Homelessness​—What Is Behind It?

“WORLDWIDE there are over 100 million homeless people,” reports the United Nations. If that figure is accurate, then 1 human in every 60 or so is without adequate shelter! Still, the real scope of the problem is hard to assess. Why?

Definitions of homelessness vary from one part of the world to another. The approaches and aims of those who study the problem influence the way they define it. Their definition, in turn, affects the statistics they publish. So it is difficult, if not impossible, to get an accurate overview of the problem.

The book Strategies to Combat Homelessness, published by the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, defines homelessness as the condition of “not having an acceptable level of housing provision. It would include all states below what may be regarded as adequate” for the society in which the homeless live. Some may dwell on the streets or occupy derelict or abandoned buildings, while others might find shelter in hostels. Still others find temporary accommodation with friends. In any case, says the same study: “To classify someone as homeless indicates a state in which ‘something must be done’ for the victim of such circumstances.”

It is estimated that in Poland, a country with a population of some 40 million, there are as many as 300,000 homeless people. No one really knows how many, since they are not registered in any fixed location and they keep moving from place to place. Some believe the real figure to be close to half a million!

Since homelessness is widespread, someone you know may be affected by it. The plight of the homeless raises a number of questions. How did these people come to be without adequate housing? How do they  get by? Who helps them? And what does the future hold for the homeless?

In and Out of Homelessness

Sabrina * is a single mother from a poor neighborhood in Harlem, a section of New York City. She dropped out of high school after tenth grade. Sabrina lives with her three young children in a city-run shelter for the long-term homeless. She shares a one-bedroom apartment with her three boys​—aged ten months, three years, and ten years. The city makes such provisions for people who have no other safe place to live.

Sabrina moved out of her mother’s apartment ten years ago. Since then she has lived with her boyfriend, stayed with friends and relatives, and resorted to city shelters when things got bad. “I’ve worked off and on, mostly braiding people’s hair for money,” says Sabrina, “but for the most part, I’ve been on public assistance.”

Paradoxically, Sabrina’s problems, as recounted in Parents magazine, began when she found a good job as a housekeeper in a hotel. While she was working there, she earned too much to qualify for public assistance but not enough to cover her expenses, including housing, food, clothing, transportation, and child care. Thus, she found it hard to pay her rent, and her landlord tried to evict her. In the end, Sabrina quit her job and resorted to an emergency short-term shelter until there was room where she is now.

“It’s all been hard on my kids,” says Sabrina. “My oldest son has already been in three different schools. He should be in fifth grade, but he was held back a year . . . We’ve had to move around so much.” Sabrina is on a waiting list for subsidized housing.

To any who have absolutely no place to go, Sabrina might seem fortunate. Life in a shelter, however, is not a welcome safety net for all the homeless. According to the Polish Community Help Committee, some “are afraid of the discipline and rules of shelters” and reject the help provided. For example, those who live in hostels for the homeless are expected to work and to abstain from alcohol and drugs. Not everyone is prepared to comply. Hence, depending on the time of year, homeless people may be found sleeping in train stations, stairwells, and cellars, as well as on park benches, under bridges, and in  industrial areas. Similar scenes are repeated the world over.

One book on the subject lists many factors that contribute to homelessness in Poland. They include job loss, debt, and family problems. There is a shortage of housing for the elderly, disabled, and people infected with HIV. Many homeless people have mental and physical problems or problems of addiction, particularly to alcohol. The majority of homeless women have left​—or have run away from—​their husbands, have been thrown out of their home, or have a history of prostitution. It seems that behind every case, there is a sad story.

Victims of Circumstance

Stanisława Golinowska, a specialist in socio-economics, says: “Here [in Poland] there is no genuine case of homelessness by choice. . . . Rather, it is a result of various failures in life, which have led to breakdown and loss of the will to live.” Homelessness seems to befall people who, for various reasons, feel unable to deal with their problems. Some, for example, have been released from prison, only to find that vandals have wrecked their home. Others have been evicted. Many have lost the roof over their head in the wake of natural disasters. *

One study found that nearly half the homeless surveyed in Poland used to be part of a family and lived with their spouse, though often the family had problems. Most were thrown out of their home or felt compelled to leave because of extreme hardship. Only 14 percent freely made a decision to leave.

After spending time in a shelter, some are able to become self-sufficient again and find their own accommodations. For others, the situation is more difficult to resolve. In part because of mental or physical illness, substance abuse, lack of incentives to work, poor work habits, lack of adequate  education, or a combination of factors, they become chronically homeless. In the United States, some 30 percent of homeless people are in and out of what one nonprofit organization calls the “homeless system”​—a system that includes shelters, hospitals and, sadly, prisons. Those who are chronically dependent on the system are said to utilize as much as 90 percent of the national resources dedicated to the problem.

