Homeless Youth

    

In The USA there are anywhere between 300,00 to 400,000 homeless youth between the ages of 18-24. These come from various issues in our community. The first being abuse or neglect at home. This can leave a child emotionally and mentally traumatized and without the right abilities once they become adults to fend for themselves and are instead pushed onto the street. This being the biggest threat to homeless youth is no surprise, but it can be combatted in a very different way then what we see on the fight against homelessness in general. The way to combat the former is to put more funding into social programs that help at risk youth This being programs like CPS and the Big Brother Big Sister Program. I believe that these programs can significantly reduce homelessness in you as well as homelessness in adult populations.

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Death Toll within the Homeless Community

 

Death Toll within the Homeless Community

          

Image taken by Thomas Boyd.

          Homelessness is not just about individuals not having a home.  These individuals are exposed to the outside environments where they are affected directly by extreme weather, violence, drugs, unsanitary conditions, depression, and so much more.  The homeless population stays struggling to survive every day physically and mentally. 

          According to a report made in 2020, 113 homeless individuals in Multnomah County alone have died in 2019 since 2012.  Death in the homeless population has doubled from 47 deaths in 2011 to 113 recorded in 2019.  While there has been no direct cause found to this drastic increase, it is suggested that the incline is due to increasing rent prices causing an increase in the homeless population. 

          From the same report made in 2020, drugs and alcohol made up approximately half of the death toll of the homeless in 2019.  A third of this population died from natural causes such as chronic diseases or alcohol and drug abuse.  Fifteen deaths were recorded to be by suicides, and six deaths were recorded to be due to homicides.  Ten deaths were by “traumatic accidents”.    Click here for more information.

                   

    Many of us take for granted the essential things in life, like clean air. Last year we were blindsided by the smoke from the wildfire across the west coast. A lot of people were not prepared and didn't know what to do. Mask ran out of every store. Air filters were limited for your homes, and air purifiers were sold out too. We had one defense staying indoors and closing the windows to prevent the smoke from penetrating us. 

    Being homeless brings many obstacles that some don't worry about. I remember going to the store during the smoke and getting nauseous and a headache within 10 min of being outdoors. Imagine what it was like sleeping in those conditions. The microscopic soot particles can be inhaled deep into the lungs, where they may cause inflammation and irritation. Volatile organic compounds and other gases can also irritate the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. The way this summer has been, it is only a matter of time before it happens again, and homeless people suffer the most due to the lack of resources. If you want to learn more. Click here to read more

Mental Health Weight in Homeless

Often, those who happen to be homeless lack access to health care treatment. Because of this, there's higher rates of hospitalization for illness -- physical, mental, and substance abuse. The least likely to be treated would be in regards to mental health. According to a study conducted by Bassuk, those to develop mental health double in rates if they're homeless than the general population. As for homeless women, approximately 47% are diagnosed with major depressive disorder -- of which is double the rate of women in the general population. 

With these trends in mind, it highlights the impact that the homeless may experience and can heighten poor conditions. For people to end up homeless, lacking the resources to ensure their wellbeing and basic needs may keep them homeless for much longer. Poor mental health can result in lack of motivation to get out of their situation. It's a common misconception that it's easy to obtain a job and shelter, but without their own basic needs met, can they realistically do that? With enough resources and support, as a community, we can help those in need and get them up on a fresh start.

Ressouces for Homeless people

 Resources for Homeless

Portland City Commissioner Dan Ryan unveiled plans on Friday to create six controlled villages to house city residents who do not have permanent housing, possibly in tents, sleeping pods, or automobiles.

Construction on the locations is expected to start in August and September, with the towns set to open by the end of the year thanks to federal relief funds. Case management, showers, restrooms, and laundry services will be available at the sites, according to Ryan

COVID limits will be eased in the coming year, bringing the total number of shelter beds in the Portland area to 1,970, up from 1,475. However, at least 1,500 people would remain on the streets.

In the Portland metro area, more than 4,000 people are homeless.

Inequalities and Homelessness

Picture being born into a system seemingly rigged against you and not having a home. African Americans and Indigenous people are amongst the minorities that experience the highest rates of homelessness compared to whites. This disproportion in homelessness results from systemic inequity.  African Americans, Indigenous, and Latinx minorities have been repeatedly denied social-economic opportunities leading to poverty, a predictor of homelessness. Discriminatory practices such as "redlining" supported by the government are an underlying driver for the economic gap between white and minority households. These unethical but acceptable practices include denying services such as loans, insurance, and housing in certain areas, thus making it very difficult for poor neighborhoods to access financial services in the inner city. As a result, minorities more often live in poverty-stricken neighborhoods with restricted access to care and socioeconomic opportunities. The absence of health care coverage for those individuals with persistent untreated health and mental illness can put them in danger of becoming homeless. The reality is to acknowledge that systemic inequalities have been rampant in our community. By walking in someone else's shoes, we can seek to understand how so many have fallen through the cracks of society, which seemingly is rigged against them.

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Additional Resources

-Bibian

Tragic Rise in Elderly Homelessness

 

At the 2019 Oregon Health Forum, panelist Dr. Margot Kushel argued that "The solution to homelessness is to solve our housing crisis." Kushel's experience as a professor of medicine and director of the University of California San Francisco's Homelessness and Housing Initiative, exposed her to growing trends and concerns within the homeless population. As a physician, many of the homeless people she's worked with are increasingly older. This coincides with recent studies in San Francisco showing that 37% of the city's homeless population are adults aged 50 years or older.

Many of these vulnerable elderly adults do not have significant mental health or substance abuse problems.

