Category Archives: Homelessness

Criminalizing Homelessness

Books and Films, Homelessness

The documentary “Taylor’s Campaign” reveals what it is like to be homeless in Santa Monica, CA. As a man runs for local office with the platform to help the poor, the city begins to implement new laws that strip away homeless people’s rights. The new laws create a context where the poor are treated like criminals. One of the opening scenes plays an audio clip of a radio DJ sharing his feelings of the poor, describing them as, “a waste of space” and saying they should be “put to sleep.” Such individuals who live on the street are dehumanized and treated horribly. They are considered to be a burden to the city. These new laws are meant to keep the homeless away and out of sight so that the area will maintain its status as a popular tourist location.

The privileged citizens of the city stated that they do not like seeing homelessness in the city. These same people however, do not support solutions to homelessness. I find these contradictory attitudes quite interesting. People don’t want to see homelessness but they also do not want to help. They do not give money to the homeless in fear that they will be irresponsible with their charity. People want to know what someone will do with their charity. It is a common response to give only if they know it is going to a trustworthy cause, to be spent on something that they approve of. The same people also often do not support public leaders who want to contribute to solutions (as Ron Taylor did not win the election). Voting against or creating a public dialogue about the new laws implemented would also have been an alternate approach to solving these issues. However, many cities are beginning to adopt similar criminalizing laws and strategies for dealing with homeless populations.

 

Who needs Pity?

About being poor, Homelessness, Uncategorized

Lately, I have been thinking about the concept of pity and the amount that is actually given to homeless people. This interest in pitying the homeless was sparked while reading the first section of Kenan Heise’s The Book of the Poor: Who They Are, What They Say, and How to End Their Poverty. It was at the very beginning, following the experience of Thomas Jefferson, where a number of homeless people were trying to avoid the pity by trying to present themselves as other than what they were: homeless.

These homeless people had a sense of pride that they were striving to hold on to. I think that people come across a homeless person and their mindset falls into the stereotype that they are out on the streets to beg, because they lack the drive to support themselves. The more privilege’s perspective is to pity them, ignore them, or throw some change their way. I tried to think back to a time where I felt like I was being pitied and vice versa. What I found was that myself, nor the person receiving my pity, didn’t want it.

So what is the point in pity? Pity is nothing more than an emotion that fails to benefit the giver and the receiver. No matter the class or situation, no one strives for looks of pity from strangers, yet alone loved ones.  The point that I am trying to make is that homeless people aren’t so beneath us that they need the pity in order to survive. We need to remember that the blame for their state of living has two sides: it is either due to choices that the homeless themselves have made or the choices made by the surrounding privileged society.

Homelessness and the Weather

About being poor, Homelessness, Poverty

For the past week or so I’ve been hearing fellow students and faculty talk about the casual subject of Southern California’s strange weather this winter and the fact that it doesn’t feel very wintery. Several people were talking about how they wished it would rain so they could wear their warmer clothes, or simply desired the presence of snow on the mountains for aesthetic or recreational value. At any other moment of my life, I would have viewed these desires as innocent and natural. However, given that we’ve been reading articles and pieces about homelessness and life on the streets, it dawned on me that those of us with a roof over our heads, the money to purchase warm clothes or hot foods, or a car to transport ourselves with, we have the privilege to want these things (however, the desire to have rain and colder weather does not exclude on the other hand cold weather for the sake of the environment and the prevention of drought).

This warmer weather is likely viewed as a blessing for those who have to wonder every day where they will find a place to sleep at night or a place to rest during the day. Unlike the rest of the US that is suffering from extreme cold weather, rain, flooding, hail, the West coast, while experiencing unusual warm weather, has been luckier for the homeless who may otherwise seek shelter by getting into prison for the winter.

As Kenan Heise explains in his book, The Book of the Poor, the combination of winter and poverty can be incredibly detrimental to the health of individuals living in poverty, if not potentially kill those who don’t have shelter or warmer clothing. These needs put pressure upon shelters and food banks that are already pressed for more supplies to give.

“Painfully Invisible”

About being poor, Books and Films, Homelessness, Poverty, Reflections on our Reading

In the film watched in class, Taylor’s Campaign, a man who has suffered from homelessness himself is running for city council on a fifty dollar budget. The aim of his film is to show his feelings towards the mistreatment of the homeless population of Santa Monica.  In this film, there were many themes seen that relate directly to the other readings that we have done so far in this course. However, it was also very eye-opening in many ways because it focused on a small group of homeless individuals and allowed an inside look into their daily lives and the stuggles that they face.

