner Hills neighborhood. I’d also like for you to provide some policy recommendations on how the city should approach the issue of shelters in general.

Thank you for all your hard work!

— Adele

PRESS RELEASE

Forward Directions House To Be Relocated to Ruby Lake Neighborhood

March 25 (Riverbend City): The Forward Directions Halfway House is being relocated from its current location in the Lindner Hills neighborhood. The facility will be closed on April 12, and residents will be moved to a new facility in the Ruby Lake neighborhood.

Forward Directions, which opened on October 21 of last year, houses nonviolent male former inmates. The facility can house up to 24 residents at a time. The purpose of the facility to help former inmates reintegrate successfully into society. The majority of the inmates are former drug offenders, many with addiction issues, and most of the inmates are under 35 years old. Residents have access to drug treatment programs, as well as job training and GED courses.

Residents of Lindner Hills voiced strong opposition to the location of Forward Directions. Housed in a large private home in a residential neighborhood, the facility was located about four blocks from an elementary school and five blocks from a large park. In January, one resident was arrested for loitering in the park and initiating conversations with children. In addition, another resident was arrested for trespassing and engaging in lewd behavior at a nearby golf course.

The staff at Forward Directions also expressed concern about the location of the halfway house. A major issue was the lack of public transportation and social services in the area.

The new Forward Directions will be located in the Rosel Industrial Park, which is located on northern edge of the Ruby Lake neighborhood. Public transportation is a short walk away, and social services are more available.

For more information, contact Gayle Barnaby at [email protected].

RIVERBEND CITY TOWN HALL MEETING PUBLIC NOTICE

LINDNER HILLS COMMUNITY CENTER, ROOM 14 JUNE 13 865 MARLA LANE, RIVERBEND CITY

The Commission of the City of Riverbend City has scheduled a town hall meeting to be held on June 13, beginning at 6:00 P.M. at the Lindner Hills Community Center for the purpose of discussing the following information:

PROPOSED DOMESTIC ABUSE SHELTER

Riverbend City has proposed a location in the Lindner Hills neighborhood for housing a domestic abuse shelter. Residents of the shelter will be women who are fleeing physically, emotionally, or sexually abusive partners, along with their children. The residence will provide temporary emergency housing. In addition, on an as-needed basis, the residence will provide longer-term housing for families who are at risk of becoming homeless. A part-time social worker will be employed by the shelter to help residents find resources like permanent housing, job training, and legal advocacy.

The exact location of this facility will not be advertised publicly in order to ensure the privacy and safety of residents.

Residents of Lindner Hills, as well as other interested parties, are welcome to voice their opinions and concerns about the proposed shelter.

New Shelter Space Needed in Riverbend City

By Laurie Boyette | RIVERBEND CITY FREEPRESS

After Allison’s boyfriend tried to strangle her, she fled with her two daughters. For ten days, they lived at various friends’ houses—and in her car, even though it was November.

“I had no place to go,” she explained. A friend gave her the number of the Hennsey County Domestic Abuse line, and she called it. “They were really nice to me. But they didn’t have space for us at any of the shelters.”

Ten days later, space opened up. Allison and her daughters were housed at a shelter in a nearby suburb of Riverbend City. There they had access to social and legal services. Now, two years later, Allison’s ex-boyfriend is incarcerated, and she and her daughters are living in a small two-bedroom apartment in the Rondo neighborhood, while Allison works part time and goes to school.

“We’re doing fine,” she said. “The people at the shelter literally saved my life. I just wish we could have gotten in right away.”

Allison’s story is far from unusual. Shelters in Riverbend City are stretched very thin. Homelessness is up almost 15% over the past 3 years, including youth and teen homelessness, which has caused a strain on the entire Hennsey County system. Domestic violence reports and arrests are up dramatically as well.

“The lack of shelter space has reached crisis levels,” said Tina Scaletta, director of the Hennsey County Domestic Abuse Hotline. “We’re getting dozens of calls every day. Sometimes as many as fifty or sixty. We have women on the phone who need help now. And there’s no place to put them.”

Daniela James, Social Work Division Director for Hennsey County, agrees. “Riverbend City has significantly less shelter space than comparably sized cities,” she said. “There’s been a perfect storm of problems leading to this. Shelters have closed because of budget cuts and other problems. Unemployment is up, especially in the manufacturing sector, which has led to more homelessness. Demand for shelter beds is up and supply is down, and that just makes the homelessness problem worse.”

The city is weighing its options. According to Rick Hilliard, communication director for the mayor’s office, the city is organizing a task force to address the need for more shelter space, including shelters for women fleeing domestic violence. In addition, the city plans to open two new domestic violence shelters over the next few months.

“We are opening these shelters as quickly as we can because there is an urgent need for them,” explained Hilliard. “Ideally, the city would have more time to research ideal locations for these shelters. But that kind of research takes time, and women and families need housing now.”

