#Homelessness
#Pittsburgh is preparing new policies for closing #homelessness encampments. What's missing? A promise to connect the unhoused people to adequate alternative shelter. @publicsource just broke the story https://www.publicsource.org/encampments-pittsburgh-allegheny-county-homelessness-smithfield-shelter-stakes/
Is there a safe network on #Fediverse like CouchSurfer - where #vulnerable & #marginalized folks facing #temporary #homelessness can connect with safe folks who have room to host? If not - is anyone interested in creating one with me? I believe it's a needed #EmergencyResource & I don't see anything locally that offers this kind of supportive services.
“It is an important step in reconciliation that will return control to Indigenous knowledge and leadership.”
Housing by Indigenous, for Indigenous turns page on colonial approach
“It’s a momentous time,” said Indigenous Services Canada Minister Patty Hajdu.
The federal government is relinquishing control of building and putting that control in the hands of the Indigenous peoples themselves.
Eric Adams Is Bringing the GOP’s Anti-Immigrant Crusade to New York
Language and imagery can drive public sentiment
* Comment: NYC's Eric Adams (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Adams#First_100_days) has been demonizing and targeting homeless persons ...
#NYC #NewYorkCity #homelessness #HumanRightsViolations #neofascism #InvoluntaryTreatment #PovertyIndustrialComplex #persagen #CiceroInstitute #JoeLonsdale #DefundBillionaires #HomelessDiscrimination #discrimination
In the midst of a housing crisis, why is Toronto letting a rent-controlled apartment building be demolished?
Longtime tenants fear the proposed condos will price them out of their neighbourhood
These new buildings, by virtue of being built after Premier Doug Ford’s government changed regulations in 2018, will not be rent controlled. Residents are a mix of tenants: many on fixed incomes, all are renters
#Calgary #inflation #housing #homelessness #persagen #HousingCrisis
'Kind of dehumanizing': What it's like trying to find a decent place to rent in Calgary these days
Bidding wars, application fees and a sense of 'me against you' amid surging demand for housing
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-june-2023-housing-rental-market-experiences-1.6868411
Calgarians looking for a decent place to live say navigating the city's rental market has become an exhausting, demoralizing ordeal.
#Calgary #inflation #housing #homelessness #persagen #HousingCrisis
President #JoeBiden invites thousands of #LGBTQ+ #individuals, singer #BettyWho, to #PrideMonth #celebration
The #president is also announcing #initiatives to #protect #LGBTQ+ #communities from #attacks, help #youth with #mentalhealth #resources and #homelessness and counter #bookbans
Just what is needed legislation without thinking!
Bad idea! Just toss petrol on the smouldering fire.
https://bit.ly/3CgmiWG #Imigration #homelessness ⚖️
#homelessness #mentalhealth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An_nzm9sZ3g
Have you ever seen a wagon loaded with raffle tickets? Eugene REALTORs enthusiastically supported us with their summer fundraising event and raised enough money to fund a Conestoga Hut! This generosity goes a long way to help #unhoused individuals stabilize and rebuild their lives.
#fundraisingevent #realestate #eugene #oregon #fundraising #housingcrisis #communityhelpingcommunity #endhomelessness #pnw #shelter #homelessness #community #makeadifference #homelessness #support #eugeneoregon
New #PPICSurvey found that Californians believe economic conditions, #homelessness, and housing are the most critical issues facing the people of #California today, and that about six in 10 adults have experienced financial hardships because of rising prices.
Learn more from Public Policy Institute of California’s new survey where they explore state and national issues: https://www.ppic.org/publication/ppic-statewide-survey-californians-and-their-government-june-2023/
#LGBTQ+ people in need can get a free #meal with a simple #codeword.
#Deliveroo, its #restaurant #partners and #LGBTQ+ #youth #homelessness #charity #AlbertKennedyTrust (akt) are to provide free #meals to members of the #LGBTQ+ #community who are #homeless or #vulnerable. The trial begins this #PrideMonth across 10 #restaurant sites in #London, #Brighton, and #bristol
#Women #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #UK #Homelessness #HousingInsecurity
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/lgbtq-people-need-can-free-27065254
The Income Gap and ‘Deaths of Despair’ Among the Young. https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2023/06/05/Income-Gap-Deaths-Despair-Among-Young/
#incomeInequality #Inequality #Poverty #MentalHealth #Homelessness #Canada
Homelessness & Photography:
I began DSLR photography in 2015. I was 5 years into being homeless here in the PNW and had spent a year before getting this Nikon i still use, using a small Canon Powershot Elph 'Point & Shoot' camera.
