Culture, Gospel, Homelessness and the Middle Class

Some may be offended by my description of homeless culture, because I am giving to them a cultural norm which, in some ways, seems immoral. Some may feel more distant from the homeless than they were before. Some may feel justified in blaming the homeless for having the culture they do. What I have tried to do is to explain why they have this culture, not to justify it, but to explain it. Yes, some of these cultural mores are strictly immoral, no matter how I may explain why it seems necessary to the homeless.

However, to blame the homeless for these cultural mores is to neglect our own cultural excuses for immoral behavior. Why do we think that if a person is unable to pay a utility company that they should be charged more? This is not only immoral, but idiotic. This would make sense if the person was refusing to pay, but if they are unable to pay, why charge them substantially more? Because, in our society, money is the base commodity of value. This means, first, that to charge someone is to communicate the value of something, whether it be an ice cream bar or a late payment. But this means that those who have less money are fundamentally less valuable, and so they have less say as to how society runs than those who have more money, who are clearly more valuable. This is a value of American middle class and upper class society, and it is basic to how it works. This leads to immoral actions because it is a fundamentally immoral principle. We can justify it by explaining economic theory or the development of politics in American society, but we cannot justify it.

The fact is, Jesus and the gospel stands apart from every culture. Every culture, from the standpoint of the gospel, has positive points and negative points. Every culture has their ethical aspects and their immoral aspect. From Jesus’ perspective, one culture has no real right to judge another culture, because they are both blind to their own immoral presuppositions.

For this reason, Jesus’ first public word is to repent and believe in the gospel. We need to look at our own culture and see the repentance we need to do, more than point at other cultures and complain about how immoral they are. We need to recognize what Isaiah recognized, “I live among a people of unclean lips.” Our culture has corrupted us by their own evil standards and thus we have participated in the everyday evil of our culture. It doesn’t matter if you are homeless or wealthy, white or black, immigrant or citizen, European or Asian or American or Hispanic or Slavic or Indian (East or West)—every culture is immoral, every culture has its good points. We can analyze them objectively against either a common standard or God’s standard as communicated by Jesus, but we cannot say that our culture is better than theirs. Nor do we have a right to swallow up one culture because of its immoral aspects or because of its incompatibility with our own.

Rather, we need to encourage all cultures to follow Jesus. Yes, we want people to believe in Jesus, but we also need for the world to realize that Jesus points us to a better way for us to live with each other. Not everyone will believe in our theology about Jesus. This doesn’t mean we need to write them off as human beings. Not only do we need to give them assistance when they need it, but we can show them the way of Jesus as a way of life.

An excellent example of this is Alcoholics Anonymous. Almost every principle of the 12 steps are actually principles of Jesus that are re-contextualized to secular language for addicts. It speaks of dependence on God, repentance, reconciliation, community, accountability, forgiveness and even evangelism. It is not a complete gospel of Jesus, but it is a contextualized semi-gospel that speaks to and revitalizes a hurting sub-culture. A gospel of Jesus, as marginalized as it is, as weakened as it is, is still powerful enough to bring healing.

When most people approach homelessness, they do one of two things. Most will just try to meet the most basic needs that are easiest to fulfill. This helps the homeless in their day-to-day needs, but it does not, in reality, alleviate their poverty, nor bring real transformation.
The second approach is to try to make the homeless middle class. This approach is done by both Christians and non-Christians alike because our cultural values and beliefs are actually stronger than our gospel values and beliefs. We don’t see Jesus’ gospel as actually redeeming the homeless in the needs they have, and so we offer them the middle class, which specifically meets what the middle class thinks the homeless needs most, which is, interestingly enough, accommodation to the values and standards of the middle class.

That which is most frightening to the middle class is that the homeless might not want their values, that they are fundamentally of a different culture. So they want to train them to be like the middle class, and give them “mentors” or teachers to train them to be middle class. I think this is in error, for they will be teaching them not only the positive aspects of the American middle class values—hard work, following laws, etc—but also the weak aspects of the middle class—self-reliance, importance of the nuclear family, a skewed money value.

