In class today we touched on the topic of the types of jobs that organizations were helping the homeless obtain in order to get back on their feet.  We learned that the type of skills that are taught to the homeless were mainly skills for low-wage jobs like working at a fast food restaurant.  Mr. Spickard brought to our attention that organizations weren’t trying to teach skills such as computer engineering to the homeless, which would be a much more stable career/future.  However, I can see why organizations don’t teach these skills.

According to Chris Jenck’s analysis, homelessness is correlated with the use of cocaine.  Jenck’s calls it the “crack epidemic”.  In a shelter study, Jenck’s finds that 66% of homeless had crack in their urine.  This is more than half.  With statistics showing that a majority of people who are homeless, also use cocaine, probably means that these people aren’t able to learn computer engineering.  Or at least not in a significant amount of time.  Especially if a person becomes addicted to cocaine, which most of them do, it’s hard to get off the streets let alone keep a job.

Trying to teach anyone such skills for computer engineering-type jobs takes time and a lot of schooling.  Most people don’t just take a few classes and become whatever they want to be.  I don’t think that organizations have the funding or the time to really be able to fully teach anyone skills like that either.  I mean, isn’t that what schools are for?

Overall, with the high use of drugs and the limited amount of resources and time, I can see why organizations can’t/don’t want to teach homeless people such skills.

Last week, one of our exercises for class was to complete an overview of a homeless count and what system was used to complete the homeless count. As a class, most of us chose different cities and areas to look up, many students chose the areas in which they are from. This past summer, I lived in Pasadena, CA and worked in Glendale, CA. In a park near my apartment, I saw many homeless people on an almost daily basis.

When I completed the homeless count exercise, I chose to look up Los Angeles count. In the Los Angeles report, it is noted the Pasadena reports its numbers separately from the rest of Los Angeles county. I decided to investigate further and see what that was about. According to a report in the San Gabriel Tribune, Pasadena homelessness has decreased from 1,216 in 2011 to 632 in 2015. While these numbers have noticeably decreased, the pervasiveness and complaints of homeless in Pasadena has increased. According to those quoted in the article, there is an issue of lack of availability of affordable housing in the area. The article states that if affordable housing can’t be found in Pasadena, those in need will be moved to areas that do have housing.

Based on what we’ve learned in class, and the idea that poor and homeless often get pushed to other areas, I find it interesting that Pasadena isn’t doing more to find a permanent and local solution to the homeless and housing issue.

If you’d like to read more, here is the link about homelessness in Pasadena.

http://www.sgvtribune.com/social-affairs/20151025/complaints-about-homeless-behavior-on-the-rise-in-pasadena

After visiting the Dignity Health center in Highland this weekend I became so much more aware of the importance of social class in determining the treatment of people. This particular health center is dedicated to providing compassionate, high quality and affordable services to everyone that walks through their doors. They have a strong belief that everyone deserves medical care regardless of skin color, background or circumstances. During my visit at this center everything that they stand for was made very obvious in the kind of service that they provided to their patients.
As I was sitting in the waiting room, I was very impressed by the kind of service that the employees provided. Taking this sociology class has really made me observe the way in which certain organizations work. It is reasonable to say that everyone works along a budget and watching this place, it was obvious to see who would be able to afford the medical treatment that they were receiving today and who would not. Regardless of this, every single person who walked in was attended exactly the same. There were no differences made between wealthy and poor.
I was very intrigued after my visit and as I observed the website I realized that they were very aware of their core values which included, dignity, collaboration, justice, stewardship and excellence. Aside from providing excellent doctors to assist the immediate needs of the people, they made sure to promote respect for all of the people. Seldom do I notice such things, but as I struggled to put prejudices aside I realized that if more people acted in the same way and believed that every life matters, we would be living in a much better world.

After visiting my boyfriend’s family this weekend in Los Angeles I was shocked to see a homeless encampment had disappeared from the freeway over pass near their neighborhood. This freeway over pass served as a make shift shelter for quite a few homeless individuals over the past five months. They had set up around five to six tents and seem to keep to themselves. I had asked my boyfriend’s family if they knew what had happened to the encampment and they responded that a neighborhood organization had worked with city officials to get them removed. Before learning all that we have so far in this course I, like many others in that neighborhood, would have wanted the homeless encampment to be moved because it made the neighborhood look bad. Having the encampment near a neighborhood does not mean that the neighborhood is more dangerous, yet many in that neighborhood were scared of the crime that the homeless were bringing into their neighborhood. When I tried to speak about other possible options regarding the homeless encampment my boyfriend’s family was taken back. They refused to entertain any other possibility other than removing the encampment from their neighborhood. They did not feel safe or conformable living so close to a homeless encampment. This experience this weekend let me see how much I have learned about homelessness through this course so far but it also showed me how difficult it can be to talk with others about homelessness when they are feeling that their space is being invaded.

