The Homeless Nation

“A community is an entity constituted by all those people who have to work out meaningful ways of living together” (Parker)

Maryte Gurekas, HW Columnist

Homelessness poses an ethical dilemma for a community looking for ways to work out a meaningful existence together.  How does the reality of homelessness fit in meaningfully? This seems to pit the rights of an individual up against the rights of a community, in that the basic right to be safe and protected casts a dark shadow upon the rights of the community at large.  On a philosophical level, stepping back and away from everything, one can clearly see the inherent rights of an individual.  Yet, it seems absolutely impossible to meet those rights without adhering to the framework of where the individual lives, which is within a society, a community, and as part of a socio-politically structured humanity. And still, despite the checks and balances, programmes, initiatives, laws and funding that have been put in place to keep the streets safe and the homeless out of cities, homelessness continues to grow – more than ever.

The only viable solution to homelessness is to first and foremost recognize that it is the responsibility of the community to address. It is everyone’s concern, not just government or interests groups. Once something has happened to the individual’s ability to remain safe, protected and housed in a space for living, it becomes our duty as citizens of a community to make that right. This serves the community at large in the long run. It gets the individual back into the fray of living like a member of society, rather than an quandary that no one knows what to do with.

I am not implying, however, that nothing is being done. There is an abundance of programmes, actions, resources and money available to alleviate the situation of homelessness in North America and Europe. One has to wonder, however, why it is not working to get people off the streets with a measure of efficacy.

stop telling me i need to think about the future/

cuz i’ll tell you that i know it’s bleak and to this i don’t even have to be mature/

(Another Slice.ca  by: krazy_ndn on 09/04/2010)

One of the alarming issues of homelessness is the increase of youth who end up on the streets. These are kids who simply slip between the cracks, often due to a lack of well-structured integrated services and policies that protect their rights. We continue to fail to address the social & ethical responsibility we have as a society to children and adolescents.

A project entitled Youthworks conducted a three-year research study on street youth in three Canadian cities in 2006. It was a thorough and comprehensive study tracking and involving 689 street youth. Their findings concur that a lack of co-ordinated “system integration” has failed these kids.

“Canada has not succeeded in either quantifying the issue, or in responding with comprehensive, lasting solutions.” (Evenson, Barr, 2006)

Most children live out their years of dependence within their nuclear family, good or bad, and eventually reach the age of independence and enter the next phase of their life. Another scenario is children who end up in foster care and other social services because of abuse, neglect, mental illness, violence in the home, parent incarceration and a myriad of situations where the child is displaced from the home. In each case, there is a failure of the nuclear family to provide protection and care for the dependent child.  This includes those who have run away or have been kicked out of the home. While most run-aways return home in a short period of time, those who choose to live on the streets do so because they possess extraordinary courage and/or extraordinary fear. Most children, even those who have been abused, still love their parents and the familiarity that “home” offers.  To choose the streets over home is an extraordinary measure.

If we return to the ethical question of individual rights, the case of homeless minors poses a further complication to the dilemma. It involves the rights of parents against the right of the individual child. We have laws in place that prohibit harbouring a child. So if a run-away goes to the police for safety from something that’s happened to them on the streets, parents have the right to know where that child is. In many cases, run-aways seeking help from authorities are returned home. Hostel, hospital, shelter workers, and good Samaritans, have an obligation to contact the authorities if the identity of a child is known. Sounds logical. Yet how can a run-away discern whom they can trust and cannot to meet their right to be safe and protected?  Most often than not, they make their own decisions based on past experiences, lack of life skills, or sheer fear. Steer away from authority and keep identity hidden is par for the course. This leaves homeless youth in an extremely vulnerable position. They are ripe for further abuse and exploitation and live with constant stress.

