Living in a big city, homelessness is not something that is new to me. On top of that, my aunt, who is an editor the Chicago Reader, has done a lot of work for the homeless, specifically the homeless youth of Chicago. I even got to attend a LGBTQ youth homeless summit a few summers ago and hear about the issues facing this population. My aunt was a part of a project in which architects from all over tried to design tiny homes that would then be built to house homeless youth. Still, with all this, there is still so much that I am ignorant to in terms of homelessness, and poverty too, and this class is already opening my eyes more.

The issue of homelessness reminds me of a lot of other social issues in the sense that the responsibility is often passed off to the next person, and because of deflection of responsibility, the issue rages on, when it doesn’t need to be like that. It’s often said that it would be cheaper to house the homeless then to keep them on the streets, but yet, their still on the streets. It sounds like a good idea to house these people, but when it comes time to vote on a tiny housing community to come to your space, it doesn’t sound so good to most people. And so the problem continues.

In terms of the book, Nickel and Dimed, I was skeptical at first. Here was a upper middle class white woman, attempting to understand “what it’s like” to be poor. However, as she acknowledged her privilege, my skepticism left and I instead saw it for what it was. I would be interested however, to compare her writing to that of someone who is truly poor, and writes about it. I’m excited for this class, because although I may see homeless people on the street, am I actually SEEING them? I don’t think so. And almost everyone deserves to be seen.

Many people prefer to place the responsibility for poverty or homelessness on the individuals. While they are not necessarily unsympathetic to their plight, they often blame the poor for their situation. I myself have seen examples of these attitudes in Redlands. For my capstone project last semester, I surveyed the people of Redlands regarding their attitudes on panhandling. Many, though not all, of the respondents suggested that the homeless were more than capable of changing their situation if they tried. Some examples of these responses were as follows:
“…a lot of the homeless people don’t want to change”
“They just want to live on hand outs and do their own thing and not better themselves.”
“…majority of people that are homeless choose to remain so”
“…they lack the drive to pick themselves up, work and earn their keep.”
Yet several of the readings for this week, especially Nickel and Dimed and This Is Why Poor People’s Bad Decisions Make Perfect Sense, do a great deal to combat the idea that escape from poverty is simple. Alongside discussing the exhaustion and struggles the working poor face, Ehrenreich shows that many of the people she encounters want to escape their circumstances but are trapped. Those in the cleaning service she works in, for example, might be able to increase their pay if they went on strike. However, they cannot afford to go without a paycheck for the time it would take to force a change. In This Is Why Poor People’s Bad Decisions Make Perfect Sense, Tirado argues that for those in poverty, “the very act of being poor means [they] will never not be poor.” She points out that many people like her cannot have a bank account, which limits their ability to obtain housing, or other necessities. She shows that many positions require employees to look good, but the image required to obtain said job cannot be maintained without it, and that things which those in more privileged positions view as free, are not for those who must face the hidden costs head on. The descriptions of the sacrifices these individuals make, and the hard work they do simply to maintain their existence, does much to discredit the misconception that poverty is a symptom of laziness. Often, the poor are forced to make decisions which keep them in poverty, simply because they have no better alternatives.

After going through this weeks readings, it is easy to see why things are so hard for the “working class” and “working poor”.  Especially feeling like I am from these classes, a lot of what they say resinates with me.  In the first reading “To Poor to Make the News” it says they are trying to squeeze everyone into a single great class called the Nouveau poor, but the “already poor”, weren’t taken into consideration.  Which are said to be the 20 to 30% who struggle in the best of times, and why many Americans believe “the “economy” as a shared condition, is a fiction”.  “Nickel and Dimed” the book is a testament to the harsh realities us lower class folks have to deal with.  Effecting peoples morals and what they are willing to do to get by and sustain a so-called life.  Stories like Peg (55 years old) taking care of her disabled daughter and two grandchildren, only to fall behind on her mortgage payments because of a heart attack that caused her to miss work are heartbreaking.  Luckily she had family to help her out, but it wasn’t even a house mortgage she needed help with.  It was just a “single-wide trailer” fitting  four people.  When asked how she deals with it she says “I just stay in my room”, which I relate to especially because I have an apartment I would stay out of and me & my boy would sleep in the living room of this small two bedroom apartment.  While Setty my close friend and her mom had the two rooms but would share with other friends and or their significant other, and Setty’s mom never left the room because it was always crowded.  Figuring out who would be buying groceries for that month and if we ran out we ran out, and made do with what was left.  The less stuff we had the less time that was spent at the apartment because we had to work to feed ourselves and pay the bills, doing whatever we had to in order to make ends meet.

