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Nearly Half of Homeless U.S. Veterans are Black
Published November 15, 2009 @ 06:05PM PT
Veterans experience homelessness at a greater rate than non-vets in the United States. But a new study finds that minority veterans - particularly African-Americans - are disproportionately represented among the homeless veteran population. Today, a whopping 45 percent of the homeless veteran population is African American, proving that race is still relevant to any discussion about poverty and homelessness in America.
These findings were revealed in a study by the Homelessness Research Institute at the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The study was released shortly after President Obama rolled out his bold-but-necessary plan of ending veteran homelessness in five years.
M. William Sermons, Director of the Homelessness Research Institute, told BlackAmericaWeb.com that the factors driving disproportionate homelessness rates among minority veterans are the same as those causing disproportionate rates of homelessness of minorities in the general homeless population. "Some of the risk factors affecting African-American men are high unemployment rates (almost double that of whites) and highly disproportionate rates of discharge from prisons and the foster care system."
In a perfect world, race would no longer be a factor when discussing issues of socio-economic equity. But clearly, this is not the case. This new data exposes the complex and continued link between poverty and race in America, even among those who have worn the uniform. To address poverty, to end homelessness, we must confront these challenging issues directly.
Image: scanned
What Happens and What's Forgotten When Number Crunchers Get Tough
Published November 13, 2009 @ 10:25AM PT
The only thing less sexy than learning about homelessness is statistics. Let's be honest. An intense interest in either makes you a very odd duck indeed. But to love the more challenging of the two takes a collection of unique propensities, including the talent of not being sickened or terrified by the sight of Roman numerals in sequence. Which entirely excludes me.
But maybe you love statistics. You trust them. If that's the case, you might find a lot in common with Michael Arnold, Executive Director for Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. A couple weeks ago he released the shocking and, frankly, implausible conclusion that homelessness in Los Angeles County has decreased by a whopping, recession-beating 38% in a report on the subject. Cue double-take. I know what you're thinking: if politicians wanted to cook the numbers, they might have been a little more conservative.
L.A.'s homeless service providers are just as suspicious. Advocates like David Snow at Santa Monica's Upward Bound House and Andy Bales at Union Rescue Mission point out that their agencies have seen a marked increase in service requests, particularly in the case of families. "There's no way that anybody who works with families would agree with [the conclusions of this report]," Bales said. While it's reasonable to consider how threatening the perception of decreased need might be for service providers, it's equally impossible to ignore national trends that support their experiences. For evidence of this, check out Shannon's post on family homelessness.
Despite all this, Arnold stands by his numbers. In Thursday's Los Angeles Times, he says of some of the study's most vocal critics, "Really, it's a very small number of agencies who have raised a cry, and most of them are family providers...I think a lot of their hue and cry is anecdotally based, not data based. They are spreading disinformation." Strong words. To a limited extent, he's right. The numbers are probably sound. Service providers are objecting mostly by using their personal experiences. That plus his impressive expertise makes it extraordinarily difficult to challenge the approach.
Except that I'm not someone convinced by numbers alone. Very few people are. What's incorrect about this study on the homeless and others like it isn't that they go astray in their methods or intentions (For more on this, consider David Henderson's post on the subject at the Inforum blog). It's more that they miss the forest for the trees.
For a bigger picture, you have to step back a bit, look at it from the perspective of, say, United Nations special rapporteur, Raquel Rolnik. This human rights investigator toured the United States recently to assess the current housing crisis. She wrapped up her visit in L.A. Thursday and was quoted by the London Guardian as saying, "I was shocked when I realised that the US, and countries in Europe - England - as well, had a solid housing policy for many years that worked pretty well. That was dismantled and the situation became worse...but I didn't expect to see what I have seen [here]. In some ways the situation is worse than I expected."
Bickering about 38% is laughable next to this observation.
Image courtesy of http://www.purple.com.
What Can 'The Wire' Teach Us About Homelessness?
Published November 02, 2009 @ 06:43AM PT
Harvard University officials announced yesterday that the school plans to offer a class that uses Season 5 of HBO's hit show "The Wire" as a case study for "urban issues" in America.
William Julius Wilson - one of the nation's leading scholars on urban poverty - told the Harvard Crimson that, "‘The Wire' has done more to enhance our understanding of the systemic urban inequality that constrains the lives of the poor than any published study."
It's an interesting observation. Why is it that a fictional television drama speak has the ability to speak to us more than data rooted in rigorous research? Are we overloaded with numbers and figures - some accurate, some hyperbolic - that we're wired to tune these things out? Do we only believe what we see with our own eyes, in our own neighborhoods?
If this is the case, then perhaps it's time we evaluate our world view. Our preeminent poverty experts and leading academic institutions are turning to a HBO series for a real look at urban poverty; perhaps we should take note.
Why not give it a try - watch Season 5 of The Wire. Take it a step beyond mindless entertainment and think about the issues presented in the show. We all have something to gain by opening our minds and trying to understand real issues happening the world around us.
