Y'all want to hear a fact that really changed the way I thought about homelessness?
Half of all homeless people were in the foster system at some point. Social Workers often call the foster system The Highway to Homelessness. If you ever had a point in your life where you had to live with friends or family to for a short time to get back on your feet, remember that is a privilege that not everyone had.
@RickiTarr what changed my mind about homelessness is that most companies will not hire you if you do not have a permanent address, and you often can't get a permanent address without a job.
@jhooper@RickiTarr after filling out some apps for apartments recently, it's apparent that you're supposed to remain homeless once you become homeless.
The terms that can lock you out of a place are just absolutely stunning. No criminal history, no previous late payments, no bad reviews from past landlords, need a steady job, etc.
You can't get a job without a home, can't get a home without a job. If you do what you have to do to survive, you will be denied at least one of those.
@sillyCoelophysis@jhooper@RickiTarr my favorite - NO BANKRUPTCY- we live in TN , the state highest in medical bankruptcy - and i can’t even ‘apply’ (hand over $50)
We became homeless in 2018 when the Camp Fire destroyed our home. It was a shock trying to get an apartment and having to pay large fees just to fucking apply with no guarantee of getting the place.
@sillyCoelophysis@RickiTarr@jhooper omg, i know, when i say ‘self employed’ and they look at me as if i said ‘bum’. i was applying for something several years ago, when they asked for check stubs, “so you don’t have a real job”? my taxes are real.
but the outlay of multiple fees - it’s sickening
I have been told a few times that the work I do isn't as real as what others produce.
In punishment I need to prove I am trust worthy with years of evidence. I asked the last property manager if she honestly thought it was useful to be so aggressive. I jokingly told her if they say no I'll just pay for the entire lease in cash.
They told me that they "couldn't do that" and that it was a requirement of their leasing agency to either collect years and years of evidence or a note from a company that promised you weren't being fired.
I told her that the company was a joke and she should reject them. She looked knowingly at her cooworker and changed the subject.
Two weeks later the property management company fired her and hired someone I believe was related to the owners?
She lived in the apartment complex, so I hope they didn't think as little of her as she thought of me.
@memphismary@sillyCoelophysis@jhooper@RickiTarr Last time around, the prospective landlord wanted me to pay the CRA's fee for their credit check of me. And then told me, when I asked, they would not provide a copy of said report if they denied me after seeing it. I told them that would violate federal law. They told me, and I quote, "fuck you I hope you die homeless".
@log@sillyCoelophysis@jhooper@RickiTarr holy shit no kidding. they are all really dangling the homelessness threat, don’t they. employers, creditors…can’t imagine what’s coming down the pike for us
@memphismary@sillyCoelophysis@jhooper@RickiTarr If a prospective landlord gets big mad when you do nothing more than telling them what the law is governing a proposed transaction, to me that is a red flag that they intend to violate one or more laws that they already know about, and don't want to be accountable for it. They sure do know plenty about eviction and whatnot. If they're getting into the credit reporting business too, they should probably self-educate.
@sillyCoelophysis@jhooper@RickiTarr I volunteer with an organization that helps families with children experiencing houselessness, and the vast majority of our client families have at least one adult working full time. Many people see a person with mental health issues (which are often caused by/exacerbated by being unhoused) and/or on drugs (often self-medicating; remember that when cops clear encampments they throw away prescription meds) and assume that's everyone who's unhoused.
@pooserville@sillyCoelophysis@jhooper They throw everything away, it's fucked up, so you basically can never leave your stuff anywhere. So, now you "look homeless" because you're carrying everything you own with you all the time
@RickiTarr
I’ve often thought of making a privilege tree and then map it out like a D and D character sheet so people can see the advantages they had that others did not. 🤔
It really opened my eyes and makes me grateful for what I have while I have it. 🥹
While also trying to understand the complexity behind the invisible musical chairs.🧠🌎
When I was young I was living one paycheck away from being homeless for a few years.
It's a horrible feeling and really affects your mental state.
I did the stay with friends a couple of times because I had to, and it was because of their help and encouragement that I was able to get my act together and reset my perspective on things.
I didn't know anyone who 'chose' to be homeless. They were in that situation for reasons not in their control.
@RickiTarr@maddad At age 35, any modicum of comfort in life that I once had was suddenly gone.
With only the clothes on my back, I felt defeated.
To say that the struggle of getting back to having a small bare apartment, and a job that barely covered rent was challenging, is an understatement.
Many of us are closer to this reality than we may want to admit.
@maddad
Housing insecurity, underemployment and financial drains from 'the system' all work against you. Couple that with the agreement we have as a society to look down on government systems (unless you are rich, wtf?) and you have thousands and thousands of people NOT taking advantage of a system they could be and seeing the help it gives everyone.
"Couch surfing" is pretty common among the home insecure. They might not be exactly the traditional "homeless" but they aren't exactly sitting in a place they can call stable.
I can't remember the statistic but it was high for the number of people who experience temporarily homelessness. Who are homeless for a limited time.
Society likes to pretend that it only happens to the "wrong". The unloved, friendless, drug addled or broken mentally and it's just not true.
