Springtime brings no happiness to the homeless. While others rejoice, seeing the end of the cold winter and the blossoming of the flowers and trees, the homeless see spring as the time at which they are turned out onto the streets in record numbers.
Spring means that hypothermia season has ended; the many hypothermia shelters that offered homeless people at least a bed for the night close their doors, leaving them with no solution whatsoever. The limited security that the enjoyed when the weather was harsh vanishes as temperature rises.
The notion that a person needs shelter only for protection from the extreme cold is as Victorian as an idea as any that has survived to the 21st century. With West Nile virus a very real threat in the DC metro area, any person who must remain outside for an extended period of time runs a constant risk of infection. Washington does not have a Mediterranean climate; rain is common in the spring and summer. Yet the lack of sufficient shelter space for the warmer months sends out the message that anyone who cannot handle the elements during these months does not merit consideration. The brutality of D.C. summers is also well known to anybody who has lived in the area; people who move away from the area always say that they do not miss the blazing, humid summers. In a city that oftentimes outstrips Los Angeles in Code Red ozone alerts, being outside for a long time on hot days poses a serious health risk. Yet the dangers to personas forced to remain outside seem unacknowledged by the people who manage the shelters.
With the police swarming around the city shooing away homeless people seeking some respite from the torrid climate, the homeless are most vulnerable to the cruel, heartless authorities who do not want to acknowledge their plight.
The current economic recession has left those organizations whose members want to help the homeless get off the street badly strained. The mental health organizations, already reviewed in the previous issue, can only do so much in an area in which the demand for housing remains high; therefore, affordable housing remains a pipe dream for a growing number of residents. And to make matters on D.C. streets worse, many suburban areas dump their homeless people into the city rather than dealing with them. It is not unusual for a person in the Maryland or Virginia suburbs to find that he or she cannot find any help outside the district.
A number of questions come to mind after reviewing this situation, but most importantly, I ask: Why does springtime justify turning persons out into the e street with no apparent concern for their wellbeing?
The words of the song “Where’s That Rainbow?” that Barbara Streisand sang in her now legendary sixties television special, My Name Is Barbra, ring truer than ever for the homeless:
Troubles really are bubbles, they say and
I’m bubbling over today.
Spring brings roses to people, you see, but it brings hay fever to me.
My luck will vary surely; it’s purely a curse.
My luck has changed; yes it’s gotten from rotten to worse.
While the others go to the festivities at cherry blossom time, the homeless are trying desperately to protect themselves for the elements, from disease, and, worst of all, from other people who see them as demons to be expunged. As they try to avoid being noticed by the police, who seem to prefer chasing the homeless to responding to 911 calls, they fight a battle for survival that keeps them living in a constant tension. And they await the first frost to bring them any limited protection that they can hope to get. Instead of enjoying the warm weather for recreation and vacation as most of the population does, the homeless see it as the most challenging period of the year.
To those who want to say, “Well, they should be trying to do something for themselves,” I ask you to first look at the realities of being homeless. How can anybody maintain an appearance sufficient for acquiring work without a place to live? How many employers will hire someone who is known to be homeless?
Again, the words of “Where’s That Rainbow?” say it as well as anybody can:
Oh, it is easy to see all right.
Everything’s gunna be all right.
But just dandy for everybody but me!
As the weather becomes warmer, the faces of the homeless grow grim. Is it surprising?