I was struggling a lot. I didn't have stable access to shelter, i was sleeping in business doorways in downtown Seattle and in other neighborhoods, mixed with spending time at local shelters. Some shelters larger than others, some run in churches through a local organization run by homeless persons, and some shelters i avoided because i was trans / lgbt and didn't feel comfortable or wasn't safe in them.
I didn't always have access to help i needed. It was before a bipolar diagnosis and i was clearly struggling but wasn't able to access resources that may have helped with that diagnosis and treatment. I did have some help medically speaking and was for a period of time given medication to help with my anxiety while homeless.
It wasn't a perfect solution but it helped a bit. The biggest thing though that seemed to help was my passion for photography each day.
I learned that by spending my time focused on finding beauty behind the lens, i would lose myself in the moments i was shooting with my Nikon or processing shots in various Starbucks on a small laptop i had.
Photography honestly saved my life, more than once during that time. I got off the streets with help through local org's that assist disabled homeless folks and now have stable housing.
I've continued to not only shoot photos which i now share here and on Pixelfed as well as elsewhere for years, but have also been fortunate enough to return to what was my greatest passion before photography, producing music.
It's not easy to be homeless and there are far too many people experiencing this right now here in my city and elsewhere. My heart breaks for them because i know the pain, the uncertainty, the toll it takes on one's mind, body and spirit.
But without that experience i wouldn't have found another voice as an artist behind the lens. While i wish i had never experienced that, and still struggle with long term effects of it in some ways, i am thankful that through that dark time there was a light and that light continues to shine brightly.
#Homeless #Homelessness #Art #DSLR #DSLRPhotography #Photography #MentalHealth #Bipolar #Seattle #PNW
Today at 7 p.m. the Springfield City Council meets to discuss Springfield's camping code, which criminalizes unhoused individuals for camping on public property, exacerbating the crisis and putting housing further out of reach for many.
Make your voice heard! Email the Council (springfieldcao@springfield-or.gov) or attend today's meeting: https://springfield-or.gov/camping-code/
#springfieldoregon #Oregon #unhoused #unhousedsolutions #housingcrisis #homelessness #homelessnessawareness #pnw
@dancarkner
My comment amongst the chatter there:
— They raided the wrong postal code. If the city of #Vancouver wants to solve #homelessness, they need to mount police raids into neighborhoods where decisions are made that control the rents
The “#HousingCrisis“ is making a lot of people a lot of money. It is not a crisis for them, and it will continue because it is very profitable
#dtes #vanpoli
Critics Call Proposed Camping Ban "Impossible to Comply With" - Portland Mercury. #Homelessness #Cruelty #Portland https://www.portlandmercury.com/news/2023/06/01/46536193/critics-call-proposed-camping-ban-impossible-to-comply-with
5) Did you know that YOUR tax money is being spent RIGHT NOW on homeless people in emergency medical care, imprisoning them, policing them, etc? Did you know that it is CHEAPER TO YOU to give homeless people homes than it is to police them?
6) Did you know that it is easier and more productive to treat drug addiction among homeless people when they have homes? Did you know that it is easier to get people into the workforce when they have homes?
So, to recap:
1) Giving homeless people homes doesn't have a goddamn thing to do with school debt, which is a totally different problem
2) We can afford to do it, both in terms of houses available AND in terms of taxpayer money - YOUR money
3) It will help the housing market prices, which will DIRECTLY HELP YOUR KIDS
4) It's more humane and will help address drugs and crime MUCH MORE than leaving them on the street.
So, what do you have to say now?
Politicians have shifted their legislation away from the housing first model (a proven model with a positive track record of reducing homelessness) and toward homeless criminalization.
