I took these minutes. They are not the official minutes for the meeting; they are the true ones, as much as I could type them without formal training other than knowing how to type.
I am publishing them without having asked permission from anyone. I am taking this step because I don't want to have to hear, even one more time, that lack of funding is the reason for all sorts of negligence in this shelter and other homeless shelter.
The Pine Street Inn Women's Shelter just finished a renovation on the 3rd floor. An area which was originally donated to be part of a program for homeless women has been walled off for the exclusive use of staff. A staff meal schedule has been posted next to it. The fabric lounge chairs and sofas which were originally donated for the use of guests will be occupied by the staff when they take their breaks, while the only seating for guests will continue to be the hard, plastic chairs next to tables which replaced every soft chair for guests in March 2019.
At the community meeting on May 22, 2019, the director of the Pine Street Inn Women's Shelter yet again implied that the reason that things in the shelter break is that homeless people break things more than other people do. She did that in a meeting last year, or the year before (I've been homeless for so long because of option-eviscerating lies told about me by my 2017-2018 case manager that I don't remember when), when the subject of replacing the rusting lockers was brought up; although she didn't say it in so many words, it was obvious that she was denying that the lockers were old and implying that there's no reason to replace or upgrade anything because dirty homeless people break everything anyway.
Among other things, the shelter needs new washers and driers, so that the sheets, blankets, towels and scrubs get really clean. The shelter also needs to go back to allowing the guests to do their laundry once per week, which policy this particular director stopped in 2017 or 2018; she's only been working at the shelter since 2014, and she hadn't spent a lot of time working with homeless people before that. I don't think that she likes or understands homeless people.
The Guest Advisory Board doesn't have any power. This is not necessarily a bad thing, since it's not made up of guests who are elected by other guests but only of people who apply and who are selected by the director. I'm not saying that the Guest Advisory Board is useless, but for the director to imply that the GAB has any real responsibility for anything at the shelter, and for her to imply that her role or the role of any other staffperson who attends the GAB meetings is only that of a facilitator and listener rather than as a manager with veto power over whatever the GAB suggests is false. It is however, in keeping with her pattern of blaming other people for situations which she controls while she pretends that she doesn't.
There continues to be nothing substantial in place at the Pine Street Inn for:
-substance abuse recovery
-survivors of domestic violence
-survivors of sexual violence
-being elderly and homeless
-being disabled and homeless
-severe mental illness
-loss and grief
-education
-job training or a path to job training for anything other than menial labor. It also continues to be grotesque that the shelter won't give guarantee a bed or even the ability to be indoors for hours before starting a shift to everyone who is part of the shelter's job training programs; those guests are doing work around and for the shelter, work for which the Pine Street Inn publicizes that all of its proceeds are used to help homeless people.
This is what I think about the strip-search issue:
-The director of the women's shelter should be fired for how she is dealing with it. An apology would not have been enough, but she's not even offering an apology. Her plan is obviously to deny everything, to silence and discredit anyone who tries to talk about it, and to allow the 30-day suspensions of the two strip-searched guests to remain, even though those guests didn't do anything wrong and it will cost both of them their lockers at the shelter and be a major negative about them in the shelter's log of incidents. 1-night suspensions can lead to 30-day suspensions, which can lead to year-long suspensions. The shelter deserves to be sued about this incident.
Although I have never heard of anyone at any homeless shelter being strip-searched before, guests frequently threaten to sue at most shelters. I have never known a shelter to respond to such a threat with anything other than laughter, although probably at least 25% of those threats are based on treatment that would be actionable if the victims weren't so poor and stigmatized, and nobody should really be laughing at an upset homeless person anyway.
-The assistant director of the shelter should probably also be fired. Either she authorized the strip-search or she was negligent in allowing it to happen on a night when she was working. It's difficult for me to believe that she didn't know about it; the strip-search was conducted in the office of the lobby. In addition to being terrifying for the guests who were strip-searched, I'm sure that it was also terrifying for everyone in the lobby who saw and heard the guests being ordered into the office and the doors shut behind them. At the very least, she should be given a written warning and transferred to another department of the Pine Street Inn. She should not be able to work at the women's shelter again.
