After reading chapter 8 of Lyon-Callo’s book, I have a different understanding of the ways that we should be looking at the issues of homelessness. Yes, I previously understood that low-wages and lack of affordable housing are big issues that play into homelessness, but the way in which Callo explains it just put it together for me. Instead of just focusing on homelessness on a person by person basis, providing help in the form of shelter and resources like that, we should more so be focusing on the systematic problems that will continue to create homelessness regardless of how many shelters there are. These issues are low-wages and lack of affordable housing, and they will continue to put people of out homes for the rest of time unless those issues are personally confronted. The issue of funding is a real hurdle, as people who support you financially usually put restrictions on your vision, if its going to cause too much of a stir. Working within the system to try and make these changes are hard, for that very reason of funding. People will happily  (or sometimes not so happily) fun shelters to house the homeless, but when it comes time to address the issue of whats getting these people in the shelters, not many want to be a part of that. That is partially because its a big issue that is not easily solved at all, and most people dont want to embark on that journey.

This spring break has so hectic because of baseball.  We legit spent all our time either at the field or at the indoor facility we hit at when it rains.  Which got me to thinking about all the help I’ve gotten, in order to be where I am at.  We feel a moral obligation to help children, so they can become outstanding citizens in our communities but we need to feel this way about everyone who needs help,  especially the homeless and less fortunate.  Our baseball team was going to throw away food and drinks that were still good, so I took it all so it wouldn’t go to waste.  Which is something a lot of people and families do-waste food.  It has become an epidemic and yet we still haven’t done anything.  RFS were I intern, has lost their funding for food and have been relying on people bringing in goods/food.  They have one lady that has been coming in everyday and makes food from home to bring, however, she suffered a heart attack and hasn’t been there.  So as you can imagine, it’s been a little rough.  The drinks and food I brought will go to good use and help the people we feed get through their day.  It’s hard to survive out here with prices being so expensive, making people have to weigh their options more than ever.  Deciding whether they rather have a place to sleep or food in their stomach and with it being so rainy & cold lately, situations have gotten even more serious.  Shop owners don’t want or let anyone looking homeless to stay around their shops, so finding a place to stay warm and dry is difficult and shapes their decision as to were their money goes.  That’a why not wasting food, and feeding the people in need is so important.  No family or person should go unfed when they are trying to make ends meet.  We need to pick up or societies and communities, that way our economy can flourish.

My building was recently broken into. Among the things stolen were a few bikes – including my own – and some sound equipment. As I went through my week, a few people asked about it and I mentioned it to a few friends and family members. When I told them about it, I was frequently met with a term that I hadn’t encountered until I moved to California – transient. Person after person immediately blamed the theft on “transients” with self-assured disgust.

The first time I heard someone refer to the homeless as transients, it felt hateful, like a slur. As I have become more established in California, I hear the term more often: supposedly synonymous with homeless. Even amongst police or the experts we have encountered through this course on homelessness, it seems to be part of the vernacular. Still, something about it strikes me wrong. Transient. It feels dehumanizing. If the word grants them any humanity, it seems to mark the homeless as other, therefore none of my concern so long as they leave or are invisible. Alternatively, it might say they’re other and dangerous.

Regardless of what “transient” means, many of these people, with no context, were sure that the homeless were the criminals responsible. In the 70’s and especially into the 90’s, our society seemed to lay the blame of homeless on the individual, but what created the image of these people as criminals?

Of course, the security footage showed three men leaving in their car and I have no way of knowing if they were homeless or not. I’m not even trying to argue that this idea of the homeless, or apparently transients, isn’t rooted in some amount of truth. I’m simply interested in understanding where this image of thievery and violence came from.

On of the things which this class has changed for me is that I have become much more aware of the homeless in Redlands. Prior to taking the class, I never realized how many homeless are present in this city. Now, it seems like everywhere i go, whether the grocery store, the library, or along the freeway, I always see at least one person who appears to be homeless, and that is excluding those individuals who might be living on the street but not fit the stereotypical image associated with such a state. I cannot help but wonder if this shift in my perceptions is indicative of one of the reasons why so many are able to ignore the issue of homelessness. Perhaps simply because the issue is not one which they think about often, they fail to notice how many people they walk by everyday.

As I’ve been doing more research and learning more, I realized homelessness dates back very far. Further than these books speak on. I believe the reason it become so known around the 1960’s is because that’s when people began to see how abnormal this actually was. But in previous times they were trying to annihilate a population of people or prevent them from producing more. Majority of population agreed with this concept so much wasn’t done to help them. As time went on people began to see this population of people was not going away, no longer being able to make these people just disappear like before by putting them in asylums or keep them hidden. People began to advocate for these people and come up with plans to help them back on their feet. One plan being providing houses and treatment for the unhoused. Believing that most people who were homeless had some sort of mental or physical disorder. Another is having things necessary for them if housing isn’t available like plays to shower or housing when the weather is too hot or too cold. This was a hard project to start, since they wanted things done on a big scale more money was needed to help fund projects like this. So protesting became very big to help get attention of higher authority, once having them on your side this plan could really take off, But even till this day we have problems with getting them on board. From what I have heard from this class and people who come and speak to us its for economical purposes. Which saddens me that our lives mean less than the money we create.