Tackle Homelessness, Lower Health Care Costs
Published October 19, 2009 @ 07:07AM PT
Homelessness and health care are inextricably linked; the conversation about one simply cannot happen without addressing the other. A thorough understanding of the health costs associated with homelessness must be included in the debate surrounding health care reform. I think HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said it best: "If we want to talk health care reform, including lowering costs, we must tackle homelessness'
Homelessness and health care are cyclically linked. Homelessness can be a burden on our health care system, and a lack of health care can cause/aggravate homelessness. These are the points made resoundingly clear by Nan Roman, President of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, in a Huffington Post piece this week.
She noted four important points that should be circulated widely:
1. Not everyone living in poverty is eligible for Medicaid.
Non-disabled, childless adults are not eligible. Mothers with health conditions with children in healthcare are not eligible. Young adults aging out of foster care are not eligible. The list goes on.
2. Not every eligible homeless person is enrolled in Medicaid.
A 1996 nationwide study found that only 25 percent of single homeless adults were enrolled in Medicaid. So what do the remaining 75 percent do when they need to be treated? See point number three.
3. Leaving homeless people uninsured is costly and ineffective.
With fewer resources and less access to medical care, uninsured homeless people will often leave medical conditions untreated. When their health becomes so poor that they do seek treatment, they will often go to the emergency room. This is taxing for both a person's health, hospital resources, and communities who must foot the bill.
4. Poor health and expensive healthcare are causes of homelessness.
Untreated illness leads to disability, which leads to an inability to work, which leads to job loss. Unemployment remains the leading cause of homelessness. Medical expenses - insured or not - are the leading cause of bankruptcy. In other words, health care reform may have a huge, unintended effect: preventing homelessness.
Health care reform has the potential to benefit many people, but particularly those who are most vulnerable among us.
Image: Center for American Progress
Crisis Looming for NYC Homeless System
Published October 16, 2009 @ 10:37AM PT
The New York City homeless shelter population has hit an all-time high. Over 120,000 people sought shelter in NYC during the past year and 39,000 homeless people check into NYC shelters each night. With cold weather on the horizon, the number of people seeking shelter inevitable increases. What will this mean for a city already struggling to meet the current need?
This new information comes from a report published this week by the Coalition for the Homeless, a NYC homeless advocacy group. It said that the city has not seen such high levels of homelessness since the Great Depression. These alarming numbers come despite Mayor Bloomberg's commitment to ending homelessness "as we know it" back in 2004. Despite this commitment, the Coalition points out that homelessness has increased 45 percent since Bloomberg took office eight years ago.
Then again, pointing fingers during a time like this is useless. New York City has a crisis on its hands. If shelters were filled to the brim at the end of the summer, it's unsettling to think about the possibility of running out of shelter space come winter. This is not a far-fetched possibility, given that cold weather often sends people to shelters in droves.
Stop squabbling - politics can wait. It's time to start thinking about how to save lives this winter.
You Too Can Be a Homelessness Myth-Buster
Published October 09, 2009 @ 09:30AM PT
Pop quiz: how well do you know the makeup of your local homeless population? The Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida is putting their constituents to the test with a snazzy new online quiz.
With the click of a button, web-surfers are given a short, 5-question quiz about the makeup of the coalition's clientele. The answers were surprising. I thought I was onto their tricks, but I only got 4 out of 5 correct.
Luckily, the quiz concludes with explanations for each question, and gently encourages users to meet current and former clients by checking out the image gallery. This part was even better, "How'd you do? If you aren't satisfied with your score, or if you want to know more about the Coalition and our clients, maybe it's time to schedule a tour!" Awesome.
Paying attention, service providers? This is one cheap and easy tool with some serious homelessness myth-busting potential.
Take the quiz below. Better yet, take the quiz below and then create your own.
How Many People Are Homeless?
Published October 06, 2009 @ 01:51PM PT
It's a question we hear all the time, and for good reason. Knowing how many people experience homelessness puts the issue in context and helps us understand how widespread the issue is.
But, of course, it's never as easy as giving a nice, squeaky-clean number. Data is nuanced and can become complicated when you consider sub-population, geographic area, and differences in the definition of homelessness. Thus, understanding the methodology and data used to determine the number of homeless people is almost as important as knowing the number itself; it's illuminating.
This is why I was so thrilled to learn that the National Alliance to End Homelessness is coming out with a new series of Video Fact Sheets addressing common questions related to homelessness. The in the series addresses questions related to homelessness data. It really breaks it down with graphics, maps, and commentary from Homelessness Research Institute Director Bill Sermons.
If you've ever wondered where the numbers come from, why we're still talking about 2007 data, and how national figures are achieved when homeless census counts are conducted locally, you should definitely take seven minutes and watch this video.
Thanks to my friends at the Homelessness Research Institute at the National Alliance to End Homelessness for providing this important resource.
Image from alexkess' public Flickr photo stream.