-The senior staffperson who conducted the search of one of the guests and who gave instructions for how a new staffperson should conduct the search of the other guest should either be fired or given a written warning and transferred to another department of the Pine Street Inn. I know her, and I don't think that she will ever attempt to strip-search someone again. If I didn't know her, I would just say that she ought to be fired. However, it's not only my knowing her that is forming my opinion; I also know the Pine Street Inn, and I know that, for years, the Pine Street Inn has failed to capitalize on her character strengths. With the right training, this never would have happened. She was instrumental in encouraging me to start a petition, months ago, which over a third of the guests signed, asking that the shelter have 12-Step recovery meetings every day. Many of the guests who signed do not have substance abuse issues; they, like me, hate watching other guests hurt and finally kill themselves over the days and weeks, months and years that the Pine Street Inn's contemptuous, judgmental, self-righteous negligence about substance abuse dissolves every last fragment of their hope.
-The new staffperson did what she was told to do by those who had authority over her. It's an anomaly in her work history, and it wasn't of her choosing. She has never even been rude to a guest or another staffperson, as far as I know. She shouldn't be punished; however, she also ought to be transferred to another department of the Pine Street Inn, because the strip-searched guests' suspensions should be overturned and they should not have to be retraumatized by interacting with her or her being around when they return to the shelter. It should also be made clear to her that what she was told to do was wrong.
I wasn't strip-searched. If the guests who were strip-searched have harsher opinions about how the incident should be addressed, then they have the right to those opinions. I don't know what their thoughts are now; they're suspended from the shelter for 30 days each. I have previously talked to both of them about the incident, and I know, from what they said and from observation, that they were both traumatized.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Community Meeting
Pine Street Inn Women’s Shelter
8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Director of the Pine Street Inn Women’s Shelter
Director’s assistant
7-3 Supervisor 1
7-3 Supervisor 2
7-3 Staffperson
Housing resource specialist
Director: Good
morning, everyone, we’re going to get started.
The community meeting is once per month.
It’s a time for you to bring questions and concerns. We have some ground rules. We speak one at a time. If we don’t agree with everyone, that’s ok. Being respectful of differences of
opinion. I’m going to try something a
little different today with the open forum time because people have been giving
me feedback that they’re frustrated. We
have some visitors. We’ll start with
them. Then I’ll go table to table to
make sure that we’ve given everyone a chance to talk. If I start to get repeat questions, I’ll
point out that we’ve already addressed it.
Introductions
Director: (Name) is
the housing resource specialist. If you
don’t have a housing plan, or if you feel overwhelmed, if you have a CORI
issue, please make sure that you talk to (her).
Affordable housing is very hard
to come by.
Housing Resource Specialist:
(gives information about CHAMP application group this week)
Director: (says has
to check that room will be available because of renovations)
Director: (introduces
two women who do mindfulness and meditation groups) They have been volunteering and they will be
restarting the group in June.
Visitor 1: It seems
with all the different changes, it’s a great time for a meditation group. I’m (Name Visitor 1), this is (Name Visitor 2).
We’ll be changing the class a little.
We’ll be teaching a class (gives the time) on meditation and mindful
movement. Just to give you a little bit
of what the class will be like; silent, sitting meditation and also
incorporating full movement, gentle movement for the body to help ground us in
our bodies to relieve tension, to help us with our sitting practice, you’ve
heard the benefits, the obvious ones medically are that a daily practice can
help reduce stress, lower blood pressure, reduce sleeping issues, also a way of
us connecting with how our minds, which we have no control over, we can start
to have more awareness. We hope that we
can start to give you some tools that you can use in the class but also how to
take these practices out into your daily lives; that’s when your mind is going
in every direction, your body is tense.
How can you incorporate these…so that you have more awareness so that
instead of being reactive, which we all are, we can get a little space and
respond, make some choices. It’s going
to be on Tuesdays for an hour, we have sign-up sheets.
Visitor 2: Hi
Everyone, good morning. We’ll do a
short, 1-minute guided meditation, if you’re willing. Find a comfortable, seated position, you can
put both feet on the floor, nice, solid, if you’re willing, you can close your
eyes (I, the writer of this version of the community meeting minutes, close my
eyes and continue to type), or you can let your eyes relax a little bit, just
feel yourself sitting in the chair, bring yourself back to the body, just
grounding, relaxing, feelingyour seat on the chair, feeling your feet on the
ground, just sensing what it feels like to be sitting still, to be sitting here,
feeling yor shoulders, maybe letting the shoulders relax a little bit, rfeling
where your hands are sitting, just mfinding a comfortable position, with your
hands on your head, how does that feel, coming back to this moment, and what it
feels like to be right here, maybe you feel the air moving in through the
nostirls, maybe you feel the air in your cheset, maybe you feel it I nyour
belly, maybe you feel the whole body extend just alittle bit, relasx on the
outside each breath a ununique moment, each moment brining you back to just
now, this momenment, this breath, And just take a very dep breath in and let
the air out, maybe with a sigh because when you reath out, that’s a relaxation
response, deep breath in and breathe out, slowly let your eyese open, coming
back to this visual space.
