Normal People

What is the problem with the homeless? Why don't they get jobs and homes? Why can't they just get on their feet and help themselves?

It's because "normal" people won't let them.

According to sociological studies, the majority American response to a homeless individual is one of instant disgust and fear, even though they haven't met the person. Neighborhoods assume that if there's a homeless camp, then there is a higher instance of crime and drugs, even if the statistics don't bear that out.

The homeless suffer because of this blatant bigotry. They are not given the opportunity for a job, their family sees them as unworthy of help, their neighbors call the cops on them although they aren't doing anything, but trying to catch up on sleep.

The first thing we can do to help the homeless is to stop this prejudice in ourselves, in our friends and on those online who tell evil, untrue stories about the homeless.

If we want the homeless to live better, then we, as a society, need to treat them as human beings-- not as the pariah of society, not as the object of our pity, not as criminals or outcasts-- but just normal human people, the equal to us. If we treat the homeless as people then instead of seeing a "homeless" person in our neighborhood, it's just a person. Instead of seeing "homeless" people in the park, they are just people. Instead of seeing "homeless" people getting food in the church next door, they're just people at a meal.

You'd be surprised how less drama we have in our lives when we see people as just normal people.

Who's Who Here?

When you see a pair of young black men, walking down the street, looking tough...
When you see a pair of homeless men in your neighborhood, laughing...
You might draw down your blinds
Or lock your door
Because you envision an invasion of your home
Or a theft in your neighborhood
And so you are tempted to call 911
To have them investigated
And removed,
Remember this:
They are more vulnerable than you.
They don't have blinds to blind them
Or locks to lock
They have no protection from your police
But are vulnerable to your power.

What Local Governors Need to Understand About the Homeless

A Message for the Mayors of the West Coast USA:

Recently you all agreed that you didn’t understand the homeless well enough  to really help them. 

I couldn’t agree more.  You guys really need to get some knowledge.  But you need the kind of knowledge you can’t get from pollsters or data collectors.  My homeless friends think that each of you should spend six months on the street, to really get a sense of what is going on here. 

I know you don’t have time for that.  So let me give you some of the most important things I’ve learned over my last twenty years of listening to homeless people, eight months of which my wife and I were homeless.  I promise to keep this brief.

What does it mean to be homeless?

It means stress, and more stress everyday.  If you think it’s stressful being a public official with all these different people telling you to do this or that, try to be homeless with the police, the park officials, the local neighbors, your friends and your family all telling you to do different things.  It’s tough to figure out what to do, and if you choose wrong, you will lose sleep, get arrested or possibly die. 

I bet no matter what you chose, you might lose an election, but you probably wouldn’t die.

Homelessness means you don’t ever get enough sleep.  And when you do sleep you keep one eye open because you never know when someone might come to beat you, steal your stuff, or force you to move to a different place. 

Because homelessness is so stressful and lacking in sleep, you don’t always think well, and your decision making process is slow.    You might be full of anxiety (only some of which isn’t real) and it seems that everything you put your hand to fails.  Eventually you just give up hope that your life will improve.

What causes homelessness?

Homelessness has a number of different causes that you can easily find.  The most common is eviction, foreclosure and  job loss.  Although many homeless people are addicts, the addiction for most chronic homeless folks is a result of the stress of homelessness.  The addiction doesn’t as often cause homelessness.  The same with mental illness.  Although many homeless had some eccentric quirks, the overwhelming stress of homelessness increases the symptoms of mental weakness, turning them into a full-blown diagnose-able illness.

But these issues, as well as running from abusive homes, aren’t the real issue.  Most people, when they lose their jobs or become mentally ill or even get addicted, don’t become homeless.  The only people who become homeless are those who don’t have a sufficient support network.  Most of us, you included, have family or friends who will take us in through a crisis.  The homeless are those who don’t.  And the stress and difficulties of homelessness make the road out more and more difficult to obtain.

What Doesn’t Solve Homelessness

Sweeps.  Moving the homeless from one place to another doesn’t solve the issues.  In fact, being awakened to be moved, or being given a notice of illegal camping increases the homeless stress, making it more difficult for them to solve their issues.  If the homeless are given a space to relax and think, they might be able to discover solutions.  But as long as they are being chased from one place to another, they won’t ever do it.

Shelters.  Or at least not the model of shelters currently pursued by cities.  Shelters are often unhygienic, centers for theft, force people to wait for hours for a bed and force people to sleep at a certain time and force people to leave early in the morning.  Some shelters are really good.  But most only make it impossible to get a job, let alone get stress-free rest.

