Street Roots • April 3-9, 2015
Commentary
Page 13
Opportunity, support keys to end homelessness
BY JOHNNY WILLIAMS
crippling. Also people who have no money
for food will not travel far from where they
can e a t So if the self-help classes are not
omelessness is a problem that cannot
within a small area, it makes it difficult if not
be fixed just by throwing money at i t
impossible, for them to get back and forth
You can throw money at a fire all day
between different sides of town, especially if
long, and it will never put out the fire. Only
using a shopping cart to carry belongings in.
helping people to get the things that they
People need a place where they can leave
missed — i.e. education, job training, and
such — will change homelessness. Others just their things, knowing that they are secure.
The stage of homelessness is an obstacle:
need a place to live cheap and save money
People find it hard to get up. They start to
for a place of their own.
give up. To understand how a person can
The homelessness problem can seem so
become accustomed to being homeless,
overwhelmingly out of control. There are
consider the opposite. That would be
many services available, but only during
institutionalization. At first, you hate being
certain days and hours. They don’t help
locked
up. But after a while, you start to get
much.
used to the walls. And with enough time you
“Must have” are two words that cause the
find that you depend upon them. Being
cateh-22s that keep people from getting up.
homeless and sleeping on the ground, feeling
You must have a GED, experience,
like no one really cares, it is easy to turn to
references, a phone, certification and such. If
drinking and such. It helps to hide the pain
we want to truly help a person, let’s start
of knowing that you have no place to sleep
with those things.
but the ground. Or harder yet* Having to
There are some who have multiple issues.
watch your spouse lie down and sleep under
Let’s say a person has worked as a caregiver,
a bridge can be too much.
but it has been a while back and the company
You cannot allow the bottom to fall out.
you worked for didn’t require a GED or a
Take for example a box, full of very fragile
CNA. The person, who although has
items. If the bottom of this box opens up
experience, now needs to go through a class
everything inside will fall out. Starting with
and be taught what he already knows, just for the bottom item, all the way to the top. Then
a piece paper. If the person can’t get a GED,
you have an empty box and a real mess to
it’s hopeless. Or it seems that way.
clean up. If you allow the homeless to just
The majority of the people who are
drop out, it will not be long before the K
homeless have had something happen,
Joneses will find themselves on th e bottom —
something that sent their lives into a
and then gptqJthe^^eets..^.
,
whirlwind, and they ended up being
The government cannot afford to
homeless. I have never heard of a child when
completely support everyone. If you want to
asked, “what are your aspirations?” answer
help someone who has no physical or mental
with wishing to be homeless and eat out of a
illness, the best way is to educate and/or give
garbage can.
them employment opportunities so that they
What most of society sees as they are
can help support the country, rather than the
going through a day is all the homeless
country support them!
people standing around doing nothing. The
John F. Kennedy said, “Let uS not seek the
Republican answer or the Democratic
problem is most services are too far away to
answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek
walk to and the times of availability are
to fix die blame for the past. Let us accept
typically only business hours. People who
our own responsibility for the future.” It’s
have lost almost everything will carry
time we take responsibility and help the
everything that they have left on their back
homeless in responsible ways.
to keep from losing it. That in itself is
C O N TR IB UTIN G C O LU M N IS T
H
Johnny Williams is a
Street Roots vendor
a n d a periodic
colum nist fo r the
newspaper.
The Who Poem
by T.M. Otto
Who will cry
For the mentally ill
Who will share
Their pain
Who will be there
For them
When the world
Turns on them
Who will ever
Erase
The stigma
That they face
It’s a daily
Battle
That can never
Be won
Who will lend them
A shoulder
To lean on
When the rest
Just turn away
Who I ask you
Who