With the holidays behind us, so are the frantic appeals from the non-profits for food, clothing and funds to help the homeless. As we return to work and our life routines, we tend to forget the sallow, hollow-eyed faces from the ads. The homeless can be forgotten for another year, or can they?
I became acutely aware of the difficulties the homeless face during winter on one visit to Washington, D.C. During conference breaks I toured the streets and was shocked at what I saw. Homeless people crowded on the steam grates of the city. The homeless needed the warmth to survive the bitter cold. Washington, D.C., the home of the government of the United States left a strong impression on me.... an impression that we have much work to do in the areas of poverty and homelessness.
According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, "two trends are largely responsible for the rise in homelessness over the past 15-20 years: a growing shortage of affordable rental housing and a simultaneous increase in poverty. NCH stresses that "homelessness and poverty are inextricably linked." NCH continues the link with homelessness and poverty by pointing out, "The connection between impoverished workers and homelessness can be seen in homeless shelters, many of which house significant numbers of full-time wage earners."
While serving on the board of a local non-profit I learned that many of the families in the agency's family shelters had lived for years just one rent payment away from homelessness. An illness or a layoff can put a family in the street perhaps living out of their car until that, too, becomes too much of a burden.
There has also been a decline in public assistance and a move to de-institutionalize the "safe" mentally ill who have life-skill deficits and are at risk for ending up on the street. Some believe that addictions are the reason for people becoming homeless. NCH concludes in their fact sheet that "Even when disabling conditions such as addiction or mental illness are treated, homeless addicts and mentally ill people must compete with all other poor people for a dwindling supply of low-income housing. Homelessness can thus be seen as a perverse game of musical chairs, in which the loss of "chairs" (low cost housing) forces some people to be left standing (homeless). Those who are least able to secure a chair -- the most disabled and therefore the most vulnerable -- are more likely to be left without a place to sit."
There is work being done, however. The Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) Program is a formula grant program that funds the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and four U.S. Territories to support service delivery to individuals with serious mental illnesses, as well as individuals with co-occurring substance use disorders, who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. NCH supports advocacy and public awareness projects on homelessness including the National Civil Rights Organizing Project. The National Welfare Monitoring & Advocacy Partnership (NWMAP) is a collaboration of organizers, advocates, service providers and researchers from across the United States concerned with the well-being of low-income people.
An innovative project, the Street Newspaper Project, links street publications, puts the homeless in touch with information and publishes a directory of street publications. They have found that "in many U.S. cities, newspapers and newsletters are published, written or sold by homeless/formerly homeless people. These publications vary in philosophy, ownership, control, editorial content, format, news focus, etc. Many homeless organizations have regular sections reserved for homeless people in their in-house newspapers. There are even a few homeless writers/poets groups scattered around the country."
With all of the attention, advocacy work and research being done on the issue of homelessness, it is interesting that the underlying issues cannot be resolved to the point that homelessness is significantly reduced. Homelessness is a very complicated, multi-factor social problem that will not be easy to impact. Social workers, and those concerned about poverty, housing, addictions issues can work at the policy level as advocates or can work (volunteer opportunities too) on the individual level to reach out to those who are homeless. Whether it is gathering clothing and blankets, providing volunteer supervision at a family shelter, or providing professional case management to the deinstitutionalized mentally ill, all efforts will make a difference and are important, even in the face of what seems to be an overwhelming social problem.
