This comment was left on my previous blog post and there are so many questions and issues here that it is impractical for me to just comment back; thus I am making this into another post.
awplacencia said:
Thank you! Understandably the issue of homelessness is an issue that is near and dear to your heart.
I remember some points in my life where I felt so successful, (homes, cars, business, material shit) but, wanted nothing more than to just be left alone....be free....running. The stress of the mortgages, the employees, the bills etc. was almost too much to bare. I would see homeless people as I went on my *sanity runs* thinking "wow, these guys don't have a care in the world", maybe I am the one who is an utter failure with the constant worrying and stressing that will probably cause me to have a fucking heart attack and die at 30 yrs old.
Now, of course, I have no clue what was going on in their minds or exactly what their worries were.
I just wonder, how much of homelessness is a decision or a situation just accepted because the individual just cannot mentally go on anymore.
In this case, what is best case scenario?
Who is truly helping these people that are just really in a *rut* in life ?
Is *stress* a dominate factor in homelessness ? and if so, how can it best be prevented?
Whoa… that is loaded. But good. Thank you for getting a deeper conversation started.
First off, I found it very difficult to find current statistics regarding the homeless. I dug for half an hour and only found those that I will detail below. I am sure I could have dug longer and found more but I simply do not have the time to do so right now. I’m a little disturbed that this information is buried and not more readily accessible.
I found all the following statistics at the Almanac of Policy Issues (U.S.) website, though I assure you that is not the only place I looked. According to the 1996 National Survey of the homeless 44% work, 66% are substance abusers or mentally ill, 38% are victims of theft, 22% are victims of physical assault, and 7% are victims of sexual assault. In the year 2000, The National Law Center on Homelessness estimated between 700,000 to 2 million U.S. residents are homeless on any given night. Also in the year 2000 the U.S. Conference of Mayors broke down the homeless population as 44% single men, 13% single women, 36% families with children and 7% unaccompanied minors. Those last figures make me shake my head because there have to be married people without children who have gone unreported.
What I was really looking for was a better breakdown to show who is employed and who is not and their family circumstances (single, those with family and without, married, married with children and any of the above with mental or substance abuse issues.) In the end they are still just statistics which only give an outline, but not a full picture of the homeless in the United States. (I’d have to quit my job to concentrate on the world wide problem, so I apologize for just speaking about my region.)
Now to answer the questions: I am happy for all your success but nothing comes without a cost. You never really expected you could just have material wealth without the attending responsibilities, did you? If you did, I feel so much more blessed with my humble upbringing because it planted my feet in reality.
As for these people you saw without, “The stress of the mortgages, the employees, the bills etc.,” perhaps some were like that but I imagine many did not start that way. "Wow, these guys don't have a care in the world.” If that is true, that is because they do not have hope either.
I wrote my post from the standpoint of a rational individual with a competent education because I can not put myself in anyone else's shoes. Coming from that stand point, I have met and know many mentally ill people in the same position. They can not be judged by the same criteria as I am because they are not competent. One can not compare apples with oranges. My mother was a Mental Heath Worker for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts so we could go down the road about how inadequate the health care and mental health systems are but I do not have personal experience as an incompetent individual or as a representative for them. I speak only from my experience and don’t pretend otherwise.
As far as “no care in the world” goes, those who are not mentally ill, who are on the street, are likely to be in great debt. If you had good credit and came on bad times, you could use that credit to bolster yourself and get out of your situation. By the time Average Joe is on the street he has more worries than you could dream about. He has mountains of debt with no relief. Gone are the days of easy bankruptcy and many federal debts can never be erased. If you have no credit, it is even harder to get on your feet when you are homeless. You may gain a good job and have good references but no bank will loan you money for a deposit on an apartment. You have no equity and you are a bad risk. (I used to be a credit counselor so I know of which I speak.) And that trails you for years and years….
On your next point, “I just wonder, how much of homelessness is a decision or a situation just accepted because the individual just cannot mentally go on anymore” you picked up on a key word, “mentally.” We ARE not all built the same. For some, I think is genetic, and some is the environmental. My own opinion is that some are naturally predisposed to be survivors and some are raised that way. If you have both, you are indeed blessed; if you have one; you have a fighting chance but if you have neither, I hope you are lucky. We all have different capacities of what we can tolerate before we go “loco.” Once someone has gone off that precipice, who knows what can help them?
“What is best case scenario?” Help people before they get so desperate that they are mentally ill. I addressed the danger of this in my last blog. The homeless become a larger problem when they are more than homeless.