“Homelessness has less to do with the details of the individual’s biography, tragic as this may be, than with the social and legal context in which the tragedy unfolds.” (Parker)

The Human Resources and Skills Development Department of the Federal Government of Canada estimates that the number of homeless individuals ranges between 150,000 to 300,000. They state that this is a conservative estimate. The largest growth in homelessness is among single women and single-parent families headed by women.  Among those staggering numbers, 65,000 are young people.

Everyone who is homeless has a story to tell. Whether it is one of economic disaster or one of living a life of poverty, a case of mental illness, a case of immigration, abuse, disability, substance dependence or a choice between evils – somewhere along the line their right to exist safely has been mishandled or mismanaged. Often, it has also involved misjudgment.

Added to the personal risk factors of becoming homeless is the fact that affordable housing is sorely lacking in most major cities and substandard housing should be deemed as inhumane. Shelter space is limited and some have too many restrictions because of their limitations. Gentrification is on the rise, pushing homeless and low-income wage earners out of their communities and comfort zones. Those with mental illness who are deinstitutionalized lack an adequate community integration programme that checks up on them. They often fall through the cracks.  Young people “graduating” from foster care are given limited resources to start their adult lives.

There is a dire need to find creative solutions to reintegrate our homeless nations into our mainstream nations.

Youthworks target three strategic areas that need to be addressed and nationally co-ordinated:

1.       Prevention: what triggers homelessness

2.       Emergency Response: what immediate needs must be met to stabilize the situation?

3.       Transitions: affordable housing, services to help the homeless integrate successfully into mainstream society.

This involves everyone. Schools, hospitals, churches, government, media, social services, families, businesses and private citizens.  Ultimately, for any process to be sustainable, it requires political and social will to make it happen.

WORDS BE words friends be friends life be life and the end of it all

I’m out to lunch i miss you i hate you i can’t stop the thought

never more in the end it’s all the same

stop go in out

up down

(Another Slice.ca by:JezzyKitty on 05/11/2010)

Somewhere along the line, people who have ended up homeless have lost their capacity to be heard and therefore it is the community that needs to offer them that voice.

“Homeless Nation is the only website in the world created by and for the street community. It is a social network where all are welcome.”

Created by a documentary filmmaker, Daniel Cross, “Homeless Nation” has already garnered prestigious awards from the U.N. and the media as ground-breaking.  Homeless Nation gives not only an important voice to the homeless community, but also provides valuable information on resources, reports of the missing, blogs, poetry, articles of interest. There are almost 5000 current users.

Also giving voice and internet access to the homeless community is “ In Our Shoes”. Here we can listen to the individual stories to gain important insight and give a human face to the homeless.

“Another Slice” had me hooked. Yet another venue for the homeless youth community, it has poetry, comments, and sentiments that cut through the tape and straight to the heart.

On the 10th of the 10th 2010 millions of people around the world will mark World Homeless Day in many varied ways and change the lives of homeless people in their local community.

2010 is the inaugural year of  World Homeless Day. Over 50 countries have pledged local community involvement to raise awareness and support for the growing dilemma of homelessness in our developed nations.  Please take the time to peruse the site and others listed below. Give thought to what you can do as an individual to become part of the creative solutions to meaningfully integrate the homeless into your community.

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Article photo: Matthew Woitunski
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Sources:

Parker, Michael, “Community, Ethics and Homelessness” (93-103) in The Ethics of Homelessness: Philosophical Perspectives, G. John M. Abbamo, ed., 1999.

Evenson, Jeff & Barr, Carolann, YOUTH HOMELESSNESS IN CANADA: THE ROAD TO SOLUTIONS, Raising the Roof, 2006.

Government of Canada, Human Resources and Skills Development, www.hrsdc.gc.ca, accessed 25.09.2010.

www.raisingtheroof.org , accessed 25.09.2010

www.inourshoes.ca, accessed 22.09.2010

www.anotherslice.ca, accessed 20.09.2010

www.homelessnation.org, accessed 15.09.2010

http://www.worldhomelessday.org, accessed 10.09.2010p

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