In section four of “The Book of the Poor” by Kenan Heise, Heise explains the reality of how poverty can and has lead to death. Heise begins by revealing the unfortunate truth that “death from poverty” belongs on millions of death certificates world wide. However it is not, because society does not recognize the many issues homeless and extremely poor people face in order to stay alive. As we have learned in class, it is difficult for those living  in poverty to get basic resources, such as health care for themselves. When a person can’t get the medical attention they need, their health further declines leaving them in a worse situation than before. I remember reading a story about a diabetic man in the book “Voices from the Street”, who struggled with taking care of himself while living on the streets. He explained that there were many occasions where he could not get the insulin he needed, which left him hospitalized. He explained that when he did have the insulin he needed, other homeless people would try to take it. Diabetes, a chronic illness that is maintainable, can be an everyday struggle for someone who doesn’t have the resources to get insulin. Heise explained that other health issues such as obesity are common place for the poor. When all one can afford is fast food, it is no wonder why individuals become obese or malnourished. This chapter explained that there are many ways how poverty leads to death, and there needs to be something done about it.

With all the talk about homelessness, I feel like sometimes we forget the differences between homeless men and women and the different struggles they go through. Women’s bodies, for example are very different from men’s. Women need different hygiene products for their own health. It’s expensive enough for the average women to buy all the hygiene products she needs such as pads, tampons, etc. I wondered how homeless women kept up with self-care in the streets.

In the article I read about this subject, the city of New York stated that, “…staying clean is part of a daily struggle for thousands of women…where maintaining a sense of dignity is a time-consuming and potentially dangerous endeavor.” Receiving basic health care products for homeless women gives them a sense of dignity that is often stripped away because of their homelessness. Fletcher-Bake, a registered nurse says that, “Self-care and the ability to receive care in this setting helps to build a woman’s self-worth and value.” The article further explains that homeless women face deeper medical challenges than their male counterparts. Because there is minimal access to sanitary spaces, it puts women in greater risky situations.

Women also use the bathroom differently than men. The articles talk about that women can’t simply “pee behind a tree” like men can. Because of this, women often go through desperate measures to use the bathroom or avoid using the bathroom as much as they can. One homeless women stated that she would try to avoid drinking liquids at night so she wouldn’t have to use the bathroom. When a homeless women gets her period, circumstances become even harder. Some shelters have been known to give the women hygiene products, but social workers say it is harder to source those products from public donors.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/1/13/-scared-to-walk-thestreet.html

After researching the Los Angeles county homeless count for 2014 I was very surprised with how many homeless are accounted for, but in reality am still questioning how many were not accounted for. In November of 2015 the LA Times newspaper released an article discussing the homeless issue we have in LA and the surrounding areas. To my surprise LA has the largest homeless people count and accounts for one-third of the entire countries homeless people. Yes we may think well of course if you are homeless why would you not want to be in California due to our nice weather and beaches could be a nice place to sleep right? But in reality maybe there are better reasons why we have so many homeless, maybe it is because we are not doing anything to help them.

After reading the LA Times article it is very obvious the people who reside in the LA area are not willing to help the homeless because of bad experiences with them. Many just want them out of sight so they are not around where they live. In reality to do this we need to build them affordable housing so they do not have to live on the streets because in most cases that is not what they want to be doing, but what they have to for the time being. This article discusses how they want to end chronic homelessness by 2017, which realistically is impossible unless they are going to start building low income housing everywhere. What can you do to help?

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-homeless-national-numbers-20151120-story.html

On Sunday, February 21, a newborn was found dead inside an east Portland apartment complex in Oregon. According to OregonLive, the mother of the baby was homeless. David Hernandez reported that he had taken the woman in to his home to live with him and his boyfriend. The man claimed to have previously been homeless himself and wanted to help the pregnant woman.

