5 Things

04-27-2009, 05:19 PM

5 Things You Should Know About Homelessness Shannon Moriarty Boston, MA Shannon has worked in homeless shelters and service organizations in San Francisco, the Triangle region of North Carolina, and currently in the greater Boston area. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University. 1. Homelessness is prevalent among foster children "About 25 percent of those who experience homelessness have spent some time in foster care or other out-of-home placements," says Martha Burt, a researcher and leading expert on homelessness for the Urban Institute. TheUS Department of Health & Human Service estimates that about 20,000 youth "age out" of the foster care system each year, meaning they are forced to leave their foster care placement and do not reunite with their biological family. Many of these youth have no choice but to become homeless. An estimated40 percent of young adults (18 to 20 years old) experiencing homelessness spent time in the foster care system as a child. According to Burt, homelessness as a young adult is a strong indicator in predicting who will be chronically homeless as adults. These youth have few ties, or no ties, and most have a history of abuse-both physical and sexual. This makes them very poor candidates for stable relationships, with either partners or friends who could help them get out of homelessness and create a stable home life. Given this vastly disproportionate representation of foster children among homeless youth, many communities are creating programs specifically for this population. Given the vastly disproportionate representation of homeless foster children among 18 to 21 year-olds, this should be a focus for communities seeking to end the cycle of poverty and homelessness. 2. Homeless people are being criminalized for being homeless Criminalizing the homeless can take many forms. For example, Sarasota, Florida has passed city ordinances preventing sitting, sleeping, or storing personal belongings in public places. Other cities have implemented sweeps designed to drive homeless people out of certain areas, often resulting in the destruction of personal property, including paperwork and medications. The list of Top 20 Meanest U.S. Cities is compiled bi-annually by theNational Coalition for the Homeless. The rankings are based on the number of anti-homeless laws in the city, the enforcement of those laws and severities of penalties, the general political climate toward homeless people in the city, local advocate support for the meanest designation, the city's history of criminalization measures, and the existence of pending or recently enacted criminalization legislation in the city. See if your hometown is identified as one of the Top 20 Meanest U.S. Cities towards the homeless. 3. The effects of the foreclosure crisis Nearly 61% of state and local homeless service organizations have seen a rise in homelessness since the foreclosure crisis began in 2007, according to an April 2008 studyby the National Coalition for the Homeless. According to the study, 76% of displaced homeowners and renters are moving in with family or friends and 54% are moving to emergency or transitional homeless shelters. 40% of those surveyed are already living on the streets. Major George Hood, national community relations secretary for the Salvation Army told ABC News We're really seeing an uptick in homelessness right now. You have to rescue some from sleeping in vehicles. They're embarrassed and don't want to ask for help. They've found themselves in situations they never expected. Many believe that the crisis has not yet reached its peak. The Center for Responsible Lending, for example, predicts that one in four subprime mortgages made in 2005 - 2006 will default. If this trend continues, and homelessness continues affecting people facing foreclosure, the housing crisis could very well morph into the homelessness crisis. 4. Homelessness among Iraq war veterans expected to increase One in four homeless people in America is a veteran. According to CNN, "government reports state that there are as many as 200,000 homeless veterans on any given night; the majority served in the Vietnam War. Some served in Korea or even World War II. About 2,000 served in Iraq or Afghanistan." The Department of Veteran's Affairs anticipates the rate of homelessness among veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan to increase steadily due to the post-traumatic stress disorder experienced by returning veterans. According to CNN: The VA says 70 percent of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan saw some form of combat, either through firefights, rocket attacks or the most common strikes on troops -- roadside bomb attacks on their vehicles. That is three times the rate of combat experienced by Vietnam veterans. Special traits of the current wars may contribute to homelessness, said the NY Times, including PTSD and traumatic brain injury, "which can cause unstable behavior and substance abuse, and the long and repeated tours of duty, which can make the reintegration into families and work all the harder." Phil Landis, chairman of Veterans Village of San Diego,told the NY Times, "We're beginning to see, across the country, the first trickle of this generation of warriors in homeless shelters. But we anticipate that it's going to be a tsunami." 5. Hate crimes directed at homeless people are on the rise From 2002 to 2005, hate crimes against the homeless increased 300%. Fatal attacks rose by 67%. A new study found that this number has increased even more - 65% - since 2005. Perhaps the most alarming element of these crimes, beyond the cruelty of the abuse, is that overwhelmingly the attackers are teenagers and young adults. In Florida, the problem is so severe (23% of violent crimes reported in 2007 occurred in Florida) that "the National Coalition for the Homeless is setting up speakers bureaus to address a culture that sees attacking the homeless as a sport," according to the NY Times. Michael Stoops, of the National Coalition for the Homeless, said that: There is currently no federal criminal prohibition against violent crimes directed at individuals because of their housing status, poverty or homelessness. People who are forced to live and sleep on the streets for lack of an appropriate alternative are in an extremely vulnerable situation, and it is unacceptable that hate crime prevention laws do not protect them. In the wake of this increase in violence towards the homeless, some states have added homeless people to groups protected by hate crime legislation.