Homeless: “We are human. We have feelings just like everybody else.“

[Liberal_in_LA]

Peter Callstrom: Ignoring the Homeless is Expensive


As part of San Diego County’s annual Point-In-Time Count, we conduct extensive interviews of one thousand persons who are literally living on the streets throughout our county. In addition to demographic data and very personal questions, we ask, “what would you like others to know about those who are homeless?” The answers surprised, saddened, and inspired.

“I worked for 20 years with Caterpillar. Got injured and laid off. My wife and daughter were killed by a drunk driver. Everything fell apart.”

It was 10 a.m. Paul was drinking and acknowledged that he is an alcoholic and needs treatment. He can’t find work and knows that he would have to be clean in order to get a job. He feels trapped. Widowed and over 50, he has been homeless on and off for eight years. He was open about his struggles with depression, anxiety, and insomnia. He has other serious health problems including Hepatitis C and high blood pressure. Despite his many challenges, he was friendly and described himself as "happy go lucky."

“It’s humiliating. I really don’t want to be homeless. Oftentimes I feel hopeless.”

http://santee.patch.com/articles/peter-callstrom-ignoring-the-homeless-is-expensive-2

[Desertrose]

1. No one wants to feel invisible....

in this society we make it all to easy to ignore those who may have less than we have.


It's so hurtful to feel like you don't matter, don't count and that no one cares.

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. I try to remember that. Give a little change to anyone who asks rather than

walking past stony faced.

[Starry Messenger]

2. k&r

[Hannah Bell]

3. kr

[ZombieHorde]

5. Rec. nt

[Modern_Matthew]

6. Sorry. We can't pay your rent. There are people thousands of miles away to "protect" nt

[MedleyMisty]

7. False dichotomy

End the two occupations, shut down the military industrial complex and redistribute its funds, tax the rich and the corporations, tear down the psychopathic corporatist society and build a sane one with empathy, and we could have plenty of resources for all humans.

The whole Americans vs Libyans thing is more divide and conquer, more yell at that guy for taking your one cookie while the rich take all the other cookies.

This is a global fight. The psychopathic corporations are global predators. We need global solidarity to fight them. We have to hang together, or we'll all die separately.

[bobbolink]

17. Thank you! And further more, the wars could be ended tomorrow, and NOTHING WOULD CHANGE.

"Progressives" have ignored homelessness for 30 years now, and there were times in those years when we weren't at war.

Its time "progressives" and Democrats start looking at themselves, and asking WHY they aren't putting the homeless epidemic at higher priority.

Clue: It ISN'T because of wars, or lower taxes for the rich.

[markpkessinger]

39. I think you missed the sarcasm in Modern_Matthew's comment n/t

[madmax]

40. +10

[meow mix]

48. +recs 1,000,000,000

[jacquelope]

13. Right on! n/t

.

[bobbolink]

16. Stop with the false dichotomies, and pitting us against each other.

Homelessness was created in this country 30 years ago when Rayguns drastically cut low-income housing.

Democrats and "progressives" have done NOTHING to change that.

So, stop blaming it on a military action which you don't like that started two days ago.

I am NOT in competition with the Libyans, and they are not in competition with me.

[TheKentuckian]

41. The interesting part is that we were seeding the housing bubble

when we allowed the corporatist to toss the homeless over the cliff.

Home prices and rents went up so dramatically and steadily because slashing low income housing helped to create artificial demand.

By ignoring the plights of those most at risk the "middle class" has inched themselves toward homelessness and upside down mortgages, greased along by a decades in the making bubble.

The impoverished and the homeless are us minus one paycheck or a few but to accept that means accepting that many of us are climbing their backs and pretending that we are pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps and that it is our own cleverness, planning, or work that sets us aside never to be in the slightest danger of being "one of them".

[bobbolink]

43. True, and that caused an increase in homelessness.... mainly from people who were middleclass.

It didn't STart the homelessness epidemic, though. That was started by dramatically cutting low-income housing, and the Democrats have done NOTHING to change that... in fact, Obama has proposed making it worse, and there is no outcry about that. NONE.

[Quantess]

23. I get it. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[Name removed]

24. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bobbolink]

42. The Homelessness Epidemic was started over 30 years ago. The action in Libya started two days ago.

NO. CONNECTION. So, no, you don't get it.

[Solomon]

55. Umm er... #6 was sarcasm.

Most of us DO get it. You're the one over reacting. Got it?

[bobbolink]

56. Yes, correcting people who are correlating a two-day-old action with a 30-year-old problem is

"over reacting".

GOT IT.

And thank you soooo much for your generous compassion. Noted and appreciated.