While some of the residents of Santa Monica who were interviewed expressed extreme negative opinions towards the homeless population, saying that they are a waste of life, shouldn’t be allowed to live in their nice neighborhoods, and all-around lazy individuals who are looking for a hand-out, this is not what the footage revealed. On the contrary, these homeless individuals worked hard daily, collecting cans and doing what they could to make the money necessary to buy essential items. This example illustrates how the mainstream society passes judgement on the homeless population without knowing their stuggles or understanding how many times, it is outside forces that have pushed them into the homeless situation. One homeless woman expressed that she wanted out of the situation she was in but that it seemed impossible. Time and time again through this film  well as other readings, the homeless population expressed that they are not looking for a handout, as many people belive.

In many ways, the themes seen in this film directly correlate to the book Voices From the Street: Truths about Homelessness from Sisters of the Road (Morrell 2007). In this text, Morrell writes “when you become invisible to mainstream society, the myth is that you stop being human, that you’re somehow made up of different stuff. But you’re not. Your humanity doesn’t go away because society doesn’t see it” (Morrell 105). This shows how mainstream society treats the homeless as if they are outcasts to which they cannot relate. It is not surprising that many homeless persons feel a strong sense of not belonging when they are ignored or clearly looked at with disgust by those not in their situation and unwilling to try to understand their plight. This is recalled by Morrell when she discusses the homeless and poverty-striken population, stating “they feel painfully invisible to others in the larger society” (Morrell 35).

“Taylor’s Campaign” Reaction

Homelessness

After watching the film “Taylor’s Campaign”, I had a better understanding of just how unfair homeless people are treated, especially in the city of Santa Monica. This film was released in 1998 and it was filmed during 1994 when Taylor was running for Santa Monica City Council. When the residents of Santa Monica found out that a homeless man was running for City Council with a fifty dollar budget, they laughed. Although Taylor had several ideas to better the city, people did not take him seriously because he was homeless. Taylor wanted to help the high number of homeless people in the Santa Monica area and he focused his campaign around this.

 Unfortunately the citizens of Santa Monica felt that the homeless people were a burden and they did not like seeing them in the parks, streets, or anywhere for that matter. My reaction to this was if you have a problem with them on the streets then help them to get into a shelter. Maybe another shelter should be built for these people to go to. The police continually asked the homeless to move somewhere else because they were disturbing the houses and businesses around them and they had to move. Soon enough, these homeless people are not going to have another place to move, then what, where are they supposed to go?

There are also some citizens who want to help the homeless by giving them free food. A group of residents collected food and passed it out in one of the parks, this eventually attracted more homeless people. The city eventually shut down this group and any others giving out large amounts of food to the homeless in areas other than food pantries and such. Still to this day, you will be arrested in Santa Monica if you are caught doing this.

It is sad to see these homeless people suffering and even people who want to help them like Taylor and these food giving groups, can’t.

Priorities in the Wrong Places

Books and Films, Government programs, Homelessness

This week in class, we got the opportunity to see a very informative documentary called “Taylor’s Campaign”. This followed around a man by the name of Ron Taylor while he was in the process of running for council on a platform of improving the lives of homelessness. He himself was once homeless for a period a little longer than ten months and decided to take a stand and make an effort to help improve the lives of the other homeless in the city of Santa Monica, California.
Not only does this movie just follow Taylor around while he campaigns, but gives an inside story of the struggles of homelessness in the city of Santa Monica with. The city has more than enough power to improve the lives of the homeless, but they choose to focus their time on trying to cut services for them while trying to hide them away from tourists, to not scare them away and ultimately increase revenue. There are many instances that the movie shows that the city could be doing more. A housing structure had to be built, but the problem was that there were only three-to-five beds for women while there were at least forty-to-fifty for the men. The services put in place to serve and protect the people are putting unnecessary time into harassing the homeless around the city. The police cite misdemeanors for shopping carts and kick others out of spots they found for the night to sleep in. It was also interesting to see how much time the police use to pointlessly hassle the homeless. In Lee Stringer’s book, Grand Central Winter, the cops use arresting the homeless for their own personal gain. One example of this is when the main character and his friend are woke up to an officer who was “calculating the overtime it will be worth to arrest the two of [them].” (44 Stringer) And these are people who are not trying to cause trouble to begin with. They are down on their luck and are doing anything they can to survive. A few of the homeless have a system to collect cans and bottles for money, and at the same time they are “doing a service for the city” by recycling, but the city would just rather bother and hassle them in hopes that they leave and go back to the shadows away from the residents and the tourists.

