I’ve been writing a lot about homelessness lately. It has always been an issue I’ve cared deeply about. Perhaps it’s because I spent the formative years of my youth in the late 80’s and early 90’s when there was a lot of exposure in pop culture to homelessness.?Phil Collins sang about ?Another Day in Paradise? and Neil Young was ?Rockin? In The Free World.?
When I was 15, I started hanging out at a downtown coffee shop. It provided me a lot of opportunity to just talk to people. Sometimes the place was crowded or I didn’t feel like listening to the local talent that was playing, so I was often drawn to the homeless on the benches. They looked so lonely. Like many people experience, I found myself surrounded by people often, but I always felt so awkward and different. I felt pretty lonely, too.
Many of those that I spoke with, that called the benches and sidewalks their home, were very ill. Often the conversations were nonsensical but I still felt like it mattered that I listened. While I was only a kid and couldn’t truly do anything that made a lasting difference for their situations, I felt like there had to be some worth or comfort in knowing that they at least weren’t invisible to me.
There is a subset of the overall homeless population that is the most neglected and dehumanized of all those living in extreme poverty. They are the ones that are too sick to care for themselves.
Thomas Rebman was ?homeless? in five Florida cities from November 17 to December 19, with a mission to cultivate change in the sunshine state.?While he was in a city he often made videos of his experiences and shared them on the Homeless and Hungry Facebook page.
The individuals in these videos, and the countless others that are like them, now weigh heavily on my mind. How can we allow this to continue in a country of such amazing wealth?
Take a glimpse into the lives of these people. See if they touch you as they have me.
The very first morning in Tallahassee, Tom met Debbie. As fairly evident by his conversation with her, Debbie is ill. I wouldn’t even attempt to guess her diagnosis. I’m not a doctor. But, as Tom speaks to her, it is reminiscent of the movie A Beautiful Mind.
Debbie is considered part of the chronic homeless population. According to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH),
?Among people experiencing homelessness, there is a subset of individuals with disabling health and behavioral health conditions who experience homelessness for long periods and/or in repeated episodes over many years.?
USICH also tells us that the only way to solve chronic homelessness is by providing Permanent Supportive Housing. This option actually costs less and provides more than the current average of $30,000 to $50,000 per person annually through repeat use of emergency rooms and jails.
But even without knowing that it is actually financially more responsible to house the homeless, isn’t it also just the right thing to do? Is the alternative to that, having very ill people wandering our streets unable to care for themselves, truly a better option?
I would love for someone to tell me why individuals most in need are not deserving of humane care that includes a roof over his or her heads.
These are people like Sue, in the video below.
And what about this? Can you imagine living on the street as a blind person?
These videos are heart wrenching. This woman stood talking to herself, unaware of her surroundings. How exactly is she supposed to survive this way?
This gentleman appears to be suffering from a similar plight.
When the topic of homelessness comes up with acquaintances or even within social media, mental illness is often flippantly thrown out there as a reason for homelessness. It’s not that I think people speaking to this issue are trying to be insensitive or dismissive. But, I don’t think enough gravity is placed on the statement,
?Many of the homeless are mentally ill.?
These people need help and compassion. That starts with recognizing them as deserving people. Their homelessness is a symptom of their disease. Diseases of the mind are no more preventable than the Rheumatoid Arthritis that my husband suffers. The difference is his impacts soft tissue, which changes how he walks and moves. Mental illness changes how one behaves, so is often looked at as a condition of will.
When it costs us less to house and care for these individuals in a humane manner, than it costs to provide less than the bare necessities in crisis, why don’t we do it?
I just don’t understand.
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Elizabeth Preston is a thirty-something wife and mother of three living in Florida. She is a fierce liberal with a passion?for equality and justice. She is a skeptic by nature and often the Facebook friend that rains on the urban legend parade with fact checking. Give her?Facebook page?a?like, follow her on?Twitter?and check out her personal blog,?My Four Ha? Pennies.