[nashville_brook]

50. totally and completely with you on this. we have PLENTY of 'room to spare' in the defense budget

[DirkGently]

54. Yep. "Defense" is an excellent place to start re-allocating resources FROM.

[yellerpup]

8. I work with Midnight Run in the NYC area.

They actively seek out homeless in need of help. It is run by formerly homeless men (most homeless who aren't in shelters are men) and they collect food and clothing to distribute on the "runs" they make in their distribution truck. I'm a good cook, so that's how I help, but there are lots of ways to get involved. http://www.midnightrun.org/

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. +10000

[AsahinaKimi]

9. Heartless Republicans don't care

They would sooner step on the homeless then walk around them. What ever happened to the goodness in this country? This is not the country, I remember growing up in. I feel like a stranger in a strange land.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[AsahinaKimi]

25. Some of us have

Donated money.. especially to Homeless Vets organizations. Show me a Republican who does that? Also donated to various feed the hungry programs, locally.

[bobbolink]

27. Plenty of Republicans do that. Now, answer my question.. what have you done to

stop homelessness?

What are you doing NOW to lobby for low-income housing.

We do NOT want charity.. we want HOMES.

Why is that so hard to understand? It has been said over and over and over right here on DU for years now.

Why is it so hard to grasp?

[AsahinaKimi]

30. I am not exactly middle class myself

I am totally low income, and yet, some how, out of the goodness of my heart, I have donated and will keep donating, JUST AS I am donating to Japan to the people who NEED it the most. I don't care if you DON'T like it. I am one small person, who doesn't have to do shit, yet I do.

Give me some fucking credit. or don't, I am not doing this to please you.

[bobbolink]

31. I'm not asking you to donate. You can be totally broke and STILL work to end homelessness.

The first thing this thread is trying to express is to treat us as HUMANS.

The first way to treat us as humans is to LISTEN TO US.

We have said in many ways over and over and over that CHARITY is NOT ENDING HOMELESSNESS. IN FACT, IT IS CONTINUING IT.

This homeless epidemic was created by drastic cuts to low-income housing. Charity can never make up for those cuts... NEVER.

The only way to change that is to CREATE LOW-INCOME HOUSING.

That is really simple..... it does not take a lot of deep thinking to understand that.

I am not looking for people to PLEASE me, I am looking for people to finally GET the cause and effect, and start working on the damned SOLUTION.

It doesn't take any of your MONEY... it takes understanding, compassion, and commitment to solving a problem. Just. Do. It.

[Name removed]

60. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TheManInTheMac]

59. I give you credit, AsahiniKimi...

You're one of the nicest posters here. Makes me mad when I see someone yelling at someone like you who is genuinely trying to help people.

:yourock: :applause:

[Maru Kitteh]

29. A shit-ton more than the Republicans have. AFDC, section 8, VASH, food assistance

it's a long list, of course.


The repubes list is easy.

1) pair of mythical bootstraps
2) kick upside the head


We haven't cured cancer yet either, but smacking researchers in the forehead for not being done yet seems counterproductive, at least.

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bobbolink]

44. CHARITY vs government programs.... No. Connection.

[Maru Kitteh]

47. No connection to your deleted message?

The poster didn't say a damn thing in the post you originally responded to about CHARITY. You're wrong again, and your post was an outrageously hostile personal attack against somebody who said something NICE and that's why it was deleted.

[greyl]

33. .

Fighting for Homeless Veterans in Washington State

Last week, I stood with fellow Democratic Senators to discuss how the Republicans’ reckless spending proposal would cut 10,000 housing vouchers that would bring homeless veterans off the streets and into supportive housing. We owe it to our veterans to provide them with the resources and support they need to put a roof over their heads. And this is just one more example of the Republicans putting politics and ideology over families, communities, and even those who have served our nation.

http://ynative77.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/fighting-for-homeless-veterans-in-washington-state/

Additionally, H.R. 1, as approved by the House, would cut $5.5 billion from HUD programs, including:

- $210 million (70%) for housing for people with disabilities
- $551 million (71%) for senior housing
- $1 billion (43%) for public housing capital needs
- $1 billion (46%) for Community Health Centers, which includes Health Care for the Homeless funding
- $70 million (17%) in Legal Services Corporation funding

Jeremy Rosen, policy director at NLCHP, added, Cutting funding to programs that keep people in their homes, while increasing funding to homelessness programs just doesn't make sense. It would mean we're allowing the problem to get worse -- allowing more people to fall into homelessness -- before we try to help. This is unacceptable."

In contrast, the current Democratic budget proposal would provide $200 million new funding for HUD's homeless assistance grant funding, which would permit HUD to implement the HEARTH Act and provide housing to more homeless persons. Other critical affordable housing and human services programs would receive level funding.

www.nlchp.org/view_release.cfm?PRID=129

That initiative is dear to Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, who worked closely on it with Miller’s predecessor, Bob Filner of California, now the committee’s ranking Democrat. At a conference in December, Shinseki noted that an estimated 107,000 veterans remain homeless.

When he was the top Republican on the Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health during the 110th Congress, Miller opposed Democratic attempts to authorize a variety of new programs for homeless veterans, complaining that the proposals would hurt organizations already providing care and create a potentially unnecessary therapeutic readjustment program.

www.congress.org/news/2011/02/11/congress_eyes_cuts_to_the_va

[bobbolink]

37. Well, now that makes two of you. The poster I disagreed with was talking about CHARITY.

So, of course, you bring up a totally different subject.

STay on topic, please.