I don't know if our society works at all without stigmatizing homelessness, similar to the way capitalism doesn't work without some boot on someone's neck, somewhere.
@helplessduck
Society is working as intended I'm afraid.
It (society), will tolerate whatever we allow. If some group of 100 people have more numbers on their computers than we do and we give that meaning... it has meaning. I'm not being silly, I'm being earnest. We need to allow the truth to happen.
The truth is, they (the 100) are okay with our deaths and destruction and we are okay with letting them make those decisions. If we, as a global group, decide we are not willing to tolerate it anymore - we won't.
It's why they are buying their islands and isolationist tools. They are trying to outrun the checks and balances of society. People tend to back away when I say things like this because I sound a touch aggro. I get it, I don't like how things look either.
@RickiTarr I have relatives who were in foster care in another era. They moved into their adults lives relatively successfully, for a few reasons.
They got lucky in having foster parents in their teens who were supportive, not abusive. A post-secondary education wasn’t required to get a job with a future and upward mobility opportunities. They were white, and didn’t face an added burden of racial marginalization.
“Aging out” of care these days means being cut loose, maybe no support.
@RickiTarr I learnt that there is a lot more homelessness than we think, when I was homeless with my children, after running from an abusive marriage. We were never street homeless, but we couch surfed, and then lived in temporary accommodation for nearly two years. I had always thought of only street homelessness as homelessness, and was surprised to find us classified as homeless, which, of course, we actually were. We are nice and secure now
@RickiTarr I do a couple hours a week where I get donuts and coffee and whatever I think folks might need and hang out in Augusta near the shelter. Foster kids, lgbtq kids that were kicked out, people bankrupted by medical bills, veterans, caretakers who lost their home when the person they were taking care of died. I don’t have money to do much more than coffee donuts and socks and dammit I shouldn’t HAVE to.
There is no safety net. There aren’t resources in place.
@RickiTarr yes yes yes and most of homeless ppl are from to put it plainly, extremely abusive households and poverty. It makes me so angry when ppl have little/no compassion for those on the streets, cuz all they think “oh they’re just drug takers/beggars etc” My dad once told me a story once of seeing a whole family on the street in the UK in the 90s and honestly it changed me how I see homeless folks tbh. Anyone can become a victim, to it, not just abuse and poverty alone.
I wish more people understood how easily a family can go from "things are a little tight" to "we might not have a place to stay". Part of the problem is that we don't talk about it, so many think that the percentage of people who have been in an insecure housing situation is much lower than it is.
@RickiTarr I’m in Canada and grew up with no fixed address in a travel trailer for a bunch of my childhood. I lived in numerous campgrounds alongside people living year round in tents lined in cardboard and blankets.
@RickiTarr I need to bookmark this and send it to my neighbor who always "wonders" (out loud) why the ever-increasing number of houseless people in our town can't "just stay on a friend's couch or with family." 🙄
Add in the fact that for people receiving state food benefits, the minute they become houseless (if they report it), their benefits drop to almost zero. It is nonsensical AF.
@RickiTarr It took me a long while to understand and then accept that I had been homeless for those years when I had the tenuous privilege of staying with friends and relatives.
It was so damaging to live with people who were just fine with threatening me with kicking me out to live in my car (yup, that was family).
I know how fortunate I am to have my own apartment now … and … how vulnerable I am.
People really have no concept of how involved "functioning in society" is, which is one (of many) reasons why the cult of the "individual" is so pernicious. Most of "privilege" boils down to social connection: navigating schools, jobs (& the job applications), personal finance (which is heavily dependent on having one to learn effective financial skills & thinking from), interpersonal relationships that then provide resources to fall back on in crisis....
It seems like the foster system assumes kids will just pick this stuff up "naturally." They don't put half the effort into preparing kids for the adult world that wildlife rehab workers invest in, say, raising up condors for reintroduction into the wild.
(Of course, that effort presumes awareness of the level of instruction needed, & the impression I get is that foster systems typically struggle just to keep kids fed & housed.)
@RickiTarr
I was in the foster system and while I was pretty young it definitely had an impact on me. The hand off to new families was weird and you never knew what you were going to get. I was very lucky to have my sister, the strongest person I know, so we pulled out of it
very few people “choose” to be homeless.
after graduating from the foster system and left with no support network, little cash reserves to get started, no safety net if they make just one mistake etc
not to mention people escaping domestic violence, sexual assault, psychological cruelty etc. the assumption all parents are “naturally
better” than living on the street is rubbish.
but also, physical housing shortages in many western countries are exacerbating the problem. even if people could afford the outrageous rents in the areas where there are jobs, there are no houses/flats available to rent. landlords which can make capital gains by buying and selling properties have no incentive to actually build extra homes.
during covid the problem was highlighted here (australia) because many people who are unhoused actually have jobs, and maintained gym memberships so they could shower before/after work, but gyms and similar facilities were closed during covid lock-downs.
some unhoused people even have furniture /possessions in storage waiting for the day there is something available to rent again.
sweeps of homeless camps are the beginning of the end, imo
Currently, 26 states have extended services for those in foster care that allow them to continue to receive services until they are 21 years old. However, it is underutilized.
