Homeless advocate stops to document stories

Horvath on mission to give the homeless a voice.

By Kate Ward

Posted: July 27, 2009 at 7:39 a.m.
Updated: July 27, 2009 at 8:26 a.m.

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FAYETTEVILLE — Before moving to the Seven Hills Walker Family Residential Community nearly a year ago, 56-year-old Vietnam veteran Randy Baggett was spending his entire income to bounce between motels.

Since then, the Fayetteville resident and former traveling salesman has moved into a permanent, affordable dwelling he calls home.

"I feel very blessed," he said. "I only spend a third of my income to live here. Everything was brand new when I moved in, and they even let me have a therapeutic cat."

Though Baggett's story of homelessness is one of thousands shared each day across the country, even more stories remain untold.

As part of his mission to give the homeless a voice, Mark Horvath, a former homeless man from Los Angeles, is traveling across the country to document their individual experiences. The national homeless advocate plans to create a "snapshot" of the homeless by posting photographs, videos and blog entries to his Web site, www.invisiblepeople.tv.

"There's a perfect storm of homelessness brewing," he said during his visit to Fayetteville on Friday. "A lot of people try to hide it because homelessness is not a popular cause. Unfortunately, hurting people rarely say, 'I'm hurting.' My biggest message to people is that we have to take care of our neighbors."

Through his documentary, Horvath hopes to dispel themisconceptions often associated with homelessness.

Many people associate homelessness with larger, metropolitan areas, he said, but the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently revealedthat 56 percent of homeless individuals reside in rural areas.

Horvath said another misconception people have is the face of homelessness.

"Most people perceive the average homeless person as the man with a long beard, holding a cardboard sign," he said. "What they don't know is that the average age of a homeless person is 9 years old. In fact, there were 1.35 million homeless children whoslept outside last night. That number is low too because a lot of parents don't report their children as being homeless. They're afraid they'll be taken away."

During his visit to Fayetteville on Friday, Horvath toured the Seven Hills Walker Family Residential Community, which includes a 16-room dormitory, three family apartments and eight units for disabled individuals, many of whom are veterans. The 16-room dormitory provides temporary housing for homeless individuals who are "working to form a life plan." While living in the dorms, residents learn how to live ontheir own. They must have a source of income and remain sober. Residents can stay in the dorm for two months or a couple of years.

"When I was homeless, I lived in a storefront with about 30 other men," Horvath said. "I think this facility is beautiful. It gives people privacy and dignity. I think it's very representative of the community. You couldn't do something like this without community support."

The three family apartments each have three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The eight long-term residential units are all handicap accessible and provide a home for people with mental or physical disabilities. A community building provides a space for educational training, from money management to parent effectiveness lessons. The campus also includes a community garden aimed at bringing residents together and teaching them life skills such as boundaries, cooperation and sharing.

"If you don't build individual plans and follow them through, then you won't get anywhere," said Jon Woodward, Seven Hills Homeless Center executive director, wholed Friday's tour. "It's all about living and learning to be part of a community."

After Friday's tour, Horvath served as keynote speaker during the Stand Up and Be Counted rally, hosted by the University of Arkansas Community and Family Institute, in partnership with the Cobblestone Project. The event, which took place at the UA's Chi Omega Greek Theater on Friday, was aimed at showing area residents the face of homelessness in hopes of spurring a community response.

Participants were asked to gather on the UA's Old Main lawn afterward to represent the estimated 1,287 homeless individuals living in Benton and Washington counties, as documented by the Northwest Arkansas Point-in-Time Homeless Census that was recently published by the Community and Family Institute. In addition to documenting the homeless population, the census further revealed that nearly half of northwest Arkansas' homeless population is younger than 18.

"Homelessness is a very complex issue," Horvath said. "There's not one solution."

The homeless advocate plans to visit at least 25 cities during his cross-country journey, before returning to Los Angeles in October. In addition to documenting the experiences of homeless individuals, he also plans to share his own story of homelessness.

News, Pages 3 on 07/27/2009

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