Rather, we need to do as Jesus said. We need to first evaluate our own culture by the gospel, repent of our own wrong values, before we can tell others how they should rightly live their lives. (Matthew 7:5—“First take the beam out of your own eye and then you can see clearly to take the speck out of theirs.”) We need to repent of our own cultural blindness.

Then, when we approach the homeless or any other culture, we must attempt to give them the values of the gospel and not our own cultural values. We can offer them the deliverance of Jesus, not the deliverance of our powerful, but oppressing, society. We must separate our culture from our gospel, to offer a pure, undefiled religion that comes from God and not our values that mix in.

Then, when we truly understand the gospel apart from our values and have repented of our immorality, can we translate that gospel into the language and culture system of another culture. When we have gone through the process of cultural repentance and gospel conversion ourselves, then we can understand what it means when we ask others to do the same. And when we do so, we do not do it on the basis of a culture that feels that they have a “burden” to replicate their culture, as if their culture is what saves. Rather, we offer the gospel as those who are poor ourselves, and in desperate need of the salvation of Jesus ourselves. We come, not from a place of power, but a place of humility, seeing our own weaknesses and seeing Jesus as the real answer.

Homeless Culture: Not Responsible For Debt

A street person might collapse. Someone calls 911. An ambulance comes and takes them to the hospital and they are treated. About two weeks later, they receive a bill. Actually, a number of bills. All together they equal a minimum of a thousand dollars. But the street person has no money, no regular means of income. Rather than burden themselves with guilt about a debt they cannot pay, they ignore it. The bills keep coming and they keep throwing it away. Perhaps there is a slight amount of guilt about the bill, but the practical fact is, they can’t pay it.
Most hospitals have programs to help pay for such bills. But with those programs come a lot of paperwork, which most people on the street can’t fill out on their own. Soon, if there is any bill, any debt, it is routinely ignored. They figure that they wouldn’t have much use for a good credit number anyway.

But there is still a small amount of guilt about the debt for many of those on the street. For this reason, they generally avoid any kind of debt. If they are sick, they try to care for themselves, rest and take what few medicines are available to them. But they don’t go to the doctor, because that requires money—a lot of it. And they just don’t have it.

Interestingly enough, even after a person is off the street or obtains a regular income, this attitude persists. Debts are something to be ignored, not held responsible for.

Homeless Culture: Telling Authorities About Crimes

Probably the worst crime of any homeless person is to be a “rat”, that is, to tell the authorities of a crime of another. This is because most of the homeless see everyone on the street as some kind of criminal, so to be a rat is hypocrisy. But it is also a general acknowledgment that injustice should be dealt with inside their own community and not to bring in outsiders.

Homeless Culture: Distrust of Societal Authority

The homeless have been roused by the police in the middle of the night to be told to move, or simply to be threatened. They are often rousted by the police, even if they are doing nothing that would even give suspicion of criminal activity. They could be ticketed or arrested by the authorities which puts them into the justice system. Once in the justice system, they are often given fines or requirements they cannot fulfill, which keeps them in the system and frequently gives them jail time. Churches may seem to want to help, but most volunteers, secretaries and even pastors are overly authoritative, disrespectful and angry to even be dealing with the needs of the poor. Government help is bureaucratic and often too complex and insisting in too many requirements for the homeless to fulfill.

All of this builds onto a basic distrust of all authorities. Among the homeless communities, authority is not questioned because it is already assumed that authority is manipulative, self-serving and rejecting. This does not mean that there is not the desire for justice, but it is rare that one of the homeless community sees that there is a possibility of justice in societal systems.

This also leads to a resistance of authoritative action. If someone insists that another obey them because they have authority, the homeless person will automatically resist this approach. They will insist upon reasons they can understand, not yelling, not a title, not violence. While someone with a gun or a title might convince them to act in a certain way, it will never develop into respect or obeying the authority for authority's sake.

