By Gretchen Keiser

He does not judge by appearances. He gives no verdict on hearsay, but judges the wretched with integrity, and with equity gives a verdict for the poor of the land (Isaiah 11:3-4, Second Sunday of Advent).

The network of downtown Atlanta shelters and soup kitchens which has been sustained for 12 years principally by donations and volunteer labor, is being perceived more and more as only part of the answer to the needs of the homeless.

A group of pastors and ministers whose churches are in the heart of Atlanta’s hotel and downtown area or who work in the shelter-soup kitchen network are coming together around the belief that they cannot and should not meet the needs without greater civic help, according to the Reverend Ed Grider, a Presbyterian minister who is working in leadership in the group.

The “general consensus” of the pastors is that “it’s time for other parts of the community to assume some areas of responsibility.” Reverend Grider said. Without polarizing the religious community against the business community or civic leaders, “a broader public discussion” of the needs of the homeless “needs to take place leading toward practical plans and implementation,” he said.

An associate for mission for the Atlanta Presbytery, Reverend Grider has been active in Atlanta’s civil rights struggles and neighborhood development since the 1960s and was director of the Urban Training Organization, an interfaith effort that organized and strengthened “close-in neighborhoods” in the 1970s. His concern right now for the pressure upon the homeless and upon the churches serving them makes it “a top priority” in a wide spectrum of mission work. The Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta and many individual churches, including Sacred Heart Church, are a part of the current concern.

During this season of Advent, which emphasizes watchfulness and an alertness to areas that need to change in order to be brought into the light, there are also signs that this is the urgent moment to begin “a new level of conversation” about the long-term needs of the homeless, Reverend Grider said.

Reports have emerged of a desire on the part of civic and business leaders to create a “safeguard zone” from 14^th Street to City Hall that would be perceived as safe and relatively crime free by tourists and conventioneers. “Anybody who knows anything about Atlanta knows that street people aren’t the cause of the crime,” Reverend Grider said, but fear and misperceptions, as much as facts, play into public reaction. Within these blocks are many of the night shelters and soup kitchens which have served street people and their work is threatened by this climate of change.

Another indication, Reverend Grider said, is an ordinance that was tabled at the Atlanta City Council recently that would have tried to prevent churches from operating shelters without a special use permit. Although he dismissed the proposal as being unconstitutional, he called it “indicative of a growing sense among folks that they don’t want shelters.” Over the last seven or eight years, dozens of churches have opened shelters during the winter months, housing men, women and children, and families who are homeless in church gymnasiums and basements.

In addition to the pressure upon the shelters from those who are uncomfortable with ministry to the homeless, is the pressure coming from the sheer rise in numbers of people needing help. Soup kitchens are serving more people and shelters are having to turn more people away, he said. More families are being seen among the homeless. While the causes are complex, around the country there are similar reports of a “mushrooming” of the homeless population, he said, and an indication that “the problem is deeper, more pervasive and larger than anyone anticipated.”

From a religious perspective, the shelters and soup kitchens have been a response to the immediate needs of the homeless and, Reverend Grider noted lightly, the opportunity to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless “has made Christians out of people” who never reached out to the poor before. Morally “the church has responded characteristically” by opening shelters and soup kitchens, he said. “But we’ve probably been slow and late, in coming to the point of saying the city, the county, the state, the taxpayer have a civic responsibility not just to be aware, but to develop long-range plans” to meet the housing, day care and day shelter and health needs of the homeless. Pointing out the civic role is “another level of moral responsibility” that the church has in society, he said.

Practical obstacles are money, the political will to invest in the needs of the homeless, and cooperation between and among various levels of government and business, he said. The county, for example, has responsibility for health and welfare, which would touch some of the needs, but the city more likely has responsibility for shelter, he said; some areas of responsibility are shared and the state would be looked to for funding. Since church labor has been volunteer labor, “to move beyond what the churches have been able to do is going to take money.” Specific needs include a permanent year-round shelter, some type of single-room occupancy structures that would provide low-cost shelter on a short-term basis, and desperately needed permanent low-income housing. Treatment of alcoholism and day care provisions for children in homeless families are two other needs.

While some efforts have been made by civic authorities, they “certainly haven’t taken the lead to say, let us solve the problem” Reverend Grider said.

A 1985 study “Homelessness in Atlanta: A Five-Year Plan,” which made practical recommendations for short- and long-term health, housing and employment needs, “died on the vine in terms of implementation,” Reverend Grider said.

All segments of the community need to work toward a plan “with the (financial) resources to implement it,” he said. “The religious community has a continuing role, but it is foolish to think we could do it alone.”

In addition to emphasizing the moral imperative to call others to their civic responsibility, Reverend Grider pointed out practically that the homeless population is not confined to a few blocks in downtown Atlanta, nor are those who are homeless going to vanish in a few years, as though part of a temporary aberration in society.

There are shelters in Jonesboro, East Point, and Decatur, and in places like Carrollton and McDonough, because the homeless live in many areas, he said.

Also, the contributing factors are deep and continuing. Some he mentioned were delayed stress factor for Vietnam veterans, who suddenly plunge into crisis; the narrow financial margin many families are eking out; the many single-parent families; even the drought this summer which affected many. When financial or emotional crisis comes, “there are fewer and fewer holding nets to keep these people from dropping straight out onto the streets,” he said.