I really enjoyed the speaker we had on Monday because he spoke about his organization on the East Coast and how they are successfully combatting issues of homelessness. What surprised me the most was how much funding the organization receives in order to do what they do. It makes me wonder how much of homelessness could be fixed if there was more funding going towards building affordable housing and helping individuals find jobs that pay a livable wage in California. I think an important and interesting fact that the speaker mentioned was that when they build or remodel their homes, they are focused on creating the appearance of an extremely nice house (and the appearance that only one family lives inside) in order to avoid stigma from the surrounding community. This was interesting to me because I think that this is often the most difficult part of housing homeless individuals. Like we’ve talked about before, most communities have the leaf blower effect, where even if they support housing individuals, they don’t want it in their neighborhood. The unfortunate truth is that in order to have a successful housing development within a certain city, you have to play along with the city’s spoken and unspoken rules. Lastly, I thought that it was interesting that in new jersey, they have one common waitlist that all of the homeless organizations use. I think that this helps eliminate having to re-screen individuals and allows the state to connect the individual with the organization that will best fit their needs. Overall, I thought the speaker was very informative and I was very grateful we had the opportunity to meet with him.

This week was very interesting because we not only looked at the issues of homelessness, but also potential solutions. On Thursday, we watched a film on the Motel Kids of Orange County and it helped shed light on how big of an issue homelessness is in more affluent areas. When a certain area (such as Orange County) grows larger and the cost of living goes up, what happens to the people who “fall through the cracks”? The people who have always been in that area, but recently couldn’t afford it anymore. Working a job at minimum wage no longer provides an individual with enough money to live, especially in areas with higher costs of living. Even in Redlands, the cost of living has continued to increase, making market rent prices comparable to cities in Orange County. The video made me really sad, not only because it helps illustrate the struggles these children and families have to go through, but also how quickly these children are forced to grow up. The language the young children used in the film really struck me because they spoke about things that I never even had to think about when I was their age. Also, the film helped show how children who grow up in low income areas and are surrounded by gangs, violence and crime often “adopt” these habits or get involved. It helps illustrate how many social issues are products of other social issues and how it is an endless cycle that is difficult to escape.

Tuesday’s class was a little less depressing because we spoke about “solutions” to homelessness such as tent cities. My group presented about how tent cities often provide homeless individuals with more of a close-knit family than living on the street or in a shelter. In many ways, tent cities help homeless individuals reestablish social ties, accountability, and autonomy. I hope that in the next few weeks of class, we continue to talk about potential solutions to homelessness.

This past week, we focused a lot on the history and root causes of homelessness. Tuesday, we did “jigsaw” reading where we each read and reported a specific chapter. My chapter talked about a specific shelter that used to be able to house everyone, but the waitlist continued to grow larger and larger. Because of the growing waitlist, they had to put policies in place that specified how staff members chose/admitted individuals to be housed in the shelter. Should it be needs based or based on chronological order (who called first gets housed first)? I think this is a very important question because nearly every shelter struggles in deciding who gets housed. I know that at the organization I’m interning with this semester struggles with this. What they end up doing, is a little bit of both. When a bed becomes available, they start calling individuals on the waitlist, unless there is someone who called that day who is in dire need for housing. The book talked a lot about fairness and how shelter staff members are forced to “play god” in determining who gets housed or not. I think it would interesting to research different shelter organizations and surveying what method they use for admitting individuals into their shelter.

Over spring break, I went to the big island of Hawaii. I spent most of the week in Hilo and Kona and while I was there I observed the homeless population. In Hilo especially, there seems to be a large homeless population (in comparison to what I remember seeing last year when I was there). I looked into when their last point in time count was, and found that it was 2016 when they last did a count for all of the Hawaiian Islands. They did, however, conduct a homeless count in Oahu in 2019. While researching the homeless population in Hawaii, I found that Hawaii has a higher number of homeless people per capita than any other state, apart from New York. The source wrote, “Two-thirds of that population regularly sleep in parks or on the street and the majority are considered chronically homeless” (Loehrer). With an average of 272 rainy days a year, Hilo is the fourth wettest city in the US and among the top wettest cities in the world. So I just wonder how the city cares for these individuals and whether or not they have shelter for everyone. Also, in the last year or so, many individuals have lost their homes due to the lava flow running through the Puna district (about 35 miles from Hilo), so the number of homeless individuals increased because of this. I found several shelters online from a quick google search, but the number of people that are still on the streets and/or are on drugs is very high.

This week’s class sessions were very interesting. We talked a lot about homeless counts and how they are conducted. We had one gentleman named Ed Torres visit our classroom from the Center for Spiritual Living and we had a phone call with a gentleman from ASR who spoke in depth about how they conduct homeless counts, how the data and information is used, etc. Both of these speakers were very interesting and informative. I think that Ed’s approach of finding vacant buildings owned by the city, county, or state for use for a homeless shelter is very interesting. If I were in the same position, I would look to build low-income housing. I know the the county and/or state offer significant funding for these types of developments and I think it would be worth looking into more. I found the class about homeless counts particularly interesting. I didn’t realize there was so much politics within the topic of homelessness. In some cases it’s better to have a count higher than the actual number, and in other cases it’s better to undercount.

