All posts by Kate

Thursday has no meaning

About being poor, Books and Films

Beside the Golden Door: Policy, Politics, and the Homeless by James Wright explores multiple theories of homelessness, problems that homeless face, and characteristics of the homeless population. In the chapter “Health and Health Status” the failure for homeless people to go to their medical appointments is discussed. Most homeless people do not keep a calendar, so “please come back next Thursday” has no meaning because Thursday has no meaning. In addition, transportation is another issue due to time and money. Homeless people are required to stand in line for most goods and services. Wright gives an example of a homeless client who has an 11:00 A.M. appointment; this homeless person might have to decide between eating at a soup kitchen or going to the appointment. In addition, giving a diabetic homeless person clean syringes for daily insulin injections can invite criminal victimization.

When I worked with CareerWise, a nonprofit that teaches job skills to homeless clients in Orange County, I experienced the failure for clients to meet appointments. Often times the client would not come or would be late. Transportation provided an additional obstacle due to the lack of funds. If the client was in a transitional program they were often able to get money for the bus from their case manager, but their low self-esteem sometimes prevented them from doing so.

I found these questions to be a truthful portrait of the health complications that homeless people face:

What is gained by sterile dressings on the wounds or leg ulcers of a man who sleeps in the gutter? What is the point of prescribing medication when many homeless people have trouble finding a drink of water with which to take their pills, or when the pills themselves are frequently ground down to dust after only a few days simply from  being carried around in one’s pocket? What is the point of recommending a low-salt diet to a homeless hypertensive when beans, hot dogs, and potato chips are the soup kitchen’s daily fare? What, even, is the point of telling a homeless emphysemic women to quit smoking when cigarettes are the woman’s only remaining pleasure in life (Wright 171).

The questions posed by Wright illustrate the multiple problems that homeless people face. Wright encourages the reader to reflect on the questions above.

* Beside the Golden Door: Policy, Politics, and the Homeless by James Wright can be purchased on Amazon.

*To volunteer with CareerWise email: careerwise.ks@gmail.com

Two Social Injustices

Books and Films, Related topics

In my course Inequality in Education we are reading Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol. I have connected multiple findings that relate to our discussions, readings, and exercises in Hunger and Homelessness. Kozol’s strategy for obtaining his research was to listen to the children’s voices. He noted that the children’s voices were largely absent from the discussion. In Voices from the Street, Jessica Morrell takes the same approach when investigating homelessness. Morrell gathered her research through interviews with homeless people in Portland, Oregon. The perspective of listening to the people who experience these circumstances is necessary because an outsider can never truly understand the lived realities.  Kozol captures the voices of many children by visiting thirty neighborhoods in Washington D.C., New York, and San Antonio.

Kozol starts by describing a school in East St. Louis, Illinois. The city is ninety-eight percent black, seventy-five percent of the population collects welfare, and there is exposure to raw sewage and lead poisoning. There is a defined difference because the two nicest buildings in the city are the Federal Court House and City Hall. I observed a similar situation in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, where many homeless reside. I found it ironic that City Hall was in the middle of the Tenderloin. On the lawn of City Hall homeless people would rest, talk, sleep, and sell drugs. The homeless people were prohibited from using the bathrooms in City Hall. Kozol questions, “Why Americans permit this is so hard for somebody like me, who grew up in the real Third World, to understand…” (17). The heightened separation draws attention to these injustices.

Negative stigmas exist about marginalized people that are often untested and untrue. Kozol spoke with the superintendent who shared, “gifted children are everywhere in East St. Louis, but their gifts are lost to poverty  and turmoil and the damage done by knowing they are written off by their society” (34). This theme of being “written off” is persistent to the way that homeless people are treated. Often, judgments can be made about their current state that is untrue. Like the gifted children in St. Louis, homeless people may have the ability but lack resources and opportunities to succeed.

Kozol also notes the multiple obstacles that the children and their parents face. Many of these obstacles are shared by the homeless community. These obstacles include: crime, poverty, lack of education, insufficient health care, and unemployment. The family can significantly influence your type of life; one might be born into a family who lives in poverty which impacts every aspect of one’s life.

