"The Unhoused Community"

[NotHardUp1]

In ABC's evening news coverage on Riley Strain's disappearance, the reporter on the street noted that members of "the unhoused community" had seen him near the river.

OK, let's create endlessly revised and meaningless euphemisms to pretend citizens see "unhoused" as somehow less stigmatized, less robbed of dignity than "homeless" or "street people."

Why not Rent Free Unresidents?

Self-Challenged Al Frescans?

Under-Contained Constituents?

The Undermortgaged?

There's nothing actually funny about being homeless, but playing word games doesn't do it. Most people treat street people with respect untill they get mistreated on an individual basis. The term doesn't need protecting or remarketing. It's frivolous.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

Nothing has shocked me quite like the expanding role of public schools diverting funds to aid homeless students and their families. Public schools in Washington State are notorious for poorly managing money with no methods to account for funds spent with constant pleas for more money from the state as well as federal sources.

The public school agency I work for is being audited due to staff cashing out public and private funding and giving money directly to students and parents.
Staff have misrepresented the amount of money given to families and these families have tried to hide the cash assistance from other government agencies that help low-income families, like the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, which requires families to document the amount of money the household received to quality for continued benefits.


Here is the email I received from the School Business Office Association:

LEADING THE NEWS Schools 'Stretching Beyond Their Typical Roles' To Help Homeless Kids Across the country, school staff are doing things to help homeless students that they’ve never been able to do before. In part, this is due to the COVID-19 aid package, but it’s also because federal education officials said explicitly that schools could spend this money on items like prepaid store cards, gas cards, and cellphones that schools were often reluctant to buy in the past for fear of running afoul of various spending and record keeping rules. Such increased agency is broadly being seen as one more way that schools have stretched beyond their typical roles, and used pandemic assistance to help families in new ways. In a survey of more than 1,400 school liaisons earlier this school year, School House Connection found that 40% had purchased gas cards for families and 34% had bought store cards. That was double the share who planned to purchase cards when the nonprofit did a similar survey in 2021.

 

[peeonme]

" A rose by any other name..."

 

[NotHardUp1]

Nothing has shocked me quite like the expanding role of public schools diverting funds to aid homeless students and their families. Public schools in Washington State are notorious for poorly managing money with no methods to account for funds spent with constant pleas for more money from the state as well as federal sources.

My greater concern is that schools in particular redefine homelessness to mean something other than the vast majority of the public define as homelessness. It extends to children living with grandparents, extended family, neighbors, etc., not actually living without a private domicile. Much the same was done to redefine hunger using "at risk" language.

I'm all in favor of creating programs to move people from living in tents and under bridges to living indoors, but I'm opposed to ensconcing tent slums and turning our cities into Bartertown.

Let's do everything possible to help kids study, learn, and remain in school IF they are progressing. If they choose not to want to follow the traditional education route, then give them a vocational track and let them opt for it at age 13 and older. Let's stop forcing kids to stay in the academic track for 12 years if they and their culture are anti-education.

Help the needy, but stop lying with language to further your argument with society.

 

[Peloso]

Most people treat street people with respect untill they get mistreated on an individual basis.

Then they immediately go back to being "vagrants".

Just a friendly reminder that Jeff Bezos just bought up 500 million dollars worth of single family homes. Supposedly you get a new house now if you sign up for Prime. But you won't see the media decry the ravages of capitalism because they too suck off it's teat.

It's the same with everything else. Children killed in Gaza are "Liberated from the ravages of war." Trump can slur his way through an unintelligible word salad for twenty minutes but if Biden is seen adjusting his reading glasses the headlines scream "Biden loses sight, senility worsens, LOOK OUT HE'S GOT AN AXE!!"

 

[Alistair]

I can’t even force myself to get upset about a new word being used to describe anything.

It’s just a diversion from the actual problems.

 

[Peloso]

I can’t even force myself to get upset about a new word being used to describe anything.

It’s just a diversion from the actual problems.

Yes but "Under-Contained Constituents" does have a nice ring to it.

 

[rareboy]

I think that we all should be more focussed on eliminating homelessness than being worried about the terms used.

I know where unhoused originated.

In part it is because homelessness has been so stigmatized and of course, at the end of the day, even a house is not necessarily a home for many. Many write of the homeless as the hopeless. In Canada and the US we can do better than this.

 

[peeonme]

I think that we all should be more focussed on eliminating homelessness than being worried about the terms used.

I know where unhoused originated.

In part it is because homelessness has been so stigmatized and of course, at the end of the day, even a house is not necessarily a home for many. Many write of the homeless as the hopeless. In Canada and the US we can do better than this.

We can but are we willing? In the USA we are in an election season, I have yet to hear from either candidate addressing homelessness. They don't comprise a constituency that will provide enough votes to win the race.

 

[me203]

I know I'm a cynic when I say this... But even if the scum balls running for office addressed homelessness in their campaignw, they probably wouldn't do a damn thing in office. It doesn't fit the needs or desires of those they actually serve, like big corporations. Voters are only necessary long enough to vote them into office, and once installed, the voters can expect nothing but a few bread crumbs here and there.