This week’s class meetings were very interesting. On Monday, we had speakers from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office H.O.P.E Program come and talk to our class about what they are doing in the community and how their program has impacted the homeless population and the community. I really enjoyed hearing how passionate these individuals were in their work and how wonderful the program is. It was the first time I heard about the 211 call center number for homeless related calls and to find resources/organizations for this population. It seems like San Bernardino County does a good job in supplying resources for the homeless population. What I found most interesting is that on average, it takes 70 encounters with a homeless individual before they accept any form of aid or assistance. That seems like such a high number, but it makes sense to me that they would be resistant or untrusting of people reaching out to them. I also found it interesting that the San Bernardino program uses Esri technology to track and “count” homeless individuals. From what they showed us in class, it seems like a great technology that is efficient and helpful to many different people

On Wednesday, Dr. Craig Turley, founder of the Blessing Center, came to speak with our class. It was interesting to see his perspective on how homelessness has changed through the years in the Redlands area. I am relatively new to the Redlands area (3+ years), and have only experienced homeless individuals on freeway exit ramps. I didn’t know that there used to be an encampment on Redlands Blvd. for instance. Talking with Craig helped me to understand all of the politics that is involved when discussing solutions to homelessness. Overall, I gained a lot of valuable information from both of our speakers from this week. I enjoyed getting different perspectives from people who are actively trying to make a difference in our community.

This week, our class presented a number of different books regarding homelessness in America. My group read and presented “Grand Central Winter” which was a man’s story of his experiences on the street in New York. I found this book to be very interesting and eye-awakening. Also, the past week or so in Redlands has been especially cold and rainy (not ideal conditions for someone living on the street). My own unwillingness to spend time outside because of the cold weather, is only met with thoughts of those who have nowhere else to go and are forced to be outside. California’s weather stays pretty nice year round, yet places like New York or Chicago (where some of the books took place), aren’t as lucky. Lee Stringer talks about bracing the cold, harsh winters in New York and how they survived. I couldn’t even imagine how individuals live outside in such cold weather conditions.

Another large theme that I saw in the book I read, as well as some of the others that were presented was the role drugs played in an individual’s housing condition. Lee Stringer, the author of “Grand Central Winter” had a job, apartment, and an honest man’s life prior to becoming addicted to crack. Several months after starting to smoke crack, he found himself several months behind of paying rent, and as a result was on the street. He described this transition in his life as liberating. He was no longer tied to his apartment or job, he was free. Another thing that was talked about was how both rich and poor men do drugs, but the difference between them is that the poor man will get caught because he is on he street and a rich man doesn’t because he does the drugs behind closed doors. I struggled to agree with the author’s thoughts of unfairness about this. To me, drugs should be seen as “a luxury” if you will, and should only be bought and taken after your basic needs as a human are met (shelter, food, water, and safety). The rich man addicted to drugs is not posing a threat to those passing by on the street, whereas a homeless individual doing drugs on the street may (incorrect disposal of needles, exposing children to drugs, bad drug dealing, etc.).

This week was very informative and eye opening and I’m looking forward to seeing where we go next with our learning!

Our class began this week by looking at the cost of living in our own communities. In groups, we were tasked with seeing if the numbers “added up”. Working full time (40/hr/wk) at minimum wage gave us about $1600. After subtracting all of our expenses from this number, we found it was nearly impossible to “make it” with this wage. Housing alone costs around $800-900 per month. Food costs close to $400. Transportation (bus or car) ends up costing $50-100 a month. This isn’t even taking clothes, entertainment, childcare, etc. into account. This really is no way to live, with barely getting by. This exercise kind of put things into perspective for me.

On Thursday, we watched a film titled, “Taylor’s Campaign”. I found this film very interesting because it allowed an outsider to see what it’s really like to live on the street. Sometimes I feel bad for the lack of resources these individuals have; the fact that they have no place to call home, but then sometimes I think that some of them want to live on the streets and continue to do drugs and the like, and it just kind of ruins it for those who want a better life. It is not okay to be living on the streets. Maybe it’s my ignorance or maybe the fact that I want society as a whole to grow and improve and prosper, but you can’t help everyone and sometimes people are just too stuck in their ways to ever change their circumstances. The sad reality is that the homeless issues that we see today aren’t likely to change anytime soon.

I was privileged to grow up with the belief that I could achieve whatever I set my mind to. That despite any hardships or “bumps in the road” that I might encounter, I could continue moving forward. My parents, in part, are why I am able to see life in this way. They have always been honest, hard-working business owners and entrepreneurs who taught my sister and I to work hard for what we want in life. The demographics that I grew up in also aided this goal-achieving mindset. I am a white female who grew up in a very affluent place. My sister and I never had to worry about being homeless or not having enough food to eat. We went to nice schools, played sports, and went on vacation often. I understand that my childhood is different from others, but despite this, I thought that everyone had the belief that they could achieve whatever they set their mind to. This, unfortunately, is not the case.

After reading and discussing the materials from this week’s topic on poverty, I feel like my awareness and understanding of the harsh realities of living in poverty in America have grown tremendously. Barbara Ehrenreich’s book, titled Nickel and Dimed: on Not Getting By In America, helped to illustrate what it’s like to live below the poverty line. Hearing individuals’ stories about barely getting by while working two labor-intensive jobs, living in less than desirable places, eating less than is needed to get necessary nutrients, and not having access to healthcare made me understand my own privileges better. Things that I often take advantage of without ever thinking twice about it.

Given the low minimum wage and high cost of housing throughout the nation, it is impossible to live comfortably or to even “get by” working 40 hours a week. People aren’t homeless or living in poverty by choice. It is a “trap” that is nearly impossible to escape. Ehrenreich’s book and the other articles we read helped me understand this, while also allowing me to empathize with the homeless and working poor class. Earlier in the week, we also read an article titled, “The Positive Functions of Poverty” by Herbert Gans. I found this article very interesting because it shed light on several reasons why nothing is really done to fix issues related to homelessness and poverty. I think that the author’s approach was both direct and informative, omitting any political biases and the like. Overall, I think that my awareness and understanding about homelessness and poverty in America has already grown and changed so much and I’m looking forward to the remainder of the semester!