Scene 2

Community Member Statements

Read each participant's statement about the proposed women's shelter.

Tracy Davis

Fourth Grade Teacher, Lindner Hills Elementary School

I have mixed feelings about this proposed shelter. I’ve been a teacher for many years, and I’ve worked with families where domestic abuse is an issue. Yes, even here in an affluent neighborhood like Lindner Hills. This issue touches everybody, not just people from any particular socioeconomic or ethnic group. I know how badly women and children need a safe place to go. I’m very glad to see that the city is increasing the number of shelters for people in need.

My biggest concern is the impact that the shelter may have on the schools. Especially Lindner Hills Elementary School, where I teach. The problem is that the school is already overpopulated. The neighborhood is growing. Thanks to budget cuts, a proposal to build an addition onto the school keeps getting pushed back. Class sizes grow every year, and even if we could afford to hire teachers, we currently don’t have space for them. So if we bring in more families that need to attend the school, where are we going to put them

In addition…well, this is something other teachers and parents are more concerned about than I am, but I probably should bring this up. If the children from the shelter attend our school, they probably won’t be there for a long period of time. That kind of transience can be disruptive to teachers and other students. Personally, that’s something I’m willing to deal with–I mean, schools in poorer parts of town deal with that all the time, right? And the other side of the argument is that the kids in our neighborhood schools would benefit from being around children who aren’t as advantaged as they are. But the issue of transient students is definitely a concern.

Cuddy Delmon

Golf Club Manager, Riverbend Estates Golf Club

I’m the owner of the neighborhood golf club. My club is located close to where the previous halfway house used to be. Which would have been okay with me, except that public transit service in this neighborhood is terrible. So in order to get to the nearest bus stop, which was like half a mile away from the halfway house, the guys would cut through the golf course. They weren’t supposed to, but if they didn’t, their walk to the bus stop was way longer.

And look, I don’t want to be a snob, but the reality is, a golf course attracts a certain kind of clientele. We’re competing with golf courses in affluent suburbs. It’s hard to attract people to your golf course when there are guys from a halfway house roaming around. Also—well, I hate to bring this up, because there’s ladies present—but we had a problem with a few of these guys relieving themselves on the golf course. I mean, most of them didn’t do that. Most of these guys were just looking to get to a bus stop so they could go to work or something. But look. This is my business we’re talking about, and how am I supposed to react when there’s people roaming through and doing that on my property?

And I know for a fact that other business owners in this area have similar concerns. This is an upscale community. People come to this area to shop in boutiques and eat at gourmet restaurants. Our ability to attract this kind of business depends on this neighborhood’s reputation.

Look, I know that a woman’s shelter isn’t the same thing as a halfway house. But there’s still the problem of lack of transportation. Why are we putting shelters in neighborhoods where there’s so little public transportation anyways? There’s going to be a lot of children living in the shelter, right? My clientele isn’t going to be thrilled about kids roaming around the golf course either.

Tim Gunderson

Community Member

I’ve been living in this neighborhood for the past five years. I’m also a manager at Riverbend Community Action, which is a social service agency. So I do know a fair amount about emergency housing and domestic violence.

Here’s my take on things: This city badly needs more shelters, including safe places for domestic violence victims. It sounds like the city has located an appropriate facility in this neighborhood and is ready to move forward. Because there’s such a desperate need for shelters right now, I think they should probably move forward with it.

That said, I think the city needs to have a better plan for deciding where to put shelters. From what I can tell, there’s not enough thought going into this process. I don’t know if Lindner Hills is the best place to put a shelter, and I’m not saying this because this is an affluent neighborhood. For one thing, this neighborhood has the weakest public transportation access in the city. It’s harder to get a bus here than in many parts of the suburbs. We’re also not located near a hospital or social service agencies. And I don’t know if the schools are equipped to handle the needs of the children who are going to be living in the shelter. That said, this is a very safe neighborhood, and it’s not a terrible place for a shelter, but it’s probably not the best choice.

Joy Palmquist

Lindner Hills Community Member

I can’t believe we’re having this discussion again after we finally got that halfway house out of this neighborhood. There are way too many children in this neighborhood to put a shelter here. Are you aware of how many children we have living here? I have five grandchildren living in this neighborhood, and three of them lived a few blocks from where that halfway house was. I am concerned about their safety! That incident where that man from the halfway house was harassing children in the park–that terrified me.

And the people who are going to be living in the shelter…Well, believe me, I have sympathy for women who are being abused. But what about their abusers? Are we going to have a bunch of angry men driving around the neighborhood searching for their wives? This is a safe and quiet neighborhood! That’s why we have so many families choosing to live here.