Homes.  Well, sure, if you house all the homeless, then they aren’t homeless, right?  But there two problems.  First, you know and I know that you won’t get the funds to really house all the thousands of homeless you have in your city.  You’ve already spent millions housing a few hundred.  Housing the rest is beyond anyone’s budget.  And second, many people aren’t ready for housing.  They are too beaten down to pay bills on time, they have developed a claustrophobia from being outside at night.   It is a compassionate assist, but not actually an answer to homelessness.  There are thousands who would lose their place.

Why are the Homeless so oppressed?

Sociologists have determined that right now Americans consider the homeless more disgusting than any other social group.  More than Muslims, more than welfare moms.   Dr. Susan Fiske says that we, as a people, consider the homeless to be “piles of garbage.”   This is why our first reaction to the homeless is to sweep them without regard to where they go, because that’s what we do with debris.   Since our first emotional reaction to the homeless is “disgust”, we come up with reasons to excuse our disgust.  We say that they are addicts, that they are lazy, that they are criminals. 

The neighbors see these criminals and call the police, afraid of what they might do in their neighborhoods.  Although the police don’t want to bother with the homeless, it is better than having homeowners complain about their lack of work, so they move the homeless along.  Perhaps the police will arrest the homeless for breaking camping laws. Neighbors might call the sanitation department to clean up camps, which is another way of saying that they take the survival possessions of the homeless and dispose of them.  And the homeless lose hope and become addicts to deal with their stress.

Thus, the assumptions of the people—that the homeless are criminals, addicts and lazy—are fulfilled by those assumptions.

What are solutions to the homeless?

Community Development:There are as many different solutions as there are homeless people.  However, there is one method of helping the poor that has worked among poor communities for seventy years.  It is called community development.

There are a lot of details, but the basic outline is this: Go to a poor community and say that you would provide help for them if they can decide on project they want.  Once they decide on a project the city funds it.  The poor, themselves, work to develop the project and do the upkeep, which gives them ownership.  Then they begin working on the next project.

Homeless Neighborhood Associations: If the homeless were given the opportunity to develop neighborhood associations, communicate with the city and work out compromises with their neighbors, then the homeless can possibly get some sleep, reduce stress and develop projects that mean something to them.  Give them hope.  Make them feel like the citizens they are. 

Sleep Areas: Other solutions is to provide a place for the homeless to safely sleep.  Rest areas for people who walk or ride bikes or sleep in the cars within the city. 

Community Centers:Provide a few volunteer-run community centers for people to shower, laundry and rest during the day, where other neighbors can offer clothes and food, if they want.   We’ve been doing this in churches.  These solutions provide opportunities for the homeless to reduce stress, get some sleep and work on their own solutions.

Full Opportunity Shelters: There are shelters, especially for families, that are not just overnight, but provide structured housing with volunteers to teach life classes, help people write a resume and do job searches. Again, this isn't for everyone, but for those who can do this, it provides hope that they might never end upon the street again.

I’m sure there’s more you need to know, but this gets you started.  Hope it helps.

Open Carry Homeless Activism

What does “open carry” communicate?
To carry a gun is obtaining a position of power. It is not a bad thing in and of itself. If a person is carrying gun in the midst of a gun-carrying culture, then it means very little, like a hunter with a rack of guns in the back of his truck. But when few people are carrying guns out in the open, then it means something different. It is a power which the carrier demands respect (like a police officer or a security guard) or a person who is trying to communicate fear and distance (like a gangster). A gun in that culture (like Portland) is a threat, an agent of fear. 

This isn’t a problem if the “good guys” carry guns. When those we trust carry guns then we feel safe because we know that the people who are there to support us have power. But if the “bad guys” carry guns, then it becomes a threat, stirring fear into those who see the carriers as “bad guys.” Generally, those who carry guns see themselves as “good guys” so they carry guns to protect the “good” people from the “bad guys.” 

The problem of dividing the world into “good” and “bad” people is that humanity is weak. The “good” can do bad actions and the “bad” can sometimes stand for the good. And there is disagreements, because of the tendency to divide. These people, with these characteristics, are “bad” (Republicans, police, wealthy), and people with these characteristics are “good” (homeless, fellow activists, environmentalists). In reality, though, people aren’t so easy to divide. And when there is an emotionally divisive situation, there can easily be “good” or “bad” on both sides, just looking at different facts to support their position. And if everyone is willing to do violence, or threaten the other side, then everyone is only one hairsbreadth from being “bad”—i.e., killing the innocent.