Visitor 2: We were
wondering if anyone had questions about it, we have some fliers here.
Director: I’m sorry,
I missed the meditation, I’m dealing with the refrigerator, which is going to
be in people’s way all day.
Visitor 1: The class
is going to be on Tuesdays from 1:45 to 2:45.
Director: If you’re
going to the class, we’ll give you the ticket (for being able to be in line for
a bed) before you go upstairs so that you don’t have to worry about it.
Visitors 1 and 2 encourage everyone, say they’re putting
fliers at the front desk, and leave.
Director: Last month,
(some people) came here and talked about Love Your Block clean-up, people liked
it, we’ll try to do it more than once a year.
A volunteer named (Name) will be here from the Boston Public
Library. That will meet on the
mezzanine; the furniture that’s there won’t be there. She also mentioned WiFi Boston that people
can sign out (for a certain amount of time).
She’ll be here on (Wednesday).
Director: The Guest
Advisory Board. Does someone want to
talk about activities?
Guest 1: Sports night
with popcorn, poetry contest, book club,
Director: You had an
idea for 7 of them; a nightly activity offered between 7 and 8 every
evening.
Guest 2: Also for
stay-in days; people like (various television shows).
Director: Whatever we
do about the TV, we can’t make everybody happy.
So there’s a schedule now and it will be at staff discretion.
Guest 3: I had the
privilege of reading the Guest Advisory minutes and there was an attachment to
it by (Guest on GAB), and I asked to speak to you about it. The shower floors are not clean.
Director: Before we
get to open forum, I’ll talk about this:
we all are aware that we need new and better showers. It’s not going to happen right away.
Guest 3: I just
wanted you to acknowledge that you received it.
Director: I can talk
to (Guest from board) about it.
Director: Please
everyone take the sheets off the beds in the morning; it’s too much for
staff. (Please don’t bring in too many
bags; downsize if you have to.) Our plan
is to continue the pilot of allowing people into the building at 1:00 p.m. Part of our plan is to get feedback.
Guest 2: There are
far fewer people in the building.
Director: So less congestion.
Guest 4: It’s great.
Director: You think
it’s great. Does anyone have any
concerns?
Guest 5: It’s less
humiliating.
Director: So you
think it’s more respectful. Are there
any downsides?
Nobody answers.
Director: So we’ll
continue with it for now, although it’s not permanent.
Guest 2: Why can’t we
get the bed tickets at 1:00 p.m.?
Director: (There are
people who would like to be here even later than 3:00 p.m.; it’s too much
pressure for everyone to have to get a ticket at 1:00 p.m.)
Director: I failed to
introduce the new overnight supervisor, (Name).
Director: Now I’m
going to go by table. Questions?
Guest: I don’t know
what detergent they’re using, but there’s always hair on the towels. I have to go through (several) towels to get
a clean one. Why can’t we wear our own pajamas? There are people who don’t take showers and
they put on the scrubs. (Then the scrubs
don’t really get clean).
Director: The size of
the shelter is big; the rule is supposed to be that if you take a bed, you take
a shower. We’re trying to keep the
shelter clean, it’s not perfect. We try
not to have people eat or drink in the dormitories either. The way that we try to keep the shelter clean
is to get in front of it by having everyone take a shower.
Guest 2: But I have
eczema. The rule means that I have to
take a shower 365 days a year here.
Director: We have
general guidelines. (transition)
People start talking.
Director: We’re going
to go around from table to table and talk one at a time.
Guest 3: (I
appreciate the staff) but (there was food that I couldn’t eat). I suggest a survey.
Next table
Guest 7: People going
into their bags all night and crinkling the bags. I know this is a communal setting, but people
make a lot of noise.
Director: That’s an
ongoing struggle. If you feel
comfortable, then you can ask the person nicely to stop; if you don’t, then you
can go to staff.
