Homeless people who are ready and able to work soon will be able to join a day-labor crew, cleaning up local streets and medians to get a day’s wages, two meals, a shower and other services.
Tucson City Councilman Richard Fimbres organized the one-year pilot program, which will be led by Old Pueblo Community Services.
“We can help develop a pathway out of homelessness through work,” Fimbres told the council Wednesday.
The program is modeled after an Albuquerque project called There’s a Better Way, which employs panhandlers as landscapers.
That program’s day laborers cleared 25 tons of trash in 128 city blocks, Fimbres said.
“More importantly, this program resulted in people being connected to housing, long-term employment, and behavioral health and substance abuse treatment,” he said.
The Tucson version of the program, called the Tucson Homeless Work Program, will operate on Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning in December. The program will use a 12-passenger van to pick up six homeless workers from shelters and eventually from the streets.
The workers will receive medical screening, hats, gloves and sunscreen. They’ll be allowed to store their possessions in the van during the workday.
They’ll get a free lunch and hear about health and housing services on their lunch break, said Tom Litwicki, CEO of Old Pueblo Community Services.
At the end of the day the workers will be paid $9 an hour, get another meal, and have access to a shower, clothing and maybe haircuts before they return to the shelter.
A person may not participate for more than 12 workdays, Litwicki said.
Litwicki emphasized that the pilot program is one of many solutions needed in a mix of programs to address the complex problem of homelessness. It’s a program that offers immediate help to people who can work, but many homeless people can’t, he said.
The first year of the program will be funded from $25,000 from the fees the city collects from waste haulers. Those dollars are designated for projects that clean up city streets.
Pima County will match the $25,000.
After the one-year pilot is over, Fimbres hopes funding to maintain and expand the program will come from business donations and donations from the public to the Tucson Change Movement, which will let people drop change or swipe a card to donate at special replica parking meters.
It will cost the city $5,000 to install and $3,000 a year to maintain 20 “meter” donation boxes.
Other community groups helping with the Tucson Homeless Work Program are Catholic Community Services, the Primavera Foundation, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Cenpatico, El Rio Community Health Center, Caridad Community Kitchen, Assurance Health and Wellness Center, and Pima County One-Stop.
