Republic of Athens

Pounding out poverty?

photo credit: normalityrelief

The City of Athens, Ohio (the government of which has yet to officially recognize the Republic of Athens) has found itself under fire for its zoning provisions that prevent the city’s existing homeless shelter from expanding to meet the increasing demands for shelter services.

It’s not a problem that’s unique to Athens. And with poverty on the rise, and charitable attempts at solutions faltering, one man hopes to make a difference.

People Pounds, Inc., which might sound like some kind of weight-loss program, is instead a highly controversial potential answer to the homelessness epidemic, according to the company’s founder and CEO, Dennis Shelton. An ever-increasing population combined with a plummeting economy means the rising demand for emergency shelter has simply outgrown the abilities and resources of non-profit agencies and municipal governments, Shelton said.

“Our facilities will be corporate America’s solution to what social services, grassroots efforts, and government intervention have all failed to fix,” he said. “This is a simple matter of supply and demand, a basic tenet of capitalism. We need 21st century solutions to 21st century problems.”

The basic idea is that individuals who are unable to find sufficient shelter for themselves will have the opportunity to either opt into a temporary kennel (and take the risk that they’ll be “adopted” within a given period of time) or, in areas where the law allows, face the risk of being snared and forcibly taken to such facilities.

The pounds will operate much like many rescue shelters for domestic animals, but with what Shelton calls an “entrepreneurial twist,” to account for the complexities involved with rescuing, placing, and, in some cases, possibly even ”putting down” people as a means of maximizing use of the facility’s space.

People Pounds, Shelton said, will survive primarily by selling ad space on the company’s web site, entering into contracts with city governments that commission “homeless round-ups,” and by collecting “adoption fees” from private citizens who pay to have residents released into new homes.

“We see the problem of increasing homelessness among people as being very similar to homelessness among dogs and cats,” he said. “Sometimes it’s through no fault of their own. Other times we might be talking about a dangerous runaway with a history of violence, or health problems, or any number of things.”

Shelton also cited similarities in public attitudes toward homeless people and homeless pets, with concerns ranging from founded or unfounded fears of potentially dangerous strangers, to sympathy for those in need of shelter.

As for the upstart company’s controversial position on euthanasia, Shelton called the procedure a “necessary evil.”

“Nobody likes it, but it’s something that needs to be done, from a pragmatic point of view,” he said. “But we certainly make every effort to keep (residents) happy and healthy while they’re here. At the end of the day, overpopulation is overpopulation, and homelessness is homelessness.

“Especially in these tough economic times, what can you do?” Shelton said. “Better to serve more of them and euthanize, than serve fewer of them and not euthanize. It’s really about compromise, sacrifice, and the greater good. In the process, we’re also planning to bring a lot of jobs to the areas where we’ll operate.”

He said his company’s hope is that, by consolidating such public displays of poverty, the kennels might serve as a valuable tool for raising awareness about homelessness in the US. It’s a phenomenon similar to what happens when people see first-hand the effects of overpopulation and homelessness among cats and dogs, Shelton said.

“It’s not about trying to equate one animal to another, or trying to say that people are just like dogs,” he said. “Not at all. It’s just a way of saying, hey, all of these are major issues in our society, and they’re only getting worse. We like to think it’s a way to move people to compassion and, ultimately, to action.”

According to Shelton, People Pounds, Inc., is “ahead of the curve” when it comes to expanding services rendered for cats and dogs in need to serving people in need.

“In reality, the only difference is biological species membership,” he said. “We all die from different things all the time anyway. It’s part of life.”

Shelton said his company faces the dual challenges of offering solutions by “thinking more with our heads, and less with our hearts,” as well as applying a kind of moral reasoning he hopes will resonate with the public.

“People Pounds, Inc. just wants to do what makes the most sense for the population as a whole, and to do so as humanely as possible,” he said. “Yes, at some point you have to kind of take your emotions out of it, and just do what makes practical sense.

“But, at the same time, it’s not fair that so many more cats and dogs currently receive needed shelter than human beings.”

“It’s not a perfect solution, but neither are unemployment, slow starvation, or freezing on the street,” he added.

Shelton admitted that his company’s “pounds” are still in the “concept phase,” and that he has yet to receive any permits for construction.

Related articles

• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished (themoderatevoice.com)
• Study: Homeless Children on the Rise (nbc41.com)
• Efforts continue to find space for growing homeless sector (athensnews.com)

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