Hernandez claims that he woke up early Sunday morning to have breakfast and discovered blood all over the hands and feet of the woman. The woman was immediately taken to the hospital in an ambulance. When the woman was gone, one of the two men was reported to have found a lifeless baby.

This article describes an example of a desperate woman who was forced to make the decision she made. For homeless mothers, this particular situation is one route that is taken by woman who fail to meet the social expectations of mothers. When a mother fails to provide for herself, it is unlikely that she will be able to provide for a child. Women’s ability to bear children complicates their situation when homeless. In society, every decision made by a homeless mother is frowned upon. Deciding to have an abortion can bring negative attitudes toward a person, while it can also relieve them of another life they are responsible of. Deciding to keep the child could mean not being to provide the appropriate support in rough conditions. Adopting may cause the child to face certain difficulties coping with the idea of lacking parents. A foster home could mean result in further abuse by other children or the foster parents.

For a homeless mothers, pregnancy means having to make difficult decisions. In this case, it is difficult to say what the mother’s intentions were. However, every situation is different and calls for difficult decisions due to certain circumstances that only the individual making them can rationalize.

Oregonian/OregonLive, Brad Schmidt | The. “Newborn Death: Witness Says Homeless Woman Was Pregnant.” OregonLive. N.p., 21 Feb. 2016. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.

<http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2016/02 newborn_death_witness_says_hom.html>.

I’ve begun thinking about homelessness back in my home county because despite living there for 21 years I haven’t really put in to perspective my past experiences with homeless people as well as the mentally ill. With all that we’ve learned so far I figured what better place to look at and see what steps are being taken to aid the homeless. On the county’s Human Services website I found a 10-year plan to end homelessness in San Mateo County called Housing Our People Effectively (HOPE) that appears to have been implemented in 2013, and intends to bring together businesses, nonprofits, and public sector agencies to address the core causes of homelessness in a coordinated and cost-effective manner. The plan is built around the two key ideas of housing and prevention, and lists four recommendations for ending homelessness. These are: increasing housing opportunities for the homeless as well as those in serious risk of becoming homeless, providing aid in a timely fashion to support independence and stability, create standards to track progress made towards ending homelessness, and in turn reporting progress to the community and stakeholders, and lastly, developing long-term leadership in the community to sustain the efforts being made to end homelessness. The cost of this plan is estimated at approximately $1.56 billion over the course of ten years to create, maintain, and operate 7,900 units of permanent and supportive housing, and is to be primarily funded by state and federal resources.

This seems like a great step forward, though as I read further in to the plan it goes on to say that the usage of emergency and social services by homeless people can cost upwards of $70,000 per person, per day; this could result in the 10-year plan costing around $2 billion over the course of its duration simply to continue providing homeless people with current services that for the most part don’t end homelessness.

Another thing warning flag in my head was the number of housing units proposed in this plan compared to the number of homeless I found in San Mateo County for my data exercise. The census I found for the 2015 homeless count in San Mateo County reported 1,722 homeless people compared to the 7,900 units of housing proposed by the HOPE plan. I’m unsure as to why the numbers are so different, but I suspect there couple be a number of reasons behind it. I’ll post a link to the Human Services website for you guys to check out.

http://hsa.smcgov.org/center-homelessness

One thing that i always want to write about in my blogs every week but i keep forgetting to write about is the one time i slept outside in streets with my church group. The reason why we did this was to see how it felt to sleep outside and live outside for 3 days straight. I remember all we had was a back pack with a couple changes of clothes and a sleeping back and a cardboard box. There were a total of 15 of us doing this that weekend including my youth group instructor. When i first did this i didn’t think it was actually that bad but after sleeping outside for three nights straight with nothing to really keep you warm really sucks and i am so glad for what i have and ever since then i don’t really take things for granted because things for my life could honestly be worse. After staying the night on the street everyday we would go eat back at the church and hangout and talk about the experiences of each night and talk about the overall experience and talk about things that went through each others head and feeling while outside. After we had our debrief everyday ended  up going to homeless shelters giving out blankets and clothes to people in the shelter that were donated to the church, we also fed the homeless people at the shelters and just tried to do the best we could to make the people happy and make their lives and days as easy as we possibly could. I would encourage everyone to do this if they are ever presented  with this opprotunity because it really opened my eyes and made me think about how good my life is and how i can help the less fortunate.