Guest 7: I thought
people weren’t supposed to have bags at all.
Director: They’re
not. We also have earplugs.
Guest 8: (Scrubs.)
Director: We can’t
police what happens behind the shower curtains, nor do we want to. Everyone has different hygiene issues. If you have a concern about a specific person
(discreetly) talk to staff about it.
Don’t call the person out about it, because that doesn’t help.
Director: Next
question. (Calls on me.)
Me: What is your
policy about strip-searching people?
There are two guests who were strip-searched, and I have heard that it
is your policy not to strip-search people.
Director: We don’t do
strip searches.
Me: Except that you
did, and the people who did it and those above them weren’t punished for
it.
Director: I don’t
think this is the appropriate setting to be discussing it.
Me: I think that it
is, because the guests have the right to know that it happened.
Director: That is a
very serious accusation, and you don’t know what you’re talking about. Unless you were in the room, then you don’t
know what happened.
Me: Are you calling
me a liar?
Director: No.
Me: So you’re calling
the people that it happened to liars?
Director: Do you have
something else that you want to say?
Me: No.
Director takes next question from guest.
Guest 9: (Talks about
guests not flushing the toilets.)
Guest 10: (Asks a
question about lockers. I don’t hear
this discussion from Director and 7-3 Supervisor 1 because I’m writing notes
about the discussion about the strip-search.)
Guest 11: (Question
about saved beds and being able to stay in before class for Pine Street Inn
training program.)
Director: I’m not
sure this is a community issue. If
you’re in a training program, that doesn’t mean that you get a saved bed.
Guest 11: Why
not? Male trainees at the men’s side can
stay in the building before class. We
have nowhere to stay before class.
7-3 Supervisor 1:
Nobody has been given special permission to stay in for iCater. I can talk to you about places where you can
go before class. Also, if you are placed
on the saved bed list, then you have to bring your schedule to the front desk
in the morning for your saved bed.
Guest 2: There was a
soda bottle and a lighter (in a bed?)
Why are we given hand towels instead of real towels?
Director: The issue
is our laundry facility. We don’t have
the manpower or machine power to do the scrubs and all the sheets and also the
towels. I have to talk to
facilities. I know that we can’t afford
new machines right now, and I know that we can’t afford another level of
housekeeping.
Guest 2: Obviously
housekeeping isn’t cleaning. You all
talk about us not cleaning our bodies, but someone who is supervising is not
doing their job for housekeeping.
Director: Is there
anyone else at this table who wants to say anything?
Guest 9: We’re all
ladies. Also, staff are too busy on
their phones. I need a job like
that.
Director: Staff are
allowed to use their phones on their breaks or for emergencies. If there’s an issue then you need to talk to
a supervisor.
Guest 9: (I miss some
of it. I think she’s explaining that
staff are on their phones a lot.)
Guest 10: I want to
re-emphasize the housekeeping issue. The
housekeeping is more centered on cleaning up tables and floors than showers and
sinks, and there have been two identified cases of MRSA here recently. I don’t want to get MRSA, and I know that
nobody else does, either. The toilets
here are disgusting; feces smeared around, water all over the sinks and on the
floors. Just in terms of cleanliness, so
that we aren’t exposed to bacteria, and so that we aren’t communally exposed
and get (sick), could housekeeping focus more on bathrooms and showers. If those showers could be cleaned much more
so, because there’s black mold (someone claps), there’s everything from A-Z in
those showers.
Director: In the
interest of time—
Guest 10: I have
another one. We have to adjust our
schedule to the staff schedule. All
right, we do it. Then (the way that
we’re treated), is “Hurry up! Get
up!” You’re lucky if you can get your
toothbrush out of your locker in the far room before the cleaning starts. It’s getting earlier and earlier.
Director: What time
is it happening?
People say “7:30”
Director: What’s your
request?
Guest 10: That the
cleaning starts a little later so that people can get what they need. I carry around my toothpaste and toothbrush
in my backpack.
Director: I doubt
that they’re going to start later because it has to be cleaned on one side or
the other. What about if people who had
back lockers put their names on their list to switch to front lockers when
they’re available?
Guest 10: I’d also
like to welcome the new staff. I know
that they’re doing the best they can.
However, it’s almost like we’re treated like we’re criminals. I was out in the garden the other day and
someone gave me a cigarette, and I smoked half of it and then put the other
half in my pocket. A staffperson came
out and made me turn out my pockets, and accused us of passing something to
each other.
