The Triangle

Originally posted by

David Pirtle

Your ignorance of the truth about the homeless problem in this country is matched only by your insulting attitude. First and formost, most of the 4000 who experience homelessness in the city of Philidelphia you will never see. They are the men women and children who reside in the warehouses known as shelters, and who work or go to school every day. The only difference between these individuals and someone privilaged like yourself is that they cant afford a place to live.

The top causes of homelessness in this country are 1. the lack of affordable housing, 2. the lack of health insurance, 3. Domestic Violence, 4. Poor paying jobs, and 5. mental illness. Surprisingly, the breakdown of the good old American work ethic doesnt appear on the list.

Those individuals who you do see on the streets, known affectionately by policy makers as the "Chronically Homeless," that is people who have been homeless for more than a year or four times in the last 3 years, are invariably ill, either physically or mentally or both, and/or addicted to substances, though it is important to point out that the vast majority (over 80 percent) of those who do abuse drugs or alcohol while homeless did not start until long after becoming homeless, as a mechanism for coping with the pain and humiliation of their situation, as well as falling victim to the dealers who prey on this vulnerable population by camping outside shelters and soup kitchens. Again, I have yet to find one (1) individual who was chronically homeless because one day he (or she) decided that the work-a-day life was not for him (or her) and had packed up his (or her) bags for a life of leisure (i.e. sleeping in the rain and eating out of garbage cans.)

How do I know all of this? Well, apart from being a board member at the National Coalition for the Homeless, I was homeless myself for a number of years after developing schizophrenia at the late age of 29, during which time I slept on park benches and survived off the refuse of my "betters." By the way, that woman you see eating out of garbage cans is not "reverting" to any animal instinct. She's HUNGRY. What do you do when you are hungry, eh? You eat. So do I, and so does everyone. Unfortunately since there isnt a decent amount of food to go around for those who arent provided for in the campus cafeteria, and because many neighborhoods and communities are making it illegal to pass out food to those in need, one must make do.

Here's a hint about how to alleviate the disgraceful problem of homelessness in America. Homes. Amazing when I speak at high schools and colleges around the country that I never get that answer, since what someone who is homeless by definition requires is a home. This earth shattering concept was first tried in New York a few years ago, when it was discovered that we actually spend more (about ten to fifteen thousand dollars more per individual) to maintain a large homeless population than it costs to provide decent housing for those in need, complete with wrap around services that help them to cope with or overcome the problems that led to their homelessness in the first place.

But the bottom line, the root cause, as it were, of homelessness is simply poverty. Indeed I know a great many people who have health problems, addictions, have suffered domestic violence, and so on, who have never experienced homelessness, because they have money the money to cushion themselves when such tragedies occur in their lives. It is only those who do not have the cushion of wealth to fall back upon who end up homeless as a result. So the homeless problem is not in fact a problem of laziness, but of class division. It is the unavoidable result of having the vast majority of this nation's many resources controlled by a small percentage of upper class twits who go to university and write doggeral about the lesser beings that they are forced to look at on their way to Whole Foods.