Most Popular Homelessness Posts
Homelessness Up or Down: Make Up Your Mind, Bureaucrats!
Published October 23, 2008 @ 06:02AM PT
SLO Homeless blogger Michael wrote an excellent post yesterday in response to this week's USA Today article reporting the increase in family homelessness in the 12 largest cities in America. This doesn't seem to be at odds with the perilous headlines that we've seen lately, so it wasn't much of a shocker to me.
Oddly enough, in July, USA Today was reporting that there has been a 15% decrease in homelessness! Here's a little history lesson, courtesy of SLO Homeless:
This past July, HUD patted itself on the back and issued a press release making claims that the numbers of homeless were down 15 percent. The total reduction in homeless persons, according to the press release, was 32,000 from 2005 through 2007. Even the news media were patting HUD on the back with their headlines such as this one from USA Today on July 29, 2008: Drop in homeless count seen as "success story"
Seems crazy, right? Amidst a foreclosure crisis and the start of the downward spiraling of our economy, HUD was claiming that homelessness had actually become less of a problem. Michael attributes this absurdity to the "bureaucratic mindset":
Famous People Who Have Been Homeless
Published October 23, 2008 @ 04:27AM PT
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With all the recent talk of foreclosures, the economic crisis, homeless families, and hate crimes, I've been in need of a good dose of optimism. Luckily, I found one on Homeless Tales.
Homeless Tales has compiled a list of 33 actors, singers, writers, and Nobel laureates who were, at one time or another, homeless. Some were living in cars before careers began, others experienced great success then became reclusive, fading away on the streets.
You might be surprised by some of the names on this list. Here's a sampling:
David Letterman: Emmy Award-winning television writer, comedian, author and talk-show host of the television talk-show Late Show with David Letterman spent time living out of his Chevy pickup truck while struggling to establish his career.
Halle Berry: In an interview with magazine, US Weekly, Berry stated that she had stayed in a shelter for a time.
Bobby Driscoll: Oscar-winning actor (as child star); the original voice of Walt Disney's 1953 Peter Pan animated movie died alone and destitute of a heart attack at age 31. The body was discovered by boys playing in a vacant tenement building in New York City and was buried in an unmarked grave, unidentified until several months later.
Ella Fitzgerald: Ella spent years as a struggling, homeless teenager before she was discovered in a singing competition.
Read the rest of the list here.
I guess this is proof that even the most dire situations can turn around for the better. Or, perhaps more realistically, that homelessness is a condition that can happen to anyone.
The Push for Homeless Hate Crime Protection Intensifies
Published October 22, 2008 @ 07:52PM PT
[Picture: A memorial service for John McGraham in LA.]
Last week, John McGraham, a homeless man who lived on the streets of LA, was brutally murdered when he was doused in gasoline and set on fire. His tragic death has stirred the LA community and renewed the movement to include homeless people in the categories covered by federal hate crime legislation.
According to a Time Magazine article, homeless people are much more vulnerable to fatal attacks than individuals in groups currently protected by hate crime legislations (bias-motivated violence and intimidation against individuals based on their sexual orientation, race, or religion). Here's some food for thought:
- 1 in 4 attacks reported against the homeless end fatally, whereas 1 in 10 attacks reported against other hate-crime-protected groups end fatally
- In 2006, the last year that FBI figures are available for hate crime fatalities, three individuals in the protected classes were killed versus 20 homeless individuals.
Veterans Fight a Losing Battle Against Foreclosure
Published October 22, 2008 @ 11:50AM PT
Veterans who survived car bombs and ambush in Iraq are fighting a losing battle on American soil, according to an article by the Kansas City Star. Areas of the country with large numbers of military personnel have foreclosures at a rate four times the national average.
For some of the veterans disability is a major factor. But even veterans without disabilities are having trouble for a variety of reasons: unemployment and repeated calls to duty, frequent relocations that limit the chance to build equity, and low pay for active service members.
