Homelessness

Homelessness

  “I like to think of this problem of homelessness as a prism held up to society, and what we see refracted are the weaknesses in our health care system, our public health system, our housing system, … our welfare system, our educational system, … our legal system, and our correctional system. Dr. Jim O’Connell[1]

There are three, rapidly-growing groups of victims I cite as evidence of a current social pandemic – the homeless (or houseless), the marginalized, and those trapped in the immigration nightmare – all of which stem from inadequate and inequitable social systems. The victims I am most familiar with are among the homeless. I am not an expert (which has never stopped me before), but I have interacted with homeless folks often enough to learn a few names and something of their situations.

Being housed, as I use the term here, means having a reliable place to shelter from the weather. It also means being relatively safe from theft or assault, having a place for uninterrupted sleep, access to facilities for maintaining personal hygiene, and space to store food and other possessions. So, being housed might be a rented room or something larger that may or may not be shared with others, but it is a permanent structure that provides greater privacy, safety, and storage than living unhoused.

Homelessness is not a homogeneous issue, meaning it manifests in different ways and stems from numerous causes. It may begin from an acute situation like losing one’s residence due to a temporary loss of income. Some people find themselves intermittently homeless, meaning they can sometimes find shelter with friends or family for limited amounts of time. Intermittent homelessness is also called housing insecurity. These folks move from place to place and find themselves homeless for the periods between short-term housing options, often with friends or family. Chronic homelessness occurs when one has no family or friends who will shelter them, they lack the resources to shelter themselves without outside assistance, and their prospects for attaining or accepting those resources on a sustainable basis are slim. There are some who are chronically homeless by choice because they prefer being unhoused to obeying the rules for shelters or subsidized housing.

The challenges of homelessness include food insecurity, inadequate shelter, access to adequate mental and physical healthcare, storage for possessions, theft and assault, boredom, sleep deprivation, maintaining bodily hygiene, and more. And the problems are cummulative, meaning each problem gets worse as additional problems arise. For example, when one has minimal possessions and no where to safely store them, they are at constant risk of having what little they do possess stolen. Or when one suffers from untreated mental illness and cannot access regular care and medications, their illness may preclude employment that would help them become housed, or they may engage in socially-disruptive behaviors that land them in jail. The homeless folks I know navigate multiple challenges constantly.

Many homeless folks must carry their possessions wherever they go, sometimes in a suitcase or backpack, sometimes in a trash bag. Some have access to storage space for some of what they do not need on a daily basis, others do not. One man claims to have several nice guitars in a storage locker, but says the locker owner padlocked the unit so he can no longer access it. The decision to accept potentially helpful items they are offered, like food, water, coats, and the like, must be weighed against the burden of carrying it with them. Because they have so little, and because what they have is important to their survival, they are generally very protective of it and rightfully paranoid that others may steal it if they leave it unattended to sleep or even to take a shower. Thus, the wide-spread issue of sleep deprivation and its consequences like aggravated mental health symptoms, short tempers, and difficulty thinking clearly is perpetuated.

It takes time and patience to earn enough trust from most homeless persons for them to even tell you their name, let alone their circumstances. Many refuse to look others in the eye because they see or suspect harsh judgement staring back at them. Most develop a keen ability to quickly assess the motives of those they encounter and will shun pity or objectification. Like the rest of us, they want, need, and deserve to be treated as persons of value and worth.

This is the 4^th in a series about The New-Old Social Pandemic. The opinions expressed here are mine. To engage with me or to explore contemplative spiritual direction, contact me at ghildenbrand@sunflower.com.

Contemplative Events, free and open to all:

Conversations on Death and Dying, Discussions about using death as an advisor, 8 week course beginning on February 8, Thursday evenings, 7:00pm, First United Methodist Church, 946 Vermont, Lawrence, KS, contact ghildenbrand@sunflower.com for information.

A Morning with John Dear, author and peace activist, discussing his new book, The Gospel of Peace. Saturday, March 2, 2024 at St. Therese Little Flower Parish, 5814 Euclid Ave, Kansas City, MO. Event is free, but must register at www.contemporaryspirituality.net.

---

[1] As quoted by Tracy Kidder in Rough Sleepers, Random House, 2023, pp. 211-2.