This is not a coincidence or an innovative new approach to #homelessness. It is a sneaky move to try and sway voters into supporting what Decriminalization Director for the National Homelessness Law Center Will Knight called “poverty profiteering.”
https://invisiblepeople.tv/successful-solutions-that-do-not-criminalize-homelessness/
‘The billionaires have won’: #English #pubs forced to close after owners demand full rent for #lockdown -
#Publicans face #bankruptcy and #homelessness after losing their fight with #ToryDonors against #Covid19 rent back-payments
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/jun/03/the-billionaires-have-won-english-pubs-forced-to-close-after-owners-demand-full-rent-for-lockdown #ToryPoliciesInAction
From Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Bay Area
Mayor London Breed and the SF City government are not above the law.
We filed a Motion to Enforce the preliminary injunction order to stop the City from brazenly violating of the civil rights of unhoused San Franciscans. Read our Motion here https://lccrsf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Pls-Motion-to-Enforce.pdf
On this episode "The Night Watchman" we are talking with Rev. Rick Reynolds. He has spent most of his life stepping closer, getting to know those struggling. For nearly 40 years he worked at the nonprofit Operation Nightwatch, most of that time as the Executive Director, engaging in direct action for those in need.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/you-know-me-now/id1606562361
#homelessness #addiction #housingfirst #seattle #mutualaid #podcast #housing4all ❤️
Dezeen : Kadre Architects converts rundown Los Angeles motel into homeless shelter https://www.dezeen.com/2023/06/02/kadre-architects-alvarado-los-angeles-homeless-shelter-usa/ #Homelesshousing #Adaptivereuse #Architecture #Homelessness #Residential #LosAngeles #all #USA
A thought provoking essay on #Addiction, as it intersects with #Homelessness and #CriminalJustice. Could models like this really work - marrying jail with wrap-around services and treatment? Is #HarmReduction by itself really just abandoning people to their fates? Would this model fail because of under funding?
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/06/harm-reduction-decriminalization-fentanyl-meth/674214/
I've got about 2 weeks to improve at school before I might get kicked out :/ I've been so busy dealing with #homelessness and just trying to keep my spirits up, apparently I haven't been engaging in class enough.
Going to contact my mentor and figure out how to either crunch hard this next 2 weeks, or maybe get some more time. Doing my best to stay positive but every single day is so unspeakably stressful
Inside the push to criminalize #homelessness
https://www.marketplace.org/2023/05/31/inside-the-push-to-criminalize-homelessness/amp/
Wow #CareCourt looks like the worst attempt to "help" homeless people. Care Court: "Maybe if a judge waggles their finger at a schizophrenic person VERY sternly, they'll take their meds on their own!"
#sfba #politics #homelessness
St Mungo’s strikes and the parasitical culture of corporatism, cronyism, and white supremacy
The truth is that the clients St Mungo’s is supposed to help, and the staff who are supposed to do so are just a number to the St Mungo’s machine.
https://freedomnews.org.uk/2023/06/01/st-mungos-strikes-and-the-parasitical-culture-of-corporatism-cronyism-and-white-supremacy/
#corporatism #cronyism #Homeless #Homelessness #StMungos #WhiteSupremacy
An uplifting tale from #NovaraMedia of how a group of anarchist housing activists discovered a disused convent and decided to open it up as a homeless shelter using squatting law.
Its owners, the Union of the Sisters of Mercy of Great Britain are not best pleased, but full marks to Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lufthur Rahman, who told the Met to back off harassing the squatters.
#Squatters #HousingCrisis #Homelessness #London #UK
https://novaramedia.com/2023/05/30/these-nuns-helped-the-homeless-until-they-arrived-on-their-doorstep/?mc_cid=78cf36a6ad&mc_eid=cc062cb3ef
From homeless to Ph.D.: How I found my way into research
By Emma Xu
https://www.science.org/content/article/homeless-phd-found-way-research
"But I frequently felt insecure about my prospects. One physics professor liked to show off photos of his son as a boy with Nobel laureates and brag about how the son started doing research as a high schooler. Oh, yes, his wife was a physics professor, too. I feared my late start meant my scientific career was doomed to failure."
