first-hand account of homelessness<\/a> as experienced by a woman who is not mentally ill, not a substance abuser, not fleeing an abusive partner, but experienced bouts of homelessness due to more mundane reasons of job loss without a savings cushion, problems with roommates, and lack of a support system of family and friends.<\/p>\nSeparately, there was another long article from last week (which I can\u2019t seem to find any longer \u2014 anyone else see this) about homelessness in one of those northwest coastal cities \u2014 Seattle or Portland, presumably, which describes the issue still largely in terms of those with mental illness and\/or substance abuse problems. \u00a0Apparently, in that city, there are large numbers of homeless who camp out in parks and on sidewalks, and there\u2019s an always-open, never turn anyone away soup kitchen which ensures that none of the panhandlers seeing change are actually going hungry.<\/p>\n
The disconnect was surprising. In the Vox article, the author described a complete lack of resources because she was a single woman, so she slept in her car until she found a new job and new living situation. \u00a0Around here, from October to May, there is a program in the suburbs, \u201cPADS\u201d (a clever acronym, as these things always are, in this case derived from Public Action to Deliver Shelter), in which churches provide a place to sleep and three meals (dinner, breakfast, and a sack lunch) on a rotating schedule, as well as a Day Center which provides showers, laundry facilities, mail\/voicemail, etc. \u00a0The guests\/clients are typically men, but there are smaller numbers of women, and\u00a0sometimes there are families, too. \u00a0My husband serves regular shifts and I\u2019m on a meal crew.<\/p>\n
So what I want to do this morning is just think about this a little with you and have a conversation, speaking more specifically about those whose homeless is more narrowly a result of poverty and joblessness or low-paying jobs, rather than mental illness, substance abuse, or choosing to live a hippie lifestyle (as supposedly some of those homeless in San Francisco do).<\/p>\n
For years, there\u2019s been a disconnect in our discussion about housing, as we simultaneously cheered on housing appreciation and at the same time lamented housing unaffordability. \u00a0We\u2019d wanted to have our cake and eat it, too, with existing homeowners seeing growth in their largest investment while somehow, as if by magic, households looking to buy, or even just rent, would be insulated from the effects of this appreciation \u2014 by some government policy or another that subsidizes their purchase or lease.<\/p>\n
Of course, this doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n
Now, part of the housing appreciation is \u201cnatural,\u201d if you will \u2014 when increasing numbers of people want to live in commuting distance of cities with employment growth. \u00a0But some is \u201cunnatural\u201d \u2014 when states and cities deliberately zone in restrictions in housing growth, restrict the number of unrelated roommates, require new apartments meet certain size requirements, limit density and require single-family housing where the region needs multifamily, even high rises.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s always seemed to me that the single best way to lower housing cost, especially for single individuals (and with due recognition for the fact that roommate situations have their own problems, as described in the Vox piece as well), is a modernized SRO \u2014 single room occupancy \u2014 model, or a \u201cdorm for adults,\u201d in which poor adults have options for ultra-low-rent private rooms with shared kitchens and community spaces. \u00a0Certainly there are some cities where, reportedly, even closet-sized rooms have sky-high rent (e.g, San Francisco), but in those cities, the only real solution is for people to vote with their feet, and for companies looking to hire, to decide that there are better places to staff up. \u00a0And in Chicago, there were articles a while back that developers were finding it profitable to buy such SRO buildings as already exist and convert them into more upscale housing \u2014 but that doesn\u2019t really answer the question of what a minimum price point is, for a developer to build an SRO-type building with very rudimentary amenities, and be able to offer these units without needing government subsidies.<\/p>\n
But the second issue is this: \u00a0our federal housing programs are based so much on waiting lists and lotteries, \u00a0that they help only a small percentage of the people who struggle with housing due to being extremely low income. \u00a0It\u2019s a matter of a lottery in another sense, too, that those who do get help, qualifying for Section 8 vouchers or public housing, \u201chit the jackpot\u201d of paying little or nothing for housing, rather than spreading the aid more broadly among all those who need it, even if it means that each person gets less help. \u00a0But should the programs simply be transformed into a combo of TANF and EITC benefits (that is, existing programs for the non-working and working poor) to help everyone at least a little? \u00a0The problem there is that there is a considerable amount of \u201cluck\u201d in individual housing needs, too \u2014 some have a home already, that they inherited, or purchased when times were better, others have family or friends that they can share housing with, and some have neither.<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s fair?<\/p>\n
And what would you do to solve the issue? \u00a0(If your answer is \u201cjust spend more federal money on the problem,\u201d please be specific.)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here\u2019s an extended article at Vox.com, a first-hand account of homelessness as experienced by a woman who is not mentally ill, not a substance abuser, not fleeing an abusive partner, but experienced bouts of homelessness due to more mundane reasons of job loss without a savings cushion, problems with roommates, and lack of a support […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[343],"class_list":["post-4081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-homelessness"],"yoast_head":"\n
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