2008 Woodie Awards
An eye on homelessness
Olivia Moran - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 12/6/07 Section: Metro
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Around a dozen Iowa City homeless people plus around 40 others gathered at the Iowa City Public Library to discuss ups and downs of local efforts to bring the homeless out of various unfortunate situations.
In a panel discussion, six officials in the Johnson County area initially focused on the fact that the homeless will not survive without the support of family members and full use of the community's resources.
Panel member Peggy Loveless, a co-president of the Johnson County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, spoke of her own hardships, which include the discovery of her daughter's paranoia schizophrenia.
"People who are homeless and mentally ill are part of someone's family," she said.
Loveless said her daughter was diagnosed around the age of 20. She heard voices, listened to them, and ended up in some stickysituations but never realized she was sick, Loveless added.
"If people are mentally ill and do not have a family, they have three choices: They'll end up in prison, homeless, or dead," she said.
In 2005, there were 21,280 homeless Iowans and 1,257 homeless in Johnson County, panel moderator Garry Klein said.
Nationally, 44 million people who have a serious mental illness are homeless at some point in their lives, according to a 2006 fact sheet from the National Coalition for the Homeless.
However, panel member Crissy Canganelli, the executive director of the Shelter House, said one of the biggest issues can be discovering which homeless actually suffer from a mental illness.
Panel member Frank Fleming, the clinical co-director of mental health at the Clinical Research Center at UI Hospitals and Clinics, agreed. He said 50 percent of the people he works with never understand their condition.
"I think that's one of the most frustrating things," he said.
Ronald Kinum, who was once homeless for two years, said he's back on his feet thanks to help from Shelter House. He said national and local homeless statistics still wouldn't ring true even if they were tripled.
In a panel discussion, six officials in the Johnson County area initially focused on the fact that the homeless will not survive without the support of family members and full use of the community's resources.
Panel member Peggy Loveless, a co-president of the Johnson County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, spoke of her own hardships, which include the discovery of her daughter's paranoia schizophrenia.
"People who are homeless and mentally ill are part of someone's family," she said.
Loveless said her daughter was diagnosed around the age of 20. She heard voices, listened to them, and ended up in some stickysituations but never realized she was sick, Loveless added.
"If people are mentally ill and do not have a family, they have three choices: They'll end up in prison, homeless, or dead," she said.
In 2005, there were 21,280 homeless Iowans and 1,257 homeless in Johnson County, panel moderator Garry Klein said.
Nationally, 44 million people who have a serious mental illness are homeless at some point in their lives, according to a 2006 fact sheet from the National Coalition for the Homeless.
However, panel member Crissy Canganelli, the executive director of the Shelter House, said one of the biggest issues can be discovering which homeless actually suffer from a mental illness.
Panel member Frank Fleming, the clinical co-director of mental health at the Clinical Research Center at UI Hospitals and Clinics, agreed. He said 50 percent of the people he works with never understand their condition.
"I think that's one of the most frustrating things," he said.
Ronald Kinum, who was once homeless for two years, said he's back on his feet thanks to help from Shelter House. He said national and local homeless statistics still wouldn't ring true even if they were tripled.
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