The picture of the homeless that comes across in several of these posts is that the homeless tend to be shiftless bums who don't want to help themselves and have opted for leaching off of working Americans for their livleihood. A 2014 survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors presents a different picture: top causes of homelessness among families were: (1) lack of affordable housing, (2) unemployment, (3) poverty, and (4) low wages, in that order. The The top four causes of homelessness among unaccompanied individuals were (1) lack of affordable housing, (2) unemployment, (3) poverty, (4) mental illness and the lack of needed services, and (5) substance abuse and the lack of needed services. U.S. States Conference of Mayors, Hunger and Homelessness Survey: A STATUS ONHUNGER ANDHOMELESS INAMERICA’SCITIES–A 25-CITYSURVEY2 (Dec. 2014), http://www.usmayors.org/pressreleases/uploads/2014/1211-report-hh.pdf. The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty adds: --Insufficient income and lack of affordable housing are the leading causes of homelessness. In 2012, 10.3 million renters (approximately one in four) had “extremely low incomes” (ELI) as classified by HUD.35In that same year, there were only 5.8million rental units affordable to the more than10 million people identified as ELI.36oAdditionally, only 31 out of every 100 of these affordable units were actually available to people identified as ELI.37 --After paying their rent and utilities, 75%of ELI households end up with less than half of their income left to pay for necessities such asfood, medicine, transportation, or childcare.38The foreclosure crisis also played, and continues to play, a significant role in homelessness In 2008, state and local homeless groups reported a 61% rise in homelessness since the foreclosure crisis began. Approximately 40% of families facing eviction due to foreclosure are renters; the problem may continue to worsen as renters represent a rising segment of the U.S. population. https://nlchp.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Homeless_Stats_Fact_Sheet.pdf Part of the problem getting a handle on homelessness is that there's no commonly accepted definition of what homelessness is. HUD uses a narrow definition largely limited to people living in shelters, in transitional housing and in public places. The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) uses a broader definition that including families who are sharing housing with parents or friends due to economic necessity. Another problem concerns methodology. HUD reports annual “Point-in-Time” counts of the “unsheltered” homeless population; but the methodology used to gather those numbers varies from one community to another and is often deeply flawed. HUD also reports annual counts of the sheltered population; but this number depends on shelter capacity, which depends on things like available funding.
After working for more than 30 years in the London theater and having a daughter who is currently serving as a police officer in the same area, between us we could write a book on the subject. The one common factor is that they have all dropped out of society for some reason, but those reasons form a very long list. I will first break it into four MAIN categories, which are fairly obvious. Alcohol, drug and gambling addiction. Mental health issues. Loss of work. Breakup of family and relationships. Now it starts to become complicated. For some people in the first group, their addictions are the whole problem. These people can ONLY be helped by ONGOING rehabilitation and monitoring. However, for a sizable percentage of this group addiction, is a second stage for people in groups 3 and 4. who have lost their self respect and simply given up all hope. I am not going to write an essay on mental health, but their are a few strange categories here. One is claustrophobia. In its extreme form it is a horrible condition and has caused people from highly respectable backgrounds and families who out of embarrassment have loaded a few possessions into a supermarket trolley and taken to the streets. It is almost impossible to rehabilitate people who suffer this condition. Their was one elderly lady who was a well known London character. She was the wife of the chairman of a major UK company, but refused all offers of help. Police were instructed not to detain her after a doctor diagnosed that put in a police van while conscious, she would probably suffer cardiac arrest and be dead within 5 minutes. The third and forth groups are often linked, frequently the marriage breaks down after a high earning city worker looses his job in merchant banking and his gold digging wife rejects him. People ending a long career in the military without having to run a home also fall into this category. Perhaps the saddest of these are the group who have not been sufficiently supported following the horrors of a war. On night shifts, our daughter, along with many other police officers spend hours helping and supporting people. Mainly in the last 2 groups. Many of hem are in a catch 22 situation, where they cannot get accommodation without a job and proven salary and they cannot get a job without a home address. Following the work of the police and publicity generated by the UK evening standard, several major companies are now offering these people work, conditional on them meeting certain criteria and being fairly alcohol and drug free. Part of the deal involves a charity providing low cost accommodation. Homelessness is a terrible blight on western society, but the cures are far from simple. Permanent solutions require a HUGE amount of work which relies on police, doctors, housing associations, employers and the general public all working in perfect harmony. The problem is always worse in large cities. In rural areas people frequently offer these people help and support at an early stage, sometimes offering them a meal, use of the shower, laundry and in some cases taking them into their own homes.
