Homelessness in Our Community
For those of us who live in busy cities, it becomes easy to ignore the homelessness problem that surrounds us. We see homeless people on the streets, in public parks, and even on our school campuses.
We accept their reality, yet choose to look the other way when addressing the issue at large. On the other hand, we tend to be pretty good at forming our own biased opinions about them. They’re either drug addicts, or have mental issues due to their addiction problems. There is no in between. Society has shaped us to be experts in placing labels, and categorizing groups of people who are in any way remotely different than us.
Why doesn’t our society teach us to be more empathetic? Or have compassion for one another? Better yet, why doesn’t it teach us to be better human beings in general? Take a look around you, look at your community, your family, friends and neighbors. What do you see? I’ll tell you what I see…
I too, live in a busy city. I was born and raised in San Jose California, and I consider it a luxury to continue to be here. San Jose, as many of you know, is a part of Silicon Valley. It is known to be the home of the world’s largest profiting high-tech companies, yet has the nation’s largest homelessness populations.
According to a Metro article publication, based on data collected from the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2015, the cost of living in Santa Clara County is “40% higher than the average cost of living in the United States.”
California’s minimum wage currently stands at $10.00 an hour, assuming an individual works 40 hours a week, and can manage to work an increment of 1.5 hours of over-time, “a single adult with no children would need to work 67 hours in a week to be above the cost of living threshold of $796 per week in Santa Clara” (U.S. Department of Labor, 2015). When taking into account the rising cost of living, where does that leave those who cannot keep up with the economic growth, those who simply lack the resources and academic background to strive for something better?
“The point is that homelessness is a problem or a crisis that we created. And if we created it, we can end it” (Somerville, 2013).
Thinking about homelessness as an individual problem is the wrong way to address the issue. We are failing as a society to ensure resources, funding and support are being provided so that all people have access to adequate housing.
On May 26, 2015, the County of Santa Clara released one of the largest studies in the United States to understand the true cost of homelessness in this community. The report titled “Home Not Found,” focused on solving the affordable-housing-crisis. It also provided necessary steps towards battling homelessness, and creating strategies for better structural efficiency. 1.) Invest in Homeless Prevention, 2.) Expand Local Rapid Re-Housing Programs, and 3.) Build Permanent Supportive Housing and Create New Housing.
Overall, the report estimated the total cost of homelessness would be $520 million per year. Although, this number sounds astronomical, when breaking down our budget and comparing it to what we actually spend, 13% of the costs is really nothing. For example: our health care system takes up (53%) of our budget spending, and our justice system (34%). Taking into consideration that it costs the government more money having homeless people on the streets, instead of providing them with adequate shelter and services. (Bay Area Mercury News, 2015.)
“There is no deficit in human resources; the deficit is in human will” (MLK, 1964).
Despite Silicon Valley’s reputation of large profiting industries, it’s members of the community are slowly headed towards a downward spiral of economic hardship. We need to empower ourselves to become the voices of those silenced by their social condition. If we stop addressing the issue of homelessness now, we are condemning many lives to a persistent dehumanizing systemic crisis.
