South Bend won't pursue day labor program for panhandlersBy Jeff Parrott South Bend Tribune Aug 13, 2017 Updated 1 hr ago (11)
South Bend won't pursue day labor program for panhandlers

Daniel Krienke holds a sign asking for help for him and his wife Debbie at the corner of Ironwood Drive and Indiana 23 on Wednesday. Krienke said he and Debbie, who has a job, are staying in a motel and can’t find anyone to rent to them. He said he panhandles almost daily because her income is not enough to pay the bills. “Everyone thinks we’re bad people because we stand out here,” he said. “We’re just trying to get by.” Tribune Photo/MICHAEL CATERINA
SOUTH BEND — When Mayor Pete Buttigieg starts pitching next year’s budget to the Common Council Wednesday, he won’t hold a sign, or even paperwork, seeking money to create a day labor program for panhandlers.Buttigieg won’t ask the council to pay for a new program to hire panhandlers to clean up city parks and public spaces, as council member Oliver Davis earlier this year asked him to do in the mayor’s 2018 budget request, said Suzanna Fritzberg, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff and point person on homelessness issues.
In her role chairing the mayor’s 28-member homelessness issues working group this year, Fritzberg said she learned that service providers have collected data indicating that “a vast majority” of panhandlers are not homeless.
“I know some of the social workers will go out and say, ‘Hey, you need a bed, we’ve got one,’ and the panhandlers don’t want to come,” she said. “Granted, no one wants to stand on a street corner and ask for money, so I’m not saying these people are having the time of their life, or aren’t in need.”
For one thing, service providers don’t think many panhandlers would agree to do the work for $10.10 an hour, the city employee minimum wage, as Davis proposed. He said Portland, Maine and Albequerque, N.M. have piloted such programs.
“From most of what we know, the panhandling population here is both fairly small, even though it can not feel that way, and also pretty organized,” Fritzberg said. “The sense is that people aren’t likely to accept day labor jobs.”
Fritzberg declined to elaborate on how panhandlers are “organized.”
David Vanderveen, executive director of South Bend-based homeless service provider Hope Ministries, said he didn’t know whether it happens locally, but in other cities it’s not uncommon.
“A good percentage of people who panhandle are not homeless, and therefore they probably do have transportation (to and from the street corners where they hold signs) and have a certain system regarding which street corners they go to,” Vanderveen said.
Vanderveen agreed that a day labor program for panhandlers, by itself, isn’t likely to make much of an impact on the problem in South Bend.
“It’s not going to reduce panhandling by that much,” he said. “We need to provide a holistic set of services to people who are truly homeless, so that those who are truly homeless and who panhandle, no longer need to. Once those services are in place, we can educate the public … don’t give to panhandlers because people have an alternative. Then if people stop giving, people who aren’t homeless will stop panhandling.”
The mayor’s working group on Aug. 3 released a report recommending creation of an intake center near the downtown and 50 more units of “permanent supportive housing” scattered through the city. It would cost an estimated $1.6 million to build the center — its start-up and annual operating costs paid for with a mix of public and private money — and another $261,000 annually to operate it, the report found. The rental units would cost about $647,000 a year.
Fritzberg said the administration sees Downtown South Bend Inc.’s newly created “social outreach position as a direct response to the (panhandling) concerns Councilman Davis has raised.”
The city-funded nonprofit downtown promotional group confirmed July 27 that Chris Anderson, the new Director of Social Outreach, will try to build a rapport with people who panhandle, encouraging them to stop by referring them to social services. The group will evenly share the cost of his $50,000 annual salary with the city.
The city has an ordinance prohibiting “aggressive” panhandling, defined as using violent or profane language while panhandling, intentionally touching someone while asking them for money, or continuing to solict after receiving a negative response. But courts have consistently upheld the right to panhandle under First Amendment free speech protections.
http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/lo ... 2e2fd.htmlComments; Sean Haas · Indiana University South Bend
Our government loves red tape, why not require all panhandlers to have a permit to operate? Require individuals to offically establish residence on the streets as "homeless" for at least 3 years before being allowed to panhandle. Documentation of daily life on the streets must be presented to the proper office/committe. A flat per day fee (because no one really knows how much they make) to be deposited daily by riding a Lime Bike down to city hall should swell the coffers of South Bend.
Unlike · Reply · 4 · 11 hrs
Becky Jones · Consultant at Cabi
Kudos to the mayor for making the right decision. (And, thumbs down to the Tribune for publishing a photograph implying that most, if not all, panhandlers are disabled). Almost all of the panhandlers I've seen appear to be able-bodied individuals. At a time when our economy has the lowest unemployment rate in almost 25 years and many stores and restaurants are posting "help wanted" signs, there is no reason for people to be panhandling on the streets. We have unemployment compensation plans and food stamp programs for the benefit of those temporarily unemployed and disability compensation plans for the disabled.
I have to agree that a very large proportion of these panhandlers are, in fact, organized. They simply wouldn't be there were it not for the largesse of the American public. The best way to stop panhandling and help those who truly are needy is to write a check to a local homeless shelter and stop giving money to these panhandlers.
Unlike · Reply · 6 · 8 hrs
Kitty L. Gerschoffer · Works at St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office - Homicide Unit
I asked a panhandler once why he just didn't get a job with all of the help wanted signs everywhere. He response was, "Oh, I can get a job, I just can't keep it." In my mind he was saying he didn't like to follow rules, show up for work, etc.
Unlike · Reply · 4 · 5 hrs
Martha Brown
Im sorry $10.10 an hour panhandlers wont go for that???? The reason is they make lots more per hour cash money no taxes-no insurance-every thing is pretty much free where as the working class it isnt. South bend or St. Joe county is the highest in taxes than anyone else. Whos gonna pay for all these programs???WE ARE!!!
Like · Reply · 1 · 5 hrs
Rudy Velasquez · Works at IBEW Local Union 716
thay should pay taxes...
Unlike · Reply · 1 · 4 hrs
Becky Jones · Consultant at Cabi
They don't. They won't. And then these very same folks complain that we have a regressive tax system. Yeah, right!!
Unlike · Reply · 1 · 3 hrs
Rudy Velasquez · Works at IBEW Local Union 716
Becky Jones ...maybe. it's there destiny
I'll travel cross country for work if necessary...lazy people who are not disabled should be kikked to the curve..but blame also go's to the ones who give them money...if none gives thayll fade away...
Like · Reply · 1 · 3 hrs
Mary Kretchmer Carroll · John Adams High School
I'll say one thing you can always tell which corners these pan handlers stand at because they leave all their trash right there, empty pop cans and bottles, fast food restaurant sandwich wrappers and it's beginning to be a big mess Mayor and some thing needs to be done. when we had the real hot weather a guy was standing on Michigan and Ireland Rd holding a sign that said he needed some thing to drink well I don't make it a habit of carrying drinks in my truck. It's just getting out of hand how some of them will try and distract drivers!
Unlike · Reply · 2 · 3 hrs
John Cutter · Valparaiso University School of Law
As I have said in the past, these freeloaders don't want a job. If they take a job, they have to work 8 or10 hours a day plus 5 or 6 days a week and they have to pay taxes. Freeloading they only stand on a corner 3 or 4 hours a day and probably 3 or 4 days a week plus all the money they collect is tax FREE !! They make a lot more money in 15 hours than your average working person in a 40 or 50 hour work week.What's wrong with this picture? Make freeloading illegal and enforce it strictly. The penalty is 5 years in jail where you sleep on slab plus 3 meals a day of maybe a little more than bread and water.
Unlike · Reply · 2 · 1 hr
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