“Housing first. Community next.”

Anti-Poverty Programs, Government programs, Homelessness, News link, Organizations, Solutions to Homelessness

This blog post from the Huffington Post provides an interesting insight on a possible solution to homelessness. What Joel John Roberts argues is that the key aspect of solving homelessness is a sense of community. Only three weeks into this course, we have already seen several examples of the importance of a simple human connection. A perfect quote regarding this comes from the film “Taylor’s Campaign” (1997): “we are not just looking for a handout, but are looking for just a hand.”  Though charity and “handouts” help, people do not want to be seen as a project; something to be fixed and then forgotten about. The homeless want to be a part of the community, just like everyone else. The only way to really help these people is to extend our kindness and humanness to them. The program described in the article has made a lot of progress in housing homeless people, yet the author/agency director even acknowledges that it needs to be taken a step further in order to maintain this progress. As Roberts states, “A weekly visit from a case worker, or an open case management office in the building, does not create an intimate, supportive community for a person who has been isolated on the streets for years.” He stresses the importance of a supportive and warm community that can ease homeless back into housed living. People too often forget how easy it is to make a person feel like a human being. Solutions to homelessness need to take a step further and include humanity and caring.

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

“A fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work”

Causes of Homelessness, Causes of Hunger, Causes of Poverty, Homelessness, Hunger, Poverty

It is amazing how far our country has come from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s declaration. There was concern about what workers’ should make for their labor. Where has it gone? In Arindrajit Dube’s’s opinion piece, The Minimum We Can Do (The New York Times, 2013), he discusses and asks questions concerning today’s federal minimum wage policies. Dube wants to know what should be done. Yet, isn’t that what everyone would want? What is fair?  However, the amount of minimum wage is what is creating inequality.

This article brought me back to a previous course assignment which truly changed my perspective. The assignment was to visit the internet website inequality.is and interact with the program. It showed statistics and situations that have led to where inequality is today. It provided comparisons of my possible income based off of my gender, ethnicity, age and education, which are all factors Dube discusses in his article. It was insightful to see the varying amounts depending on if I said I was White or Hispanic. No matter what, I had a lower income because I was a female.

Could it be that prejudice is a factor in those suffering from hunger and homelessness? Reflecting back on people I have seen on the streets and gave money to, the factors seen in both Dube’s article and the inequality.is interactive hold true. The concept of “a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work” is no longer relevant. Our country needs to stop doing the minimum in order for all to receive the maximum.

Smart Solutions from the Homeless

Solutions to Homelessness, Solutions to Poverty

Jessica P. Morrell’s Voices from the Street (2007) is a collection of over five hundred interviews with actual homeless people who were willing and eager to share their stories. All of the interviews provide insight into how life really is for the homeless and several of the folks shared their ideas of improvements to be made to the very broken system that is available for people living on the streets. There are many stereotypes against homeless people – that they are uneducated and therefore not smart, but many of the ideas brought forward by the “narrators” of this book were very simple and plausible. For example, in the chapter entitled “Barriers to finding work,” one man expressed the need for a sort of day center where homeless could have access to “More phone usage, more laundry services, more clothing – appropriate clothing – more showers perhaps” (p. 108). Though several of the people interviewed acknowledge that there are places that offer these types of services, many of these places are not open at convenient times for the job hunting process. Another man, in the same chapter, assesses the problem of not having anywhere safe to place one’s belongings while applying to jobs. He mentions that there is a place where people can store their belongings temporarily in exchange for volunteer hours, “but those hours you got to volunteer over there are the hours you want to go somewhere else” (p. 107). So although there are many existing services that provide solutions for the homeless, there needs to be an improvement of operations for the convenience of the people for which these services are providing for. The most important and helpful way to find these improvements would be to go directly to the homeless to observe their needs.