WOOF: San Francisco program will pair people in need with dogs in need
Its name is a little awkward. Its dual mission isn’t purely humanitarian, or, for that matter, solely focused on saving dogs. And there seem a lot of opportunities for things to go wrong.
But when it comes to San Francisco’s plan to pair shelter dogs with formerly homeless people living in temporary city housing, we say go for it.
Despite concerns from PETA and others, the city is proceeding with plans for a program it has dubbed WOOF (Wonderful Opportunities for Occupants and Fidos), in which residents of what the city calls “supportive housing” will be paid a $75 a week stipend to take in and care for a dog.
Starting on a trial basis in August, residents who have no history of violence, mental illness or addiction, will be allowed to temporarily take in a shelter dog and serve as foster parent.
On top of the stipend, they’ll receive training, and free dog food. In the pilot phase of the program five pairs of residents will care for one dog each.
Bevan Dufty, a former supervisor ’s who now serves as the mayor’s homelessness chief, came up with the proposal as a way of addressing two problems at once — overcrowding in animal shelters and panhandling in the streets.
The idea is, with the stipend, those residents who are chronic panhandlers will avoid that behavior.
That’s a big hope, and, as any seasoned panhandler can tell you, there’s no better way to reel in potential donors than by having a dog at your side.
Even if it doesn’t wipe out panhandling, though, even if it is fraught with risks and has a high potential for exploitation, even though it’s not keeping dogs in the safest possible environment, we think it’s an innovative idea worth taking a chance on.
Because when needy dogs and needy people are brought together, miracles can happen.
PETA has come out squarely against the idea, saying the city would be experimenting with the lives of puppies, and placing them in dangerous situations. The organization compared the program to playing “Russian roulette.”
In a letter to the mayor, PETA wrote that most panhandlers are substance abusers or have mental health issues: “Placing any animal with them is risky at best.”
And if people receive animals that have been difficult to adopt out, or judged unadoptable, that could spell more even trouble, PETA says.
“Putting these two troubled populations together is very likely to result in disaster,” Teresa Chagrin, PETA’s animal care and control specialist, is quoted by ABC News as saying.
PETA has offered San Francisco $10,000 — the initial cost of the pilot program — to hire the homeless to do something else, such as handing out leaflets urging people to spay and neuter their pets.
Dufty, who is director of San Francisco’s Housing Opportunities, Partnership, and Engagement (HOPE) initiative — the city goes to great lengths for catchy acronyms — said that the housing residents chosen for the program are trying to get their lives back on track, and that they are fully able to care for pets.
“These are individuals who have been through job readiness programs, who live in our buildings. They were individually interviewed, went through orientation, and have gotten a gold star of approval,” Dufty said.
San Francisco’s Animal Care & Control, a partner in the program — its initial funding is through a $10,000 grant from Vanessa Getty– said those residents taking part will be fully screened.
“You have this image of us pulling up in a van full of dogs handing them out to people,” director Rebecca Katz said. “We would not be putting animals at risk. Our job is to investigate animal abuse and neglect. We are going to have a lot more oversight during this fostering program than if they were to just adopt dogs on their own.”
PETA’s Chagrin counters: “You can’t put dogs with people who are battling their own demons.”
Having heard so many tales of people whose dogs helped them beat their demons, and vice versa, we think — whether it solves the panhandling problem or not — the program deserves a try, in a very well-monitored way. It creates a chance for some magic to happen, for some love to bloom, for some lives to change.
“In order to be effective in responding to homelessness, you can’t ignore the humanity of people,” Dufty said. “Ultimately this program is about giving dogs and people a second chance, and I don’t see how you can argue against that.”
(Photo: Michael Reed, with his dog Topaz, both of whom were homeless when we encountered them in Los Angeles in 2008; by John Woestendiek)
Posted by jwoestendiek July 25th, 2012 under Muttsblog.
Tags: $75, animal care & control, animal control, animal shelters, animals, bevan dufty, care, dog, dogs, foster, homeless, homelessness, hope, monthly, overcrowding, panhandlers, panhandling, peta, pets, residents, russian roulette, san francisco, shelter, stipend, supportive housing, wonderful opportunities for occupants and fidos, woof!