Homeless Culture: Regretful Use of Violence

Almost all of the chronically homeless decry violence, but they almost all acknowledge that violence and threats are at times necessary. Almost every female homeless person carries a weapon for protection, although they rarely find it necessary to use them. Many of the male members of the homeless community find it necessary to defend their honor or the honor of their closest companions through violence. Most of the leaders of group camps find it necessary to occasionally use violence to create order. This may belie the statistic above which states that the homeless are convicted of less violent crime. What that statistic really means is that the homeless have learned their place in society, and they will rarely, if ever, use violence against the middle class. But violence between the homeless isn’t that uncommon, but because violence is seen as a form of communication or even sport, then violence within the homeless community is not reported to the authorities.

Homeless Culture: Honor Highly Valued

As part of the patriarchal system, one’s reputation and show of respect is primary. Every member of the society expects a basic amount of respect given by all. Respect is granted through proper acknowledgement, requesting and acknowledging favors. Disrespect is the worst kind of sin in the homeless community. Disrespect can be shown through insisting upon authority not granted, taking of one’s property, disregarding one’s good act, ignoring another’s presence, insults, or speaking negatively about another person.

Homeless Culture: Patriarchal Culture

The chronically homeless is almost the only segment of society which is dominated by single men. In the broader homeless population, single men make up 51 percent of the population, but most families, women and children drop off in less than a year. It is mostly single men who find homeless to be an option for survival. This does not mean that women do not also find themselves to be homeless for more than a year, but it is more rare. Among the chronically homeless, in my observation, women only make up less than a third of the population.

Because of this, chronically homeless culture is testosterone-driven. Because of the lack of children, men are less providers than protectors, but they are primarily protectors of their own reputation. Although women are not considered property, women are often expected to follow the values established by men or to face violence. Physical abuse of girlfriends or the girlfriends of friends is relatively common.

On the other hand, some women adapt to the patriarchal value system by taking on male power traits. These women are treated as equals, or even superiors in a matriarchal sense. All women also are protected by the ethics of the society from violence from outsiders or rape from anyone.

Homeless Culture: Infrequent Bathing

One of the hardest aspects of living on the street is taking a shower. Showers are available, but they are either infrequent or not free. Thus, showers more than once a week are seen as a luxury. Over time, some homeless might seen cleanliness as simply unnecessary, and won’t take the effort to get a shower, even if one is available.

Most of the homeless love the opportunity to get bathed, however, and see it as a comfort. I have heard one person on the street say, “If I had my own place, I would take five showers a day.”

Homeless Culture: Loose, Rough Clothing

The homeless have a “look.” This look is practical for the weather. They tend to wear layers, with the outside layer being loose fitting. The homeless also tend to wear military gear, because it is made to be durable and good for outdoor living. Because they get clothes from thrift stores or for free, many of their clothes have holes and thin patches, which is another reason for layers. Many of the homeless wear many layers of clothes even during the hot months because they don’t have a closet to store clothes, so they wear them all.

It is important on the street to be practical, because survival is most significant. However, some homeless aren't just interested in surviving, they want to look good, too. As one of my friends told me, "Just because you are a bum doesn't mean you have to look like a bum."

Homeless Culture: Disrespect for the Homeless

It is a common concept for most communities to have prejudicial ideas about the homeless in general. The homeless are considered lazy, addicts, criminals and general ne’er-do-wells. These stereotypical ideas do not cease necessarily when one becomes homeless. The ideas persist, because they see some people who meet these qualifications. This means that the homeless will often define themselves as a group by these same stereotypes that they are wrongly characterized by.

One of the ways that we know that it is not true is that individual homeless usually see themselves as being the stand out from the rest of their community. “Sure, they are all like that, but not me. I’m still the same as I used to be.” They see themselves as hard working, while others are lazy. They are moral, while others are immoral. This is partly because in these areas there is such a variety of work and a variety of moralities that it is sometimes difficult to see others as actually having something that they have an alternative form of.

And when a person gets off the street they either look at their friends still on the street with either disrespect or pity. But they see themselves as “different” now that they have an apartment or a job.