In this same article it says there was no room for the “so called unskilled”, with “blue collar unemployment increasing three times as fast as white collar”.  Sending all the money to the already wealthy or well-off, making it “brunt being born by the blue collar class”.  Since all focus went to middle class, wall street, and main street, even though it’s the “people on the backstreets really struggling.  Leading people to job practices like stripping to make money and going to food auctions to get food already “past sell-by date”.  Pushing people towards alternatives like becoming vegan and hunting, that may not be suitable for a pregnant women for instance.  Lose of white collar jobs also led to doubling up, tripling up, and renting to couch surfers, to make ends meet.  People don’t want to talk about their situations, making it  “hard to get firm number of overcrowding”, because we don’t acknowledge census takers, as not to get into any kind of trouble with the law or housing personal/management. Yet overcrowding is what keeps lots of families afloat, and not spending 50, 60, or even 70% of their income on rent alone.  I am really outraged at how fucked up our system is that, they make it harder for lower class persons to create a sustainable living system that would otherwise make living easier for them by making laws were the rent can be raised based solely upon how many people live within the residence.  Which is why their are lots of families that have to hide that they’re providing a living space for others because they can barely afford the price as is.  Which is the whole reason why people have to double and triple up to provide a living space for themselves.  Besides all the jobs that would be high paying jobs being sent to third world countries.

So now when we get to the second article “This is why poor people’s bad decisions make perfect sense”, we can see the mindset and what has led the lower class to act and be the way they are.  If you were to go to the ghetto or somewhere by were I grew up and lived, one could conduct random observations that would help give insist on the thought processes of lower class civilians.  Like it says in the article we understand the academic problems of poverty but don’t understand why, yet I feel any person with common knowledge could tell you that the learning experiences I and many other poverty ridden kids got is far different from those of higher class.  Which alone could be seen in how transfer kids from private schools saw the schools I went to when they transferred because of their parent’s moving for work or for cheaper/better housing that was created to kick the poor out so landowners could make more money.  Every kid that came from a private school, that I encountered would talk about how easy school, or how different it was compared to their old school, because unlike now the schools they went to had everything.  So when Bush’s law no kid left behind passed it caused kids to miss out on information and education that would push their academic mind to be better.  Unlike the private schools that were able to provide everything necessary to learning the curriculum at hand.  So us regular folk learned on the streets, what makes money, how to make money, and where to make money to better their life and their families because thats mainly what families pushed froward in their kids minds.  Leading to gang banging, drug dealing, and all around finessing of whatever was needed.  Now I’m not going to say it’s all bad because here I am writing this blog for a college course I’m taking and nothing can replace the knowledge I’ve gained on the streets, but a life like mine is not one I’d wish upon any kid.  However I am grateful for the life lessons I have gained, through the streets and sports that have kept me and many other minorities out of trouble by being the life pushed at us in order to succeed.  The funniest thing about it all is that these higher class individuals don’t even know basic essentials to living.  In college alone I have met so many people that couldn’t tell me what a washer or dryer was, how to wash clothes or dishes, how to make any sort of food, or how to be resourceful at all.  Yet we want to say these kids are smarter than me, when they couldn’t even take care of themselves; and they want to talk about equality.  Equality the hours I had to put into practicing everyday, working, and taking care of my family as a kid.  You wonder why our society is like this but it’s really space dab in your face, you just don’t want to realize it, or choose to ignore because of how separated these classes are.  Like the story told in this article their are many families that will never experience a vacation, while I have classmates that spend money like it literally grows on trees, “rest in luxury for the rich”.  You want to make someone my boss, give them all the money to see scraps when I get paid, even though people like me are the ones putting in the real work.  Sitting atop their castles, looking down on lower class civilians getting mad about “poor people recreating, but judge abortion even harder

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!

The thing I love about sociology is with every class I take, I finish the course with a greater understanding towards the people around me. What I once may have been more judgmental about, I learn to see from a different perspective. This semester has made me more aware of the homeless community, by understanding how many people go unseen and how many people have fallen into this social crisis due to structural conditions. I wanted more people to learn about the hardships that come from homelessness, and that not every cause is because of a self-inflicted mistake.

