The Ugly Reality...Homelessness Never Far Away

One of the most difficult things I can imagine for the people I've known who experienced homelessness, especially families, is when they face returning to it. And this week I found out about a family that did.

Charlie, our HEAR US "poster child," the cute boy whose image was captured by photojournalist Pat Van Doren, a longtime friend and conspirator, and his mother, "Cookie," recently lost their home, for reasons that I'll keep private, but not unlike reasons of other vulnerable people. 20-year-old Charlie had been working, but got laid off and is now just trying to make ends meet by temp work, staying with a friend. His mom is staying with people she knows.

In our latest documentary, "It's All About the Children," each of the 7 women expresses some form of "I'd never want to be homeless again." It reminds me of Scarlett's quote from Gone With the Wind,

As God is my witness, as God is my witness they're not going to lick me. I'm going to live through this and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again.  

I certainly don't mean to imply that Cookie or Charlie would ever "lie, steal, cheat or kill," but I could understand the sentiment. 

When I visited them in summer 2008 I was touched by Cookie's pride in showing me her blue glass collection. She beamed as she spoke about her "clowning" as Cookie the Clown, brightening kids and old folks' days with her routine. Charlie was finishing courses for his high school diploma and was working had his sights on getting in at Caterpillar, a great paying job.

Formerly homeless families face repeat bouts for any number of reasons. It's easy to slide down the slippery slope. It's much harder to get back up, and the thought of being homeless hangs like a dark cloud over your shoulder, even for those far removed, as this family was. Stigma, lack of resources, feelings of failure--all contribute to the trauma of the return trip.

Today as I drove across Texas' backroads, I saw lots of roadkill, including a wild boar. It got me to thinking about people in poverty--they are the roadkill on the Capitalism superhighway. 

Seems to me our way of dealing with poverty and homelessness needs drastic changes. It's bad enough to experience homelessness once, but you should be granted a "get out of jail (homelessness) free" card if facing it again, sort of like we gave those rich bankers and Wall Street scoundrels. 

Survey Confirms My Fears

Standing on the edge of the sea of homeless men and women at the Phoenix Human Service Campus, this woman looks afraid to plunge in. Phoenix tries to provide services, and agencies work hard to meet the need, but with over 1,000 men and women showing up daily, and resources being limited, way too many folks fall through the cracks, er, abyss.

Yesterday I had the privilege of addressing an education class at University of Texas, El Paso. These teachers-to-be probably don't represent the mainstream, statistically speaking, but it was an audience ripe for my survey.

I asked their first name, and then inquired as to a brief description of their experience with homelessness. I offered a few examples: volunteer at a shelter, know someone who is homeless, or see homeless people on the street. They weren't limited to that, but it was a good starter.

Of the 19 students, 3 volunteered at shelters, 3 knew someone who was homeless, and 13 just based their knowledge, and less-than-sympathetic attitudes, on the multitude of homeless men and women they see on the streets of El Paso. That blew me away!

Only two people--someone whose childhood friend was homeless and someone with a friend who experienced domestic violence--acknowledged that families and teens are homeless too.

This group was at least open-minded and after they watched My Own Four Walls, they demonstrated a much more realistic knowledge and understanding of the scope of homelessness. The MOFW kids talking about their experiences of homelessness make a powerful tool to open peoples' eyes. I have great hopes that this class of (mostly) young people will go forth and share compassion along with education.

Would that the feds' homelessness czar, Phil Mangano, and his unenlightened policymakers have the same conversion experience! Each time I pass homeless men and women on street corners or in other outdoor locations I fume. In no way do I believe the administration's claims that things are getting better for those "chronically" homeless. Sure, a few folks here and there might be better off, but at what cost?

The feds approach to "ending homelessness" reminds me of the scam I used to try to pull on my Mom when I wanted to go out to play but she insisted I clean first. I scattered our dirt, removing it from view, hoping to dupe her. It worked a few times, but she caught on. Phil and his band are promoting the scatter method, and since they have clout, they can sell it well, at least to Congress. Our leaders have more pressing--to them anyhow--issues, and besides, homelessness isn't a problem with cheap, easy solutions.

Seems to me that homeless adults are emblemic of our society's throw-away mentality. Not working? Throw it out! But the "its" are people. P E O P L E. They are brothers, sisters, sons and daughters, aunts and uncles and cousins....Sure, some have problems, but who doesn't? Throwing them in jail; or, as some communities do, coralling them in to a specific area with the unrealistic expectations that they'll all stay put like lemmings; or chasing them away (read a spicy blog about Seattle's approach) by making life miserable enough to make leaving look inviting, all those methods are being employed in the "10 Year Plan to End Homelessness" scatter them approach.

Who to believe--the Ivory Tower Czar of Homelessness, Phil Mangano--or the cruising RV queen of homelessness, Diane Nilan? Depends on whether you want to sweep the dirt under the rug and go out and play or face the fact that what we've been doing with homelessness isn't working too well.

And, as a painful reminder... the long-time homeless adults on our urban landscapes will quckly be replaced by homeless kids we're currently ignoring by our "chronic homelessness initiative." Smart.