
The Secret Lives of Homeless Students - sarika008
https://medium.com/bright/the-secret-lives-of-homeless-students-a4b506ded525
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Mz
I think it is a shame that this has been upvoted so much and not commented
upon yet. I happen to be homeless and I know there are other people here who
are struggling in the present -- pleas for help sometimes show up here by
people in real trouble -- and I know there are people here who have been
homeless in the past.

As a nation, we need to work on putting together a better social safety net
and we need to work on making a whole lot more affordable housing available. I
don't recall the exact figures off the top of my head, but the number of
available affordable housing units is some relatively small percentage of
demand. This is in part because of the way taxes and financing and things like
that are structured. It is in part because we have done away with a lot of
affordable options in a lot of places, like SROs and boarding houses. The
types of places young single people used to live largely no longer exist.

As a nation, our track record for caring for our children really sucks. This
is a very poor policy that hurts the future of our country. We are churning
out relatively large numbers of people with terrible childhoods and then
wondering why so much fails to go smoothly. We are grinding up a very high
percentage of future citizens and then expecting them to somehow solve it
themselves. Aside from any moral concerns, this is just a terrible thing to do
to ourselves as a nation. We are flushing a great deal of human capital down
the toilet by caring so little about the welfare of our children.

Edit:

From the end of the article: _This also means that we need to de-stigmatize
homelessness, so students in need will self-identify and get the help they
need._

This is part of why I am open about being homeless, although I know that in
the short term it hurts me. I would probably be taken more seriously here and
other places if I weren't open about being homeless currently. I was one of
the top three students of my graduating high school class. I have about six
years of college, including an AA and 2 certificates and I am a few classes
short of a bachelor's. But I realize that my lack of housing is something that
convinces many people I am simply incompetent and I get dismissed and they
move on. And that needs to change if things are ever going to improve in this
country. As long as people figure homeless folks are merely inept, they aren't
going to try to get at the real roots of the problem, like sky high housing
costs.

~~~
marincounty
Homelessness in America is our biggest problem. It's just going to get worse.
I don't know why politicians/people are in such denial?

I don't have any sure fire answers, but right now every county should have a
piece of land reserved for homeless individuals. Just a place you can pitch a
tent, access to out house, and portable washing facilities.

Right now most counties/town will ticket you for living in you car, and
campgrounds are not available, nor cost effective.(Where are they suspose to
go?)

Every county that does not comply will forfeit all funds from the federal
government--period. That is if we can get a president/congress really
interested in solving the problem?

As to the fear of crime and drug use in these designated areas--if there's a
problem police can always be called. I'm sure they can be dragged away from
revenue collection?

To the person I am replying to--apply to section 8 housing. It will be awhile,
but get on the list if it's even open? Hang in there. We do care! I think most
of us are in a state of denial? I do know this--I know too many homeless
former Programmers? This community should be discussing the problem?

~~~
Mz
_but right now every county should have a piece of land reserved for homeless
individuals. Just a place you can pitch a tent, access to out house, and
portable washing facilities_

There is no way in hell I would camp there.

FWIW, I was working on becoming an urban planner when life got in the way. My
incomplete bachelor's is in Environmental Resource Management with a
concentration in Housing and I took a class on Homelessness and Public Policy
as part of that. I was a subforum moderator and active participant for a time
on the world's foremost planning forum.

I will reiterate that changing a lot of government policies will have to
happen so that housing costs can come down. Right now, we have a lot of really
crappy policies that actively inflate housing sizes and prices and create a
growing divide between the haves and have nots.

 _To the person I am replying to--apply to section 8 housing._

Yeah, that's not going to happen. I will suggest that people like you are part
of the problem. The only thing you know about me is that I am homeless, so you
think a one off suggestion from you can solve significant and complicated
problems. You are doing exactly what I described above: Assuming I am inept.
That will not help me. It will not help anyone. It only deepens the problem.

 _We do care!_

There are people who genuinely do care. You aren't exactly coming across as
one of them.

~~~
powera
Why are you both saying "we need to work on putting together a better social
safety net and we need to work on making a whole lot more affordable housing
available" and dismissing Section 8 Housing, which, as far as I can tell from
a reading on Wikipedia, is a social safety net that provides affordable
housing? Is there something specifically wrong with Section 8?

~~~
Mz
Section 8 housing is rental housing. Like a high percentage of homeless
people, part of why I am on the street is that I have a serious medical
condition. I don't want to ever rent again. Having a high degree of control
over my home is necessary for me to stay healthy and off drugs. I would rather
remain homeless than give up my agency by entering a shelter or a government
program that sets a low bar for quality of life because they figure that
"beggars can't be choosers."

I am talking about a social safety net for _citizens_ that first and foremost
respects them as people with a right to choose and a right to expect a high
standard of living. Most American welfare programs are designed in a way that
is enormously disrespectful and expects people to accept some pretty crappy
things because in order to get help, you first need to be defined as _poor._
That's a terrible way to create a social safety net. Other countries have a
better track record of providing a safety net for their citizens that allows
them to access benefits while still middle class or regardless of their social
class. America is pretty bad about not doing anything for you until after you
are poor and then doing things that help keep your poor and actively
discourage upward mobility.