Comments
Comment from Miss Jan
Time July 25, 2012 at 9:53 pm
I am SO SO sick and tired of the perpetuation of most of the homeless myths. I have worked as a volunteer in both a large city and a small city in homeless advocacy and the systematic stigmatization of homeless is UNCALLED FOR and is based in deliberate IGNORANCE and victim blaming. When the largest percentage of homeless happens to be single moms with young children, followed by the next largest percentage which is HOMELESS INTACT FAMILIES and the next down the line HOMELESS VETERANS for which there is absolutely NO EXCUSE WHATSOEVER considering what they did for our country regardless of politics, followed by the next largest percentage which is young men who cannot under any circumstances find any employment whatsoever not even day labor – why do the media and high-profile groups persist in the ruthless uncaring UNEDUCATED hatred-peddling stigmatization of this population? Has everyone who HAS a job and a home managed somehow to forget that there is the Second Great Depression about to make its third dip and that in a month or a week or even a heart beat they too could be in this situation? Few who have jobs and homes seem to take a minute to understand what is TRULY going on with most homeless people and what is going on is that JOB LOSS and UNDEREMPLOYMENT are behind over 80 percent of homelessness –and there are a lot with jobs who cannot afford a home because they are being paid minimum wage without benefits and only able to find part-time work! The myth of all homeless being worthless scum who only want to drink or drug themselves into oblivion while panhandling to finance their journey to oblivion needs to be shelved right along with the vast numbers of racist and bigoted myths which STILL plague this benighted society! People need to ask themselves one question: if they didn’t have a paycheck just how long do they think they would last before landing on the street? If someone loses their job through no fault of their own, their unemployment benefits run out, they exhaust their savings, they have no family or friends who can take them in PROBABLY BECAUSE THAT FAMILY AND THOSE FRIENDS HAVE THEIR OWN FAMILIES INCLUDING BROKE STUDENTS WHO HAVE MOVED BACK HOME thanks to abusively obscene student loan practices by loan sharks – what would they do? I can tell you that they TOO would be standing by freeway offramps and hanging out on street corners trying to get enough money together to eat or buy kleenex or afford a motel room once a week so they could take a shower and sleep in a darn BED. FEW think of what homelessness is all about. Well it is past time for people to man up and set aside their prejudices and THINK ABOUT IT. How do you even buy a 98 cent bottle of 24 Advil tabs for the pounding headache and terrible body pain you got from sleeping in a cold doorway when you HAVE NO MONEY??? The shelters are overflowing with decent honest people who have fallen on hard times. PETA – you can take your hate-group attitude and choke on it. May you never have another donation and all your employed haters themselves land ON THE STREET because with the deliberately ignorant attitudes you display you richly deserve it!
Comment from TR
Time July 26, 2012 at 2:32 pm
So, most panhandlers are substance abusers and have mental health issues? Way to paint with a broad brush PETA…it’s kind of like when people say every dog of breed “X” is a dangerous dog.
Comment from debbie
Time July 26, 2012 at 2:42 pm
well said, Miss Jan
Comment from BPM
Time August 30, 2012 at 5:40 pm
It’s awesome San Francisco is taking this issue on. The shelter in this country is antiquated, inhumane and causes unnecessary suffering for animals bred for centuries to be human companions. It’s abusive. It’s also abusive that there are homeless people in a city of high rents, that there are more foreclosed homes than there are homeless and that people of color are being incarcerated en masse in this country. I think there’s a link between turning a blind eye to suffering we don’t see. It’s time leaders face moral issues on all fronts, not just this one.
Comment from Kate McKowen
Time September 1, 2012 at 6:54 pm
Today is September 1, and I’m wondering where I can find out how the WOOF program is doing? I think it’s a fabulous idea.
I have a chronic autoimmune disease that keeps me from working a regular job, because I don’t know when I’m going to get knocked back down in bed and not be able to cover a shift I was scheduled for, for instance. This does not mean that I am an irresponsible leech; it means I’m poor (because, whether you admit it or not, it’s virtually illegal to get really sick in America) and sometimes bored, and I would be lonely– but for my pets.
Yes, PETA, I’m crazy as a bedbug. But not once in my life, never ever, have I put my own comforts and needs before my pets’. If I am experiencing one of the bouts of homelessness that have occurred whenever Social Security Disability decides it’s too much trouble to pay me back the benefits I put into the system starting when I was 14, and someone offers me shelter but my tiny dog and elderly cat are not welcome, I say, “No, thank you”. I have slept in my car with my pets until I could find shelter for us all. If the situation were reversed, I’m pretty darn sure my animals would not abandon me no matter what.
Pairing decent but destitute humans with needy animals is an excellent idea. Of course it could go terribly wrong, and in a case or two, it probably will. However, take a stroll through your local overcrowded animal shelter and count the number of purebred pets that were purchased at high cost whose owners were not in the least prepared to deal with the inevitable needs of a living, breathing creature.
Pets are not toys. People are not of one mold. We all need a little help now and then. If you are lucky enough to have never needed help from anyone– I wonder: Really? If you went to public schools, I paid the taxes that supported those schools. Did your parents see to it that you had regular medical exams and vaccinations? I might very well have been the really nice lady who gave the shot you never felt, because *I gave a damn about my work*.
Compassion is for every living thing.
KMcK Alameda CA
Comment from vida
Time July 25, 2012 at 6:44 pm
I think it’s a great idea, with oversight of course. A dog’s love and the responsibility can help alot in overcoming difficulties. No matter how low I feel I have to get up and get to work, the dogs need me. I need them more but don’t tell them, lol.