HOUSELESSNESS IN THE Lakes Region? “Don’t Bring me A Problem without a Solution!”
A Short Backstory for this Blog Post:
Synopsis: When we seek a Solution to the Houselessness in the Lakes Region … are we Living in the Kingdom of God? OR Living in the Empire? It’s a Free Will Choice…
Yesterday I became engaged in a YouVersion online Bible study entitled “Kingdom Come” and sent invitations to join to a number of folks. Why?
First, this forms a part of TEAM CONNECTED’S outreach mission to the Lakes Region community in New Hampshire.
Second, this particular bible study focuses in part on living in the Kingdom of God (within a “Connected” Worldview) versus living life in the Empire (“Separation” Worldview). These are both discussed below in the contest of one proposed solution to growing numbers of HOUSELESS people and families in the Lakes Region.
LINK to “Kingdom Come”: Bible Study.
Third, this post comes after to several months being called into researching locally the exponential rising numbers of HOUSELESS people (or one paycheck away) in the Lakes Region. Three recent TEAM CONNECTED posts in the last week include:
Click image to go to each previous Blog Post directly:
In the opening graphic to this post a statement was made which some readers may have heard before within “problem solving meetings” which many of us have attended: “Do not bring me a problem without a solution!”
Solutions which have been tried to solve the exponentially increasing population of HOUSELESS people in American communities and tracked by the Department of housing and Urban Development (HUD); the Alliance to End Homelessness in DC and other public/private social organizations (Continuuum of Care CoCs) have been exhaustively addressed by TEAM CONNECTED in the three previous blogs. And we addressed in those Blogs:
What Programs Exist?
Are these existing programs working? … based on what DATA?
What is and the programs are not working due to underfunding, lack of human resources, failures to collect meaningful DATA, failures in communication of the programs to the HOUSELESS and/or other reasons — the question is what can be done? — And … can we do this in a different way?
Amid the chaos of exponential growth in numbers of the HOUSELESS “now” appearing evident in the Lakes Region, a common question in meetings inevitably arises.
What can WE do? And Yes! Some are apt to say out loud … or think internally in desperation: “Don’t bring me a problem, without bringing me a solution.” So let’s talk about that for a few minutes.
Imagine with me for a moment this progression as one SOLUTION:
Readers please bear with me here with a bit of patience. At first, when I heard about Jamie Winship and his wife Donna, I was highly skeptical. Thoughts like “How do I know this guy is the real deal?” — continued for awhile — until I’d slowly watched (now over over 60 long form videos), read his books on “Living Fearless” and mentored with Identity Exchange in the Masterclass “Identity Method”.
If you are skeptical, it’s fully understandable. And I have no unrealistic expectations that reading this blog post will change overnight that healthy skepticism.
What transformed me is I put it into practice. I don’t care about any possible solution to any issue UNLESS it works. FULL STOP. And Yes! That includes HOUSELESSNESS. That is; IF it works for me personally. I’m NOT really interested in vicarious anecdotes. BUT I MEAN WORKS PRACTICALLY RIGHT NOW! — AND CONTINUOUSLY. To test it, I had to commit to engage and to experiment with hearing from God — from Christ — directly.
TEAM CONNECTED being formed is one result of these personal tests. For those readers who may still be skeptical — I say welcome.
By choice, TEAM CONNECTED IS NOT seeking so-called followers — IS NOT seeking grants, donations, or others forms of financial assistance. I just know and trust God has invited me into this chaos-ridden HOUSELESSNESS challenge — and I know that God has a plan how to do it ; which He continues to Shepherd me through every moment — including this blog post — typed word … BY typed word.
In the first 1-20 minute intro of the video embedded below, the interviewers of Jamie begin with his service with the DC Metro police (5 YEARS) and then 27 years with State Dept; which assigned him to radicalized conflict ridden Hot Zones in Indonesia, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Kosovo. They next question him about his teaching … amid fears common to all human beings — and — how to hear from God about any circumstance, decision. In the intro, Jamie runs through his first interview with a State Dept official who has all of Jamie’s crime interdiction and arrest case files over 5 years. Pointing to the files, he challenges Jamie wanting to know: “… how you did this, because we know no one taught you this in the Police Academy.”
First file: It involved a Drug lord in a crime ridden DC subsidized housing project. Jamie reveals to the official: I asked God is there another way to do this? We could arrest all day in this housing project — and it wouldn’t make a difference! Jamie old the surprised State Dept official that he invited the gang drug lord to his house for dinner. That evening and over the weekend Jamie presented to the man his “true identity” as God sees him in the Kingdom versus the his “false identity” in the Empire. It transformed his life when he understood his identity in God and Christ. The result after that weekend? — The drug lord stopped the drug trafficking in the entire housing project.
This is not magic. It is a solution to HOUSELESSNESS in a one-on-one — and small group environment in the Lakes Region.
What Jamie did largely successfully for 27+ years for the State Dept and is still doing now in America is a true story and applicable to encampments of the HOUSELESS. Please listen to the entire interview. The relevance of this approach presented by Jamie to HOUSELESS people and families in the Lakes Region will become clearer.
