The Game
There is a public, and as of recently a published, opinion that:
“Eighty percent of the homeless are gaming our system.” And that there are only a legitimate 20 percent who are not.
This opinion is exactly that, an opinion, supported by 0 percent of factual statistics.
If we are saying that people experiencing unimaginable suffering through being homeless are gaming “our” system. Then here is some perspective from those who are actually in the game, and not those who are merely wanting to play.
The picture below is of the first tent we came across while on outreach today. One of many tents we saw, almost collapsed from the inescapable snow. Someone’s current primary residence was destroyed.
Looks like a fun game full of advantages, right?
If it doesn’t look fun, let’s see if it sounds as fun as it looks.
Client: “I don’t want to live like this! I desperately want to work, but no one will hire me because they know I am homeless by the way I look! I am about to go over to this agency and beg them to please put us up in a hotel for a week so that we can at least have a shot at getting hired.”
Client: “I know I can get clean again. If I could just get off these streets. We desperately need off these streets! I was sober for 18 months here recently, and I only started using after I lost my daughter 9 years ago due to domestic violence. And if we don’t get off these streets soon, I am going to lose my husband. I have had to Narcan him 5 times. It’s like he can’t seem to let go of the pain of his baby’s mom dying, his mom dying, and his best friend dying all within the same year. I know we filled out housing assessments with you all. Has anything come of that?”
Us: “No, unfortunately, we have not. We are still waiting on the system to refer you all to a housing program.”
Client: “I have only been out here a month. I got let go from my job right after Thanksgiving. After I spent what little I had saved to get a room at a hotel for a while, but now I am out here. This is a first for me, and I’m not trying to get comfortable out here. I have two job interviews coming up, and hopefully I can start working to get out of here. My wife is staying with a friend in Trenton, but I’m not allowed to stay there with her. That part is killing me the most.”
Client: “There doesn’t seem to be any way out for me. If I could just get my ID, I would be back at work, and then I would be out of here. But I can’t get my ID because I have to have my birth certificate. But I can’t get my birth certificate unless I have an ID. I held off panhandling for so long, but I can’t make money to survive any other way. It’s awful doing this. The worst part is seeing so many people avoid looking at me, as if I’m invisible.”
Client: “This winter is so much harder than last winter! I just don’t think I can do this anymore! Have you heard anything about me getting closer to housing? I hate it out here. The people you think are your friends only end up looking out for themselves and hurt you more than help you. Is there anyone I can talk to to make this process move faster?”
Us: “No, I’m sorry; this system we have to work within is frustrating to us too and doesn’t move fast enough.”
Client: “Tell me this, how do these people who have been out here for less time than us get into housing before we do? What do we need to do that we haven’t done? Whose ass do I need to kiss to get us out of here? Because I will do it! My husband is sick, and he is only getting worse! Today is the first day he has been able to get up and move around in 3 days! I would love to go to work. I could die and be happy as long as I got to work in a kitchen for just one more day. But I can’t go do any of that, because I have to be here to take care of him.”
Client: “Oh hey! I have been trying to get in touch with you for, like, 6 months to try and get a tent from you all. This tent is someone else’s.”
Us: “I am so sorry it’s taken this long for you to run into us. Unfortunately I don’t have a tent to give you today.”
Client: “I give up. I don’t want to be here anymore. I just want to go walk out into the street in front of a truck. I just want to bury my head in the dirt. I just got out of the hospital after having people light my tent on fire while I was still in it and being beaten with metal pipes at the same time. I have lost everything, except for the stuff you all were able to give me last week. I don’t know what to do.”
We hear these types of statements every single day! We sit with people daily as they shed tears about the hopelessness they feel about their situations and their lack of faith in the system that is supposed to help them escape homelessness. We see this “game” absolutely rip people apart, handing them loss after loss!
So yeah, there is a game, and “our” system is absolutely set up to make sure that people experiencing homelessness are not the winners.
#ROCAndRoll
#TheGame
