Homelessness is a pervasive issue in New York City especially, as evidenced by the fact that many of our first thoughts for Issues of New York was homelessness. Interestingly, I don’t think anyone chose to follow up with it, likely because it is so often a dead end policy-wise and emotion-wise. In New York we don’t even see homeless people as human beings, just detritus. The Trevor Noah comedy night we had at Queens College last week involved a whole bit about homeless people trying to get money- as in, to survive- and everyone was laughing because they all know what’s it like from the outside looking in. And yet, these are human beings.
I read this lovely feature in the New York Times about a Girl Scout troop made up entirely of homeless girls and it was heartwarming. That HUD count that pointed out that 66 percent of homeless adults with children live with friends before entering shelters is vital to demonstrating that these families are trying. It’s just that people don’t have the ability to couch surf forever, especially with children.
When I was in elementary school, there was a little boy who used to annoy the hell out of me. He didn’t smell great, constantly fidgeted, and even fought with me. I complained about him to my mother, who went to the teacher, and the teacher, rather than shooing my mother off, actually explained to her that the boy had pent up energy and often was unable to shower properly because he lived in a shelter, and every day when he left school he had to go line up to make a bed for the night rather than playing with children his own age. Things like that exist because children continue to attend zoned schools even after they have lost their homes, often with little help from guidance counselors who have way too many other kids of whom to take care. I worry most about children.
I agree with the idea presented at the end of Chapter 9 that finding permanent housing for people should take priority over making sure they have fixed their substance abuse issues. Having a place to live that isn’t in danger of disappearing on you is essential to feeling stable as a human being, and being able to live somewhere permanently gives one the freedom from that anxiety and allows one to focus on then self-improvement.
Housing discrimination certainly exists, but New York State has taken significant measures (at least on paper) to combat this issue. Of course, the real housing discrimination exists in the price tag.
