I knew someone once who taught me to always keep cash on me, in case I encounter someone who asks me for money so I can always give them something. That’s stuck with me, and is a simple practice that helps me be available for service at any moment to the unhoused population. Thought I’d share in case that is helpful for any readers here!
great idea! a friend of mine also taught me to ask unhoused people outside of the store "I'm grabbing a few things, can I buy you something to drink and something to eat?"
Thank you for continuing to write about this, every point you make is so correct, especially "the privatization of public space and the need to be a consumer to exist out in the world". As a liberal who lives in California, my disgust for Newsom increases day by day. Don't even get me started on the fascist Supreme Court. Criminalizing and punishing people experiencing poverty and homelessness in a system who actively creates these issues is just next level evil.
I voted for Newsom specifically because he promised common sense compassionate solutions for homelessness. He won’t get my vote again, but I’ll give him one thing: he’s a damned good liar.
Further, the majority of houseless I've met are disabled, often in multiple ways (both physical and mental), most with really bad ADHD and pain. Whence so much self-medicating. But doctors just ignore the underlying issues and just "treat 'em and street 'em" as fast as possible. And they struggle to even know what day it is much less remember appointments with so much stress and so little sleep. Pretty much your whole day is filled with finding food and shelter, every single day. Period. Have a heart.
One of the ways to humanize oneself to the homeless is to give as generously as one can afford to panhandlers, no questions asked, and no judgment reserved, as in one human being offering another human being a gift freely given.
4 days before I was born, LBJ introduced his War on Poverty. The US poverty rate was 19% or approximately 36+ million people living in systemic poverty.
Today, 60 years later the US poverty rate is 11.6%, yet approximately 2+ million more (38+ million) people live in systemic poverty.
According to GivingUSA, over half a trillion dollars in charitable contributions was disbursed in 2023, yet there was a record number of homeless people of over 650+ thousand.
There are 2 factors that "guarantee" systemic poverty and homelessness in America.
1. Employers can not create enough jobs.
2. Our government refuses to implement a federal jobs guarantee.
I don't mean to diminish other factors, (low min. wage, high housing costs etc) but I think it is critial to understanding the "root cause", which is that these 2 factors alone, "guarantee" there will be systemic poverty and homelessness in America.
Government has failed, businesses have failed and charitable giving has failed to even make a dent in actually reducing the number of people living in systemic poverty or experiencing homelessness.
Homeless people are still citizens and have a fundamental right to "public spaces", just as every other citizen.
What you're seeing is Slavery Version 3.0 under development. (Slavery 2.0 was sharecropping and similar tactics devised during the Reconstruction period that followed the Civil War) Now mere existence can be punished by holding the offender against their will and forcing them to work. You WILL participate in society in an approved manner or suffer the consequences.
@mommadillo there is some truth to this especially when private prisons (and some federal prisons) provide cheap labor to manufacture consumer goods. this practice resembles Reconstruction era convict labor especially since prison conditions in the USA are horrendous especially when compared to prisons in other wealthy countries
Ironically, the more massive and visible homelessness becomes, the stronger the urge becomes to deny that it has systemic origins, and the more frenzied become the efforts to chalk it up to the individual failings of the ever larger numbers of persons swelling the ranks of the homeless. The more implausible such arguments become, the more fanatically and vehemently they have to be made, and the more sadistic the authorities feel obliged to become towards the homeless.
Yup. Americas homeless crisis is 100 percent manufactured. We created the housing first model the rest of the world is implementing with tremendous success, but then we did away with it because America has always put profits before people
I commend you for writing about one of the most ignored topics. Despite the rapid growth of homelessness in America people pretend it won't touch them. It's sends a chill factor through everyone below 1% income level. I live in the poorest city in New Jersey. Homeless line our streets, dumped here from local affluent towns, mental health institutions when the insurance runs out, & other such capitalist issues. The homeless here are teenagers, disabled, aged, and addicted. Our local and county government gets massive grant money to address homelessness but the money never leaves their grubby hands. The only actual help for the homeless is the hospital and some Catholic Franciscan Sisters & a soup kitchen/food bank. Our hospital just announced that they will build housing! The Sisters (who I've been blessed to work with) established a homeless shelter (during winter) & a year round outreach center. Our mayor is implementing the Supreme Court homeless ruling and has dismantled tent housing etc. I hope you keep writing about this topic. Perhaps your subscribers will share your work. Yes, we're all one step away from homelessness... There but the grace of God go I.
Although I'm not above unconscious biases, it's so disquieting how we talk about homeless people like they're an entirely different species. They're one of us but were just hit the hardest by our negligent and greedy governments. Any of us can be next.
Just when we thought the Supreme Court couldn't do more damage to we, the people, they did. After hearing about the ruling I've just been feeling ultra-sensitive to the plights of houseless people. I am someone who didn't come from much and I still don't own many things, but I have a rent-stabilized apartment and I cherish it more than anything in this world—especially when it's hard to make rent. Those who have will never understand that "bad choices" are never just bad choices, they're societal. Thanks for writing this.
I recently saw the reframe that "you didn't MAKE good choices, you HAD good choices" and damn if that isn't true for so many holier-than-thou, 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps" types
I knew someone once who taught me to always keep cash on me, in case I encounter someone who asks me for money so I can always give them something. That’s stuck with me, and is a simple practice that helps me be available for service at any moment to the unhoused population. Thought I’d share in case that is helpful for any readers here!
That’s great advice! Especially now that nobody carries cash on them anymore.
great idea! a friend of mine also taught me to ask unhoused people outside of the store "I'm grabbing a few things, can I buy you something to drink and something to eat?"