Yet, despite these obstacles, in a conversation Kozol had with a reverend in North Lawndale, Chicago the reverend shared, “there’s something here being purified by the pain. All the veneers, all the facades, are burnt away and you see something genuine and beautiful that isn’t often found among the affluent” (43). When people lack resources perhaps they have something that people with resources, like me, do not. Maybe they have a heightened awareness for what they do have. Maybe they treasure their relationships more.

In reading Kozol’s book I was able to link two social injustices together, homelessness and inequality in education. I found common obstacles and themes due to structural inequalities.

 

*Both books Voices from the Street and Savage Inequalities can be purchased on Amazon.

Understanding and Responsibilities

Causes of Homelessness, Reflections on our Reading, Solutions to Homelessness

Statistics prove that homelessness is a large systematic problem rather than an individual problem. Some methods in counting homeless people seek to minimize and deny the problem. After a foundation of what homeless life is like and examining statistics I am emotionally struck and determined to seek solutions. After beginning the book, Beside the Golden Door Policy, Politics, and the Homeless by James Wright, Beth Rubin, and Joel Devine, I am acquiring a better understanding of the issues, controversies, theories, social and demographic characteristics of the homeless, and methods of counting the homeless. I have uncovered several important points that contribute to a better understanding of homelessness. In addition, I am synthesizing similar ideas and data between this course, Hunger and Homelessness and Public Policy Analysis.

Beside the Golden Door is a combination of the authors own experience and social science and advocacy literature. In order to tackle homelessness a comprehensive understanding is required. This involves debunking myths. For instance uncovering facts show, “half or more of the homeless people do abuse alcohol and other drugs, but the other half do not” (7). Understanding the homeless population leads to developing effective solutions. Cost benefit analysis and a rationalism approach can be applied by policymakers. The “quality of urban life would improve if there were fewer homeless people” (9) because more individuals could contribute economically to markets and rely less on governmental assistance.

Understanding the homeless population can lead to coming up with effective solutions. The average age of homeless adults is in the mid-thirties due to the large non-means tested spending on Medicare and social security for the retired population. The welfare system is flawed because the people who need the assistance the most are the least likely to receive it. In the course Public Policy Analysis our most recent topic was welfare. The 1996 Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) has many failures, with the primary failure of a sharp decline in TANF caseloads. The TANF to poverty ratio fell in all states, but the impact differed in regions. Other flaws in TANF include block grants, contingency funds, restrictive eligibility policies, and short time limits.

A leading obstacle is the loss of low income housing, “the solution to homelessness is less poverty and more low-income housing, everything else treats the symptoms of homelessness but not the root causes” (29). Eradicating homelessness and helping those who are homeless conflicts with the underlying principles of the U.S. economy. A comprehensive approach to understanding homelessness is necessary. My hope is as a society we can move beyond hiding the problem and toward solving the problem.

*To purchase Beside the Golden Door: http://www.amazon.com/Beside-Golden-Door-Politics-Institutions/dp/0202306143/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1392499074&sr=8-

* To read more about TANF

2&keywords=Beside+the+golden+door TANF Center on Budgetand Policy Priorities

 

ASR Findings

About being poor, Causes of Homelessness, Solutions to Homelessness

Applied Survey Research (ASR) is a federal requirement under Department of Housing and Urban Development. Counties must count their homeless population every two years in order to receive federal funding. ASR uses several methods to count the homeless population including: street count, shelter and institution count, telephone survey, and homeless survey. I reviewed the data from the LA Continuum of Care in 2007. The count for LA Continuum of Care consisted of 68,608 total people, with the median age of 45 years. The survey counted 22,376 chronic homeless people. Chronic homelessness in this survey is defined as, “an unaccompanied individual with a disabling condition who has been continually homeless for one year or more, or has experienced four or more episodes of homelessness within the past 3 years.” Gender and race are significant in regards to chronic homelessness with approximately 70% male and 29% females, African Americans making up approximately 48%. The survey also indicated the services and assistance used by the chronically homeless. 42% use free meals, 32% are not using any services, 24% use emergency shelter, 22% use health services, and 15% use mental health services. The survey found the top two reasons for being homeless to be economic issues including lost job or eviction. A statistic that stood out to me was failure to access housing services due to the lack of available beds. The survey found that 35% tried to access LA county shelter or a transitional housing program or both within 30 days prior to taking the survey; of those 45% had been turned away, the main reason due to lack of beds.  Data is available, yet the availability of data does not guarantee that the problem gets solved or that it draws public attention. Perhaps a problem is due to the media, which does not provide systematic evidence. I also looked at the homeless count from where I am from, Orange County. In 2009 the count was 8,333 homeless people. The number of sheltered people consisted of 31%, unsheltered 69%. This data is startling. In the book The Homeless by Christopher Jencks there is a statement, “the spread of homelessness disturbed affluent Americans for both personal and political reasons.” I see this statement to be true. For example, it can be understood that lack of shelters is a problem, a solution, create more shelters. Yet, nobody wants the homeless shelter in their neighborhood. Jencks poses the question, what is our moral obligation to strangers? What is wrong with the economic and social institutions? http://www.appliedsurveyresearch.org/projects_database/homelessness/

