Helping homeless is ongoing struggle

BY JULIE BISBEE Comments 1
Published: October 12, 2008

For some, the answer to Oklahoma City’s homeless problem is easy: Help people get a job.

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Sunday Conversation with Dan Straughn

Oct 11Oklahoman writer Julie Bisbee talks to Dan Straughn of Homeless...

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Dan Straughan of the Homeless Alliance discusses his work. Newsok.com

If only it were that easy, says Dan Straughan, executive director of Oklahoma City’s Homeless Alliance. Many people suffer from mental illness, drug addiction or sometimes a combination of both. As the executive director of the Homeless Alliance, Straughan, 51, works to bring the right services to the right people in hopes of helping them get their lives back on track.

Q. How would you describe the homeless in Oklahoma City?

A. We have about 2,000 on any given night. Our fastest growing demographic amongst the homeless is families with children. Although that’s a still a pretty small minority, it’s about 15 percent of the 2,000.

Q. What plans are there to improve services for the homeless?

A. We’ve bought a city block at NW 3 and Virginia and what we hope to do there is put a bunch of different agencies there so you don’t have to make that six-mile slog between DHS and Social Security. And the nonprofit agencies that want to support you in those efforts are right there.

Q. How do people typically end up on the streets?

A. We did a survey and about 52 percent of the population became homeless through economic dislocation. They lost a job, had an uninsured medical expense or there was a divorce. They don’t have significant issues with substance abuse or mental illness. It’s really all about poverty.

Q. What is the biggest misconception about the homeless population?

A. We all, and I include myself in this, have this stereotype of a homeless person. It’s a guy about my age, maybe he’s flying a sign and probably has some mental illness issues or substance abuse issues. Most of our homeless population is indistinguishable from you and me.

Q. Many people want to help the homeless. What is the best way to do that?

A. Honestly, the most effective way to help is donating to those agencies that are really doing the work. From our perspective, giving money to a panhandler is almost always a mistake. We have a tool called Real Change vouchers that we sell on our Web site, indulge your impulse to charity, your desire to help. Those vouchers have addresses of the three big downtown shelters and on the end of the voucher is a bus pass that gets you to the transfer station. From there it’s an easy walk to shelters. The vouchers are available at www.homelessalliance.org.