Repeal the ban on New Social Services entering the Parramore Area!

Homeless and Hungry, Inc. 3127 Buckhill Place, Orlando, Florida 32817

www.facebook.com/hungryandhomeless email:RebmanThomas@aol.com

Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orlando City Council 400 South Orange Avenue Orlando, Florida 32802

Dear Mayor Dyer and City Commissioners,

My name is Thomas Rebman and I have recently been doing extensive research concerning the history of homelessness and social service obligations in the United States and more specifically here in Orlando, Florida. I began this fact finding mission trying to understand the constitutionality or lack thereof in regards to the "Ban" on New Social services entering the Parramore Area.

I began my research on a global scale first. Apparently, the United States along with many other nations signed the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In this agreement Article 25(1) clearly states: "Everyone has the right to ... food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services." We promised the rest of the world we would accomplish this and clearly we have not to date. In addition to this treaty, the US (through the Housing Act of 1949) professed our goal of "a decent home ... for every American family."

Clearly we have not focused on this goal because money has been spend in many less critical areas while this area has been almost ignored.

Then, because we made some incorrect choices in the 1970's, our country exacerbated the homelessness problem by deciding to de-institutionalize the mentally ill without determining how we would accomplish the necessary outpatient psychiatric and social services for these people. This faux pax led to a substantial increase in the homeless, mentally ill population and severely added to the complexity of solving the problem. The number of citizens who were homeless continued to grow through the 1980s because housing and social service cuts were the popular fix to budget problems.

In 1986, the problem became so bad, the population at large started to cry for a solution. Over 5 million Americans literally joined hands across the country to raise awareness through the "Hands Across America" Fundraiser. With awareness high and public sentiment in place the McKinney Act was passed in 1987. This law authorized millions of dollars for housing and hunger relief and we seemed to be headed in the right direction. That brings us to the late 1990's when the ban on new social services entering the Parramore Area of Orlando, Florida began as a 120 day temporary measure.

Today, 16 years later, this ban is still in place. I do not understand the rationale nor does any other citizen I have spoken with. Nothing should be more important to this city than it's citizens so I believe using the resources and assistance of Faith Based and Non-Faith Based Groups in the area would greatly assist in this impoverished area. The move to overturn this ban would have a secondary effect of possibly reducing crime in the area. The lifting of the ban would especially help our community members who are homeless and could seriously impact their chance at becoming productive citizens. In my opinion the ban remains in place due to the issue being largely ignored by the mainstream press and the general public until recent events have put the spotlight back on homelessness. Our Mayor Buddy Dyer has committed to funding supportive housing for 300 chronically homeless community members in the next 3 years, the new $7 Million Dollar Coalition for the Homeless Men's Center opened, the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness had great success with their "Cardboard Stories" Video and finally my quest to spend 30 days homeless on the streets of Orlando all have placed the media spotlight on our city. While we have the publics' attention and possible support, I believe we should take action to reduce the number of homeless people on the street in our city. A great first step would be to lift the ban on social services in Parramore. According to the most recent figures an estimated 2.5 to 3.5 million people now experience homelessness each year in the United States. Over half of these people are families with children which is the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population. Orlando needs to change our reputation from the city that arrests the homeless to the city that embraces the basic needs of it's next generation. It sickens me when I found out over 7,500 children are homeless this year in the Orange County Public School District. Another sad thing I discovered is that around 24% of homeless persons are veterans of the armed services! I cannot believe we would have people who have defended our freedom be denied social services for any reason whatsoever! Where are our priorities? Without these veterans this debate would not even be possible. For all of these reasons and many more not outlined here, I ask that the Orlando City Council recommend to Mayor Dyer that he place repealing the ban on social services in Parramore on the earliest possible agenda for public discussion. Sincerely, Thomas F. Rebman LT, USN Retired ME, Reading, Stetson University Chief Executive Officer, Homeless and Hungry