Ryan Benjamin | Helping those who help the homeless

How many times have you been accosted by a panhandler, who you think is homeless, outside of Wawa? The attitude among students is overwhelmingly "not in our backyard." So I recently asked a random sample of Penn students what their first reaction would be if a student group planned to operate a homeless shelter on campus.

While some students embraced the idea, most were confused - and some expressed outrage. Why on earth would anyone want to attract homeless people to the University? No one should force social responsibility upon us. Precious space should not go to a homeless shelter when other groups are clamoring for such space.

But unfortunately, misconceptions about homelessness abound. It's a complex issue, and there is no better way to address this than to support Penn Haven, a proposed student-run homeless shelter on Penn's campus.

You still think the idea is ludicrous, right? But wait a minute. In 1983, at the height of a dramatic rise in homeless people caused by none other than the Baby Boom, Harvard Divinity student Stewart Guernsey worked with the nearby University Lutheran Church in Cambridge to create an entirely student-run homeless shelter in the heart of campus. The shelter still exists today, and more than 200 student volunteers help the 24 people who turn to it for food and a place to sleep nightly.

We have a tendency to treat homelessness as a disease. We place blame on the people who suffer its consequences. But by definition, homelessness means just that: people without a home. There's no specificity on how long they've had no place to go or the reasons for it - most of which are purely economic and have nothing to do with drug addiction or alcoholism.

Social Policy and Practice professor Dennis Culhane, an adviser to the Obama administration on homelessness, found in a 2008 report to Congress that approximately 671,000 people were homeless on one night in January 2007 - and 37 percent of these people comprised homeless families. The average shelter stay of any homeless individual or family is between 15 and 30 days as they struggle to find new housing. Quick, in and out, nameless. They're not the annoying panhandlers begging for money near Wawa.

Enter Penn Haven, a group proposing to build a shelter on campus, which will feature all sorts of services to help people get back on their feet. At a cramped meeting this week, the excitement is palpable. Before the meeting, I might have dismissed these students as a bunch of naive idealists brainstorming ideas that will never see the light of day. But when I see the passion of real students like College sophomore Sarah Matsui, who has worked tirelessly to form partnerships with other organizations to get the project off the ground - and Amy Gutmann calls the project "terrific" - I know it's legitimate. They're excited to fill a need and be a set of fresh (and changing) faces so that shelter residents do not feel dehumanized.

The $787 billion stimulus bill passed by Congress provides $1.5 billion in additional homelessness prevention, effectively doubling the federal resources. However, this funding must conform to the revised Emergency Shelter Grant formula that requires money be put toward "prevention" such as mediation or short-term rental assistance. And hopefully soon, Penn Haven will become its own 501(c)3, giving it access to this funding.

Many Penn students choose not to give money to the Wawa guy, and that's fine. But the fact remains that the burden of homelessness in this country is on the homeless, and that is neither fair nor correct.

This shelter, above all else, will give context to a pressing issue. The fact that millions of families in this country are one check away from losing their home - and 500 people sleep in the streets of Philadelphia every night - is a problem we cannot ignore. Penn Haven should be taken seriously, and I look forward to the day when the shelter opens on campus, and people can begin to understand the nuances of a problem that could potentially affect any one of us.

Ryan Benjamin is a College senior from New Haven, Conn. A Connecticut Yankee appears on Fridays. His email address is benjamin@dailypennsylvanian.com.

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