Thank you for continuing to write about this, every point you make is so correct, especially "the privatization of public space and the need to be a consumer to exist out in the world". As a liberal who lives in California, my disgust for Newsom increases day by day. Don't even get me started on the fascist Supreme Court. Criminalizing and punishing people experiencing poverty and homelessness in a system who actively creates these issues is just next level evil.
I voted for Newsom specifically because he promised common sense compassionate solutions for homelessness. He won’t get my vote again, but I’ll give him one thing: he’s a damned good liar.
Where is our humanity? We live in a system that creates homelessness for many, and then we dehumanize the homeless. Really?
Our first thought does not need to be our last, is a genuine mantra
I really appreciated that line too! We all reflexively think things that we’ve been taught but we can think harder and do better.
If it ever comes to pass that Newsom runs for president, this, and this alone, assures I will never vote for him, no matter who his opponent it.
(Also, in my view, if there was any justice in nature, the town of Grants Pass should be burnt to the ground by wildfire.)
Further, the majority of houseless I've met are disabled, often in multiple ways (both physical and mental), most with really bad ADHD and pain. Whence so much self-medicating. But doctors just ignore the underlying issues and just "treat 'em and street 'em" as fast as possible. And they struggle to even know what day it is much less remember appointments with so much stress and so little sleep. Pretty much your whole day is filled with finding food and shelter, every single day. Period. Have a heart.
Urgently crucial! Well-written!
Thank you Connie!
One of the ways to humanize oneself to the homeless is to give as generously as one can afford to panhandlers, no questions asked, and no judgment reserved, as in one human being offering another human being a gift freely given.
4 days before I was born, LBJ introduced his War on Poverty. The US poverty rate was 19% or approximately 36+ million people living in systemic poverty.
Today, 60 years later the US poverty rate is 11.6%, yet approximately 2+ million more (38+ million) people live in systemic poverty.
According to GivingUSA, over half a trillion dollars in charitable contributions was disbursed in 2023, yet there was a record number of homeless people of over 650+ thousand.
There are 2 factors that "guarantee" systemic poverty and homelessness in America.
1. Employers can not create enough jobs.
2. Our government refuses to implement a federal jobs guarantee.
I don't mean to diminish other factors, (low min. wage, high housing costs etc) but I think it is critial to understanding the "root cause", which is that these 2 factors alone, "guarantee" there will be systemic poverty and homelessness in America.
Government has failed, businesses have failed and charitable giving has failed to even make a dent in actually reducing the number of people living in systemic poverty or experiencing homelessness.
Homeless people are still citizens and have a fundamental right to "public spaces", just as every other citizen.
What you're seeing is Slavery Version 3.0 under development. (Slavery 2.0 was sharecropping and similar tactics devised during the Reconstruction period that followed the Civil War) Now mere existence can be punished by holding the offender against their will and forcing them to work. You WILL participate in society in an approved manner or suffer the consequences.
@mommadillo there is some truth to this especially when private prisons (and some federal prisons) provide cheap labor to manufacture consumer goods. this practice resembles Reconstruction era convict labor especially since prison conditions in the USA are horrendous especially when compared to prisons in other wealthy countries
The elites use the “homeless” as a cudgel to keep the rest of us in line working and consuming or we could become one of “them”
Gruesome Newsom is such a peace of crap. This shit makes me livid.
Ironically, the more massive and visible homelessness becomes, the stronger the urge becomes to deny that it has systemic origins, and the more frenzied become the efforts to chalk it up to the individual failings of the ever larger numbers of persons swelling the ranks of the homeless. The more implausible such arguments become, the more fanatically and vehemently they have to be made, and the more sadistic the authorities feel obliged to become towards the homeless.
Yup. Americas homeless crisis is 100 percent manufactured. We created the housing first model the rest of the world is implementing with tremendous success, but then we did away with it because America has always put profits before people
I commend you for writing about one of the most ignored topics. Despite the rapid growth of homelessness in America people pretend it won't touch them. It's sends a chill factor through everyone below 1% income level. I live in the poorest city in New Jersey. Homeless line our streets, dumped here from local affluent towns, mental health institutions when the insurance runs out, & other such capitalist issues. The homeless here are teenagers, disabled, aged, and addicted. Our local and county government gets massive grant money to address homelessness but the money never leaves their grubby hands. The only actual help for the homeless is the hospital and some Catholic Franciscan Sisters & a soup kitchen/food bank. Our hospital just announced that they will build housing! The Sisters (who I've been blessed to work with) established a homeless shelter (during winter) & a year round outreach center. Our mayor is implementing the Supreme Court homeless ruling and has dismantled tent housing etc. I hope you keep writing about this topic. Perhaps your subscribers will share your work. Yes, we're all one step away from homelessness... There but the grace of God go I.
Although I'm not above unconscious biases, it's so disquieting how we talk about homeless people like they're an entirely different species. They're one of us but were just hit the hardest by our negligent and greedy governments. Any of us can be next.
Just when we thought the Supreme Court couldn't do more damage to we, the people, they did. After hearing about the ruling I've just been feeling ultra-sensitive to the plights of houseless people. I am someone who didn't come from much and I still don't own many things, but I have a rent-stabilized apartment and I cherish it more than anything in this world—especially when it's hard to make rent. Those who have will never understand that "bad choices" are never just bad choices, they're societal. Thanks for writing this.
I recently saw the reframe that "you didn't MAKE good choices, you HAD good choices" and damn if that isn't true for so many holier-than-thou, 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps" types
This!