>>Homeless

"The homeless are indeed the most egregious symbol of a cruel economy."
--Robert Hayes

According to the Stewart B. McKinney Act, 24 U.S.C (1994) a person is considered to be homeless who "lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence and…has a primary night-time residence that is : (A) a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations…(B) an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized, or (C) a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings." (1)

In the spring of 1997, Columbia University's Graduate School of International & Public Affairs and the Institute for Children & Poverty conducted a demographic survey of 743 homeless heads-of -household, residing in emergency and transitional family shelters in New York City and northern New Jersey. Many people think of lone, male, transient persons, when the term homeless is used. Today however, the typical homeless person is more likely to be a member of a family. In fact, families with children are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population, with the typical parent a young unmarried mother with two or three very young children. (2)

A typical homeless parent, today, is likely to have the following characteristics:

• she is young, single, with 2-3 children who have grown up in poverty;
  
• she experienced/witnessed domestic violence at some time in her life;
  
• she dropped out of high school, often due to pregnancy;
  
• at least one of her children has a chronic health problem;
  
• before becoming homeless, she lived with parents, a partner, or a roommate;
  
• she left her last permanent living situation due to overcrowding, an argument, or domestic violence;
  
• she is unemployed due to lack of childcare, lack of employability, or inability to find work; and
  
• she is dependent upon public assistance to support herself and her family. (2)

There are an estimated 600,000 families in shelters, nationwide. Of these homeless families, 30% have an open case for child abuse or neglect and 20% have lost at least one child to foster care. Almost half of all homeless children have witnessed or been victims of domestic violence and nearly 30% have been homeless more than one time. (3)

The U.S. Conference of Mayors surveyed 27 major cities, whose mayors were members of its Task Force on Hunger and Homelessness. They determined that 25% of urban homeless populations were composed of children younger than 18 years of age. Even more disturbing, 3% of the urban homeless were unaccompanied minors. (4)

There are many varied and complex factors that contribute to homelessness, according to the cities surveyed. In order of frequency, the following causes have been identified: lack of affordable housing, low paying jobs, substance abuse and the lack of needed services, mental illness and the lack of needed services, domestic violence, unemployment, poverty, prison release, and changes and cuts in public assistance. The homeless population is estimated to be 50% African-American, 35% European-American, 12 % Hispanic, 2% Native American, and 1% Asian-American. Further estimates of the homeless include: 22% are considered to be mentally ill; 34% are substance abusers; 20% are employed, and 11% are veterans. (4)

As the preceding information details, homelessness affects people from many different walks of life. There seems to be irrefutable evidence that this pervasive problem is increasing. Policy makers and the general public need to increase awareness of the devastation caused by homelessness and determine the means of breaking the cycle of poverty and homelessness. The consequences, to a free society, of ignoring this issue will likely be extremely costly.

1. National Coalition for the Homeless, "NCH Fact Sheet #3, Who is Homeless?, February 1999. retrieved January 05, 2002, from the World wide Web: http://www.nationalhomeless.org/who/html

2. Facts About Homelessness. Retrieved January 05, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.opendoor.com/hfh/factsframe.html

3. Homes for the Homeless and Columbia University, Homeless Families Today: Our Challenge Tomorrow. February, 1998. Retrieved January 05, 2002, from the World Wide Web:

4. U.S. Conference of Mayors. A Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness in America's Cities: 1998. 1620 Eye Street, NW, 4th Floor, Washington, DC, 200006-4005.

PETITION TO END HOMELESSNESS IN AMERICA

The following petition was sponsored by the Ad Hoc Committee for Housing--A Basic Human Right, and can be found at the following website: http://www.aestheticrealism.net/

Retrieved from the World Wide Web on January 05, 2002: http://www.Homelessness-DL-KVO-B.html

WHEREAS, there are 700,000 people homeless on any given night in America;

WHEREAS, federal funding for housing programs has dropped 97% in the last 24 years;

WHEREAS, there is currently no federal money allocated for public housing construction;

WHEREAS, $125 billion of our tax money went to subsidize corporations in a single year (1998);

WHEREAS, there is nothing in the US Constitution establishing or supporting profit economics;

WHEREAS, the Declaration of Independence calls for our government to secure for everyone "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness";

WHEREAS, fundamental to these rights is a person's right to a home;

We, the undersigned--One, Call upon the President and Congress to assume responsibility for providing a home--not a shelter, but a safe, well-built, comfortable, permanent home--for every man, woman, and child in America.

Two, We call upon our leaders at every level of government to cease and desist all tax subsidies and other assistance to privately owned profit-making industry and redirect that money instead for the common good of all Americans, towards the immediate eradication of homelessness in every city and state of our rich and abundant land.

Three, We hereby pledge our support for this kind, ethical undertaking and pledge to work with all interested parties in giving the best of our knowledge, experience and abilities to this beautiful, just, truly American endeavor--in keeping with this statement by the great American historian and founder of Aesthetic Realism, Eli Siegel:

The world should be owned by the people living in it. Every person should be seen as living in a world truly his. All persons should be seen as living in a world truly theirs.

http://www.urban.org/. (Urban Institute, Martha Burt, (202) 833-7200)
http://www.opendoor.com/hfh/facts.html (Homes for the Homeless The Institute for Children and Poverty)