So many people seem to ignore the homeless community, failing to realize that they are people too. But they have the same rights as anyone else. So why is it people treat them the way that they do? Surely they don’t deserve to be treated as such.
Homelessness could happen to you.
Imagine for a moment that you have a house fire one week after you lose your job and miss two mortgage payments. Family you thought would surely be there for you are not, for one reason or another. Then you are audited by the IRS and your bank account is frozen indefinitely. You are suddenly catapulted into the ever increasing ranks of the homeless. What do you do? Where do you go?
Do you think you could endure, as many of those looked down upon have had to do, sometimes for decades? Where will you sleep? What will you eat? How will you pay for it?
If you go to a shelter, how will you prevent the things you’ve begun to acquire to rebuild your life from being stolen? Will you allow the bedbugs and lice to have the bed that is assigned to you? Or will you give in to sleep deprivation and share it with them? If you didn’t get to the shelter in time or the staff dislikes you, you’re out on the street anyway.
Let’s say today you’ve actually been able to get enough to eat and drink. Oh no! Nature is calling. With no money to make a purchase, how and where do you take care of your natural body functions? You’ve been denied four times already and don’t know if you can hold it much longer. There’s a bush across the street you could hide behind, but there’s too much traffic and you can’t cross. How do you think you will feel when you get half-way through and are seen? Hurry, there’s a cop — you know that will be a fine or imprisonment!
I have been there, done that, wore the t-shirt.
In 2008, Washington, D.C., became the first Human Rights City in the United States. With that declaration comes recognition of a universal right to housing. Housing would solve all of these basic, basic needs. Housing brings stability. It allows people to thrive in the society we have built. I want so much to see change within my lifetime. No matter how far we’ve come, how far yet we have to go.
