What homeless people NEED

This is a meme I made, poking a little fun at today's crazy rent prices, which is part of the whole issue of homelessness.  #steveemigphotos

For well over 20 years now, there's been a repetitive series of P.R. campaigns promoting the idea that homelessness boils down to two main issues, drug addiction and mental illness.  Yes, a huge number of people on the streets have those issues.  But here's the problem with that argument as a fundamental cause of homelessness.  MOST drug addicts (prescription and illegal) have a place to live.  MOST alcoholics have a place to live.  MOST mentally ill people have a place to live.  Ever notice we have never had "supply chain issues" with psych drugs, like Xanax, Zoloft, Celexa, Prozac, and all the rest?  There'd be a revolution in about a week if that happened.  More people in the U.S. are on Xanax than on Food Stamps.  The number on Zoloft is just below the number on Food Stamps.  Over 48 million Americans on Xanax, over 41 million Americans on Food Stamps (EBT-food), and an estimated 552,000 homeless people in the U.S. right now.  That's 95 mentally ill housed people for every homeless person.  Hmmmmm...  

MOST people with some level of mental illness, and MOST people with addiction issues, ARE NOT homeless.  Those are not the primary causes of people winding up on the streets.  They are contributing factors in lots of cases, but not sole causes.  Homelessness is complex, and there are lots of reasons people wind up without a place to live for some period of time.

The single most universal issue I've seen among the homeless people is that most people on the streets do not have the social networks of people to help them through a serious crisis.  Speaking from 15 years of homeless experience myself (over half of that while working full time), it's a lack of a strong family or friends network that lets people fall through the cracks and into some level of homeless living.  That type of living maybe be in "cheap" weekly motels, living in a car or van, living in a shelter, or fully on the streets.

So what do all these people NEED?  Here are some of the most universal, basic, daily needs among the homeless:

-Access to clean, working bathrooms

-A place to plug in and charge phones and other devices 

(you need a smart phone to get government services, which means you need to charge it daily)

-Money- actual income, IN CASH, to buy bus passes, food, medicine co-pays, personal items, to go to restaurants (heat/air conditioning, bathrooms/wifi), do laundry, women's needs, and other everyday expenses

-A safe place to store their personal belongings

-A place to store food items

(So they don't waste so much money buying single servings of food items)

-Access to showers and basic toiletry items

-A safe place to sleep

AND THEN...

Help with housing, counseling, help with addiction issues, help with mental health issues, help with physical health issues, learning 21st century job skills (think Linked-in, computer skills, today's work skills, not working part time for minimum wage as a janitor, while having their rent and food paid for by tax dollars).  

This is the basics of homelessness.  Did you notice that "conforming to someone else's religious beliefs" is nowhere on this list?  Yeah, because that's not necessary to house people.  It may help some people, but also drives tens of thousands of people away from programs.

I wrote a big blog on panhandling and homelessness in 2009-2010, that pulled in over 60,000 page views.  It was actually the #1 blog on homelessness in the world, at that point.  It was one of the blogs I deleted in the Fall of 2012 (which I regret doing).  I have a lot more to say on this subject.  But this is a good starting point.