And then there’s the issue with the school. Are we going to fill up the elementary school with kids from the shelter? Those kids…Of course I have sympathy for kids like that. But the reality is that they are going to be a disruption. They come from unstable family situations and on top of that, they may only be in the school for a short period of time. That’s not fair to the children in the school who don’t come from families like that. People pay a lot of money to buy a house in this neighborhood so they can send their children to a top-notch elementary school like Lindner Hills. It’s not fair to those families that they have to be supporting disruptive kids in the school who are don’t live here full time.

Pete Salgado

Police Officer, Riverbend City Police Department

My biggest concern is that I don’t know if the police will be prepared to handle problems. We’re stretched pretty thin in this neighborhood. When the halfway house was here, I don’t feel like we were prepared to deal with the problems that came up, like the guys cutting through the golf course because the bus stop was so far away. We don’t have the bandwidth to go chasing guys who are walking through a golf course, even if they are trespassing. I’m worried that if this shelter comes here, we’re going to have stalkers in the neighborhood looking for their victims. I know that shelter addresses are supposed to be confidential. But it’s not like the shelter’s going into a secret bunker. There’s an address, and word will get out. And there’s going to be a lot of kids living in the shelter. Potentially, that means more crime. Again, the police in this neighborhood are stretched thin.

On the other hand, I just want to say that I’m really glad the city is building more shelters. I’m a cop, so I see the issue of domestic violence first hand all the time. It’s a matter of life and death that women and kids have places to go. So maybe the answer isn’t that the shelter shouldn’t be here. Maybe it’s just that the police need to be better equipped to deal with it. Will there be a security guard working at the shelter? That would help.

Chandra Capshaw

Social Worker

I’m a social worker, so let me give you some statistics. Do you know what percentage of American women have experienced physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner over the course of their lifetimes?

More than one in three.

And do you know how many American women are physically abused by their partners every year?

About 1.3 million women.

Here in Hennsey County, at least 24 women were killed last year by abusive partners. The courts adjudicated over 20,000 cases of domestic violence, 90% of which involved women victims. The county’s domestic violence hotlines received about 18,000 calls last years. And an estimated 1 in 3 homeless women in this country are homeless because of domestic violence. Riverbend City and Hennsey County as a whole are not equipped to help all of these women. Compared to similar sized metro areas, we have about a third fewer spaces at shelters.

I know that many of you are concerned about safety issues and school issues, and these are things the city needs to address. But please understand: domestic violence in Riverbend City is nothing short of a crisis. Shelters save lives, and they help women and families put their lives back together.

Felicity Pearson

Community Activist

I cannot believe some of the things I’ve been hearing at this meeting! You people make me ashamed to live in this neighborhood. We’re talking about women and children who are fleeing abuse. This shelter might make the difference between life and death. Life and death! And you’re worried that there might be a few kids wandering through the golf course? Do you have any sense of empathy for these women and children? You should all be lining up to find out what you can do to help these families in the shelter. We should all be baking cookies and knitting blankets. What this really is all about is not wanting certain kinds of people in our neighborhood–and you know what I mean.

Alece Rockwell

Lindner Hills Community Member

To be honest, what I’m hearing from a lot of you is fear. Fear of the kinds of people you think are at a women’s shelter. Well, I have something to tell you. Twelve years ago, I was in a women’s shelter, along with my son. My ex-husband would have a hard day at work and come home and hurt me. And I didn’t want to tell anybody. I honestly didn’t think anyone would believe me, since I wasn’t the “type” of person who got beat up by her husband. I’m from an upper-middle class background, and I have a master’s degree, and I married this handsome, charming man who everyone thought was my Prince Charming. I finally left when he started hitting my three-year-old son.

So let me tell you from personal experience: there’s no “type” of woman who needs a shelter. This issue affect women and children from every class and ethnicity and every walk of life. Every single one of you knows someone who’s been impacted by domestic violence, even if you don’t realize it. I hear a bunch of you saying that this neighborhood isn’t an appropriate place for a women’s shelter. But that’s not true. Every neighborhood is an appropriate place for a women’s shelter, because domestic violence happens in every neighborhood.

I can’t even tell you how lucky I feel to have found the shelter I did. They didn’t just provide me with a safe place to escape with my son. They helped me move on. They helped me with legal resources and helped prepare me to get back into the workforce. The shelter made a huge difference in my life. Communities need to embrace and support women who are threatened by their husbands.

Conclusion

You have completed the Riverbend City: Human Services Policy Outcome activity. Please answer the following reflection questions, which will be stored in your Identity Profile. You will address these questions further in the courseroom.

Reflection Questions

What recommendations would you make to the Mayor’s Office about the proposed women’s shelter in the Lindner Hills neighborhood?

Your response:

This question has not been answered yet.

What recommendations would you make about developing a general policy regarding domestic violence shelters throughout Riverbend City?