The Emotionally Divisive Situation
Emotions run high when we talk about homelessness. This is due to the emotional assumptions made about the homeless. Dr. Susan Fiske, in her study on various social groups, determined that the homeless, far more than any other social group, fits the “disgust” category. This means, she said, that the typical American sees the homeless as “a pile of garbage.” 

So when the typical American sees a homeless person in their neighborhood, they have two typical emotional responses: disgust and fear. Disgust, because the homeless live such a different lifestyle than what the housed usually feels is acceptable, and fear because they don’t understand how a person can live that way and there are stories of drug use and criminal activity. These are assumptions that must be battled through education and through them meeting and knowing the homeless. That is a long path, but necessary.

In the meantime, we live in a society in which most Americans see the homeless as “bad guys”. They are the criminals who are invading their neighborhood, and until they have the opportunity to spend time with the homeless, this attitude will continue. Because humanity, for the most part, does not emote from rational actions, but rather we come up with reasons for our emotions after the assumptions have been made.

The homeless, meanwhile, are oppressed unfairly because these attitudes exist. Because they are seen as “piles of garbage” the government keeps moving them from place to place because this is what you do with garbage. Because of the emotional response of fear, there is the assumption that the homeless are criminals and so the police are called to deal with them. And all activity of the homeless—sleeping, sitting, panhandling—rather than being seen as actions of the poor, are seen as actions of criminals. Thus the homeless are arrested, abused and generally oppressed. Their possessions are taken because it is illegal for them to have them on public property.

This leads to a cold war between the homeless and those who enforce the fears of the typical American. The homeless are convinced that the police—the enforcers of the American fear—are evil. They also have mixed feelings about neighbors, many of whom call the police. The neighbors see the homeless as evil and needing to be jailed or moved. Because they fear to approach the homeless themselves, they use the police or security people to be buffers.

We have a situation in which the housed see the homeless as “bad guys” and the homeless see the police and some housed neighbors as “bad guys”.

The Result of “Open Carry” Activism
If activists supporting the homeless, or the homeless themselves, begin to openly display guns, then the threat becomes open and clear. The ones whom Americans most fear then have a real threat, and the cold war will turn into a hot war. We have seen this already. In 2010 Jack Collins was killed after attempting suicide because he was carrying a knife out of a bathroom, not hearing the police tell him to put the knife down. If the homeless carry threatening objects, they will die and the community will praise the ones who killed them.

The path of violence is first assumption, then anger, then threat, then violence. Open carry isn’t violence, it is threat. And in the hands of those whom the community fear, it will lead to violence and death.

If homeless activists carry guns, then both sides feel justified to use the weapons when there is a severe enough threat. We must realize that both sides already feel threatened. To bring weapons into this already tense situation is inviting a hot war with losses on both sides. This is not only a dangerous lack of concern about human life, but it is completely unnecessary.

The Solution: Community Support
On October 20 of this year, a protest in South Africa make up of black activists were protected by white activists surrounding them. Although the police came with every intent to break up the protest with violence, as they have done before, they did not touch the whites. The whites were of them, while they would have violently attacked the blacks.

Even so, if we want to protect our homeless friends, we do not want or need to have weapons. We need to show that “normal”, “acceptable” members of the community support our homeless friends and welcome them as a normal part of our communicate. This can be done through protests and clean up work parties (which have both community leaders and the homeless) and having community members stand and support the homeless who are threatened.

Paying back threats with threats won’t work. And they aren’t necessary. All we need are people, like those whom we already have, stand with our homeless friends and show that they are a welcome part of our community and we will not accept them being threatened.

Solutions to Homelessness: Local Resourcing

I am not offering a “silver bullet” toward “ending homelessness”.  I am instead making suggestions toward a long-term solution about homelessness.  Many of these directions cannot be completed in a year or two, but neither can solving homelessness. 

The big answer to solving the homeless problem is giving the homeless enough space to create their own solutions.  The homeless, for the most part, are good citizens, wanting to live in peace and harmony with their neighbors.  However, their hands are tied to determining solutions for themselves.  They are prevented by excessive chronic stress, harmful public policy that criminalizes normal behavior, and the inability for their leaders to sit at the table and offer their solutions.  The homeless can do much to improve their own situations, if they would be given the opportunity to. 

Financing always a problem, especially when it comes to hiring staff.  However, it is possible to increase staff through volunteers.  The local governments can call upon churches, colleges, community service organizations and the homeless to volunteer at new sites, to help clean up and to do maintenance.   There are many who want to help the homeless, and unused private land might be offered for this purpose.  Requests upon the public might be made to help the local governments provide assistance to the needy. 