[bobbolink]

58. So, why aren't "progressives" protesting those cuts that passed the HOUSE?

And I would ask you to remember this... clearly your priority is veterans. If you will notice, those cuts affect a lot more people than only veterans. Anytime you start pitting one section of the population against another, everyone loses.

HOUSING FOR ALL.

[Bluerthanblue]

11. K&R-

[ck4829]

12. We have the money to help them get back on their feet

If our government can work to ensure the wealthy continue to live comfortably and making sure that women don't get abortions, then we should be able to help them.

[bobbolink]

19. Low-income housing. JUST DO IT.

[GreenPartyVoter]

26. +1,000,000!!

[Tsiyu]

14. Two questions:

Aren't there 20% of homes vacant in some locations?

Why are we set up as a society to have one fifth of homes vacant, yet still have mass numbers of homeless?


We will hopefully look like fools to future generations. If there are any left...

[Solly Mack]

15. K&R

[butterfly77]

20. K&R...

[leftstreet]

21. K&R

[bobbolink]

22. We want first of all to be recognized as part of this society, and second, NOT to get a handout,

but to have an concerted effort to provide the necessary low-income housing.

We DON'T need or want shelters... we don't need people dragging us to "help"..

WE. WANT. HOUSING.

Ir really is quite simple.

[greyl]

35. Your post is in disagreement with the OP.

If you didn't use the word "we", this would just be a matter of you having an individual opinion. But since you seem to believe your posts speak for all homeless people, that's where the disagreement comes in:

What is needed? Permanent supportive and affordable housing, job training and placement programs, year round shelters, and accessible health care.

http://santee.patch.com/articles/peter-callstrom-ignoring-the-homeless-is-expensive-2

If you had said I don't need or want a shelter instead of "We DON'T need or want shelters", your post could have served as an example diversity among homeless people, instead of divisivenesses with your fellow homeless, Democrats, and progressives.

[bobbolink]

36. We do NOT need more shelters. Period. That is one non-homeless person speaking and it

disagrees with many OTHER organizations.

Look up Housing First.

The gist of the OP was that homeless people need to be treated as HUMANs.

The way to treat people as HUMANS is to LISTEN to them.

LISTENING means to hear what we are saying, even if it goes against what some self-appointed "expert" is saying.

[Liberal_in_LA]

62. Good points Bobbolink

[bobbolink]

63. Thanks! The point is, Listening to those closest to the problem, as Jim Wallis says.

All these experts who like to prescribe for us give us headaches. ^_^

Thanks for finding the article... I have a fine drawing that goes well with this, but don't want anyone to steal it. :(

[bobbolink]

28. This is a thread about homeless people and how we want to be recognized as part of the same society

as YOU.

To come here and turn this into an anti-war thread is very low.

LISTEN to the words of people who are homeless, and what they are saying to you.

[Turborama]

34. I agree

Using homeless people as if they are just political tools to use to prove some vague knee-jerk point is very low and really pisses me off.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

38. Oh, Come On.............

.............Everyone knows that homeless people are only homeless because they're lazy. The guy in the article is a perfect example. Worked for 20 years, then had about 100 horrible things outside of his control happen to him, and then just decided not to get another job. See? Lazy.

Maybe if it said something in the Bible about helping the homeless, like it does about gays and abortion (you know, the TWO Commandments: thou shalt hate the gays and thou shalt outlaw abortions), then maybe Republicans would give a damn about you. Wait. What?

:sarcasm:

[DirkGently]

45. MY federal taxes should go to help people like this. Not to keep the ME safe for oil companies.

Edited syntax for.

[Name removed]

46. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[nashville_brook]

49. Performing "nation-building" in our own country is in our self-interest.

[bobbolink]

51. You would think so. For every Federal dollar spent on Food Stamps, $1.84 is returned

to the local economy.

Millions of dollars are brought to the local economy from subsidized low-income housing, as well as a lot of jobs.

Yet, most people seem to be OK with the cuts.

The fact remains, that we desire to be treated as HUMANs.

[byronius]

52. I got to be homeless for a short while. Learned all about it.

They need safe places to shower and sleep. They need counseling, help, a little attention. They need a net, and one without social stigma attached.

Homelessness is like being in a black hole, trying to climb over the event horizon.

Which is why I do whatever I can for them. I'd like to someday sponsor a shower-and-contact center in every town in the US. Maybe start a self-mobile housing unit, something secure with a bathroom, a bed, water storage, solar-powered battery system, that could be pushed around and parked in empty parking spaces.

Life would have been a lot easier for me with those things.

Until you've been there, it's hard to grasp.

Every stitch in the fabric matters. No Citizen Left Behind, that's my take.

[bobbolink]

57. ? Maybe you needed counseling,... not everyone does. What we NEED is HOMES.

It really isn't difficult to understand.... there is a shortage of 3 million units of low-income housing.

When we decide to fix THAT, then we will end the HOmelessness Epidemic.

[byronius]

53. PS: George Carlin suggested building low-cost housing on golf courses.

Great idea.

[LeftishBrit]

61. Too late to recommend, but here is a kick for a very important and sad article.