Guest 2: That
situation has happened multiple times.
Guest 10: There’s a
big criminalization of homelessness. We
all suffer from it. It’s something that
should be discussed at the Guest Advisory Board or however. Helping staff be more mindful with regard to
not criminalizing us, with treating us with more respect so that we have our
dignity.
Director: Yes, but
you have to understand that there are a lot of drugs in the building.
Guest 10: An 8-months-pregnant
woman was thrown out on Mother’s Day and she didn’t do anything. It was such a disgusting event. Everyone watched it with total shock. We’re human beings here. It was thoroughly disgusting.
Director: It sounds
as if the issue is around respect.
Guest 10: Respect,
consideration, the way that we’re treated, and the way in which the operations
function.
Director: I want to
make sure that we get to everyone.
Guest 11: I can agree
with this lady here. They talk down to
us. We’re all adults here and we’re all
women. They have a place to live and we
don’t. There’s no need to degrade
you. When you ask them a question, they
just say any old thing.
Director: All staff?
Guest 11: All staff.
(Some disagreement from other guests).
Guest 12: Can I get
some clarification about the bag issue?
I’m told there aren’t enough lockers.
I’m told that we have to take everything with us in the morning.
Director: If you are
storing your stuff in the coat room, the idea is that you are taking it with
you when you leave. It’s not a storage
facility. If you are going on a job
interview or something like that, and you don’t want to take your bag, we all
understand the stigma, you can talk to the staff and they’ll let you keep your
bag in the coat room. The problem is
when people leave their things in the coat room for 2 weeks and we don’t know
until something starts to smell or there are bugs.
Guest 12: I wasn’t
told.
Director: When the
coat room is cleaned out on June 3rd, then I don’t want to see 50
bags back there. It was built for 70
people, and it just gets gross. Next guest
has a question?
Guest 13: (Question
about towels)
Director: I answered
this already.
Guest 13: When are
you going to fix the doors so that they’re handicapped accessible?
Director: That’s a
good question. I was thinking about that
yesterday.
Guest 13: It’s really
difficult. I have to hold the doors open
to get through them.
Director: We need those
(handicapped accessible doors.)
Guest 13: The other
issue is that people are still using the handicapped restrooms upstairs and
they’re not handicapped. I have a major
incontinence issue. I tell people who
are changing in those restrooms that I need to use them and they ignore me, so
I have to talk to staff.
Director writes notes and then turns to next guest.
Guest 14: (I work in
housekeeping). We do wipe down the
bathroom seats. But it seems as if after
I clean it or someone else cleans it, then you guys come after and leave a
mess. I live here. I make sure that everything is done the
proper way. The way that I’ve been shown
how to do things. If you guys make a
mess, that’s on you guys. (clapping from
others, Director smiling).
Director: We’re going
to move to the back table.
Guest 15: Can we use
the laundry machines to wash our clothes?
Director: That’s been
gone for years. It’s not coming
back. We need the machines for our
laundry and they were getting broken all the time.
Guest 16: This nice
lady who talked about the bags and being told to downsize. What about the people in wheelchairs?
Director: The point
of community meeting is not to call people out.
The rule about bags is the same for everyone, whether you’re in a
wheelchair or not.
Guest 17: I wrote a
grievance and it hasn’t been addressed; I wrote it a week ago. It happened on Mother’s Day. When I wrote a grievance about hygiene, it
was addressed right away. When I wrote a
grievance about how staff were treating people, it wasn’t addressed. My HIPAA regulation that I filled out the
paper for when I got here, staff shouldn’t be talking about our business in
front of people, that’s very disrespectful, and I was told to keep quiet about
it. My other question is about
bags. If you’ve been here for 30 days,
you should be able to have a locker.
There are people in training programs who have lockers. I just came from my house and I can’t afford
storage. What if I’m disabled or
pregnant? I know you don’t have programs
anymore, but you can at least (give people lockers or understand). Maybe someone has a breathing machine. Also, if I have to wear the same clothes
every day, then I’ll stink.
Director: If you have
an issue in the shelter, the best way to resolve it is to talk to staff, if
that doesn’t work, then talk to a supervisor, if that doesn’t work than file a
grievance. You write a grievance. Then we have to get it out of the grievance
box, we have to read it, then we have to give it to a supervisor, and that can
take a week. Sometimes people aren’t
around when we look for them. (It can
take some time.) We do have a waitlist
for the lockers; we don’t have enough for everyone.
