Unhoused

To begin, I abhor the term homeless. I prefer "without housing." Why? Just like all of the ethnic slur words that have been suppressed, so also should "homeless" be suppressed. It is emotionally and psychologically charged and damaging.

The article ("The Problem That Can't Be Swept Away," by Alex Pickett, Dec. 20-26) does a lot to illuminate and educate and make the petition for a solution. However, I happened to scan the pages of your paper and voila! On page C13 we have none other than the "Advice Goddess." In the reply to Solo Flyer we have [a reference to] "homeless crackhead." Now, there may be homeless that do crack, there may even be columnists that do crack too, but, and if you can see my point, her letter is in the same paper as the former article.

What does my opinion count for? Well, I've been without housing now for the sixth time, this time for over 14 months. I freelance with the skills and experience I've accumulated over a lifetime of 57 years. I also have met many people in this situation that are still very productive and are using the "without housing" situation as a way to save money and accumulate a lump sum for a goal they have in mind. All this rhetoric about people without housing being drunks or crackheads is a bunch of bull. Just like the draft, everyone should serve a term without housing.

Joe, via e-mail

Thank you for publishing the informative stories about homelessness in the Tampa Bay area. Finding a way to meet the needs of the growing homeless population is something the staff at the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County (HCHC) struggles with every day.

We find the funding situation as frustrating as many of the organizations in the community do. Yet it is the responsibility of the HCHC to ensure that the maximum amount of funding available is drawn into the community from all sources. Unfortunately this responsibility requires us to match programs and funding sources in a way that may leave some organizations out.

With regard to the Continuum of Care (CoC) funding mentioned in the article, HUDs sets the guidelines for this grant program. CoC funding is available for newly developed permanent supportive housing programs and CoC renewal grants. Thus, any service already in existence in our community does not qualify. Additionally, organizations must be able to prove to HUD that they have the experience and capacity to fulfill the grant and reporting guidelines. This is where many organizations seeking funding fall short, especially newer organizations. A few years ago, HUD rejected a program submitted as part of Hillsborough County's CoC grant application for this very reason, and the community lost $750,000 in funding that year.

We do help organizations get connected to funding, when the funding and program are a fit. For example, HCHC works in partnership with the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County in administering the Emergency Shelter Grant. However, CoC funding alone is not going to solve any community's homeless problem. This issue requires our community to make solving homelessness a priority and to make a community investment to expand services and meet the needs of our homeless neighbors. We invite everyone to participate in these solutions and invest in changing the lives of thousands of homeless men, women and children living in Hillsborough County.

Rayme L. Nuckles, CEO, Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County

Overrated Redux

I don't suppose it ought to surprise me, based on last week's Going Postal page, that the cover story on overrated pop culture icons garnered more of a reader response than the close-up view of white supremacy. … I [too] probably would prefer to numb my social consciousness and choose instead to wax indignant about some of the "sacred cows" Mr. Eric Snider chose to lay out on the dissection table. Permit me to do just that: 1. Johnny Cash is the only reason I do not totally hate country music. He was the only performer of the genre without a talentless, nasal twang of a voice whose lyrics did not include "Let's go beat up some hippies and bomb France for disliking America." 2. Eric Clapton is a self-recycling old fart. 'Nuff said. 3. Janis Joplin had all the talent and charisma of a bag lady. 3b. She and Kurt Cobain are the perfect fodder for American pop-CULTure's quasi-Christian worship of humanity's most self-destructive. 4. I LOVED Plan 9 From Outer Space. Where else can you see a fat zombie with a facial expression combining constipation and impending sneeze struggling to squeeze out of its grave? 5. Captain Kirk was a stammering, wooden man-whore. LONG LIVE PICARD! 6. Why can't I share my taste for black clothing with anyone who DOESN'T have Anne Rice all throughout their reading lists? 7. Give me Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged over Hunter S.'s Fear and Loathing any day. 8. I would rather my wife have shriveled banana-teats than a pair of gargantuan, foam-rubber stuffed mommy-bags. 9. Why would anyone want to pay 1.99 for 8 oz. of tangy-ass Red Bull, when they could get 16 oz. of sweet, sweet Monster for the same price?

Victor Grigorii, Sarasota

This article appears in Jan 3-9, 2007.