After reading all of the course material thus far, I cannot help but to keep thinking about how many stereotypes and stigmas about homelessness exist. I’m confident all of us have been told at one point not to offer a homeless individual spare change, because “they’ll just go and spend it on drugs.” It is tragic how so many people are led to believe that people are homeless as a result of their own foolish actions and that they are deserving of whatever happens to them. The Book of the Poor shatters that stereotype with the distressing statistic that “full time workers are among the poor including 2.6 million who work fill time.” (p.8). The sad fact is that many people who are legally and gainfully employed cannot afford to live off of their salaries and end up on the streets, sometimes even with young children. It is blatant that more needs to be done to aid people so that they do not end up without a place to lay their heads at night.
After reading Nickel and Dimed, I began to understand that one of the greatest causes of homelessness in America is how little companies and employers pay their workers. If minimum wage was raised and people were actually able to live off of their wages, I certainly believe that homelessness would become less prevalent and more people would have an equal opportunity to live comfortably and safely.
I think these stereotypes are perpetuated in order to cover up for failure on behalf of local governments, organizations, and the prison system, not failures on behalf of individuals. I think all of us are in one way or another socialized to be bystanders who sometimes fall into the trap of blindly accepting these stereotypes. It happens because of ignorance about a situation, and the best medicine for abolishing these sorts of stereotypes is awareness and much more compassion.
I am guilty for being one fo those people who thought that I should not give money to homeless people because they would just go spend it on drugs or alcohol. I was taught that many homeless people made poor decisions and that was why they were in the place that they were. Once I read “Nickel and Dimed” I realized that this was often far from the truth. I like that you addressed this issue because I could definitely relate to it.