What would you do?

What would you do?
By Raynie Andrewsen
(written as a Staff Writer for my college newspaper)

I pass her every day. She sits there with everything she owns packed into two shopping carts. Somewhere along the way she found a stool, which she spends the day sitting on beneath a raggedy old tree planted in the sidewalk. Some days I smile as I pass her by, wondering how she came to her status. Other days I avert my eyes, ashamed that I have not said one word, or offered her any assistance. What is her name? What is her story? If I asked her, would she be happy that one person who passed her by acknowledged her presence?

There are a growing number of her kind, you know, the kind we don’t mention, the ones we don’t acknowledge, the ones we assume have a multitude of problems stemming from alcohol or drugs, but what is the reality? Tonight 700,000 to 2 million people in the United States will sleep on the streets, in their cars, in parks, abandoned buildings or in shelters. They are the homeless.

Research indicates that families, single mothers, and children make up the largest group of people who are homeless. Extreme poverty is the underlying cause of homeless families because their incomes fall under 50 percent of the poverty level. The number of homeless families with children has increased significantly over the last 10 years with the housing crisis contributing to this fast growing homeless population. Affordable rental housing is also harder to find resulting in families who require much longer stays in the shelter system.

In 2004, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty reported that children under the age of 18 accounted for 39 percent of the homeless population and that 42 percent of these children were under the age of five!

Homeless youth and young adults are at risk for physical abuse, sexual exploitation, mental health disabilities, chemical or alcohol dependency, and death. Homelessness is a traumatic experience for children who will often experience anxiety, depression, behavioral problems, and below-average school performance as a result.

Have you ever thought of what your home means to you?

Take a moment, close your eyes and imagine you are one of the millions living below poverty level. You hold down two jobs, but because wages are low and the cost of making ends meet is high you are in a constant battle just to put food on the table. What would it take to send you over the edge? How does it happen, homelessness I mean? All it takes is a single circumstance. A loss of your job, or a serious illness and you could be in the same boat as so many Americans. Could you even afford a tent to pitch in any number of “tent cities” springing up across the country?

Now ponder this situation, you are homeless perhaps with no family or close friends you can turn to in your time of need. It is hard to get a job if you have no residence and even harder to concentrate on anything but hunger. Poverty and homelessness is all consuming. In fact, the two trends largely responsible for the rise in homelessness over the years, are a growing shortage of affordable rental housing coupled with the simultaneous increase in poverty.
"It's clear that poverty and homelessness have increased," according to Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the National Coalition of the Homeless.

Homelessness is a bigger issue than simply not having a place to live. It stems from poverty of which 36.4 million Americans are feeling the effects, 40 percent of those living in poverty are children. If the Fair Market Value for rent is more than double what a person makes working full time on minimum wage, how will we ever end homelessness?

In a recent study the cost of homelessness and associated services was anywhere between $35,000 to $150,000 a year per person, yet the cost of providing a person with a place to live and supportive services was between $13,000 to $25,000. Do the math.

“Community homelessness is a complex social problem, but it can be solved with the right approach. We should not gauge our success based on how many social service programs a community can produce, or how many beds can be created, but rather how those programs or beds are being used to actually solve the causative factors of homelessness,” according to Chris Megison, President and Executive Director for North County Solutions for Change.

In San Diego County where the median home was $470,000 the housing crisis has had very little impact on the affordability of housing for the average family. In a county by county analysis compiled by the California Budget Project, San Diego County residents would need to work 83 hours per week at the state’s current minimum wage of $8.00 per hour to afford the fair market value for rent of a studio apartment. If someone working two full time, minimum wage jobs cannot afford rent, how can a single mother on public assistance afford it?

I used to look at homeless people and wonder how did this happen?

Now I understand.

Estimates suggest that many Californians will face homelessness within the year. In fact California has the third highest rate of homelessness in the nation. Is it a coincidence then, that California also has the second highest rental housing costs in the nation?

The unemployment rate is rising. Major corporations are laying off thousands of workers. The number one reason cited in a survey of homeless people of why they are currently homeless was the loss of a job and subsequent eviction.

So, what does your home mean to you? Think about this as you gather with friends and family this holiday. If these people were not in your home enjoying some turkey, if there was no home to invite them to, what would you do?

The stigma of homelessness is our burden to bear. There are junkies and mental illness among the homeless, but there are far more veterans and families with no where to go. There are far too many children with no home, no stability. Homelessness is a problem that has a solution. As a community we need to stop being ignorant and selfish because the statistics show… it can happen to you!