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.

Over the break I sat down with my grandfather and we got into a big discussion about the classes I am enrolled in currently. This class is one that he found himself extremely interested in. As we got into a discussion about class and the topics we cover he began sharing his thoughts on the issue of homelessness with me.

We began by talking about where we purchase goods and how china used to be our main source of product production. Now that minimum wage has increased there and they have a higher population they have more of a need to be self servicing. Due to this we have found other countries where they produce goods for our country. He then began talking about our increase in technology. He stated that one day soon we would not even need to involve other countries or low class citizens in production because we will have robots that produce shoes, and clothing and other basic goods. This increase in technology will lead to a major decrease in low wage jobs as they are often simpler jobs that technology will soon take over.

This is an increase we have already seen in California, especially with the boom of the technology industry. Especially in silicon valley where I am from. We see simple jobs that used to be done by people that are now completely controlled by technology. This increase across the board is going to lead to a decrease in employment availability leading to lower employment rates and thus leading to an increase in homelessness as people do not have a source of income.

Recently I read an article about homeless people over the age of 50, and it was pretty striking to me. This article cited a study which found that just under half of all homeless people who are over 50 years old, became homeless for the first time after they were 50. The study is headed by a woman who works for UCSF, and this problem is especially visible in the Bay area, where housing costs have risen dramatically over the past decade. The problem often seems to stem from the issue of saving money, as well as society not having safety nets to catch people before they fall. A separate study projected that the elderly homeless population will nearly triple over the next decade, which is astounding to me. From the researchers eyes, the problem is often the same: A person works a low-wage job which barely allows them to get by, let alone save, into late middle age. Then, something may happen that impedes them from working, and its a quick fall into homelessness, because they dont have anything to fall back on. This issue has skyrocketed recently, as UCSF research indicates that in 1990, only 11 percent of the population was 50 or older, and now its 50 percent. Homeless people in their 50’s usually display health concerns of 70 year olds, which makes the issue that much worse. As a society we usually agree that children and seniors are the most vulnerable and need the most help, but we are not treating it that way, and it is starting to truly show.

America makes up roughly 4% of our worlds population, yet we use about 25% of the worlds resources. As our technological advancements increase our quality of living, we strive for more and more, often without thinking about the ones who get left behind. While volunteering at Redlands Family Services, our supervisor Noel starts talking about food waste, as we are sitting in the food pantry. We were talking about how stores often end up throwing out perfectly good food because of the sell by date, and it ends up getting wasted. Canned food for example, is good for up to ten years after the sell by date. Noel also told us that within the past few years, California has adopted a law that states that stores can not throw out food that is actually good, and must donate it. Therefore, Vons has become one of the biggest donating organizations of food to Redlands Family Services. However, not all states have such ordinances, and our thus gives our nation a big problem when it comes to food waste. It is estimated that about 30-40% of the food in the food supply is wasted. 1) That is a lot of food that could be going to people in need. 2) The resources such as power and such that were used to make those foods have thus been wasted, when they could have been used for something more beneficial. 3) Food waste is the single largest component going into municipal landfills, which in turn generates a lot of the methane that comes from them. Food waste is not just a problem in terms of the food and who it could be going to, but also because of the trickle down effects that impact our world as a whole.

Where I am from you will see homeless people everywhere and it’s a really sad scene. Having been one of those kids thats had to have their friends family feed and take care of them, I know how hard it is for families to make the cut. Things are a lot more expensive now a days and with a surplus of people in the world as well as entering the work force, there’s now a lot more homeless and struggling people/ families.  Whether they got there because of little affordable housing, drug use, mental illness or parental/social factors; we need to find ways to help them out.  Creating jobs and spaces for people to get their lives together and find the help they may need.  So many people have money that could be put to use to better the economy and peoples lives.  The government wastes so much on things  that are either over funded or have no real value to the citizens, we even shut down the government we costs its citizens.  This year under Trump we lost around 11 billion dollars shutting down the government and are funding 3.2 billion dollars towards building a wall.  Money which could be going towards helping the economy and getting people on their feet.  The funding should go to getting people off the streets, food in their stomach, and a roof over their head.  Everyone should have these simple necessities, and not have to be worrying day to day if things are going to be okay.  Working for Redlands Family Services(RFS) and taking from my own life has really showed me just how significant a little help can go,  along with how much of a difference it can make in someones life.  Life’s already hard as it is and when we dehumanize homeless people, we dehumanize ourselves because they aren’t just like us, they are one of us. So next time your thinking about disrespecting someone homeless or in need, think twice and if your scared that they’re going to use it for drugs. Which is the common stereotype that people believe, and is something people turn to when living on the streets because of its harsh reality, but if that the case buy them food.  I’m sure you can spare a dollar or two, or learn about ways you can help them find help so they can seek it themselves, anything & everything helps.  I hate seeing kids have to come in super early to get food at RFS or on the streets begging.  We need to be building our communities up, not tearing them down.