 

[rareboy]

We can but are we willing? In the USA we are in an election season, I have yet to hear from either candidate addressing homelessness. They don't comprise a constituency that will provide enough votes to win the race.

The country as whole have turned their backs on homelessness as a national problem because it has not been a priority for federal politicians.

It is seen as a local problem, despite the origins in system racism, underfunding of mental health, turning backs on the veterans with PTSD, the opioid crisis, structural poverty as the wealth is all tranferred up and not across or down....

Poor homeless people don't vote. And they seem to embarass the rich ones who do.

 

[Alistair]

It is seen as a local problem, despite the origins in system racism, underfunding of mental health, turning backs on the veterans with PTSD, the opioid crisis, structural poverty as the wealth is all tranferred up and not across or down....

Exactly, and these humans have already been written off. That’s why they don’t matter.

When I hear anyone complaining about such and such being renamed the only thing I can think of is trump and his refusal to call it Covid and instead calling it the China virus.

Now I’m just waiting for the normal complaints about you saying it’s systemic racism.

 

[Latimer]

In Italian, senzatetto: without roof.

 

[peeonme]

What Led to the Rise of Homelessness

The rise of homelessness today is a multi-symptom epidemic rooted in housing, economics, and politics.

www.pbssocal.org

"Between 1950 and 1970, during a period of post-war prosperity, the gap between the incomes of rich and poor narrowed. But this trend was reversed in the 1970s, and became entrenched during the 80s in what economists describe the great 'U-turn.' 9 The national economy shifted from manufacturing to service industries, where wages were lower (a process known as 'deindustrialization'). Over three-quarters of the new jobs created during the 1980s were at minimum-wage levels. By 1983, over 15 percent of Americans were living below the poverty line, even though half of them lived in households where at least one person worked."

Trickle down economics coupled with globalization have had a horrible impact on the workers of the USA. Right now we are "battling" inflation largely due to the amount of money printed and passed out during the covid pandemic. Couple this with supply issues during that same period and we see the recipe for inflation: too many dollars chasing too few goods.

We had high(er) inflation rates in the late 60's and in the 70', the lead to "Reganomics" aka "supply side or trickle down" economics. Homelessness increased substantially during the 80's and the work force has seen what seems to be a permanent recession. This keeps many in a place where a flat tire or a traffic ticket can cause them to be late on rent. No savings, poor or no existent health care or other disasters can cause a person or family to be out on the street.

I would submit that this is no accident. To maintain an economy where the "wealthy" can increase their wealth by means of a passive income (investments) it is necessary to keep inflation low, this necessitates a permanent class of workers that barely keep their heads above water. Don't look to our government for a solution, they are the cause.

 

[rareboy]

^ Nailed it.

 

[USEDCAR]

Look at what our politicians are doing (Republicans and Democrats) they can find money to fund multiple wars and fund illegal immigrants but can't help homeless American citizens.

 

[NotHardUp1]

I think that we all should be more focussed on eliminating homelessness than being worried about the terms used.

I know where unhoused originated.

In part it is because homelessness has been so stigmatized and of course, at the end of the day, even a house is not necessarily a home for many. Many write of the homeless as the hopeless. In Canada and the US we can do better than this.

As I stated in my post.

Eliminating homelessness is impossible, for the principle reason that a large percentage of the homeless don't want to go mainstream. There are plenty of hands offering help, but you can make people want what they don't want.

 

[NotHardUp1]

We can but are we willing? In the USA we are in an election season, I have yet to hear from either candidate addressing homelessness. They don't comprise a constituency that will provide enough votes to win the race.

Their votes are a non-issue. Between the ex-cons, the living off the grid, the mentally ill, and the addicts, very few would ever even register as a resident of a place, much less the extra work of registering to vote and voting.

The larger issue is the credibility of the data and the half-truths put forth when trying to get funding. As many of our large cities are discovering, the citizenry isn't crazy about funding a population that is growing and degrading the very cities the residents once loved, but now find despoiled and dangerous.

 

[NotHardUp1]

I would submit that this is no accident. To maintain an economy where the "wealthy" can increase their wealth by means of a passive income (investments) it is necessary to keep inflation low, this necessitates a permanent class of workers that barely keep their heads above water. Don't look to our government for a solution, they are the cause.

Many would argue that poverty and homelessness are hugely different issues. Look anywhere in the 2nd and 3rd world, and you still find plenty of poverty, but people simply live in poor houses.

It's more likely homelessness is a combination of increasing drug addiction, the irresponsible end of mentally ill homes, the change in work ethic, and the migration of Americans from rural to urban centers. With the population move, anonymity allowed vagrants to not face the pressures of community and the social contract.

Living in cities also voluntarily moves away from rural areas where homes have been extremely cheap until only recently, and even now still can have much more affortable living than cities, But, country folk won't feed you and give you money if they know you can work but won't. The poor are funny that way.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Exactly, and these humans have already been written off. That’s why they don’t matter.

I wouldn't dream of defending politicians, but in fairness to others in society, a great number of the homeless have written themselves off. It's hard to turn people from their own defeatism.