Misconception of Homelessness

Skid Row. 

Every semester, I delve deeper in research and interactions with the homeless of Skid Row, Los Angeles. Complex, mysterious, heartbreaking yet Skid Row draws me closer every time. A harsh place to be in--a nightmare for most, a healing place for some-- but the stories to be found are inspiring. It is hard to empathize or understand homelessness without experiencing it firsthand. Often, the intricacy of the problem gave rise to the misconceptions of the homeless. 

The term ‘Skid Row’ refers to the rundown areas of cities, characterized by bars, brothels, and the like. Since its exposure during World War II and the Vietnam War, Skid Row has served as a haven for the emotionally scarred war veterans, alcoholics, and drug abusers. Incurable hospital patients are also thrown into this open asylum, disenfranchised from mental institutions. Urines, feces, and trashes color the sidewalks. People live off shopping carts and tents, with little to no access to proper sanitation and food.

A common misconception is that the homeless are poor due to life choices or laziness. Some, yes! Skid Row is a dangerous place where outsiders and insiders alike, know crimes run rampant. It is the kind of environment where gunshots are so common that people are used to them. There are no walls to guarantee personal safety. While there are definitely violent, dirty-mouthed, and nonsensical homeless, there are a good amount of homeless who do not fit in this category. Fun fact: homeless are more likely to be victims of crimes than to become criminals. 

According to the National Coalition to End Homelessness, the top five reasons of homelessness are: lack of affordable housing, lack of a living wage, domestic violence, medical bankruptcy, and mental illness. None of these reasons are related to choice. One bad circumstance or a series of unfortunate events can lead to homelessness. Many of these homeless do work, but without a living wage they could not afford rent.

Imagine this: Going to a job interview is harder when you have to carry all your belongings or without an easy access to transportation. Being accepted for a job is also highly unlikely when an employer sees your address is a shelter. When called for an interview, but because the call has to go through the shelter’s main line, you may miss the interview. Clearly, the obstacles are such that even a college degree does not make a person immune to homelessness. I encountered a law graduate who live on the streets of Skid Row, cheated by the system. I met Richard, whose mental illness disabled him from being employed. Another was hospitalized with stroke; she lost her memory and had to start over with life.

More than 90% of homeless women are victims of severe physical or sexual domestic abuse and escaping that abuse is a leading cause of their homelessness. I was greatly appalled by the number of times I hear women telling me they were raped or assaulted by their counterparts there. I asked a woman how I could pray for her, and she told me with a soft, quiet voice, and eyes drooped low to the ground, “So I don’t get assaulted tonight.” My writing could not do justice to the pain and daily struggle I saw in their eyes.

Aside from the lack of basic necessities, another kind of hunger exists—an emotional hunger.

I walked up to Lauren, who was sitting by herself in the corner of a park with her one backpack. I talked and shook her hands. She expressed she could not remember the last time she had talked to someone. People passed her by, avoiding eye contact or worse, giving her a disgusted look. “The hardest part of being a homeless is that it made invisible. I don’t want people’s money or pity, but a humane treatment!” she said.

Engaging with the homeless requires effort, discernment, and going out of one’s way. The automobile culture makes encounter with the homeless less frequent. The fear of the unknown often stops one from showing hospitality to strangers, commanded in the Christian faith. Followers of Christ should model His lifestyle of reaching out to the “least of these”, as said in Matt 25:40. “He came to rescue the lost, not the righteous (Luke 5:32).” Each of us should reevaluate our perceptions towards the homeless population. Aren't we all children of God?

It is important that we do not fall in these two extremes—giving without discretion and suspicion while withholding.

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A sustainable development model requires that we teach a man how to fish, not just to hand the fish. But learning to fish necessitates that a man be given enough energy to lift the fishing pole.

Skid Row enlivens in me the call of humanity- our responsibility for one another. I think of my privilege and what I can do. I think that to value vulnerable ones means to confront those who exploit them.

“We should not tolerate any system that would treat man or woman as anything less than that of a child of God
”

— Desmond Tutu

There are only two people in this world: those who are part of the solution or a part of the problem. You get to choose how to use your voice and existence to prove which side you are on.

X,

Tam