#PhD #EducationReform #Homelessness #academia @academicchatter
#DebtCeilingDeal will seriously increase #HousingInsecurity
#Unions need to recognize - the #Homelessness crisis is a #WORKER crisis
@AFSCME @seiu
#HousingForAll + #UnionsForAll
@connersjackson I was there last week and really enjoyed it. The person who drove me to the airport asked about #homelessness in San Francisco, we talked about it a bit. I asked about folks in #Quito who couldn't afford homes, what became of them, and he didn't know. It had never occurred to him. I can't imagine there are *none* but I saw no homeless people and we were on many parts of town.
Tents, tarps, and wipes are going out this week to our homeless neighbors, alongside our regular hot food and harm reduction supplies.
All the tents are packed with radical literature.
Support our lifesaving work today!
https://safeboulder.org/donate/
"The interconnectedness of climate change with public #health, #infrastructure, #poverty, #homelessness, and #food security necessitates an integrated, intersectoral, and multilevel #governance approach to identifying and iterating on solutions."
I am so proud to work with these amazing humans :)
Every other industrialized country provides health care to all of its citizens, but in the United States, medical bankruptcy is a common cause of #homelessness. A normal society would not tolerate that. A normal society does not have 33 empty housing units for every homeless person (source, Self, Inc.). In a normal society the price of those units would come down and no one would be homeless.
This safe rest village looks lovely. It is a shame #pdx can't spend our resources producing as many of these as possible instead of dumping millions of dollars into large tent camps that concentrate folks experiencing #homelessness without adequate shelter.
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2023/05/5th-safe-rest-village-opens-in-portland.html
"Our study found that continuing to forcibly displace people who are experiencing homelessness, as is being proposed in San Francisco, is responsible for up to 25 percent more deaths in a 10-year period. That policy literally kills people in the long run."
- Alex Kral, epidemiologist
https://missionlocal.org/2023/05/fentanyl-arrest-san-francisco-drugs/
The US feels less like a developed country every year. #homelessness
Gift link: https://wapo.st/3BS6B8e
Homeless Sweeps on the Rise: More Politicians Opt to Criminalize #Homelessness
‘Vice’ documentary explores #Portland's struggles with ‘super meth’ crisis https://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/2023/05/vice-documentary-segment-explores-portlands-struggles-with-super-meth-crisis.html #pdx #oregon #homelessness
Dehumanization Killed Jordan Neely—and Dominated Coverage of His Death
Much of the corporate press refrained from framing Neely as a victim, and far-right media outlets went even further to excuse the killing.
https://fair.org/home/dehumanization-killed-jordan-neely-and-dominated-coverage-of-his-death/
#Crime&Punishment #Homelessness #NewYorkCity
Anyone here know of any good recent data or studies on the vilification or dehumanization of people experiencing homelessness in popular cuture?
I'm looking for some macro evidence to support (or refute!) the impression that we're seeing more of this stuff in the news and on social media of late, or that it's gotten harsher, or both.
@Vrimj
Thank you!
We need smart people to help rewrite these rules
The reason there are billionaires is because arbitrary tax laws made them that way, not because they work harder
We need to change the rules that created #ClimateChange and #billionaires and #homelessness and the #housingCrisis
When you lay it out so plainly, we can change words and readjust formulas
It doesn’t have to be this way, the world can be a better place
#economics
Support from #parents and #caregivers plays a crucial role in the #wellbeing and development of #transgender, #nonbinary, and other #genderdiverse #children. Studies consistently show that #rejecting or exhibiting #hostility towards these children significantly increases their risk of #anxiety, #depression, #substanceabuse, and even #homelessness. Tragically, they also face a higher risk of #suicide due to rejection, #bullying, and #victimization.
(10/20) #Transgender
For shame Burien CARES (animal shelter and city contracted animal control), pays $185 a month to push people without homes further into the margins of our community in order to make an unofficial dog park official and clear a homeless encampment.
Karim Walker, an organizer and outreach specialist for the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center, speaks with @THECITY about the way unhoused people and others who are experiencing mental health challenges are perceived by others.