When Seeking One or More Solutions to HOUSELESSNESS — Are We Asking Effective Questions?
Notably there are two Worldviews which must be mentioned here as being foundational to this question of discovering and implementing one — or multiple solutions. See further: “Genesis: The Origin of Worldview and Identity (Workbook)” Paperback – May 21, 2025, by Jamie Winship (Author), Donna Winship (Author)
“The way we see the world matters. Our worldview, the lens through which we see the world, shapes everything—our thoughts, our relationships, even how we understand God. If our lens is distorted, our entire perception of reality is equally distorted. Our understanding of God, ourselves and others will be opaque, obscure and oblique.
In Genesis: The Origin of Worldview and Identity, you will be stepping into the instructional narrative of Moses as communicated to a people who had only known slavery and servitude under a despotic ruler committed to enslaving the world to create his own empire. It’s a worldview of separation sourced in scarcity. For the captive Israelites, the worldview of the Pharaoh was the only conceivable worldview, and it was without an alternative. How or why would the Israelites ever question the narrative in which they found themselves? Would you? Everywhere the Israelite slave brickmaker looked, they saw a world dominated by the rich and powerful, where enough was never enough. The poor and defenseless were relegated to forced economic production to increase the wealth and prosperity of rulers, but they never experienced it themselves. There was no escape from suffering and conflict. What about our world today?
With God’s presence and power, Moses brings liberation. Not only liberation from the physical yoke of slavery, but also liberation from the lie-based worldview that continually enslaves humanity. In the Genesis narrative, Moses is not simply telling a creation story; he’s rectifying a broken worldview and restoring humanity’s lost identity. He’s inviting the Israelites and us to see the world through the eyes of connection. This is the true worldview. The Connection Worldview is the one God established from the very beginning. In this worldview, we find purpose, identity and belonging. We see that we were made for a right relationship with God, ourselves, each other and creation itself.
In this study, you will discover how Moses helped the Israelites return to the true human origin story. You’ll discover how you, too, have lost track of the true human story and how you might also move from bondage into freedom. You can stop living in fear. You can recover what it means to live in God in love. You can remember who you truly are and begin to live fearlessly in your true identity.
It all begins here, where everything begins, in the stories of Genesis.”
At this point, whether well-understood — or not — these two Worldviews arise as a “First Principle”; foundational to the question of possible solutions to HOUSELESSNESS. The real question is what works and what hasn’t worked? The current DATA now informs us clearly what has not worked either at all, and/or not very well? WHY?
A transparent study of that DATA (presented in the three previous blog posts) indicates the HOUSELESS population is increasing at an exponential (not linear) rate — despite the programs designed to address HOUSELESSNESS. The following graphic presents two Worldviews which have existed since recorded history; whether readers label them a science in the context of: religious sciences, spiritual sciences, social sciences, agnostic sciences, natural sciences — or some other descriptor(s).
“The starting point for every worldview is the question of origin. After determining your origin, your purpose in life can be established. From our origin also flows our destiny. But ev erything hinges on the answer to where we as humans originated….” [See also a rather recent article in Psychology Today entitled: “How Many Worldviews Are There? Is Only One Sustainable?” David Abram and Four Arrows Converse about Worldviews. Posted February 28, 2016.]
Some COMMON Myths About HOUSELESSNESS
One the two Worldviews is a Separation Worldview (Empire) where advocates contend there is NOT ENOUGH resources, manpower, rental homes, subsidies and grant funding, energy assistance, and land to lower the number of HOUSELESS individuals and families. This is a “scarcity” based Worldview.
From this “scarcity” Worldview of NOT ENOUGH, common reasons for HOUSELESSNESS are repeated as “talking point mantras” in news articles and short form videos, political speeches, and social media platforms. These include:
“… All HOUSELESS people are HOUSELESS because …”.
These BECAUSEs may include one or more of these conclusory statements:
1. The HOUSELESS live without a home by choice,
2. The HOUSELESS live without a home due to substance abuse;
3. The HOUSELESS live without a home due to domestic abuse;
4. The HOUSELESS live without a home due to their criminal history;
5. The HOUSELESS live without a home because they have failed to submit an application for housing assistance; … and there are more GENERALIZED premises not supported by DATA.
Each of those tropes, may indeed be true for some of the HOUSELESS and those conditions are also true for some people in the in the Lakes Region who live in either a rented or mortgaged home.
In reviewing the slides in our previous blogs and two Tables with charts (linked below) prepared by TEAM CONNECTED from HUD research; which has been studying HOUSELESS in America since 2007, the DATA which Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has gathered -- simply does not support these generalized statements about the HOUSELESS as a group, nor even as ubiquitous contributing factors to HOUSELESSNESS … that is; as outweighing one factor which is common to all:
the growing GAP between income … and rising COSTS for: rent, energy, food, and other expenses all households and individuals must pay in 2025.
Tables Analying some of many DATA sources regarding Point in Time Counting of HOUSELESS and more …