Instead, what is more likely are sudden events such as loss of job, injury, loss of spouse or increased poverty

that place them at risk for homelessness. In the neighboring city of Oakland, nearly half of the homeless people

50 or older had never experienced homelessness before age 50. 

This trend was alarming to doctors like Kushel in 2019, who recognized the increased vulnerability of elderly

adults. Exactly two years later, concern continues among the panelists at the 2021 Oregon Health Forum.

Experts are calling for urgent action and investment in solutions and resources aimed at protecting older

adults. These include social, economic and legislative actions to make housing more affordable for the aging

population. To learn more click here.

Homelessness & Shelter

 In times of horrible weather, it is important to be grateful for the homes we are sheltered with. There are a large number of homeless people who are not provided with the shelter and protection that they need in order to survive. Where do the homeless go when the weather becomes too much to handle? Is anyone there to support the homeless throughout these times? In many cities across the country, there are homeless people who receive no help and are left to find their own refuge. Often, in poor weather conditions, you may see groups of homeless people gather together to help one another out.

Thankfully, in the city of Portland/ Multnomah County, there have been numerous locations that have offered weather shelter and warming spaces to the homeless in time of need. Places like the Oregon Convention Center, the Metro Garage, and the Arbor Severe Weather Shelter offer spaces for the homeless.

Damion Squire

Family Homelessness (James Jean-Marie)

 The recent national economic downturn has highlighted the growing vulnerability of low-income households to the effects of home instability. It's really hard for them to find stability because our system wasn't made to put homeless people in a better position in life so there is about 1.6 million children in the United States that will be homeless. Families that become homeless and live in unstable short-term accommodations or public shelters are physically and emotionally separated from their basic institutional supports: their neighborhood, community, and school. The tremendous disruption caused by homicide puts parents' and children's mental and physical health, fundamental social supports, and educational and occupational progress in jeopardy. 

When a lack of affordable housing is combined with poverty and a lack of social support, families become homeless. Domestic violence, a history of children being placed in foster care, parental alcohol or drug use, parental mental illness, and a racial or ethnic minority background are all risk factors for family homelessness.

Hygiene

 One of the necessities of living a healthy and safe life is paying attention to ones own personal hygiene. For most of us it isn't really even something we actively think about anymore, its just apart of our daily routines; We wake up and shower with soap and shampoo, wash our hands multiple times through out the day, we brush our teeth every morning, we trim our nails, shave, clean ourselves up with toiletry products after our business. But these very mundane activities for most of us can be a real challenge for many in the homeless population. 

 Just think about how uncomfortable it is when you finish the business and there is no toilet paper left, you are literally stuck with your pants down. Now just imagine if you didn't know if you would even have access to a toilet for the whole day, let alone there being paper there if you where lucky enough to use one.

In Portland OR, we have a rather significant amount of people without access to housing, and in turn without consistent access to supplies and infrastructure to keep themselves clean. But the non profit Hygiene4all is directly tackling this issue by offering safe sanitized showers, bathrooms, clothing & bedding, as well as foot and wound care and waste disposal to the community in Portland. For a small donation of your time or money, you could help them in their goal, and help you fellow human live a more sanitary, dignified life.

 

Gender and Homelessness

 

There is a distinct difference in the rates of homelessness amongst men and women. Currently the number of homeless men is far greater than that of women with 70% being male and 30% being female. While we cannot pinpoint a direct cause as to why men are more prone to homelessness than women, data suggests that the causes of homelessness differ with gender. 

Primary causes of homelessness based on gender: 

Men:

unemployment 

alcohol abuse

jail release 

Women:

eviction

domestic violence 

Data also suggests a difference in the number of sheltered and unsheltered men and women within the homeless population. Sheltered individuals are those that reside in temporary emergency shelters. These shelters provide residents with safety and protection from the weather and outdoor environment. Unsheltered individuals are those that reside on the streets often taking shelter in cars, parks, abandoned buildings and makeshift tents. These individuals are unprotected from the environment and must rely on their own means to survive. Out of the percentage of homeless men and women within the population, 49% of men remain unsheltered and 45% of women remain unsheltered. 

It is important to understand the gender gap within the homeless community because it provides us with a better understanding of the current population. This way we can better prepare ourselves when devising a strategy to end homelessness altogether. 

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Individuality and Homelessness.

 In a previous blog post, I argued the importance of recognizing the homeless population as individuals; that we may more readily apply empathy when we acknowledge the homeless as not distinctly different from ourselves. I also made the argument that we, ourselves, are not as far off as we realize from being without a home. The number of tragedies I posited that could do in a moderately put together individual is two, maybe even one… 

This recognition allows for us to minimize the stigma associated with homelessness and to begin to address the problem with a caring heart, as opposed to a cold one. Additionally, stratifying society can be very dangerous since it encourages all types of crudely based assumptions that are stereotypic and without one-hundred percent accuracy. The idea here is to encourage properly motivated action. 

My point was to move away from the vilification of the homeless population. I believed (and still do) that recognizing the individual over the group would lead to better outcomes for everyone, but I fear that I encouraged empathy too much. Too much empathy is not necessarily a good thing. If we take the assumption seriously that the homeless are to be treated as individuals with autonomy, desires, and motivations, we ought also to exercise a certain degree of harshness towards the actual villain-like behavior.

This harshness comes from the notion of treating the homeless as individuals, which I believe is a form of empathy when dealt out justly. When we separate the homeless from the group, we must acknowledge that to the degree it is possible for a homeless person to choose positively on society's behalf (as well as for themselves), they too should be held accountable. As services are provided to address the problems associated with homelessness, the beneficiaries of the services cannot be forced, and if they choose inaction and persist in community damaging behavior, leniency is a form of enabling.