Homeless Culture: Flexibility Concerning Addiction

The homeless find themselves in great stress daily. Their stress is not just about other’s behavior, but about life and death issues. This stress builds up over time and creates depression. Pretty soon, the homeless person is desperate to find some joy in their lives. And they can find temporary joy in alcohol or in drugs. Almost none of the homeless are interested in making drugs or alcohol a lifestyle, but a good number of them fall into that, almost by default.

Because of this, the homeless are accepting of other people’s addictions. They will complain about other’s addictions and occasionally make compassionate statements about their friends stopping a life-threatening addiction. But there is little moral quandary about drugs or alcohol. Everyone recognizes it as a survival mechanism, or self-medication.

And yet, at the same time, there is an underlying current of people constantly trying (and usually failing) to quit their addictions, for personal reasons. And the homeless community support these efforts, even if they find themselves unable to do this themselves.

For all this, it must be admitted that there are a number of the chronic homeless who are not involved in drugs or alcohol in any way. Being a part of the community doesn’t necessarily mean that addiction is required. The actual number of addicts on the street is almost impossible to determine realistically, however.

Homeless Culture: Ethics, Not Law

A person who becomes homeless quickly learns that their economic situation automatically makes them a criminal. It is illegal in most cities to “camp”, which means to sleep outside, even in one’s own car. The intent of these laws is to allow the homeless to be moved about as necessary by the city. Because the homeless are treated as criminals, they develop a casual approach to the law. The law itself isn’t a standard of morality, because they know that not all “criminals” are immoral. Instead, they follow their own morality, without regard to what is legal or not. However, the idea of what is ethical behavior varies greatly, as it does among the general populace. This means that the homeless might be more willing to do actions that are considered unacceptable by other groups. However, statistics show that the homeless are less likely to participate in violent crime than other groups.

Homeless Culture: Immediate Use of Resources

Because resources are scarce amidst the community—money, food, etc.—and the needs of the community are always there, many resources get used up quickly. But because more resources become available quickly, even daily, there is an expectation that resources can be gotten and so they are used up. In the homeless community, resources are not to be saved or reserved, but used. This is connected with the low-level fatalism in the homeless community, for what happens tomorrow is in the hands of fate and what happens is what will happen.

This idea is also given because of the nature of the items the homeless obtain. That which is given to the homeless, or obtained through inexpensive or free means is low quality and is not meant to last over the long term. Food is on the edge of going bad, the socks they are given are cheap, and even tarps and blankets are usually inexpensive and some are even unable to be washed. This only firms up the idea that what one gets is for today, not necessarily tomorrow.

This also adds to one’s ability to give to others. If resources are not for the morrow, then they can freely share with others what they have today.

Homeless Culture: Freely Sharing What One Has

Once a person is homeless, they tend to be with others who are struggling with poverty issues. They will meet at soup kitchens or other services for the poor. And as sad as their story is, there are others who have more tragic stories than they. They soon realize that the poor are a community together, and if they do not stand together, they will all fall. At this point it begins to be a habit of taking whatever you have and are not currently using to give it to others. In middle class society, we have a tendency to save items because we might need it in the future. And there are some who store items (see “pack-rat mentality”) who are homeless. But if someone needs something, it is usually given freely and easily. You see the homeless asking and receiving cigarettes all the time—but this is only the tip of the iceberg. Bike parts, food, beer, information, camp sites, even sometimes one’s tent is all shared property for those in need. If there is someone in greater need, or lacking something essential, then it is freely shared.

Homeless Culture: Respecting Ingenious Survival

Survival is a necessary preoccupation on the street. So when someone comes up with an ingenious way to survive, it is praised and spoken of highly to others. A group of the homeless were honored when they developed a Hogan to live in. Back ways into abandoned houses, shelter in blackberry bushes, camping for months in the woods are all considered praiseworthy, if not always copied.