It’s a shame not everybody has family to fall back on when the proverbial hits the fan. Homelessness I agree is more complicated than we think.
There is no easy way to address this problem as Wil said. At this shelter we have three rough groups that most often come through the doors. Those who have formed some sort of drug or other addiction and have run their life into the ground attempting to support it. Those who are running from some event in their life and have become homeless so as to escape. Those who have genuinely fallen on hard times and have been unable to cope. The first group is by far the largest. Many of that group are also recently released convicts.
When the homeless are counted, they have to be located first. In Colorado the homeless persons are counted when they check in at a shelter, or come to eat lunch at Catholic Charities, or if they come to a special event like a free hair cut, free burritos, and free clean winter coats event. The homeless persons who do not come, because they are hiding out under a bridge to avoid the cops, or if they are camped out in the hills; they are not counted by the authorities. The national estimate is about three quarter of a million homeless in the USA. But that is likely wrong. Red states like Indiana and Mississippi don't give a flying frock about homeless persons. They only do a careless symbolic count. And they do not offer help at all. There are lots of homeless persons who do not have a place to live, and only stay with friends and family. These are considered "housed" in most states. The problem is much larger but the Trump government does not care.
I give people cash if I have it on me. I don't care if they spend it on drugs - maybe giving them enough to get well means that they don't have to shoplift or sell their body in order to avoid withdrawal. I volunteered at a warming centre (essentially an emergency selters in the extreme cold), but I haven't been back lately because I have kids and can't be gone overnight as easily as I could before, and the last shift I worked I had to untie a guy trying to hang himself, and it fucked me up a little bit I think. I've also volunteered and worked for a soup kitchen, and I think getting to know the regulars really helped me to empathize more with people. Most of them are just regular people who got dealt a shitty hand in life. Nobody wants to eat at a soup kitchen or sleep in a shelter. Even the ones who say they do are usually just saying that to save face.
I used to be more giving to the homeless, until one day I saw a panhandler wearing raggedy clothing and panhandling with a cardboard sign wash his face with a water bottle, and walked back to his new Toyota truck and drove away. Sometimes they are just masquerading as homeless to make money. And that’s fucked up
Back in the 1930's a similar thing happened with the 'match sellers' in the UK. They were a band of criminals.
Why would someone with a new Toyota truck be panhandling for hours for a few coins And what in earth does that quaint occurence say about homeless people in general?
Every little helps and people like you make a big difference. Sometimes just a friendly face and a short chat is what these people most need. Here in London, their is a huge program to find longer term solutions along with dealing with their everyday needs. Several major supermarket chains have joined in, by passing food to charity collectors as it goes out of date. Food does not turn to poison as the clock strikes midnight and sell by dates have a safety margin, so it has made a huge difference to a lot of people. We all need an organised program to resolve homelessness. London has paved the way and several other UK cities have followed our example. Hopefully, it will soon become worldwide and companies in the US such as Walmart can be persuaded to follow our food example. It costs nothing and does a lot to improve their public image. It only takes one major company to set the ball rolling.
When I worked at the soup kitchen, I started a food rescue program from local grocery stores. The food from even one store was more than we could handle, so we had to organize volunteers to take it to the food bank and other meal programs in town. The amount of waste is staggering.
