Ten Myths About Homelessness Debunked

The first thing homelessness takes from you isn’t you home it’s your humanity the two primary drivers of this is the language we choose to use and the myths we perpetuate about those who fall through the cracks into this human rights nightmare we call homelessness. The aim here is to return some of that humanity that was stolen from them by dispelling some of the myths and changing some of the language that does this and helps to perpetuate homelessness specifically and poverty more broadly.

One: Perhaps the biggest lie we tell ourselves about homelessness is that it can’t happen to me or someone in my family.

Let me stop you right there, this simply couldn’t be further from the truth, homelessness can happen to anyone, at any time, for any of a, thousand and one reasons.

Think of this as a top ten within this ten myths listicle. We’ll call it a two for one.

One: 31% of people lose their housing due to a loss of employment by one or more members of a household.

Two: 20% lose their housing due to substance abuse.

Three: 15% lose housing due to divorce or separation

Four: 13% lose housing because they got into an argument with a family member who asked them to leave.

Five: 12% lose their housing due to incarceration, either because they couldn’t pay rent or because they were released to the street after a period of incarceration and had no support system in place.

Six: 10% were evicted

Seven: 7% lost their housing due to domestic violence

Eight: 7% lose their housing due to mental health reasons, including stays in a treatment facility

Nine: 7% lose their housing due to some physical health or medical condition

Ten: 1% lose housing to overly restrictive probation or parole conditions

Though any one of these can be the cause of homelessness it is often a combination of two or more. For those of you still unconvinced, who might be saying well, those people were already poor let me introduce you to Alfred Postell.

I met Alfred in Farragut Square in the Golden Triangle section of Washington, D.C. just a couple of blocks from the White House, someone had stolen the two suitcases I had previously seen him with which contained all of his possessions he had on him. At this point in my life, I was working on a photo documentary on homelessness and had been living on the streets myself with my wife (Dani) to capture life from the perspective of those living on the streets.

Dani, myself and several other folks we knew helped him look for the suitcases, after looking in every ally, dumpster and trash can we could find in a three-block radius all we could find was some of his papers, his clothes, toiletries, many of his other personal effects and the suitcases were gone.

But we earned his trust that day, little did we know that the man we met living on the streets near Farragut West Metro Station, crying over his stolen belongings was actually Harvard Law School Graduate (Class of 1979) and Lawyer still licensed to practice when we knew him, in addition to his law degree he also holds two others one in accounting and one in economics.

His life fell apart in the mid-1980s after being diagnosed with Schizophrenia leading him to the streets of DC after several decades of struggle with the illness, the last time I would see him was in the winter of 2014 just before Christmas, six months later he would end up in front of a DC Circuit Court Judge named Thomas Motley who remembered him from his law class and his story would come to the attention of the media.

He had it all and like so many before and since a tragedy struck that neither he nor anyone else could have prevented and like a force of nature he was forced from his climb up the ladders of success after doing everything right in his life, into the depths of a human nightmare that consumed his internal and external worlds.

The point is people end up on the streets for any number of reasons from the Vietnam veteran I met in front of the VA waiting on a housing voucher, named Frosty to Charles Gladden who worked in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in the Kitchen, and they come from all walks of life.

But I digress this is a listicle after all and we still have nine more to go, don’t we.

Two: Homeless people choose to be homeless and/or can get off the street on their own if they wanted to.

This is the very meaning of absurdity; I have never met a single homeless person who wanted to be on the street for even one second. Why would they, life on the street is a Hobbesian nightmare “nasty, brutish and short,” every day is a constant struggle for your very survival?

From where what and when your next meal will be, where to sleep if you can even find a safe place, constantly wondering if and when you will be attacked, if your, a woman the chances of an assault of some sort go up exponentially, struggling against exposure, disease.

Even the most basic question of where to use the bathroom become extremely difficult if not at times impossible to answer, in many places if you can’t afford to buy something you can’t use their bathrooms other still take it a step further and outright ban you for simply looking too poor or homeless and this is only the tip of the human rights nightmare called homelessness. Like I said no one would ever want to endure homelessness.

(I know what your, thinking, your, thinking I got you on this one. You chose to live on the street for your photo-documentary work, and all though it may have been technically true, the reality of it was much deeper. We were compelled by our empathy for those suffering from this blight on the soul of humanity and still do, so much so that it became an obsession. So, no we didn’t have a choice, we felt that if we didn’t use the talents, we were blessed with for this then they would have been wasted on us and there was only one way to truly tell those stories right, to accompany them and capture their lives from their perspective.)

Look I know it’s easier to look around and tell yourself it’s their fault they’re homeless but the truth is that it’s not the homeless who are broken but the system and society in which we find them that is broken.