Additionally, many military families were targeted by subprime mortgage sellers that opened offices near bases, leaving the families paying higher interest rates and more loan fees.
“They either can’t make a rent payment or mortgage payment, or they’re losing their car, or at least the threat is there,” said Shari Grewe, a transition patient advocate at the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center for veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. She deals with about 35 veterans a day who are having trouble making payments, among other problems.
Luckily, the VA (Veteran's Affairs) can step in to negotiate with lenders on the veteran's behalf, examining options that could save a family from foreclosure, such as repayment plans or loan modifications. But in an odd twist, the article reports that most veterans do not take advantage of these intervention resources.
Many of the Vietnam vets seen by Nicole McCrory, a certified foreclosure intervention and default counselor at Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph, do not want to go to the VA.
“Korean and Iraq (era veterans) seem more willing,” she said.
A Home On Four Wheels
Published October 22, 2008 @ 10:01AM PT
Two months ago, the Tufts family - Janel, Dard, and their three little boys - were living a comfortable, middle-class life in Wyoming. Today, the entire family is lives out of the family's most valuable possession: a minivan.
KFMB in San Diego told the story today on the Tufts family's plight into homelessness:
Dard lost his well-paying construction job. Janel's waitressing job was not enough to make ends meet, and the family lost their home. They packed up and headed west, expecting to find work quickly. Instead, they're now homeless, spending their nights parked along the beach, and their days trying to find room at local shelters.
The three boys, ages 3, 4 and 7, cram into the back seats of the 15-year-old minivan to sleep. During the day, the family searches for work, shelter and food, often getting lunch at St. Vincent de Paul's and managing breakfast and dinner themselves, cooking with a propane stove.
To keep the kids clean, the Tufts take advantage of public restrooms at the beach.
"Our days are so full with simply staying clean, getting food, you know, making sure the kids are taken care of," Janel said.
"Alarming" Increase in Homeless Families
Published October 21, 2008 @ 09:24AM PT
Families with children are rapidly becoming the new face of homelessness in America, according to a survey released this morning by USA Today. The twelve largest cities in the U.S. have all seen an increase in family homelessness in the past year.
In New York, the number of families with children seeking shelter has increased 32% since 2007. Hennepin County (which includes Minneapolis) has seen a 26% increase in families seeking shelter, and at least ten percent of these families were renters in properties that were foreclosed. In Portland, the number of requests for emergency shelter have doubled since last year.
"Everywhere I go, I hear there is an increase" in the need for housing aid, especially for families, says Philip Mangano, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which coordinates federal programs. He says the main causes are job losses and foreclosures.
Other factors have been higher food and fuel prices hitting families with "no cushion," says Nan Roman of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
Clearly, mounting economic pressures, foreclosures, and the ever-increasing costs of living are hitting families hard.
Although this article only examined densly populated urban areas, we cannot forget about the thousands of families who are struggling in rural America. It's difficult to measure homelessness in these areas of the country since there are not many shelters or service-providers to provide data. As a result, homelessness in rural areas of the country often goes unreported, leading many people to believe homelessness only affects people in cities.
The moral of the story: if family homelessness is increasing the twelve largest cities in the U.S., it is no doubt affecting people in rural areas as well.
"The Soloist" Release Date Delayed
Published October 21, 2008 @ 05:14AM PT
Paramount Studios announced this week they are delaying the release date of The Soloist, a movie about a homeless, schizophrenic virtuoso violinist (Jamie Foxx) and the LA Times columnist who befriends him (Robert Downey Jr.). It was scheduled to be in theaters before Thanksgiving, but thanks to our rough economy, they're holding off until mid-March 2009.
Bummer. The impatient, easily-excitable side of me was really looking forward to seeing this film. And apparently, I wasn't the only one. The blogosphere was buzzing with talk of Oscar nods for both the film and the actors.
Homelessness.change.org will feature lots of interviews and background content about The Soloist leading up to its release... so stay tuned.
[Alas, this trailor will have to hold us over until March!]
