Homelessness, the Universal Phenomenon

For years now, I’ve been working to eliminate homelessness.
I was homeless once, and because of it, I’ve learned that the stereotypes of surrounding homelessness: drug and alcohol addiction, poor education and a willingness to rely upon government handouts are all easily challenged and disputed. They can also ring true for many, but many times it’s not the case.
Homelessness can happen to anyone. There are no set factors that determine how or why a person might become homeless.
Through my work as a counselor at the National Caucus for Black Aging, I meet many people who just need a little help. We offer a variety of work experiences to low-income people considered difficult to employ, 55 years and older, placing our clients in what are called “host agencies” that help them hone existing talents and develop new skills geared towards alternate career opportunities.
The hope is that we will ultimately be able to place these people into private-sector jobs before their tenure in the program expires. For reasons of confidentiality, I will not give the name of client that touched my heart, but I will tell her story.
She arrived for the program’s intake procedure a few weeks ago with all the qualifiers to proceed in the program: age, unemployment and residency. What was most striking about this woman was her resume, which included a law degree from Georgetown University, an undergraduate degree in political science from a big-name school and work experience as a law professor in D.C. Her list of accomplishments were at least two full pages long. I kept referring to her resume, and each time, I was placed in a state of awe.
I explained to her that all that our program could offer in terms of economic remuneration was the standard minimum wage for D.C., which is $8.25 per hour. Her response was that she needed to work.
There was no doubt in my mind that the other potential employers who have received her resume felt that she was overqualified for any of the positions she applied for, unless they were for a lawyer position.
I did not ask her how she ended up in so much need. I worried that she might think that I was prying, or that the reasons might be too personal for the purposes of our program.
What I do know is that an illness forced her to forgo a promising career full of achievements and a high economic status and brought her to the very brink of homelessness. To me, this signifies the awesome reality that homelessness does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, social status or age. Homelessness really can happen to anyone.