A Rock and a Hard Place
Several of my friends and acquaintences are or were homeless, that is to say, having no permanent address. At least four of my long term housemates over the last 30 years were homeless before they moved in with me. Of those, two lived in their vehicle, two were couch surfing. None of them were addicts. Another married couple had been priced out of their apartment, and the market had become tight, so if they hadn’t moved in with me, they would have been homeless. Most of these housemates have/had physical or mental disabilities, or were senior citizens.
One of the housemates died 15 years ago from medical neglect, anti-fat bias, and stereotyping. She was barely 40. But at least she wasn’t sleeping in her van in a friend’s driveway, which turned out to be the driveway of the house I subsequently rented with her as a roommate. Another stayed with us instead of sleeping on the street while waiting for Section 8 housing when the person she was living with moved out of state, and her full time job didn’t pay enough to cover the rent.
I also know retirees who have to use food banks because their social security doesn’t go far enough, and their employer screwed them out of a pension.
I’m just one person. Even though I’m disabled, female, and well over 30, I’ve managed to make enough to cover my costs, plus be able to provide cover for my wife, and a succession of housemates over the years.
Even though most of my housemates came into it from homelessness or near homelessness, they weren’t the dregs of society, like many people make them out to be. All of them have loved books, science fiction and/or fantasy, and various other geeky pursuits. Even the “slowest” of them had many good conversations with us over mutual interests. But they weren’t the “beautiful people”, either. Then again, neither am I. I also was on the brink of homelessness years ago, to the point that I didn’t even have a running vehicle. My plan was to couch surf, provided I could find willing hosts. As it was, I literally got a job and found an apartment within a week of my deadline. It was a shitty job, and the apartment was another crappy apartment, but it beat living under a bridge.
My reason for writing this is not to humble-brag. It’s to point out to people that this homelessness problem is now chronic in Silicon Valley, and all of the United States. Also, it’s to point out that there will not be any solutions unless we as individuals stop with the NIMBY bullshit, and start with “who do I know that is on the edge or on the outside” and pull them back in to our own homes, and make room for them in our communities.
I am a member of my local Nextdoor. Regularly I see people complaining about the “homeless problem” in downtown San Jose. People gripe about people living on the streets, but don’t want more shelters in the neighborhood. I read article after article about people whining about the “mess” of homelessness, but they don’t have any political will to demand that our governments fund affordable housing, medical treatment or drug legalization and treatment.
The one and only true solution to homelessness is housing. Yes, once you provide the person stable housing they may have other problems to deal with, but at least they have a place to sleep, wash and eliminate without it being a public health hazard. The “tiny home” movement would do wonders, except public authorities say they “don’t meet code”, so the people are better off somehow with nothing at all after they steal their homes and destroy them.
On one route that I take to work, I count the number of beat up old trailers and camper vans parked by the side of the road. This morning it was 17. Many of them are held together by tarps and duct tape. I know damn well that at least one of more person calls each one of those “home”. They are the lucky ones — they at least have a mobile roof.
But yet people want to demonize people living in vehicles, calling them “Suspicious character living out in his car” (a Toyota, FFS), with one respondant saying “If you’re concerned call the police. I think there is a municipal code prohibiting habitation of a vehicle.” What absolute shitheads. They would rather the guy was pushing a shopping cart with all of his worldly possessions and sleeping in an alley? That’s what will happen if the cops bust him for “habitation of a vehicle” — his car will get towed (stolen by the cops) with all of his stuff in it, he will get a ticket that he can’t pay, and he will spiral farther downward.
(Update) Here’s one such exchange:
Candy XXXXX: “Suspicious character living out in his car
Has anyone else noticed this asian male loitering in his car off of street A and Street B? I’ve noticed he hasn’t left his car since Sunday. At certain points in the day the man is fully clothed and then will just be in boxers and a tank. It seems like he might be on a substance as I’ve seen him rock back and forth and have caught him urinating around the area.”
L J Laubenheimer: “Would you rather he slept in his car, or on the sidewalk?”
Chris YYYYY: “Laubenheimer please confront this individual and explain this situation. Explain everyone would be very happy if he would move his car in front of your home! Thank You.”
The sheer fucking arrogance of those douchebags just galls the shit out of me. I don’t think there’s substance abuse involved, although maybe mental illness or just trauma. By trying to be reasonable I get some jackass throwing a question about what would be better back on me as if by giving a damn I was solely responsible to fix it! BTW, if I didn’t have handicapped parking in front of my house, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. As it is, there is at least one car-housed couple living on my street. I don’t complain about it, like this jackass, because the realistic alternative is worse.
As a person lives longer and longer on the street, it takes a toll. Even those who are stuck in marginal job moving from couch to couch, or parking spot to parking spot will quickly show signs of the strain. The stress takes years off of their lives. Their whole body becomes grey and worn. They get sicker quicker, and clog emergency rooms because without an address they can’t get medical insurance, and even if they can get MediCal, the waits are forever and the doctors stereotype them as “drug seekers”, “hypochondriacs”, “lazy fatties”, or just plain “losers” who don’t deserve more than five minutes without listening and impossible demands to do things having nothing to do with why they are seen.
Some people will say, just like the jackass above, “Well, if you want to house them so badly, invite them into your home!” (Or “park in front of your house!” like the example above.) My response is “See the first part of this article”. If I had room for more, and got along with the people already here, I would, in a heartbeat.
But it shouldn’t be all on me, or just other advocates and activists. It is incumbent on our society as a whole to provide for those who can’t, for whatever reason. We need to stop shafting the elderly, the physically and mentally disabled, and the recovering addict. Sure, we don’t want to give people something for “free”. But what if we consider our compensation to be those people not pooping on our lawns, peeing on our fences and crowding our jails due to unpaid “vagrancy” fines? (You do know it’s cheaper to give someone a “free” apartment than a jail cell, right?) Housing the homeless is not only the right thing to do, but it will actually save society money in the long run by avoid jail, law enforcement, medical, and cleanup expenses.
Ask yourself what you have done lately to help solve homelessness. After all, far too many of us are only a paycheck or two away from living in our cars, even if we don’t want to admit it.
(Updated to add example of blatant disregard and nimbyism.)
