By Diane Rusignola

Imagine a shelter that is not overrun with occupants, a shelter where everyone is like family. Children are not exposed to drugs. Instead, they come “home” each night to a hot meal and do their homework. Imagine a shelter so safe and inviting that it’s literally located inside a church.

Imagine this place, and discover

the Capital Interfaith Hospitality Network (CIHN.) This network of nine congregations has banded together and is committed to providing shelter and hot meals for a few homeless families in need every evening from about 6:30 pm until early the next morning.

The shelter moves from church to church every couple of months and sometimes every few weeks (a schedule is set up a year in

advance), usually occupying extra Sunday school rooms, a multi-purpose room or a church basement. Currently there are three families in the network, and new families come and go every few months.

Besides providing shelter on a rotating basis, churches contribute what they can: sometimes it’s a bed or television for the traveling shelter, sometimes it’s a hot meal,

and sometimes it’s a volunteer visiting the families.

CIHN follows the national model of Family Promise, which began as the National Interfaith Hospitality Network in 1989, founded on the idea that “Americans are compassionate people who want to make a difference.”

“It’s about making a

This is the city of Atlanta, Georgia, known by many as “Hotlanta” because

of the once-booming job growth and business opportunities. But these days Atlanta is not so hot, as unemployment soars and the problems of poverty and homelessness increase.

When I arrive, my first stop is the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial, I hear the story of how the Reverend Dr. King led the struggle for civil rights in our nation.

My next stop is the Open Door Community, a soup kitchen where I meet the Reverend Edward-the-”Agitator” Loring, who has spent many years fighting for the rights and dignity of homeless people. In the worship service that I attend, I am reminded of the many prisoners on death row.

Just down the street is the First Presbyterian Church, and I go inside. Many homeless men and women are gathered around, and stories are exchanged as to how many of them are treated in society. Atlanta prides itself on hospitality, but when it comes to the homeless, the term hospitality does not exist.

After my visit at First Presbyterian, I stop at the Task Force for the Homeless shelter, a rough-and-tumble hellhole of sorts. It was around dinner time when I arrived, and while people

By Laura Thompson Osuri It’s 7:30 in the morning on a clear

day in early April, and a crowd of about 35 men starts to come together on the sidewalk in front of So Others Might Eat (SOME). Most of these men are homeless, and all of them are there that morning looking for work.

After about 45 minutes a large van arrives followed by a car. A woman gets out of the car and starts shouting, “Anyone wanna work? Anyone wanna work?” Several men approach her and are directed to climb into the van. Once about 15 people pile in – some sitting on crates and others on the floor – the van drives off.

A few other vans and trucks pull up following the same routine: there is a call for work, a crowd piles in, and the van pulls off.

While homeless people often take part in the day-labor economy working in construction, demolition and trash clean-up through similar early morning van pick-ups like these, most of the men leaving this morning are going to help with evictions -- in the end, adding to the homeless population.

For at least the last six years, eviction companies in the area

and independent landlords have been calling on homeless people to help clear out the belongings of individuals and families who have defaulted on rental agreements.

According to the U.S. Marshals

Service, the number of workers required for an eviction ranges from 10 for a one-bedroom apartment, to 25 for a house or commercial property. And on a clear day in the spring as many as 10 eviction jobs

are available, homeless people report.

The companies pay between $5 and $15 per eviction job, each

Mayoral Candidates Voice Their Thoughts and Plans on Homelessness, p. 6

April 15, 2006 - May 14, 2006 • Volume 3, Issue 6

Homeless people helped to evict and move the belongings out of this place on Tuckerman Street in Northwest, much as they have done at thousands of others apartments in D.C.

See CHURCH page 7

LOCALKatrina Lessons Lesson learned from the Katrina response are applied to local homelessness page 3,

INTERNATIONALHIV Dating Service South Africa has a new online dating service for HIV positive men and women, page 9

FEATURES Saving for Change NEW: A column of financial advice, page 15

EDITORIALTaking a Closer Look Maurice asks, “Who is homeless?” page 17

FEATURESComings and GoingsNEW: Executive changes for homeless service providers, page 18

$1.00SuggestedDonation

ON THE ROAD

See ATLANTA, page 16

www.streetsense.org

Where the Washington area's poor and homeless earn and give their two cents

Hotlanta’s Cold

Shoulder

NW Churches Provide Shelter to Families in Need

Inside This Issue

Homeless People Hired to Evict Tenants By August Mallory

See EVICT page 5