ML-Implode News - Albuquerque, Revising Approach Toward the Homeless, Offers Them Jobs

After a schizophrenic homeless man, James Boyd, was fatally shot by the police last year -- prompting protests and calls for reform of the Albuquerque Police Department, a force of 1,000 whose rate of deadly shootings was eight times that of New York's -- this city has sought to recalibrate its approach toward homelessness. While other cities, including New York, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Washington, have tried to clear out homeless camps or move the homeless further into the shadows, this city has decided to move away from the punitive approach that had defined strategies in the past.
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The van's driver, Mr. Cole, a broad-shouldered security guard at St. Martin's Hospitality Center, Albuquerque's largest provider of homeless services, picks up 10 panhandlers from random corners on Tuesdays and Thursdays, then drives them to vacant lots, abandoned parks and other blighted spots, such as the railroad tracks they were cleaning up the other day.
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To collect their pay, they must work hard and work an entire shift, from start to finish -- five to six hours, on average. They are paid in cash at the hospitality center's employment office, two blocks from the shelter that feeds 400 people on a given day.

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Albuquerque, Revising Approach Toward the Homeless, Offers Them Jobs