Two major factors in the rise of homelessness in America is the continued rise of housing costs while wages have remained stagnant these are purely structural issues, add to this Red Lining, and gentrification. Then it becomes much easier to see why African Americans experience homelessness at a much higher rate than white folks, making up more than 40% of the homeless population while they only make up 13% of the general population.

This disparity plays out in many other sorts of negative outcomes like people most likely to end up in prison, where they make up 33% of the adult prison population and the unemployed and underemployed rates, or food insecurity. Solving the issue of systemic racism will go along, way to addressing the problem of homelessness for all groups.

Even setting aside the racial component for a moment a 2017 survey of homeless residents in San Francisco found 13% of them had some sort of employment and for the rest, the lack of a permanent address was a barrier to employment, similar numbers can be found across the country.

A recent survey of homeless folks found that 93% of respondents want affordable housing, 68% couldn’t afford rent, 50% had no income, 38% reported lack of availability and 20% had criminal records that prevented access to housing.

Clearly the answer is housing first stupid to borrow from Bill Clinton’s 1992 Presidential Campaign but it has to be taken a step further than this simple slogan, it has to be long term supportive housing, which looks to treat the physical, emotional, mental wounds incurred before and during the experience of homelessness, that ensures food security, substance abuse treatment when the client is ready and job training and placement.

Or to quote my dad you’re doing ass-backward, people!

Three: Most homeless people are either addicts or seriously mentally ill.

Not even close, in fact only 45% percent of people experiencing homelessness had any mental illness at all. Most of those stemmed from the trauma of dehumanization and the stress of spending every waking moment caught in the constant struggle for literal survival. Only 25% have a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder but the relationship between homelessness and mental illness is complicated at best. People with mental health issues are much more likely to become homeless and their numbers are disproportionate compared to those of the general population but even here the mental illness is not the primary driver it is poverty and housing which is made more complicated by the disorder in the lives of those experiencing mental illness.

Rates of mental or emotional health issues are significantly higher among women experiencing homelessness (between 50 and 60%), often due to experiences before their homelessness stemming from domestic violence, sexual trauma or sex trafficking.

According to the National Coalition for the homeless, only 38% of people experiencing homelessness are alcohol dependent and 26% are dependent on some other drug. Often addiction is the result of self-medication due to lack of mental health or other medical treatment but also it can arise from the stress of survival the same way that mental health issues can arise from the same, remember the Hobbesian nature of homelessness.

Most of those suffering from mental illness, substance abuse or a combination of the two can recover with long term or permanent supportive housing and treatment, without the stable housing first their chances are greatly reduced or made infinitely more difficult at best.

Four: Homeless people are just lazy; they need a job.

As I’ve noted 13% of people experiencing homelessness already have some sort of employment and still don’t make enough to pull themselves off the streets.

Of the remaining 87%, every one of them faces a host of barriers to employment the primary being the struggle to survive each day and insecurity. This insecurity takes many manifestations from food insecurity to the lack of a permanent housing/address.

Without a solution to these first two issues, none of the other insecurities or necessities of survival can even be dealt beyond one day at a time.

Five: If you give money directly to the homeless, they’ll waste it on drugs and alcohol.

We already went over this most people experiencing homelessness aren’t addicts but understanding that survival is the primary motivation for those experiencing homelessness the idea that any money we give them would be wasted is absurd. Certainly, they may spend that money on something other than what we might have from our place of privilege but in the end, even money spent on drugs and alcohol is ultimately with the aim of survival.

The stresses placed on the human mind when it has been dehumanized and forced into a permanent fight or flight state can shatter the human psyche, so no even money spent in this way is not wasted from their perspective, but this for the majority of people experiencing homelessness is not where it is spent.

Often it is spent on things that fill the gaps in services such as food, medication, personal hygiene products such as tampons for women, even on temporary housing such as motel rooms when possible or necessary as in the winter in northern states.

One final thing on the subject of giving money directly to people suffering from homelessness is the issue of having a place to use the restroom, including for personal hygiene. Most places will not let you use their bathroom without them buying something, even if then. So that five dollars you gave them may mean the difference between them having access to bathroom facilities or not, being able to clean themselves, put on fresh clothes.

This becomes even more of an issue if they get sick, which is more like for someone experiencing homelessness due to constant exposure to weather conditions, people and the infrequency of access to showers or hygienic needs being filled.

Six: Providing services such as food, shelter or other needs to the homeless enables them.

It has to be asked, enables them to what survive? Look we’re talking about human beings here, human beings who are already suffering one of the worst situations a person can be placed in, they didn’t get there due to some moral failing on their part, they got there because our society values profits over human life.

If as a society we aren’t willing to do the things that work to fix the problem, the very least we can do is provide those suffering under the weight of homelessness with the tools to survive until we are willing to demand the change in priorities required to end homelessness and poverty in this country.

Everything that those suffering under the conditions of homelessness receive whether it’s food, a bed in a shelter, access to healthcare or money from panhandling is just one less thing they will have to worry about that day.