“Who is truly helping these people that are just really in a *rut* in life?” The answer is: no one. If you are not qualified as disadvantaged (as quantified by the items in my last post), you are SOL. It drives people into mental illness and once there, how can we get them back as contributing members to our society? Ahhhh, see once there, they fall under “programs with assistance” and then we can help them. But now they are so damaged, and they have gotten “help.” They will never be “normal” again.
And your final point about “stress”: are you kidding yourself that only the successful have stress? Or maybe you think only the successful deserve to have stress? Everyone has stress but maybe it is not your stress. Does it make it less significant to your stress? You make it sound that way but I KNOW that is not who you are. There are just a few of us that have walked that road and come back to tell the tale. Please listen.
stress is a human physiological system. everyone has it. probably disadvantaged people have it more than successful people, but their systems have blown a gasket and can't respond to the high body doses of adrenaline they've been subjected to... so they might appear not as stressed. But they are. They are broken.
ReplyDeleteWe, as a culture, put up images of what should make us 'happy', home ownership, job, smiling family. Most people do not have those variables in such easy-going ways in their lives.
Homelessness has risen. In San Francisco, family shelters are jam packed. Families. Not individuals 'choosing to be homeless', but people for whom life has been so turbulent that they cannot find a bed to put their 8 year old down in at night.
We need compassion, NO JUDGMENT, and to reach out to those we know who are on the brink, so we can be there for each other. I know a mom with 3 kids, going thru a bitter divorce, and at one point she and her kids and dogs were sleeping in her car... I wish she'd told me, I would have had her kids and her move in for a 'sleepover'until she was able to figure something out.
Very well said.
ReplyDeleteAnd lest people think the solution is always about money, it is not. If you know a better position someone is qualified for, recommend it and help the person with their resume. Offer encouragement. Teach a new skill. There are many ways even the most humble of us can assist others. But Mary is right, compassion and withholding judgment are key.
Thank you.
Hi again, I am happy to have provoked further discussion :)
ReplyDeleteI said: "I just wonder how much of homelessness is a decision or a situation just accepted because the individual just cannot mentally go on anymore?"
When things get really really rough for people they *CHOOSE* to:
a. Keep their head up
b. swallow their pride
c. work harder
d. ask for help
e. turn to drugs or alcohol
f. give up (etc. etc)
Your research shows:
"66% are substance abusers or mentally ill"
Hmmm now, if someone *CHOOSES* or *makes a decision* to turn to alcohol or drugs, then they are going to suffer those consequences. Am I right?
When people make *Decisions* such as this, where does that put us?
People *must* make better decisions that will help them not hurt them.
Of course, for the mentally ill, that's a whole different conversation.
ciao for now
@Aronado
ps for the record, I chose b. c. & d. and NO it was not easy:)
I am grateful for food, shelter, family & friends.
Mr. Placencia -
ReplyDeleteI am so very grateful to you for giving me an opportunity to expand on my original post. I think by the time someone becomes a substance abuser, they are mentally ill. At that point the 66% are one and the same.
You are absolutely right that b,c, & d are the way to go but everyone has different capacities for what they can tolerate. Don't think for a moment that I do not get frustrated with people who are unable or unwilling to help themselves. It all starts with the individual and no amount of financial assistance or hand holding will help an individual who is unwilling to help her or himself.
I hope after doing b,c, & d you remember to do a lot of a, too.
I work for the VA and know that a lot of homeless are veterans-especially from the Vietnam era. I've come to learn a lot about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and how it has had a significant, sometimes disabling impact on wartime vets. Unfortunately, until recent years these vets weren't always properly cared for, mainly because of lack of knowledge of the disease. As a result, many ended up homeless because they were disabled to the point that they could not hold down a job or integrate themselves back into "normal" society. Would they have ended up homeless without the wartime experience? Doubtful.
ReplyDeleteI have often heard that people "choose to be homeless." While that might technically be the case for some, I cannot believe that the "choice" is based on rational thought. Perhaps they cannot handle life and are running away from it, I don't know all the reasons. I tend to think this reasoning by some is merely a cop-out and an excuse to ignore the homeless.
Bottom line, the homeless are human beings, and deserve our empathy as anyone else in difficult situations. Many are mentally ill, and the fact that they are living on the streets is tragic.
You mentioned helping people before they get into these situations, and I think you are right. Get down to the bottom of WHY people end up homeless, and do everything possible as a society to prevent it. We can sure do much better than we have in the past.
You are absolutely right about those who are homeless being in that situation for varied reasons. I see women who are homeless often where I volunteer. Some want to make and find a better life for themselves and some don't and some can't. They are just people, like you and I, finding their path day by day.
ReplyDelete