Solutions to Homelessness: Voluntary Social Workers

I am not offering a “silver bullet” toward “ending homelessness”.  I am instead making suggestions toward a long-term solution about homelessness.  Many of these directions cannot be completed in a year or two, but neither can solving homelessness. 

The big answer to solving the homeless problem is giving the homeless enough space to create their own solutions.  The homeless, for the most part, are good citizens, wanting to live in peace and harmony with their neighbors.  However, their hands are tied to determining solutions for themselves.  They are prevented by excessive chronic stress, harmful public policy that criminalizes normal behavior, and the inability for their leaders to sit at the table and offer their solutions.  The homeless can do much to improve their own situations, if they would be given the opportunity to. 

There is a deep need for one on one counselling and social work for almost all the homeless, which overwhelms the current crop of social workers.  The city could provide classes to be low-educated social workers, able to walk a person through the economic development plan of the city, and helping an individual find where they fit in the plan.  If the training is offered for free, volunteers could take on some of this work.

6 Reasons ALL Activists Should be Talking about Homelessness

I have a number of friends who are activists for various causes.  And I love the causes.  We are in a water crisis when corporations sell water back to those in drought.  Black men are being attacked by U.S. society.  Indigenous peoples have always been oppressed and attacked.  We live in an age of information and openness, and the realities of racism and sexism in our society are finally being revealed and we are speaking out and taking action.

My plea today, however, that no matter how serious and important your key issues are, you should also be talking about homelessness, and standing with the homeless community.  Again, I’m not saying your issue isn’t essential.  It’s just that the homeless are the focus of abuse of today’s American society.

I’m going to keep this short, so let me just give you a few statistics.

1.       The homeless are seen as worse than any other social group

Sociologists have studied the reaction of different social groups to American minds, using an MRI.  They have determined that we have a “disgust” response in our brain to certain social groups, including welfare moms, undocumented immigrants and Arabs.  But the social group with the strongest and most pervasive negative automatic response is the homeless.   Dr. Susan Fiske says that the homeless are considered “inhuman garbage piles”. 

The homeless are constantly feared, distrusted and the cause of anger of the far majority of housed people. Cities criminalize the very existence of the homeless, disallowing them to sleep, receive food or finances, and they arrest them for having bedding.  This is due to the overwhelming response of the housed who, without cause, blame the homeless for the ills of their society.

2.       The homeless are life-threatened than any other group

The average life span of an American is almost 79 years old.  The average lifespan of a homeless American is 48 years old, 36 percent lower than other citizens.  This is a result of stress and trauma, more than anything else.  90 percent of all homeless men suffer from PTSD or other stress disorder.  100 percent of all homeless women suffer from PTSD.

Although most people consider this the fault of the homeless, it is not.  Most of the homeless find themselves on the street through no fault of their own, due to job loss or no cause eviction.  They are thrust into an impossible economic predicament and then treated like criminals, and due to the stress and poor health conditions, they die young.

3.       The homeless are severely attacked

About 64 percent of all women are assaulted in their lifetime.  About 92 percent of all homeless women are assaulted. All kinds of homeless suffer attacks, and the number of attacks have risen 23 percent in the last few years. 

Although the actual numbers seem small, this is because very few attacks on the homeless are reported, because there is such a distrust between the homeless and the police.  If they report a crime, they believe that they will be accused of something.

4.       The homeless can’t hide

The majority of citizens can feel a certain amount of security from the oppression of society if they go into their home and lock the door.  The homeless don’t have that luxury.  Even those who live in cars or tents are just as vulnerable their shelter as they are outside of it.  They are sometimes dragged out of their shelter, only to have it taken from them, because their shelter is not seen to be their possession or to be under the protection of the fifth amendment.

5.       Truth brings freedom

We can change this, if we all work on it together.  The primary source of the suffering of the homeless is the false idea that all the homeless are criminals or immoral.  There are two ways that effectively change this point of view.  The first is spending time working on a project with the homeless, for then the homeless are seen as equals.  The other is if a loud minority continue to speak of the humanity of the homeless.  Not just their pitiable state (like I did here), but about their common humanity with us, the shared citizenship, the joy of life, their hope for the future.

6. Every Tragedy is Made Worse by Homelessness
Black men live in oppression.  That oppression is made worse by homelessness.  Women's rights should be upheld-- but women on the streets have no rights even to survive.  LGBT rights are worse when they have no home to protect them.  Sex slaves are more frequently raped and suffer when they have no safe home to go to. Poor children find it more difficult to make it to school when they are homeless.   For every cause, homelessness is the worse tragedy behind every cause. 

Please, alongside your important issues, please speak about the homeless.  You can help give them the humanity they lack.