“Stop spending money on $18,000 murals and painting bridge columns like crayons… Put a little more into services.”
SAN ANTONIO — With his weathered hands cradling a cup of hot coffee, Rodger, who said he has been living on the streets for about one year now, had a chance to talk about the unmet needs he sees every day.
Taking shelter in a community room at west side nonprofit Inner City Development, Rodger said he believes it’s shameful that small mutual aid groups are doing a better job than the city of helping the most vulnerable.
“The problem is not homelessness, the problem is resources,” Rodger said. “I’ve seen the city of San Antonio throw away money on things that look good but they do no good.”
Rodger said he supports the idea of development and improvement but the positive changes should benefit all.
“I think they need to open their eyes a little bit wider and look at the problem at hand and it’s not homelessness. It is the lack of care and concern,” Rodger said. He adds that there are many reasons why people are unwilling to seek shelter, even when the temperatures fall to the freezing level.
“It could be a physical ailment. It could be a mental ailment, but stop spending money on $18,000 murals and painting bridge columns like crayons. Put a little more into services,” Rodger said.
Rodger said some of the vacant buildings he has used for shelter should be turned into affordable housing units.
“A lot of these houses that the city commandeers because of either dilapidation or the owners not cleaning the yard, whatever the reason may be, they can be converted into small household housing,” Rodger said. “Instead of taking duplexes and quadplexes and tearing them down and leaving empty lots, utilize them.”
In an ironic twist, a summit designed to brainstorm fresh ideas on how to help the needy find safe, affordable housing was pushed back by the brutal weather last week.
The title of the event is “Everyone Needs a Home” as part of the “Know Your Neighbor” program and the meetup is part of a continuing conversation sponsored by the H. E. Butt Foundation.
Elizabeth Le’anani Coffee is the group’s Director of Storytelling. Coffee said the summit is important work.
“I think we have enough reasons in society today to be divided, enough reasons to disagree, enough reasons to not get along and if there’s an opportunity around a critical issue like housing to bring diverse perspectives to one table to dialogue, discuss and be honest with one another, then I think it’s worth doing,” Coffee said.
The event is designed for everyone interested in helping build a better, stronger community.
“When we are inviting people to participate in our program, we’re hoping to have people from various zip codes, various lived experiences and vocational backgrounds because we really believe that unless we have a rich, diverse and inclusive space, we’re just an echo chamber and so we really want to make sure that we have various community members at the table discussing these issues,” she said.
San Antonio is a city where people can easily slip into silos of isolation, Coffee said, where economic segregation is a fact of life.
“I think that the majority of San Antonians that are living comfortably today, who are not worried about where their meals are coming from or how to pay their rent or any of their bills can easily live, are not understanding that almost 40% of San Antonians and Bexar County residents live a radically different reality in the same city in the same region,” Coffee said.
She said when they bring groups together, they try to curate a wide variety of influences.
“My hope is that the bridges that are being built are being built on trust, that they are the ones forging the necessary ground for our city to be more connected,” Coffee said.
Coffee said coming together for common good can be simple.
“This isn’t rocket science. This is what it means to be neighbors,” Coffee said. “Now more than ever, this is the time. It is easy to be hateful. That’s the simple thing. It is hard to love. It’s hard to receive love. It’s hard to receive love from somebody who doesn’t look, sound, act, vote or spend like you.”
The way forward, Coffee said, is trust.
“The invitation from Know Your Neighbor is that you can both give love and receive love from somebody who is different than you and to build trust together as a city.”
Coffee said it is especially gratifying to run into people in the community who have taken part in the meetings.
“When I get an email or a text or a call or I bump into somebody at the grocery store or at the library who tells me what it meant to sit next to somebody who was different than them one night or to eat lunch with somebody at our luncheon, that they would never have otherwise shaken hands with, let alone shared a meal with. It’s those micro interactions when I’m able to believe it’s worth it.”
The date for the next event is still in the planning stages but more information about the program can be found here.
A documentary the group produced on housing is here.