Guest 17: There are
people who don’t stay here who have lockers.
Director: We’re
cracking down on that. If you’re not
here for 2 weeks, then you lose your locker.
Guest 18: I have 2
issues. One is the food; there are
people here with dietary needs and certain foods that they cannot eat. There is a difference between a vegetable and
a starchy vegetable. A diabetic will
have to go without eating because there’s too much starch on the plate. Nobody should have to go without eating. Also; laundry. I know that we can’t do laundry here, but is
there somewhere in the area where we can do our laundry once per week?
Director: A list of
laundromats?
Guest 18: Laundromats
which can do it once a week for free?
Director: We can give
you guys a list of laundromats and addresses?
Guest: I have to go
to (town that is an hour away by public transportation) to do my laundry,
because none of the laundromats around here are handicapped-accessible.
Director: Does anyone
else back here have a question?
Director: I’ll circle
back around the room. Did anyone else
have anything to say?
Guest: Question about
lockers.
Director answers the question.
Me: Staff and
supervisors are on their cell phones all of the time. They are not invested in being here. When I go to work, I put my phone in my
locker at work; I am not on my phone.
They are working in human services.
What if someone falls and they don’t see it? It’s not right for them just to jerk their heads
up from their phones when they hear people getting upset. Sometimes you have to ask them a question 2
or 3 times before they hear you.
Director nods and makes a note.
Guest: A staffperson
refused to give someone a blanket last night.
Why would she do that? Also, a
staffperson was annoyed with me because I interrupted her conversation with
someone.
Guest 10: I don’t
think it’s a global situation. We have a
lot of new staff, and I think they’re bright young women. I think that their training is “Now you’re a
prison guard,” and I don’t think that they want to be in that role. There are a lot of staff who are involved
with guests and dealing with their issues.
Some people are on their phones, yes.
Some people have this mindset that I’m standing here and I’m going to
scan the whole crowd and I’m going to watch and watch and watch. That causes a lot of stress among all of us,
I think. They just stand in one spot and
watch us like prison guards. I think
that some of the new staff and some of the longer-term staff don’t have that
kind of mentality; I think that they want to use their brains—
Director: Do you have
a specific question?
Guest 10: In
training, tell them what homelessness is and tell them what homeless people are
going through physically and emotionally, and as a staffperson, this is how you
can assist them. That should be part of
their orientation.
Director: Someone
else have a question?
Guest 3: I agree with
what has been said today. I am also a
professional. I can also understand (from
a management professional). There’s a
lot of danger here. There’s a lot of
pilferage. When I see someone trying to
get someone’s attention…if you’re talking about crowd control, there is a
different point of view. Don’t jump to
your own conclusion. Staff have to have
a way of protecting you as well.
Guest (#?): They ran
out of towels last night. I had to (go
up and down stairs). They had me climb
up and down the stairs to get a blanket, pillow or towel, and I still didn’t
get a towel, and they wanted me to take a shower. It was 8:30 by then and lights were out. Guests were mad at me, but I (was the one who
was sent all over the place to look for a towel.)
Guest 17: Staff is
looking at us like prison guards. I’ve
spoken to some of the new staff and certain things are concerning them about
the way that we’ve been treated. They
have an opinion themselves as to the conditions. Do you have staff meetings where they can
address their concerns? Their job is not
to be on their phones all the time.
Their job is to comfort us. If we
talk to them about our concerns, can they talk to you about it? There are some pregnant people here, or there
are diabetics here, why can’t someone bring food upstairs, everyone has
individual concerns. Staff should be
able to map out plans for everyone’s individual process; there will always be
someone else who has the same problem.
Director: Staff can
give feedback about guests’ concerns. We
can’t make exceptions for everyone, given the number of people whom we serve.
Guest 17: Why
not?
Director: Is there
anyone who hasn’t spoken before who wants to talk again?
Nobody does.
Director: (Guest 10) you can close us out, you have 2 minutes.
Guest 10: Can people
who have similar issues have groups, facilitated by staff, who bring the
concern to you, and then you can consider an operational change?
Director: I think
what’s more realistic at this time, because of our staffing, is that you should
bring things to the Guest Advisory Board.
That’s a place to start. I want to
thank you all for being here.
Copyright Homeless Humans, May 25, 2019
