Being a long time city dweller, I have
had enough direct encounters with the homeless population. To
compound this knowledge, I have also had a few extended stints of
not-quite-voluntary “urban camping” myself over the course of my
life.
I suppose that it can be considered to
be some sort of educational advantage, in striving to understand the
issues surrounding homelessness, that I have looked at the situation
from both sides of the fence. I'm at a loss to determine if I feel
any deep sense of empathy with other homeless people from my
experience, and yet I can't feel absolutely sure that I would not end
up right back on the street again someday.
From what I've witnessed over time,
both from a homeless and sheltered perspective, personality types and
traits run the gamut regardless of one's place in society. For
instance, I can focus upon the types of folks that I encounter on a
regular basis moving through the alley behind my kitchen window, who
poke through the garbage and recycling bins at the apartment complex
just across the way.
Most folks seem to be reasonably
considerate and don't make a mess or much noise with their
scavenging, and are considerate enough to close the bin lids and
leave things like they had practically never been there. Others go
out of their way to fuck shit up, slamming anything they can,
scattering debris everywhere, and occasionally shitting and pissing
whenever and wherever the moment works for them, and sometimes
defecating right in front of the gate where I go in and out of my
home each day. The range of civilized behavior (of lack thereof)
doesn't seem any different to me in relative scale in comparison to
people in a sheltered lifestyle. It's just that the daily routines
and challenges required for daily survival happen to be radically
different on many fronts.
As far as I can tell, folks that I have
encountered who hold the most contempt for the homeless tend to have
had the least need to struggle to survive. They tend to complain
about freeloaders but also tend to be beneficiaries of trust funds,
parent-funded educations, inherited homes, family owned businesses
(or jobs acquired through nepotism and patronage favors), and /or
“opportunities” that could easily be defined as a free ride.
The only solution to homelessness is
actual permanent housing. Instead of the fairly inhumane strategy of
warehousing people into human corrals, there must be a genuine effort
to expand the level of actual residence to permanently shelter those
who are homeless and not by personal choice. Once the wheels are
rolling to house people who are circumstantially in need, the ability
to concentrate on those who are unable to cope with sufficiently
taking care of themselves, just lingering around out there and messed
up, can be sharpened and improved.
Nowadays more than ever, the situation
of homeless individuals can not be pigeonholed, much less dismissed
as a mere nuisance or hindrance.
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