Homeless Culture: Alternative Labor

Almost without exception, the homeless are not lazy. One cannot be lazy if it is necessary to walk miles for a plate of food. While one is homeless it is very difficult to obtain a full time job even if one was able to work such a job. So the homeless instead depend, for the most part, on alternative kinds of labor. This includes recycling cans or scrap, begging for change, dumpster diving, busking, day labor through an organization or through personal contacts, or stealing. Some would say that some of these kinds of labor isn’t really work at all, but only those who haven’t done it could say so. Just like any other job, the labor might take mental exertion—like begging— and some might take physical exertion. Some might simply be disgusting, like dumpster diving, and some might be immoral, like stealing. Some may not pay much for the effort involved, like recycling cans. And different homeless do different kinds of labor, based on their gifts and moral ideals, but it is all work. There is labor involved, not leisure. No one would be doing it if what they needed were easily available to them. And some of it is really difficult work. Just alternative work.

(I want to make a point that I am not supporting stealing, nor do most homeless people accept stealing as a way of life. I am just saying that it is one example of what some think of as alternative labor, the category is accepted by almost all homeless people.)

Homeless Culture: Respect for Hard Work

Often being homeless throws one into such a depression that there is only enough energy to survive and not more than that. Other homeless work hard to maintain whatever kind of positive life they can. Some homeless work hard so they can have a few beers at the end of the day. But pretty much without exception, all the homeless respects those who work hard and accomplish something for their work. They do not always respect those who have jobs. But they respect labor, especially manual labor. If that manual labor just means a nice camp, it is respected, even if no money comes from it. The work is enough. And the homeless might do volunteer work just for the self-respect it brings (although they would prefer to work for money).

Homeless Culture: Lack of Fear

When one lives in a certain context, then that context lacks fear. If one hears gunshots on a regular basis, then gunfire loses all power to cause fear. Even so, those not homeless are scared of living on the street and one can’t imagine how one lives that way. The homeless are scary because they are strange. When one becomes homeless they are nervous about who they will meet and the tragedies that will follow.

Eventually, one learns that homelessness is just another way to live, with its pluses and minuses like any other way to live. But there is no fear of homelessness. For many people who had been homeless and then lived back in a middle class lifestyle, they know that homelessness is always an option, if necessary, and not a frightening one. I know of one man who was homeless and then ended up in an apartment. He couldn’t afford dentures, so he became homeless a while by his own choice so he could save up for a set of dentures. When he was ready, he moved back into an apartment. It was just an option for him. I know of others who become homeless for a month or two every year because they miss the kind of choices it afforded them.

An Explanatory Note

I just want to explain the reason for giving a description of homeless culture.

This is not in praise or condemnation of homeless culture. I am just trying to describe it. I do this so that we can better understand the cultural changes that happens to one when they become homeless. Some might have had part or all of this culture before they became homeless, but most develop it as they lived on the street over time.

I have heard many people either condemn the homeless because they are "different" from them, or other say "we are all the same." Frankly, the homeless ARE culturally different from the middle class, and if the middle class wishes to help them or condemn them, they should do it with understanding, not ignorance.

Homeless culture is simply a culture. It has good aspects and bad aspects just like every other culture. Just like middle class American white culture has good aspects and bad aspects. And we need to understand that a homeless person isn't "fixed" if they become middle class. And we also have to realize that in certain aspects they won't accept all of middle class society. And that is okay, because homeless culture has some good aspects that we should all accept as normative. And it has some aspects that traps one into homelessness.

I'm just writing this to open our eyes, a little.

Homeless Culture: Fatalism

Culturally, the homeless learn that for people who are free, they have very little control over their lives. They don’t know whether they will be woken from a sound sleep, whether their possessions will be stolen during the day, or what resources they will gain that day.

Because of this, there are two cultural consequences of living on the street. First is a certain kind of angry fatalism. That they have little control over their own lives and they feel that they should. At times this lack of control leads one to feel furious at others who one feels should provide them what they need. Thus, a homeless person might become angry at service workers or fellow homeless or God because they think that someone is ultimately in control and thus responsible for their lack.

Secondly, there is a dependence on Fate or God. Each day brings its own stresses and joys, its own lack and supply—yet somehow the homeless survive. Ultimately, there is a gratitude to life and what little is given.