Help for the Homeless?

Some shelters offer services aimed at helping people to break out of the homeless life. Individuals may be helped to obtain public assistance, financial help from other sources, legal aid, support in reestablishing links with family, or the chance to learn basic skills. Centers for young people in London offer advice on diet, cooking, healthier lifestyles, and work placement. Counseling aims to increase self-respect and motivation and to help people achieve greater independence so that they can find and keep a home of their own. Such provisions are certainly praiseworthy.

Not always, however, do shelters offer the homeless the help they feel they need most. Jacek, a homeless person in Warsaw, explains that life in the shelters does not equip residents to deal with the outside world. He feels that the residents, by associating and conversing almost exclusively with one another, tend to develop “a warped pattern of thinking.” He says, “The shelter that isolates us from the outside world becomes like a children’s home for adults.” In his view, many residents have “malfunctioning minds.”

According to one Polish study, loneliness is the most painful emotion the homeless experience. As a result of  financial problems and low social standing, the homeless tend to consider themselves worthless. Some turn to alcohol. Jacek says, “Seeing no hope for change, many of us slowly lose the conviction that there is anything we can do to improve our plight.” They are ashamed of the way they look, of their poverty and helplessness, and of the simple fact that they are homeless.

“Whether we talk about the pavement dwellers in Bombay [Mumbai] and Calcutta or the rough sleepers in the streets of London, or the Street Children in Brazil,” says Francis Jegede, who specializes in population issues, “the condition of homelessness is too grave and pathetic to imagine, let alone experience.” Then he adds: “Whatever may be the cause or causes of this phenomenon, the question one keeps asking is why is it that the world, with all its wealth and wisdom and its technological know-how, seems incapable of dealing with the problem of homelessness?”

It is evident that all the homeless need help​—not just physical help but also the kind that can soothe their hearts and lift their spirits. Such help can empower people to face and overcome many of the problems that contribute to homelessness. But where can the homeless find that kind of help? And what hope is there that the tragedy of homelessness will ever be eradicated?

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The Results of Abject Poverty

Hundreds of thousands live on the city streets of India. Past estimates have found some 250,000 pavement dwellers in Mumbai alone. Their only shelter may be a tarpaulin tied between poles and neighboring structures. Why do they live here rather than in relatively affordable housing near the city’s outskirts? Because they work​—as petty traders, hawkers, rickshaw pullers, or scrap collectors—​close to the city center. “They have no choice,” says Strategies to Combat Homelessness. “They are simply forced by poverty to spend nothing on rent that could be used for food.”

Some 2,300 men, women, and children live in Park Station, Johannesburg, South Africa. They sleep on open railroad platforms, using scraps of blankets as beds, or in cardboard shacks. Most have no work and have lost hope of finding any. Thousands live in a similar fashion throughout the city. They lack water, toilet facilities, and electricity. In such conditions disease spreads fast.

The reason for the homelessness of these two groups of people and many others like them is simple​—abject poverty.

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Failings of Modern Society

The book Strategies to Combat Homelessness, published by the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, identifies a number of shortcomings of the present social, political, and economic system when it comes to providing homes for all. Included are the following:

● “The main issue with respect to homelessness remains the inability of governments to devote significant resources towards the full realisation of the right to adequate housing.”

● “The existence of inappropriate regulations and inefficient planning systems can . . . cause havoc with housing supply for the poor majority.”

● “Homelessness is a sign of the inequitable distribution of housing costs and benefits in the community.”

● “The crisis of homelessness is the culmination of policies that have either ignored or misdiagnosed the adverse impact of economic shifts, the lack of affordable housing, increased drug abuse, and other physical health and mental health problems of those who are the most vulnerable in . . . society.”

● “There is a great need to modify the training of professionals who deal with vulnerable people. Homeless people, particularly street children, should be regarded as unutilised but potential assets rather than burdens to society.”

[Picture]

A mother and her two daughters begging, Mexico

[Credit Line]

© Mark Henley/Panos Pictures

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A former railway station was converted into a hostel for the homeless in Pretoria, South Africa

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© Dieter Telemans/Panos Pictures

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Left: © Gerd Ludwig/Visum/Panos Pictures; inset: © Mikkel Ostergaard/Panos Pictures; right: © Mark Henley/Panos Pictures