For my teaching project, I wanted to teach a group of people who have more than likely not been exposed to the homeless issue. When I was in high school, I was taught that homeless people were addicts and any money I would give them would simply feed that addiction- so ignore them. Many high schoolers only hear this one sided, judgmental viewpoint, so I wanted to expose them to more. I contacted my former AP Human Geography teacher who is now at Yucaipa High School and taught her two APHG classes, which is the closest thing to sociology at the high school level. Rather than simply telling these kids a bunch of info and have them learn material, my main goal was for them to leave with a greater sense of empathy than they had entered the room with. Knowledge is important, of course, but self development and tolerance are major forces I think need to be developed in every individual.

How I constructed my presentation to the class was broken up into 5 sections, which were the 5 questions we had been exploring throughout the semester. For the first question, “What is life like for the hungry, the homeless, and the near-homeless in the U.S”, I talked to them about how with homelessness comes a lot of shame, and many accusations that they do not try to get a job. I shared difficulties with getting a job, plus perspectives from Voices from the Street and Taylor’s Campaign, as well as a recent story of a homeless Disneyland employee found dead in her car. For the second question, “How many homeless and near-homeless are there?”, the answer I gave was we have no idea, and discussed how inaccurate counts are and how shifting definitions can effect these counts. For the third question, “What are the major and minor causes of homelessness and hunger?”, we talked about personal susceptibility vs structural conditions. I focused on the cost of housing being too high. “What are individuals, small organizations, and governments doing to help?” was the fourth questions, where I mainly shared 2 local organizations (Youth Hope and Redlands Family Services) and 2 nonlocal organizations (Solid Ground and Homeless Solutions) on what they are doing to help. Finally, the fifth question, “What does it take to solve these problems?” was where I shared how I think more affordable housing is the biggest thing we can do for a solution, and encouraged them to volunteer to help. I used this to transition into sharing about my time at The Midnight Mission.

This was a very successful project, and the students were very polite and made it a comfortable space. They all stayed engaged and asked questions and based on their facial expressions throughout the presentation, I think they were changed to better understanding. I hope they gained more compassion and empathy towards a community pushed aside by society.

Throughout this course it became evident that homelessness in America has a history of being explained and analyzed in a variety of different ways. In regards to why there is homelessness in America, there has been a common image representing the stereotypes perpetuated through American society by Americans. A stereotype concerning the physical appearance of what a homeless individual should look like, followed by the explanation of qualities. Qualities that are often joined with words like lazy, alcoholic, or drug addict. A picture that never explains the reality beyond the individual showing how homelessness in America isn’t because all homeless people are lazy and can’t get a job. It is because of structural and systematic inequalities within different sectors of society that contribute to the homelessness in America. Things like a lack of affordable and sustainable housing and lack of government spending are in this conversation. Now taking this information and applying it to solving homelessness by coming up with solutions requires the call for immediate change in these structures. A time commitment and never ending battle, it can  consume individuals who dedicate their lives to this work.I believe besides this necessary change, there is a call to action for individuals who aren’t as active within the issues of homelessness being the general public. A call to action simply asking for individuals to shoot down and debunk common myths, generalizations, and stereotypes in public. The perception of homelessness in America has to change.

In light of this I took the opportunity of the Each One Teach One project to teach some of my closest friends on how they can attempt to see and understand the bigger picture. The objective of this project was to was to inform, support, debunk any ideologies that express ,or did not, the stigmas associated with homelessness. I hoped that my peers learn why those stereotypes do not embody the homeless community, and realize how homelessness is experienced by a variety of individuals with different and unique experiences. I am a firm believer in allyship and the ability for an individual who possesses a voice to speak on discrepancies or stereotypes when regarding individuals in oppressed positions. I expressed to my peers how it is vital when addressing homelessness, whether it be in a familial setting or the classroom, that it is important to intervene and perhaps educate on the image of what homelessness is and who it is as well.

To being the discussion I asked them to share an experience they’ve had with homelessness followed by three more questions generalized to be the following: what comes to mind when you think of homelessness in America, what are the causes, and how can we solve it. They answered understanding the concept of inequalities within systematic structure and related it to homelessness, such as affordable and sustainable housing, discriminatory employment practices, low amount of jobs, capitalism, medical expenses, and support system abandonment. I was surprised with their responses and elaborating on more issues such as policing in the past. I explained how the perceptions they had are the ones we need everyone to understand, leaving them with the call to action. 

