Homeless panel finds shelter in advocacy

Joe Manuel Rodriguez
Diversity Institute Fellow

03.29.04

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Advocates for homeless people in Nashville urged students at Vanderbilt University on Thursday to join them in their fight against what they call police harassment.

Members of a panel on homelessness said Metro Police spend too much time issuing tickets to homeless people for minor offenses. They asked students to send emails to the police chief to encourage authorities to stop the practice.

Doing so would save the city money, said Matt Leber, an advocate for the homeless, who himself has never been homeless.

The panel discussion was held at the Sarratt Student Center as part of Habitat for Humanity's Homeless Awareness Week. About 25 people attended the session in which a number of participants shared stories about their own experiences with homelessness.

John Zirker said he lost his job at Firestone/Bridgestone and then lost his wife and family. He then turned to drugs and eventually ended up homeless.

"I lost all hope, and it was very cold," he said. "I walked to the inner city and stayed at the Rescue Mission."

Zirker, who is no longer homeless, became the co-founder of the Homeless Power Project, which is designed to build leaders from the ranks of homeless people.

Howard Allen is homeless but still served as a co-founder with Zirker. On Thursday, he walked around the room and shook everybody's hands before he began sharing his story.

"I am human just like the rest of you," said Allen, who recounted his days as an upper middle-class worker who drove a Mercedes. After losing his parents a few years ago, he said he turned to drugs and became homeless.

"Many people are just one paycheck away from being homeless, so do not mistreat the homeless because anybody can become homeless," Allen said.

Leber said he decided to become an advocate for homeless people after he came to Nashville in May 2000.

"I saw how the homeless people were being harassed and since (then) I have tried to bring awareness," he said.

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