Housing First by Caleb

Housing First by Caleb - May 2019 Scholarship Essay

I heard the water dropping in the distance, she was quiet. She has not stopped talking all day since waking up before dawn. Already, she yearned to feel the rush from the needle, to stop the feelings of desperation that she knew would come if she did not find a fix, sooner rather than later. All it took, the familiar call of her master, to leave me and my four siblings at home alone all day, to fend for ourselves, to cook and to clean as only a lonely tribe of children can do when left to fend for themselves, alone in a hostile world. Life without adults present does not mean life without direction, it simply means life with only the direction of other children; chaos, the blind leading the blind, day after day, year after year, only getting worse unit finally, she was quiet. The foster homes were no better.

Substance abuse disorder. Heroin, methamphetamine, alcohol, name your poison, it all results in the same destruction. No one substance worse than the other, the cost is all about the same, just different routes with the same ultimate destination. $10,000 placed in the right place, with the right people would have the best chance to effect change in the fight against the tsunami. I believe that best place lays with The Friends of The Benton County Drug Treatment Court. I believe and I have seen the outcomes, I know that Drug Treatment Court Works!

Specifically, the money would be used, by the Drug Treatment Team, to address the housing needs of participants. Housing, the foundation of stability, is a critical issue for those recovering for the impact of a lifetime of disorder. It should come before requirements of sobriety. How can people have hope of addressing higher concerns when the base of life is teetering. Housing first, so the disorder can begin to be made right.

This $10,000 would be enough to house eight drug affected adults in stable housing for a year. A year of stability, a year to not worry about finding a place to stay or find a fix, an opportunity to take a good look at life and make some changes. Housing is where we need to start. Who of us deserves hopelessness, we all need a second chance and a helping hand, and with stable housing we can allow our most risky and vulnerable a place to find a better way, a way that avoids inflicting traumas on children and families, a route away from the traumas of the foster care system.