"There's this image that homeless folks are [...] responsible for their own fate. That's not always the case. Most Americans are one paycheck away from being homeless themselves."
https://www.thecity.nyc/2023/5/14/23723556/homeless-outreach-workers-faq-podcast
' Homelessness is a very simple problem that is often over-analyzed. The fact is that there is a group of people who have found themselves (for whatever reason) unable to secure a roof over their heads. Usually, they simply don’t have enough money, because rent is very high and wages are very low.... There’s a very direct correlation between how expensive housing is and how many homeless people there are. '
#homelessness #housing #RightToHousing
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2023/04/homelessness-is-an-entirely-solvable-problem
Rising temperatures, rising food prices, rising homelessness, rising annual Covid deaths. The leadership of nearly every country is waging war on its unluckiest people. #covid #climatecrisis #homelessness #foodsecurity
His mom was strangled to death & it devastated his mental health. And then he was strangled to death.
Often, there's only 1 person we can count on who loves us. If that person dies, it can cause a years-long descent into mental illness. Many of us are one loss away.
To those saying the mentally ill should be involuntarily committed, consider that the US cant even deliver *voluntary* mental health services.
#JordanNeely #MentalHealth #Poverty #Austerity #NYC #Homelessness #murder
#ThoughtProvoking #Homelessness
While Norway is not totally void of homeless people, I'm glad to live in a country where a home (rental or self-owned) is pretty much treated as a fundamental right.
(6/n) A $100 increase in median rent raises #homelessness by 9%.
When parking spaces are required for housing, that can raise rents for each unit by many hundreds of dollars per month (whether or not occupants have cars), according to this new paper: https://www.vtpi.org/park-hou.pdf
Image via diane yentel
#affordablehousing #parkingrequirements #urbanplanning
Man who placed subway performer in fatal chokehold to be charged
This is coordinated genocide. Governments cannot block off every last single scrap of land, despite acres being utterly unused, and claim they are not criminalizing #homelessness (about which the MNDOT ombudsman tried to split hairs with me a year ago) and continuing the genocide of Native people— "a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups"
Researchers used comics to explore how community-centered AI design can include both the people experiencing #homelessness and the frontline workers who use #AI to help them. This work bridges the gaps between the technical & social of computer science, and between researchers & impacted communities.
Congrats to the team on a #CHI2023 Best Paper award: #cmuhcii's Tzu-Sheng Kuo, Hong Shen, Jason Hong, Ken Holstein and Haiyi Zhu; and Nev Jones of Pitt Social Work.
https://hcii.cmu.edu/news/cmu-researchers-use-comics-explain-ai-supported-public-housing-system-people-who-need-it-most
The killing of Jordan Neely is the endpoint of systematically demonizing and excluding people on the street from society and human dignity.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/epvx9p/america-has-decided-that-homeless-people-arent-people-jordan-neely
#Technews #jordanneely #Homelessness #HOUSINGCRISIS #NEWYORKCITY
"Hawaii plans to relocate homeless back to the mainland with their families"
"To me, a man from South Carolina, New York City doesn’t smell bad. New York smells like honesty. Homeless men and women mingling on the sidewalk with the rich and middle class is a kind of honesty often avoided where I’m from. It’s the kind of honesty that smokes out hypocrisy."
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/07/opinions/jordan-neely-death-homeless-new-york-bailey/index.html
A large - and mostly overlooked - segment of homelessness is caused by high rents, not addiction or mental illness.
Drug addiction and mental illness exists everywhere. Grinding, Dickensian poverty does not.
#rent #rents #RentSeeking #homelessness #homeless #unhoused #poverty #capitalism #MentalHealth #MentalIllness #Addiction #DrugAddiction #Austerity #Neglect #PrivateProperty
read Invisible People News to learn the facts about homeless people. challenge your assumptions
https://invisiblepeople.tv/news/
"The specter of #homelessness and destitution is how the bottom rung of wage labor is disciplined and kept in line. A moral ecosystem emerges to support this necessity, one based on the manifestly goofy idea that everyone who is currently unhoused is so because of a moral failing, or a lack of sufficient arresting and caging, rather than a deficit of social welfare and care". https://www.columnblog.com/p/our-media-is-fueling-rising-vigilantism
When my hard work is not enough,
I store away my treasured stuff,
With straight face and a heart that’s breaking.
Though everyone was always taking,
And never once did I stop giving,
I’m all alone and somehow living
Out of my car at seventy-two,
And I don’t know what to do.
😢
#poetry #smallpoems #riddlepoems #homeless #homelessness #news #contemporary #crisis #poetrycommunity
@lou nice one, thanks!