For the teaching project, I partnered with Gabbi Carpinelli. At first, we had the idea of teaching a small lecture to both of our sororities. After much consideration, we realized most girls would either feel forced to be present, thus leading to loss of interest, or be too busy with finals giving room for low attendance. After debating these flaws, we decided to table outside of the commons. This concept allowed us to speak to students who were interested in the topic and gave us a general view of the opinions from the general student population. Our main goal of teaching in this manner was to breakdown negative stereotypes across campus, inform our fellow students of the simple facts regarding homelessness, hear the opinions and thoughts about the homelessness issue from the students whom are attending an expensive private university, and to have a structured and open conversation with the students about homelessness. The conversations not only taught the table-visiting students, but also taught Gabbi and I new perspectives regarding the homeless community, neighboring opinions, and governmental attitudes.

We tabled outside of the main eating area at the University of Redlands, otherwise known as the commons. We obtained a table plus two chairs from event services and set up during the busy time of the lunch hour in attempts of speaking to a good amount of students. We set up next to a couple other tables promoting events. On the table, we had small flashcards that were labeled with simple yet oblivious questions regarding homelessness. Questions included “What is the main cause of homelessness?”, “Within the San Bernardino county, what number should you call if you have any issues, complaints, or concerns regarding a homeless individual on the street?”, “What is one solution to homelessness?”, and “Is homelessness an internal (drug abuse, mental illness, etc.) or external (unemployment, social-inequality, unaffordable housing, etc.) issue?”.

We attracted students by asking simple questions about homelessness in order to gain knowledge regarding their personal beliefs and opinions. Although some students were knowledgable within the topic, many students were unaware of the concepts, issues with, and even the definition of the homeless community. Within the first half of tabling outside, I found a pattern in students actually believing personal substance abuse is the leading cause of homelessness. All students who voted “drugs and alcohol abuse” as the main cause of homelessness were extremely surprised when informed that is not the main cause of homeless. We even imposed the scenario of homeless individuals who are struggling with life turning to substance abuse as a form of escaping reality, and many students admitted they never considered homelessness causing substance abuse as a possibility. Due to the pattern of students believing substance abuse is the leading cause of homelessness, I started a small poll asking close students the question, “What is the one main cause of homelessness?”. Many students stated there could not only be one cause of homelessness, but once encouraged from Gabbi and I to decide which ONE factor leads to homelessness, more than half of the participants stated “substance abuse”.

POLL RESULTS:   “What is the main cause of homelessness?”

23 Participants

9 drugs

4 unaffordable housing

5 mental illnesses

4 veterans

1 other factors

The teaching project I decided to conduct consisted of discussions and several activities, taught to the ladies of Alpha Xi Omicron. As a member I felt confident in sharing what I have learned over this past semester with a group that would use the information constructively. The activities were centered on the themes of re-humanizing homeless and identifying both social and individual factors straining the eradication of homelessness issues. I set up the discussion at the Alpha Xi House in the hopes the girls felt it was a safe space to share their perception of the homeless community and a free environment to grow from sharing any and all other knowledge.

My event took place on Thursday April 5^th, at 8pm. I advertise my event on the social media pages of Facebook connected to our organization. I also spread the word when I saw my sorority sisters out and about, throughout the week leading up to the event. My preparation and materials for the event consisted of research for the activities, poster paper I acquired from SLIC, sharpies, extra pieces of paper, and my laptop. My plan was to do three activities that would last about the maximum of an hour, as to keep it instructive but short.

My three activities consisted of a discussion based critically thinking activity, a participatory instructed activity, and a video. My idea was to initiate a conversation of what everyone knew about the topic before we got into things. Then to do an activity to showcase the hardships of being low income, budgeting for not only yourself but others under the strenuous conditions. Next, to watch a video on re-humanizing people without homes and what being homeless is politically identified as. Finally, to wrap the event up, going back to our initial thoughts and comparing what are thoughts were after the activities. I am not a certified teacher; I was nervous and unsure about what I was about to present. However, I knew my sisters would help me out and not ridicule me if I slipped up, instead would support me if I started to trail off in my confidence. This knowledge of support created an excitement for the discussion.

Overall I think the teaching project was a successful one. An experience where everyone had the chance to contribute his or her own experiences, thoughts, and questions to each other’s learning. Everyone participated, enough so I barley had to facilitate the discussion. At the end I asked if people felt like they might have learned at least one thing, I got great feed back. For future teaching projects I feel like I could have made it more structured and maybe have done more of an extensive activity on a more specific topic. However, although what we discussed was a range of topics, we also went into directions that most interested my audience, making it instructional for both them and me. I appreciated everyone that came and all their input and I definitely learned to teach something new, something I am not completely comfortable teaching.