One program that I encourage anyone interested in helping foster youth is CASA - Court Appointed Special Advocates. CASA programs are in every state (except North Dakota) and DC. It is similar to a Big Brother/Big Sister program as you will be assigned to a foster child. You spend time with the child and submit reports to the judge.
Social workers frequently change as some counties have a system in which a different social worker handles a specific step of the case. The CASA allows for continuity for the child. A CASA can make a huge difference in a child's life.
@Hey_Beth I always wish they'd extend it to 22, because that's when you'd feasibly finish a 4 year college degree, you can also stay on Medicaid until you're 26 in some states. Some kids, fed up with the system at 18 reject the help and then it's very hard to get back into a lot of programs, which sucks, way too many fall through the cracks.
I think CA extends through 21, so that would be up to the 22nd birthday. I worked the legal side of CPS, and if a foster youth was in the extended program, there were a lot of good outcomes.
@RickiTarr I have never been houseless, but I was functionally homeless for five years. I stayed at a friend's house, rent free; I lived on the margins of someone else's life. If that situation hadn't been available I don't know where I would've gone.
@RickiTarr there was a point in my life I was "flirting" with such a disaster. The only thing that saved me was the privilege of having resources available to prevent it
@RickiTarr Even those formerly rich find out the hard way that not a lot of their friends and family will hold the door open when they move in. They may never speak to you again.
@RickiTarr being in that minority, even though I was lucky to be on my feet quickly, really opened up all kinds of perspectives. Not many can understand it by empathy alone, so I respect you a lot for that 🙇♀️
Nobody chooses to suck at life. If that's all you see about a person, you don't know enough to judge them.
@RickiTarr anyone have any data on what percentage of people "chose" homelessness?
To clarify I think this number is almost certainly a tiny percentage. But curious if any studies have looked into this phenomena. There has to be at least a few people right?
@Rayston@RickiTarr I don't have data at hand, but my understanding is that there are two categories that could be thought of as "choice" homelessness:
--The vagabond sorts who feel stifled by jobs, permanent residences, etc.
--People who have intense addictions that compel them to "choose" the addiction over treatment or shelter rules, etc.
The former is a very small percentage, and these days, they're largely the "van life" crowd.
@textualdeviance@Rayston@RickiTarr (ftr I have years of experience working with that population). The correlation with addiction is focused on far too much. As our understanding improves, the more obvious it becomes that the truism that addiction causes homelessness is false. The correlation is due to the fact that addiction is a maladaptive coping mechanism for stress, and poverty and homelessness are so stressful that it causes long-term psychological damage, which perpetuates the cycle
@Vincarsi@textualdeviance@Rayston I was actually shocked how low the correlation is, but it's what everyone is told, so we just believe it, great point
@textualdeviance@Rayston@RickiTarr The fact that addiction is criminalised and stigmatized is far more of a factor in drug use preventing someone from finding shelter than any other factors. People who start using to cope with lack of basic needs (like shelter) become stuck in a catch-22 where they're refused help to solve the problem they're coping with unless they give up their only means to cope. This leads to being stuck for years instead of months and avoidable mental damage being done
@Vincarsi@textualdeviance@Rayston@RickiTarr I had always assumed that any causality would be in the reverse direction (that homelessness could cause addiction more than vice versa).
@not2b@textualdeviance@Rayston@RickiTarr That is the case far more commonly than the reverse. But decades of inaccurate media has led most people to believe that people who do drugs are just immoral people who would rather party all day than work and so it's their own fault when they're homeless. This attitude is probably the single biggest issue preventing the implementation of programs that are actually based on the evidence and have been successful elsewhere.
@Thebratdragon@not2b@textualdeviance@Rayston@RickiTarr tbh it's allowed as long as you're stable enough to maintain housing period. There are millions of functional addicts who don't end up on the street. Wine moms, middle class professionals who use coke or meth to do overtime...ect. Hell, it was plastered all over the news in my city when a well reputed professor died from an opioid overdose. The only difference is the homeless have no way to hide their use.
@Rayston@RickiTarr I think homelessness is choosing not to participate in society. We can talk about all the ways people fall into it, that's not what I'm talking about. Just a personal opinion: I make a distinction between "being housed" vs having a home. If you're living on the streets and your thoughts are along the lines of "I just want to go home" and there's some place that exists (even if it's just in your mind) that you consider home, then it makes no sense to say you are homeless. It's only once you have rejected the very notion of home life that you are really homeless. Homes are a social convention.
@quantumg@Rayston@RickiTarr yeah no. When I was homeless I would regularly think I wanted to go home, but I could never pinpoint a location. Wanna know why? Because I was fucking homeless! And because I grew up in poverty and my entire life has been moving frantically trying to find a permanent place to stay and never, to this day, finding one. But I've always wanted a home. I have a feeling this is more common than people who decided they don't want one.
@SoftwareTheron@RickiTarr I am assuming USA. There is homelessness everywhere but the US social "safety net" is subpar. EU/UK seem to be trying to catch up with being cruel to the poor, but we have a head start.
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