"Homelessness wasn't a choice: It was the only option available!

                                             "Pic Courtesy: Cheryl Leontina, Andries Denim award Recipient 2018"

For folks who live their day-to-day life inside, spend most of their time figuring out why those people are out on the streets. What can we do for them? How can we shelter them?

 Often people asking these questions have no idea what's the real reason behind the people ending up on the streets.

 I can recall the time when I was aiding one of the grant recipients at Portland State with the project “Story Under the Bridges.” While working on this project, I got to meet and know about the folks who lived most of their life on the streets and recently were able to move into transitional housing and from there eventually getting their apartment. I can recall hearing stories about human trafficking, child abuse, mental disorders… the list is long, and it doesn’t end there. 

While some folks don’t have a roof over their head and end up taking shelter on the streets, there are some out there in the world who chose to be homeless. People who are the victim of child abuse, people who are the victim of human trafficking, people who have been left behind by their heirs, and in some or many cases people who are fighting addiction and have nowhere to go. 

These are the folks that need much more help than others. These people are not homeless because they have lost their job or because and they don’t have any earning to pay rather than these folks chose to stay quiet amidst the fear of receiving the backlash from society.

 These folks chose to cut off the connection from the real world because of the trauma and abuse that they have been through their whole life. If you google then you will find resources regarding these issues but none of them will tell you what you can do and how you can identify those individuals.

 As there are numerous researches you can find, idealistically speaking from my perspective none of them talks about what could have been done to avoid it.

 Honestly speaking, we never talk about preventative measures rather than talk about the possibilities. While these possibilities could be a way to engage discussion among others, however, the majority of those discussions never come to fruition. 

As civilized citizens, we should ask ourselves “what if questions” and do role play to deeply understand that these issues are more important than any political debate. Most of us are fortunate enough to acquire all the basic living amenities though some are not fortunate enough. As a member of society, we should strive to eliminate the root cause of homelessness and as an individual try our best to assist those who are in need.
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