#Philadelphia #urbanism #transit #homelessness #SEPTA
Homeless people are people. Just give them homes. It's been proven to save public money. Just give them homes. It's been proven to reduce drug dependency and mental crises. Just give them homes. It literally ends homelessness. Just give them homes. NOT KILL THEM.
The surge in homelessness on transit systems creates a conundrum for agencies used to the old way of doing things.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3wvq5/they-just-need-a-safe-place-to-be-how-public-transit-became-the-last-safety-net-in-america
#Homelessness #HOUSINGCRISIS #SEPTA #nycsubway #Transit #Moveable
Video: Attorney Says ‘Shocking’ Footage Shows Don Carmignani Attacking Sleeping Homeless Man With Bear Spray Prior to His Own Beating
#homelessness #SanFrancisco
https://archive.ph/Q1wS1
EXCLUSIVE: Defense attorneys for the man accused of attacking former SF Fire Commissioner Don Carmignani say the person shown in this video bear spraying a homeless person in the face appears to be Carmignani.
The video, taken in November 2021, is part of a trove of new evidence that has come to light that may link Carmignani to a series of bear spray attacks on homeless people.
These new revelations may jeopardize the case against Carmignani's alleged assailant.
"I would say my client is acting in lawful self-defense," a defense attorney said.
Read the full story HERE: https://sfstandard.com/criminal-justice/beating-of-ex-fire-commissioner-defense-attorney-accuses-don-carmignani-of-bear-spray-attacks-on-homeless-people/
I guess it's time to dig in and read this white paper the mayors team has put together... has anyone had the chance to dig into it yet? #SF #homelessness #SFPol #SFGov #MayorBreed #HomeByTheBay
https://hsh.sfgov.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Home-by-the-Bay-Single_Page-Layout.pdf
“After criticizing local officials for failing to adequately address the pernicious problem of #homelessness in #California, Gov. Gavin #Newsom on Thursday announced that the state is on track to cut the number of unsheltered people by an ambitious 15% in two years and vowed to provide 1,200 tiny homes to help achieve that goal.”
Posters against homeless sweeps went up along the Pearl Street mall alongside our Tuesday night distro.
Graphics from https://wraphome.org/
Where “philanthropy” and politics intersect - https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjvdmq/a-palantir-co-founder-is-pushing-laws-to-criminalize-homeless-encampments-nationwide. #philanthropy #policy #homelessness
If you're into #ElectronicMusic, I picked up Six by Circuit Static (aka @cosmality) yesterday, and it is fantastic!
Dark, brooding #electronica that's an absolute delight to listen to.
He's currently in a difficult situation where he's facing being #homeless while also searching for employment, so music is his only source of income, so it would be incredibly helpful to him if you'd make a purchase, and if you have the ability pay more than he's asking for.
More than 1,800 Ukrainians, including children, who arrived under UK visa schemes are currently receiving homelessness support from local councils. While their treatment is better than that of refugees from other countries, it is still woefully inadequate https://inews.co.uk/news/children-ukrainians-homeless-uk-visa-scheme-flaws-rental-2167599
The Australian Parliament is filled with Landlords, so of course they can't solve the housing crisis.
Just build some houses.
https://jacobin.com/2023/02/australia-parliament-landlords-housing-albanese
@godpod Been there. Not far from it now. As things are, will likely return to it at some point before the end comes in the not distant future. Cannot wish that for anyone. Even him.
#poverty #unhoused #homelessness #housing #housethehouseless
#Homelessness is a direct consequence of the landlord infestation.
The landlord infestation is a direct consequence of the myth of private land ownership.
"Land ownership" is really ownership of a piece of paper backed with state violence.
Want to solve homelessness?? Support #LandBack!
Grace is a powerful concept of theology. Seeing the “least of us” and being conditioned to dismiss, ignore, and devalue humans in our field of vision does psychological damage to them, ourselves, and our spirit.
There, but for the grace of many gods: https://open.substack.com/pub/paninid/p/there-but-for-the-grace-of?utm_source=direct&r=4hxgy&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
#values #surprise #luck #theology #psychology #humanity #homelessness #housing #wagetheft #substanceabuse #trauma #militaryveteran #mentalhealth #mentalillness
New episode out!
