Homelessness

[Jeffersons Ghost]

An alarmingly high percentage of homeless people are mentally ill. Like others with mental issues, the homeless are concerned with the stigma of documenting their diagnoses. This is why many of them have problems accepting or seeking government checks.

About a 1.56 million people in America spent at least one night in a homeless shelter last year, according to The National Alliance to End Homelessness. In these tough economic times, that number is likely going to increase.

That’s only the measurable tip of the iceberg. People who became homeless and moved in with friends or relatives elevates the number immeasurably higher.

While data is not available, many of the children of homeless families go on to become homeless themselves at a high rate.

“Mom” is one of those statistics. Mom, as everyone calls her, is a spry 68 years old. She cleaned houses to raise her children. Three out of her five children are chronically homeless. Only one is currently homeless, though. Mom now collects Social Security and lives in federal housing. Her daughter, a recovering heroin addict, is homeless and on the Methadone Program. Even on the program, methadone is fairly expensive, so her daughter relies on prostitution to pay for the drugs. Drugs and prostitution are common in this sector of humanity.

As we sit in the park chatting, my friend - a homeless veteran - speaks to another homeless individual he met at the local mission, as he shuffles from trash-can to dumpster. As he shifts his sack to the other shoulder, he smiles a toothless smile and waves. He's collecting cans and bottles. In MA we have recycling, so there's a .5 bounty on each container. Lots of homeless get their drinking money in this way. Alcoholism runs high with the homeless. It helps them forget.

Mom can’t allow her daughter to sleep over because of federal regulations. In fact, Mom is upset because a friend of hers took in another homeless person, which broke the rules of the building. Now her friend will also become homeless, again. Her friend has some serious psychological issues.

The homeless veterans’ job was filled. He says that he has a lead on a better construction job. Construction jobs are hard to find in America these days. People that think the homeless don’t want to work should offer them a job.

I took him by another veterans’ apartment so that he could get a shower. My other veteran friend is service connected from catching plenty of led, so he gets more money than me. He paid my buddy $20. To clean the kitchen. Keep your fingers crossed about his perspective job.

These people asked me to thank you for caring. We're hoping the publicity will help alleviate some of the problems. For them, it's just nice to know that people care.

[burnsei sensei]

1. The impoverished aggregate must change from

an unacknowledged community to a force.
It happened in the 1890s.
It will happen again.
Let the comfortable quake.

[Dappleganger]

2. Thanks for posting this.

I have also encountered quite a few homeless who are disabled and caught "in between" multiple appeals for SSI.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Associated news item from yesterday

Economy changing the face of homelessness in US.

Mary Goode and her husband, AJ greet each other with a kiss and dissolve into laughter. They are irrepressibly upbeat.

But their attitude belies their story - and their status as faces of the new, working homeless.

The two are not destitute, but they live in one room at the five-storey Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles.

The homeless shelter is a step up from their previous address - a white Chevy pick-up truck.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11145513

[riderinthestorm]

5. Another snippet from the article:

"...These are the toughest times in the history of Union Rescue Mission - 119 years. We are serving ten times the people that we were during the Great Depression, and LA is only three times bigger than it was during the Great Depression."

Donations on which the shelter depends are down, and some staff have been laid off.

Meanwhile, California's publicly-funded safety net is shrinking, a result of deep cuts in a state facing a $19bn (£15bn) budget shortfall."


119 years of history and these are the toughest times??!! Including the Depression.... wow. Heartbreaking.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11145513

[L0oniX]

4. Bull shit! Where's your stats for the percentage homeless mentally ill?

As one who serves the homeless every weekend I can tell you that is not true. It is not a high percentage! I do have real stats about the makeup of the typical homeless community I got from my recent security guard training.

[Count Olaf]

6. thank you- it is a misconception that so many are mentally ill

Most homeless people just need a home. THAT is the problem.

There is not enough low income housing and then the stupid rules that must be followed...a kid can't live with her mother! That is just so freaking stupid!!

We have millions of homes sitting empty, falling into disrepair....and millions of homeless people, many newly created by the greedy bankers who now sit on their foreclosed homes....what is wrong with this picture?

Why can't Obama do one damn thing for the homeless and suffering americans due to political decisions made by the bastards in DC.

It would be so simple to take one emergency war supplimental back, 50 billion would buy a lot of homes and create many jobs fixing up those homes, turning them into duplexes, providing homes for millions of people....what the fuck is wrong with these people!! Throw us a bone for GOD's sake!!!!! :grr:

[Dystopian]

7. KandR

Jeffersons Ghost~
Thank you once again for working with the homeless in this area. They are fortunate to have you as an advocate and friend.
You truly are a man of empathy and character.

Thank you for being you....

peace~

[Jeffersons Ghost]

8. thanks for your kind comment