Edit: I have no idea why this has been downvoted, but my medical condition is
deadly and torturous. It is also incredibly expensive to treat with
conventional medicine, like $100k/year and up. Compared to that, sleeping in a
tent is a minor inconvenience. I have done much better since walking away from
a crappy, mold-infested apartment. So I have no plans to go back to renting.
Ever.

~~~
rifung
What do you propose to do instead of providing affordable rental housing? I
can't imagine it'd be practical to provide free housing after all.

I guess I'm just a little confused because you definitely sound like you have
a strong opinion on the matter and disagree with what other people think
should be done but don't really get into specifics about what you think should
be done.

It sounds like right now we have a safety social net for poor people, but you
don't think that's a good idea. Does this mean that you think we need a safety
social net for people who aren't poor as well? But if they aren't poor why
would they need one? Perhaps I'm "part of the problem" so do enlighten me.

Also, at least based off your situation, it seems like what we really need
isn't just affordable housing but treatment for those with mental illness.
Despite the fact that I actually have health insurance I'm still hesitant to
get treatment because it's so expensive.

~~~
slazaro
> Does this mean that you think we need a safety social net for people who
> aren't poor as well? But if they aren't poor why would they need one?

From what I've understood from threads like this, I think the idea is that
social services designed for people in need should not try to prove that the
person requesting actually needs it. It creates friction, and it's a waste of
resources (money, people, time), and some people that need the service might
not get it because the system fucks up every now and then.

If you'd open it up to whoever asked for it, people in need would naturally
request it and get it, and people that don't wouldn't. If someone abused the
system (and this is the big assumption IMO), the amount lost would probably be
lower than what would have been spent trying to enforce requirements. So you'd
solve the false negatives and would also spend less, and the system would be
simpler.

Of course, I don't know much about this, this is what I've gathered from
reading around.

~~~
Mz
From years of study and first-hand experience, defining "need" based on
something _other than_ income is far more effective in helping people attain
and keep a middle class lifestyle. Requiring people to first be able to meet a
definition of poverty helps encourage people to fail and actively creates
barriers to escaping poverty.

So, for example:

Affordable, good quality health care for all.

Price breaks on public transit passes for people who are handicapped (this
actually exists and I think is a good example of something helpful).

Functioning public transit systems that give people options other than owning
a car for how to get around.

An abundance of affordable, decent housing -- where "affordable" is not a code
word for _slum housing_ but honestly just means the price is not out of reach
of average folks with ordinary jobs. Lack of affordable housing is such a
problem in some places that police, teachers and so on often cannot afford to
live in the communities they serve. These are not people who are incompetent
and looking for a handout, yet some communities have to set up special
programs to help them buy a house or live reasonably close to work because our
housing policies are so horribly broken.

Maternity leave and other policies that help women get and keep jobs and
pursue real careers. I read a lot about this in my twenties. In America, women
pursued the American historical position of "Don't tread on me!" and took the
position that "I can too do the job if you just get the fuck out of my way."
The result is that women who are without a man and without children make about
98% of what men make who have similar education and experience. But the minute
you introduce a man or a child into the picture, American women make more like
2/3s what men make -- the same figure cited in the bible as what women were
worth compared to men 2000-ish years ago. In contrast, European women have
pushed for help in carrying the burden of bearing and raising kids and the
result has been substantially more gains in terms of closing the wage gap and
overall lower divorce rates.

The things you are suggesting are problematic because it actively
disincentivizes working. I am not for just free handouts for poor people. I am
for fixing the system so it stops actively creating problems and pushing folks
off a cliff and then blaming them when their life falls apart and they can't
figure out how to get it back together.

~~~
slazaro
What are your thoughts on basic income?

~~~
Mz
I strongly suspect it is a recipe for disaster and have written about that
here: [http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2014/09/nightmare-
fu...](http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2014/09/nightmare-fuel-world-
of-nothing-but.html)

------
huuu
Serious question: am I right when I think the first thing homeless people need
is a place[1] to call their private home?

[1] tent, cabin, whatever provides enough shelter.

Edit: note the 'private'. Some people think shelter is enough. But I think you
might need to have a private space to get your head straight.

~~~
steveklabnik
On the surface, sure. Homelessness is the lack of a home, so giving someone
who is homeless a home 'fixes' it.

But, as you seem to suspect, it's not that simple. There's an underlying
reason for why that particular individual does not have a home in the first
place, and that needs to be addressed to truly fix the problem. See Mz's
comments in the rest of the thread for one example. Another is that there is a
_high_ amount of correlation between homelessness and mental illness (in the
States, anyway), and is a result of a lack of care in that area.

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hitlerwasright
>is homeless, complains about the adversity, wants to go to college to make a
better life

>studies fine arts

yep. sure is modern society

------
lowbloodsugar
Did Cleveland State make improvements to justify a tripling of tuition or did
something else happen?

~~~
steveklabnik
I can't tell you about that college specifically, but my tuition doubled over
the course of my education, from 2004 -> 2009\. No major changes, really, and
in fact, the CS department was basically dying.

Personal theory: it became easier to get loans, and schools know that students
aren't exactly price sensitive. What's the difference between $2k and $4k a
semester when you're paying it off years later anyway?

(Turns out, a lot, but not when every single influence in the world is
_screaming_ that if you don't go to college, you're a failure.)

------
kumarski
Hells yeah for chutzpah and grit.