Giving Homelessness a Voice

Books and Films, Local organizations, Solutions to Homelessness

In the film, “Tayor’s Campaign” Taylor, a homeless advocate tries to run for city council in Santa Monica. I appreciate the effort that Taylor took during the campaigning process. Improved communication with the homeless community is one way in which solutions can be created. In my hometown Fullerton, there is a group that meets monthly called the Fullerton Homeless Collaborative. Their mission is to open communication and strengthen understanding with the homeless. This group was created after the death of Kelly Thomas, a homeless schizophrenic man who died after being beaten by the police in 2011.  I wish that it did not take a horrible event to create the group. Yet, I am satisfied because so far the Homeless Collaborative has met their mission.

In Voices from the Street there is a quote that suggests, “let’s not just transform those in need, we can also find ways to help transform those in power” (51). The people in power have access to resources; they have the ability to enact change.  If we educate those in power we can create change. The Fullerton Homeless Collaborative is one group that seeks to maybe not transform those in power, but to establish understandings and better relationships. There are a number of nonprofits that work with the homeless as well as police officers who seek to improve relationships and understanding during the Homeless Collaborative meetings. When the groups listen to each other they can gain understandings of problems and offer solutions.

To purchase Voices from the Street:

http://www.amazon.com/Voices-Street-Truths-Homelessness-Sisters/dp/0976926164/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391384632&sr=8-1&keywords=voices+from+the+street

Coping

Portraits of Homeless

Often times the ways that homeless people survive is by coping in unhealthy ways. In “Voices of the Street” the chapter “Recovery Issues” discusses the relationships with homeless people and addictions. One homeless man shares, “homelessness and drug abuse and alcoholism go hand in hand” (144). Many of the homeless people interviewed share how, “drugs and alcohol took away the pain of their experiences and helped pass the time” (151). Homeless people are trying to survive and their means of surviving are limited. They are acting as a result of their desperate circumstance. It is their circumstance that influences their behavior. What would you do in order to survive the traumatic experience of being homeless?
Also, why do you think “poverty is so invisible?” In what ways have the homeless become invisible?

Spirituality and Homelessness

About being poor, Portraits of Homeless, Religion

I have had numerous interactions with the homeless in which our conversation has ended with them saying, “God bless you.” I have questioned how they can believe in God despite their circumstance. The chapter,  “Spirituality” in Voices From the Street provided some answers. Some homeless people may adopt a faith due to their experience with homelessness. A belief in a Higher Power can provide a source of strength and help with hard times. Each persons experience is different, not all develop a belief in a Higher Power. Some share that their religious beliefs have lessened due to their circumstance. One man comments, “I am not impressed with Him right now” (156).

Have you ever had a conversation with a homeless person in which religion is discussed? What was it like? Did the homeless person mention a belief in a Higher Power?

Has a homeless person ever said, “God bless you?” How did that make you feel?

What do you think of requiring homeless to attend a church service in order to receive meals and other goods?

Very Surprising

Portraits of Homeless

While reading Voices from the Street one comment that really surprised me was when a woman shared, “I’d much prefer to be raped than become homeless, any day” (186). This comment really struck me for how brutal the situation of being homeless is. The women went on to share that when you are raped, you see it as someone else’s problem. Yet, when you are homeless, “everyone is judging you that you are no good… you begin to question everything you have ever done and how you got there” (186). I cannot even imagine the trauma this woman has suffered.