Seven: Homeless people are dangerous.

The truth is you are more of a threat to them then they are to you, people suffering on the streets are already struggling to survive without ready access to food, shelters and other human needs. Any contact you may have with them is already starting with a huge power disadvantage for them and they know if they miss-step the police are likely to become involved and you are more likely to be believed then they are, so they will avoid confrontation if possible.

Those in the most danger is the mentally ill, women, children and families suffering from homelessness and they may escalate far more quickly or overreact to any perceived threat to themselves, their children or property.

Those enduring life on the street also tends to be very protective of those in the same situation as they are and will go out of their way to help them in any way they can.

All of which is understandable, given the horror of the situations they face each day, many of which those that haven’t been in their shoes can scarcely imagine.

If you take the time to consider all of this, speak in calm even tones, don’t antagonize them, threaten them and if they’re sitting come down to their height you as the person in the power position can make them feel safer.

Eight: Most homeless people live on the street.

This goes at the heart of one of the biggest ways society dehumanizes people without a home, rather than seeing that they are people who arrived at their current situation in any number of different ways for any number of different reasons and their situation vary widely, those that haven’t experienced homelessness try to lock them into a nice neat box and you cannot do that.

People who are without stable housing which is how homelessness is defined experience their homelessness differently from others experiencing the same conditions. They may behave a situation where they’re living in a situation termed couch surfing, which is where they are doubled up with friends or family in a living space not designed for this. They may be sleeping in their car, in hostels, motel rooms, shelters with beds, emergency shelters that don’t have a bed, they may be sleeping on public transportation, in a tent in the woods or campsite, on the street or a beach if that’s available.

Recent Point in Time Surveys tell us that about 70% of those considered homeless are in some sort of shelter situation and according to the Vehicle Residency Research Project in Seattle at least 30% of those considered unsheltered live in their vehicle. But these surveys have their limits and many people experiencing homelessness are missed such as those living in camps in the woods or are doubling up with friends, family or motel and hostels.

Nine: The Homeless are mostly older, single men.

First, does it matter if this were true? It’s not, but that this is even something that is said is a condemnation on us as a society, there is no such thing as deserving poor or homeless which is what is asserted with this myth. Now that I got that out of me, let’s break this down.

According to the 2018 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, 29.9 % of those considered homeless were under the age of 24 and 39.1% were female while another .7% were Transgender or Gender non-conforming. Women tend to be more likely to be sheltered than not, 33% of the total number of people experiencing homelessness identified as being part of a family unit with children. To break this down further,180,413 people who reported being homeless were a part of 56,342 families with children or 11 out of every 10,000 households in America were experiencing homelessness, 60% of these were children under the age of 18. The vast majority of whom were sheltered, only 16, 390 were unsheltered but even this is 16,390 to many.

Previously we talked about how those experiencing homelessness were at a greater risk of being physically or verbally accosted, for women and children those numbers go up drastically, also, women and children who are homeless are more likely to be raped or otherwise sexually exploited or trafficked. To reduce this both men within the families and other homeless men will often put themselves in harm’s way to panhandle with them or for themselves and these women and children on their own.

Ten: The final myth is that homelessness and poverty will always be with us or is a strain on federal, state and local budgets.

I think Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex said it best when challenged by Chris Cuomo when she told him that “our pocketbooks only seem to be empty when it comes to morally right things to do, but when it comes to unlimited war and tax cuts for the wealthy, we always seem to find the money.” Which just cut to the heart of the problem in this country, we do not lack the resources to end homelessness and poverty we lack the moral and political will. The question we need to be asking ourselves is why.

The moral and political answer to this is three-fold, first, we blame the victims of poverty and we are told that it is a moral failing on their part that led them to poverty and homelessness and continues to keep them there. On top of that we dehumanize those experiencing homelessness and by extension others experiencing poverty who are threatened by homelessness. Lastly, we celebrate and reward the greed of corporations and the rich, we place their profits and property rights over human need.

Now let’s step into the technical, because we have a model that has been shown to work and do so in an efficient cost-effective manner when laid out for cost-benefit analysis.

According to the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness, it cost an average of $10,000 per year to simply house people compared to the $31,000 per year continuing to leave them on the street for hospitals, jail, and other community-based services. Everywhere it has been attempted housing first and supportive housing models have not only reduced homelessness but participants averaged 95% success rate in their ability to stay housed after a year while saving money across the board for the localities that used these models. According to a RAND study, LA county was able to reduce the cost they were spending on a group of people experiencing chronic homelessness from 34 million dollars per year to 14 million dollars per year.

Across the country cities and states have eliminated Veteran homelessness using supportive and housing first policies tailored to the Veteran community, similar programs can be expanded and tailored for other specific communities needs saving billions of dollars a year and it would be but a tiny fraction of the federal and state budgets.