Sleeping Outdoors
Ted Folkert
January 8, 2016
The case of “homelessness” seems to draw publicity in spurts in this world of ours. And, of course, the spurts come more frequently when the homeless make their “home” in good neighborhoods, where unhappy voices get the attention of the powers that be, or popular commercial areas, where the rent isn’t cheap and the angry voices mean something to the powers that be.
Some of those who we call homeless don’t consider themselves homeless. They consider wherever they are sleeping their home. And they consider those sleeping nearby their neighbors, just like we consider those in the houses nearby our neighbors. Maybe homeless isn’t the right word. Maybe it should be called “sleeping outdoors”. And this is the way those we call homeless live, sometimes for a few days, sometimes for a few months or years, sometimes for decades – outdoors with no roof and no walls around them.
So, what are the problems created by those who live outdoors in the minds of those of us who live indoors. Unsightly, unsanitary, uncleanly, unsafe, un-secure, unhealthful, untrustworthy, undesirable – all of the “uns.”
The authorities always make sounds like they want to cure the problem. Especially when it hits the front page. Unfortunately, the causes or choices of homelessness are so varied that there isn’t one cure that will solve all of the incidences of homelessness. The most daunting call for a cure concerns homeless veterans – those who served in military conflicts and returned home with physical or mental problems. Unfortunately, this doesn’t make it to the front page often and doesn’t generate campaign funds for our fearless leaders, so it gets little attention. So, the story doesn’t get any legs and everyone forgets about it until the next time it comes up and another desperate plea for a cure is heard loud and clear.
What are the conditions that cause people to live outdoors? We can think of a few:
- Mental illness causing unemployment
- Physical conditions causing unemployment
- Alcohol addiction causing unemployment
- Drug addiction causing unemployment
- Unemployment or underemployment in general
- Criminal records causing unemployment
- Retirement with inadequate funds for both eating and sleeping indoors
- Employment with inadequate funds for both eating and sleeping indoors
- Unaffordable rent escalations without achievable alternatives
- Poor credit history rendering one unworthy of tenancy
- And many more
So, now comes the big question: If we don’t allow them to live outdoors, and one of the above reasons prevents them from living indoors, what are their alternatives? Well, if you can’t live outdoors and you can’t live indoors, you just simply can’t live. But, at least for a while they just move on. So, what do they do when they are told to move on? They move on and camp outdoors in another place until they are told to move on, and then they do it again and again and again and again and again and again and again. And in many cases their encampment of neighbors moves on with them and establishes a new encampment, again and again and again and again.
Many of those who have become accustomed to living outdoors prefer to continue to do so. The advantages for them? – Staying with their community, no rules to follow, alcohol or drug use without restrictions or lawbreaking, no responsibilities, ability to eat and drink on whatever assistance they receive without demands for funding their living quarters.
The unsung heroes for relief or treatment for those sleeping outdoors are the county employees who work the areas where they gather for company or security – skid row and areas like skid row. These dedicated servants deal face-to-face with those sleeping outdoors on an everyday basis. They offer them medical treatment, food stamps, detoxification, or shelter, but these services don’t solve the problem because they will still be sleeping outdoors – with inadequate nourishment, no healthcare, insufficient hygiene, and no likelihood of sleeping indoors.
The Los Angeles Times recently reported that there are more than 44,000 homeless in Los Angeles County, with 26,000 of them in the City of Los Angeles, which has been designated the “homeless capital of the country.” The number of veterans among them numbered 4,400. It has been estimated that there are 116,000 homeless people in California.
The noise got loud enough to awaken some politicians temporarily. There have been suggestions of spending $2 billion over 10 years to build permanent housing for mentally ill, $26 million to re-house homeless families, $11 million for short term housing for people who were institutionalized, $8 million to house homeless while they apply for federal benefits, $200 million for temporary rent subsidies, perhaps building 10,000 or more housing units for our 116,000 homeless in California.
Blah, blah, blah, blah – how long have we been hearing all this? All talk, no action!
You know, this situation didn’t just happen. No, it has existed forever. It is no secret. However, those sleeping outdoors become invisible to our leaders because they don’t want to deal with it. Those sleeping outdoors become invisible to us because we don’t want to acknowledge it. It is easier to ignore it. At least until the encampments move on to an area where the voices get the leaders attention. Then it becomes a big problem again and again and again and again. And then it becomes invisible again and again and again.
But the fact is, everybody knows. Like Leonard Cohen sings “everybody knows the war is over and the good guys lost”.
Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times writes about this situation often. He visits these areas where they sleep outdoors and talks to those who reside there. He tells their stories, like Nathaniel Ayers, the mentally ill and gifted cello player he discovered under a bridge playing a broken cello years ago and his struggle to convince him to live indoors again
My friend who works for the agency that deals with those living on the streets tells stories about her experiences with them in trying to bridge the gap of needless to needing, in trying to provide services to assist them in restoring health and finding shelter. She talks of working with one individual for three years who had sat on a bench isolated for thirty years and it took her months to get him into services he needed. She talks of some addicts who have crippling skin diseases and yet deny health care.
In her words: “I walk down the streets of skid row, with my partner, and walk by a person and ask if they need services and they say no. Get out of my face, move along. And that’s putting it nicely. But, the home team that I work with are the only ones that know how to engage with the homeless, they know their job and have experience to do it. First of all, the ability to provide resources for such individuals is not made over night. It takes months. And to think that the resources are readily available in so far as something that a human being would accept is preposterous.”
“You can’t just walk down the middle of skid row and ask a cracked out pregnant woman if she wants services. It doesn’t work that way. It takes time to have a civilian make an honest communication that is understood by the other end to start a conversation of help and change.”
“Slowly build relationships with the folks on skid row so they trust you enough to have assurance that your services are right for them.”
“Once you have a team of people that have built a foundation of trust going in there, you will find results. So the future questions remain. Are those resources going to help change these people’s lives?”
These are just a sampling of examples to emphasize the fact that this is a serious problem without an easy resolution. Many of those who we consider homeless are not willing to change, at least initially. Many of them need mental health treatment and should possibly be institutionalized. Many of the need to be hospitalized and provided detoxification and addiction treatment.
But many of them can be helped with safe, secure housing with access to services needed to get out of the cycle of sleeping outdoors and being a part of a community with no hope for long term health and survival. This can be done. It only takes money and the commitment to stay the course. Not 40 housing units for 4,000 veterans – whenever, not 10,000 housing units for 116,000 homeless – whenever.
No it needs to be done with 100,000 living quarters, NOW! And with all of the necessary services to help those who are unable to help themselves, and all of the necessary services to help those who can help themselves, to become responsible, productive, self-supportive citizens of our community. NOW!
I think that all of our elected officials, at least one night, should be required to go sleep outdoors with those who sleep outdoors every night. I think all of us, maybe, at least one night, should go sleep outdoors with those who sleep outdoors every night.
Maybe then we could get some action, NOW!
Think about it!