This video interview was produced by Robert Rashford aka: "Homeless Rob" who used to be homeless in Tampa (Town N Country) where this video was filmed, specifically an abandoned car wash. Rashford since has successfully recovered from the streets through the intervention of the Help Cops Help Us homeless Initiative and is living in Washington State after receiving an employment offer from Boeing aircraft.
Lance is the best example of a disconnected maybe fragmented system that rarely, if ever, addresses these more severe cases -- you're witnessing a video archive, by example, of the most difficult cases for homeless recovery.
The underlying problem: Law enforcement, mental health services, and homeless recovery programs do not have a single cohesive approach to getting Lance -- and others like him -- permanently off the streets. That is until now -- since Lance's most recent incarceration I have worked with both the social services and medical staff at the Hillsborough County Jail along with Lance's private SSI/SSDI attorney to establish benefits. There are logistical obstacles in place with the elusive nature of not only Lance's residential instability but his assumed mental health complications.
I hope we can all agree, incarceration by itself, is the eternal revolving door.
It should be clear that Lance is not doing himself or anyone else any good by remaining on the streets in this sometimes awkward dislocation of societal blight where he has been a repeated and consequential drain on county resources -- particularly a constant drain for law enforcement.
Wish me luck, I'll have to pull out a "MacGyver" to fix this one.
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office
Homeless Initiative
District III Office: (813) 247-0330
Email: sdonalds@hcso.tamp.fl.us
Facebook.com/HelpCopsHelpUs
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