Underserved in Topeka: Is it a Choice?

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There is a unique community in Topeka, Kansas, that is underserved and within a geopolitical community. Topeka has a homeless population of more than 400 people, and half of them are living in the Topeka Rescue Mission (TRM), and around 200 are living unsheltered, outside (Moore, 2019). 

Those living in TRM for a temporary stay are held to rules that will accommodate respect and safety for all, including restrictions on entry and exit during the night. Additionally, they do not allow someone to stay if they are currently using illicit drugs or drinking. Although this community of residents is underserved in relation to the rest of the public, they do not represent the most underserved (Topeka Rescue Mission [TRM], n.d.).

Right outside of the TRM is a collection of homeless individuals living in tents and makeshift shelters using blankets and trash cans. For some, there is only a single tarp covering multiple sleeping bags and individual spaces. This "tent community" is a truly underserved population. They do not have access to medical care, clothing, showering, bathrooms, and their personal safety is compromised. There is no safe place to store their belongings, which can include food or valuables. Although the “tent city” community of people consider themselves a “family,” there is a consistent presence of mental illness and addiction, and the danger is heightened for those who live within this phenomenological community.  

Windshield Survey 

The tent city population would be evident in a windshield survey and this survey would also reveal many risks close by. There is no access to fresh water, plumbing, electricity, or climate control (Moore, 2019). In the harsh, snowy winters, many suffer from frostbite, and on the scorching summer days, many end up in the ER with heatstroke symptoms and dehydration. 

There is visual evidence of trash, clutter, and unsanitary conditions, and the area looks like a harbor for infestations of rodents and insects – ideal vectors of disease. There are feral, stray animals roaming about as well as pets living within this community.

There is a code among the residents of tent city, and “snitches” are swiftly dealt with under the “community rules” and there have been stabbings, beatings, and other violent actions in this little subcommunity culture, that go unreported because of “the code.”  

Although there are protections against homelessness for children, adults are not granted those same protections.  

Partner Framework 

To address the basic needs of this phenomenologic community within a geopolitical community, it is important to establish partnerships in the city. Meeting the simple daily needs for showering, toileting, first aid, clothing, and food, as well as providing basic medical services for first aid and health screening – this is the need.  

Topeka has already developed this coalition of partners. The “Mobile Access Partnership” or MAP services, are offered through a collaboration between the Topeka Police Department, the local hospital, the rescue mission, and the local agency that provides mental health and addiction treatment services and medications. 

This partnership, with the funding support of many Topeka businesses, provides mobile bathrooms, showers, and laundry facilities, as well as a mobile health clinic, and a mobile food pantry and kitchen. The unsheltered can enjoy warm meals, a warm shower, and a fresh set of clothing, and can drop their clothing off to be laundered and returned to them the following week.  

Nurses are available for important health screenings, social workers and licensed counselors are available to assist with referrals and follow up. The goal is to meet the needs where the people are, to show support and acceptance, and to help establish trust for these individuals to rejoin society again when they are ready.  

Family Relationships 

As previously stated, this is a microcosm of interconnected people who all believe that they are a family, however dysfunctional. They share a commonality, in that they have been damaged, hurt, discarded, and treated as burdens, junkies, or menaces to society.  

Many of this population share similar childhoods, where poverty and abuse were the norm, or similar issues in their adult life with addiction or other struggles. They have each experienced a loss of trust, in a society that has abandoned them and treated them as outcasts. In this, they find community, comfort, and unspoken understanding.  

I am personally familiar with this phenomenological community within the geopolitical community, as I have volunteered with the Topeka Rescue Mission at least one day weekly for more than 5 years. I have spent every Tuesday morning in the nurse-run pseudo-clinic/medicine-cabinet for the rescue mission. I have also served in the past year coordinating with the Mobile Access Partnership (MAP) alliance of community partners.

I have seen firsthand the dilapidated tents and canvases meant to provide shelter for these individuals, and have sensed the mistrust this community feels toward society, systems, and civil services. Somehow, though, despite sometimes desperate circumstances, these individuals band together to remain a close-knit community, looking out for each other when it is needed the most.  

A Personal Choice

There are many in this community that have chosen to remove themselves from society, and choose to live this way. For those individuals specifically, it is important that they have access to services as described in the "Mobile Access Partnership" where they can turn in dirty laundry, shower, get a fresh set of clothes, and when they return the following week, their laundry is clean and ready for them. We also have nurses providing screenings and basic first aid, Medical Providers performing physicals and referring people to free assistance and resources. They can have labs drawn, xrays done, and they assist with applying to medicare or medicaid (Kancaid in Kansas). 

But - this community is located less than 200 feet from the railroad tracks, and unfortunately there are many who choose to die on those tracks. It is so sad, and I don't know that the Topeka population of 300,000 know much about it or worse, even care about this. There are many who do care, and want to help, but that percentage is extremely low. 

The police force attempts to "clear out the riff raff" every month or so, but they can not do anything for stabbings, beatings, drugs, theft, or sexual assaults, if these crimes are not reported. That is probably the most difficult for me to absorb - that individuals in this tightknit community do not want to come forward (fear of retaliation violence) or can not come forward, so they live by the "community rules." 

References 

Moore, K. (2019, January 17). Unsheltered in Topeka: Ban on camping would leave some of city's homeless with no options. usatodaynetwork. Retrieved November 30, 2022, from https://stories.usatodaynetwork.com/unsheltered/ Links to an external site. 

Topeka Rescue Mission (TRM). (n.d.). Mobile access partnership. TRM Ministries. Retrieved November 30, 2022, from https://www.trmonline.org/map Links to an external site.