(Ep. 64) How We Talk About The Unhoused - The Rhetoric That Unmakes Us
Let's talk about the #rhetoric surrounding how we dehumanize and other the #unhoused of this country and turn them from neighbors into existential enemies with our words.
We dump on Rogan and Shapiro a bit, but mostly talk about how we separate ourselves from the #homeless to more easily allow us to forget about them or believe that they "deserve" it. #homelessness #othering
#BLM #blackhistory #education #blackmenunitied #PoliceReformNow #childliteracy #fooddeserts
#gunviolenceprevention #homelessness
#racism #DomesticAbuse #WomensHealthProtectionAct #LGBTQDiscrimination #housingdiscrimination #blackgenerationalwealth #reparations
These are most important to me, but mostly black women issues.Us sisters gonna work it out.We have a strong bond especially when it comes to voting.
The UK's #housingcrisis in a single statistic (from Crisis, the #homelessness charity):
Repossessions (#rental #evictions) by landlords hit 5,409 between 1 October and 31 December last year - this is a 98% increase on the same period in 2021!
Each case is a story of a family's life wrecked by the #costoflivingcrisis & another case of a callous Govt. unwilling to lead us into recovery, but rather obsessed with declaratory politics & feathering their (& their chums') nests
Anecdote #1: today
I gave $10 to a guy outside Target just now as I start typing this, because I'd given my last $5 to someone outside the Co-op two weeks ago and the only other bill I had was a $1.
This was an older Black guy -- said he'd just got out of prison, really didn't want to go there again, emphasized he couldn't pay me back. Offered to clean our car windows (he held up a bottle of Windex) after I gave him the money; I said no thanks, I know everything is difficult right now and the system is bad.
"The system is bad", he agreed.
Right after that a very deferential middle-eastern-looking woman with a thick accent (I don't think she even actually understood much English; she seemed to be repeating memorized phrases) approached us for the same reason. She had a cardboard sign which I barely read. I gave her the other $10. She was immensely grateful and waved in a friendly way back at us as we walked back to the car.
I'd like to always be able to do this, whenever someone is in a situation like that where they are so desperately short of cash that they're willing to put in the time and risk involved in panhandling in order to gain such small amounts.
I was raised to be suspicious of people like that -- but as I've come to understand how things really work in this country, I've come to realize that I shouldn't be. Anyone could end up like that, especially anyone who's not white.
Anecdote #2: late 1980s
The first panhandler I ever ran into was when I lived in Providence from 1985-1989. There was this ancient-looking toothless white guy with an enormous sack and a thick coat, who would softly ask people if they had any change to spare. The students called him "moneychange" (there was even an article about him once in the student paper) because of a popular belief that what he said to people was "money? change?" -- but all I ever heard him say was "Do you have any change to spare?"
I had finally got myself moved out of home with a full-time job that was enough to pay for rent and Wendyburgers (and the occasional Chinese meal or pizza) -- I was feeling stable and independent for the first time ever, and the thought came to me of "why give someone just a few dollars and change when you could just give them $20? Either they can use the extra, or it'll save everyone time because of all the other people he won't have to approach." So I started doing that whenever I saw him. It was no big deal to me, as long as it was only a few times a month.
That's about $50 today, allowing for inflation.
TL;DR
To get to the point:
I'm wondering if there'd be any interest in a crowdfund that's just so I'd be able to give $20 to every panhandler I come across. I'd publicly describe every encounter and update the balance remaining in the fund.
I see issues with the idea, but I thought I should put it out there anyway.
What do you think?
Cities Are Spending More to Brutalize Homeless People Than It Would Cost to House Them
https://jacobin.com/2023/02/cities-homeless-people-public-housing-police-raids
#Homelessness
Tuesday Distro was a success! It was really cold tonight, but we served 42 people warm food and supplies. We are trying to name our wagons, give us some name suggestions and we'll announce them next week!
Donate or join at http://SAFEBoulder.org!
Total people served: 42
Food Distributed: Chicken Noodle Soup, vegan chilli, hot chocolate, salads & sandwiches, pastries
Supplies distributed: hand warmers, water, lighters, narcan, safe injection supplies, safe sex supplies, tealight candles.
#Boulder #Colorado #MutualAid #Anarchism #Homelessness #HarmReduction #Communism