Early last week in Nob Hill, I was backing out of my parking space when I saw behind me, sprawled on his back on the sidewalk, a middle-aged man who was sunburned from the streets, disheveled and down at the heel, and clearly unconscious. It jolted me, of course. Even as a former police reporter, I can’t recall seeing anything quite that stark and shocking. It was 2:30 in the afternoon, hot and windy. And he wasn’t moving. Was he napping? Was he homeless? Had he fallen from exhaustion, dehydration, heat prostration? I couldn’t tell if he was breathing. Was he dead? I dialed 911 on my iPhone, gave the operator as many particulars as I could, answered questions about weapons, alcohol, or drugs — I could see none of them — and was told the police and rescue team would be there soon. The dispatcher didn’t ask me to stay and being hobbled up myself I didn’t want to get in the way. So I wasn’t privy to the outcome of the rescue. But I kept on thinking all the rest of the week, “there but for the grace of God….”
Even those of us who feel relatively secure worry we are an accident or two away from something perilously close to destitution, even if we have a small financial reserve. It’s not an exaggeration to say that all of us are as close to the plight of the man on the sidewalk as we are to finding ourselves unlucky enough to be locked up for a driving infraction in one of New Mexico’s horrendous county jails.Unlikely, we hope, but not inconceivable.
I was in Nob Hill last week taking a break from writing this column on homelessness, trying to untangle the causes of the horrible calamity of hitting bottom with no way out, a situation that plagues many thousands of people in our city and state each day. My conclusions were hardened by the sight of that fallen man.
America’s epidemic of homelessness, it seems clear to me now, is much less about so called “affordable housing” than it is about our nation’s systemic, malign neglect of the working poor, the aged, the mentally ill, the disadvantaged and the victims of sexist abuse and racism.
It’s true, there is a world-wide shortage of housing. It’s so severe in some places that local governments are calling it a crisis. We have a form of that shortage in our town and state as well. But housing not a “cure” for, or a solution to, homelessness. Housing development is part of the engine of economic growth, an engine that doesn’t run on an interaction with people who don’t have any money or any hope.
Homelessness is not only about being unhoused. It’s about being kept down by economic policy, by class structure, by illness, accident and unaffordable health care, or by just plain bad luck. Of course, shoring up the stock of modest housing is important. But what good is low income housing if you don’t have an income, if you can’t save money to pay your property tax, or to keep the electricity on, or buy food, or if subsidized housing is equated by conservatives with “communism”?
Large segments of American society, guided by cultural prejudice and a false sense of superiority, just don’t like the impoverished and down on their luck. They see them as a nuisance. The most cold hearted of the lucky don’t want even to know the unlucky exist, be they men and women worn out by life, abandoned single moms, frightened and homesick children, stove up old people, the disoriented, the impoverished, the battered and abused. They are afraid of them. They make their own relative security seem for a moment sordid and threadbare. And their fear and discomfort express themselves down the line in a form of political passive aggression that is a major vector for what we’ve come to call homelessness, but could just as well called the social catastrophe of having been left to the wolves by the system.
You don’t have to look hard to find evidence of malign neglect, particularly in the fathomless spreadsheets of congressional budgets. Look at the debt ceiling deal that passed the House and Senate last week. It contains increased work requirements for people into their mid-50s before they’re eligible for food stamps. Most people seeking this kind of help would work if they could, I’m sure, but are so strapped and downtrodden they need food stamps just to survive. The New York Times estimates that increased work requirements could result in as many as 275,000 people being no longer eligible for their $169 a month in food stamps. Such economic cruelty could drive many more into homelessness. Food or rent? Talk about malign neglect!
The fate of people living on the streets or in shelters is such a massive social issue in our country, with so many complications, we can’t even get the numbers straight. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimated that New Mexico had some 3,333 homeless people in 2020. A year later HUD’s number’s dropped to 2,747. Last year HUD’s number for the homeless was 2,560. Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless (AHCH) says it serves on average 7,000 homeless people a year in Albuquerque alone. The Albuquerque Public Schools estimate there were 2,000 homeless students in Albuquerque in 2019. I’ve heard some estimates put at 9,000 to 16,000 homeless in Albuquerque. What’s the real number? If we care to much about homelessness you’d think we’d know. But, of course, we don’t really care that much. Recently, the ACLU and a number of homeless residents sued the City of Albuquerque for what the Associated Press called “hounding” and “harassing” the homeless.
A think tank called Human Rights Careers listed recently ten “root causes of homelessness.” They quote a 2005 “global survey” that found 1.5 billion people around the world that “don’t have ‘adequate’ housing.”
The ten root causes are Stagnant Wages, which prevent people from saving money and leave them vulnerable to “unexpected expenses” that sink them; Unemployment, where “unhoused people want to work but face obstacles, such as not having a permanent address”; Lack of Affordable Housing, where in many cities housing prices are “three times the median income;” Lack of Affordable Health Care, in which “one serious injury or accident could push an individual or family into homelessness;” Poverty which is “one of the most significant root causes of homelessness;” Lack of Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Services; Racial Inequality; Domestic Violence, in which women and children are “especially vulnerable to violence-triggered homelessness;” Family Conflict; and Systemic Failures in which “society fails to identify and support people at risk of becoming unhoused.”
It doesn’t help, of course, that the major conservative economic philosophy in our country, the one dominant since the 1980s, known as monetarism, holds that unemployment is “natural” and “structural” in a free-market economy. It’s the fault of workers who can’t keep up in a world of work that’s characterized by constant and rapid change.
Last month, President Biden announced, as part of his American Rescue Plan, that 19 federal agencies will attempt to partner with officials in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Seattle and the State of California “to get unsheltered people into homes.” The effort will include “embedding a dedicated federal official in each community” to help “accelerate locally driven strategies and enact system-level changes” to reduce homelessness. This includes technical assistance of various kinds in dealing with the federal bureaucracy, data sharing and “regulatory flexibility,” Job Corps programs, rental assistance and housing programs, but no large expenditures in support of creating a stable system of temporary subsidized housing. Maybe Democrats will get more aggressive if they win back the House and President Biden is re-elected.
One thing seems clear to me. No amount of fiddling with zoning codes, permitting “casitas” and “duplexes” as part of an infill strategy in neighborhoods, or even finding the money to incentivize developers to start creating a stock of modest housing will have much effect on homelessness, though it might have a long-range positive impact on the economy. A change in political dominance and economic theory, however, might eventually unlock the considerable public spending needed to help get impoverished people secure in subsidized public housing with enough food, medical care and other services to weather the storms of ill fortune until their luck changes and new opportunities appear.
*Nullius in verba: take nobody’s word for it
Well done . Well reasoned!
Well reasoned and touching commentary on societal neglect, V.B., and thanks for writing it. Your opening anecdote brought the reality of our Albuquerque streets home. I too walk these streets in shock at the devastation strewn about alongside prosperity. Can’t help feel callous, though I know the issue is systemic. I worked with the unhoused and desperate here for years, and I also have been inside the despicable county and city jails of NM, so your comments hit home especially with me. This MUST change.
Throughout the debt ceiling discussions there were multiple assertions of the need to reduce or restrict our social support programs. I was reminded of a quotation shared with me by my Cousin Jerry:
“Forgive me for noting that conservatives seem to believe that the rich will work harder if we give them more, and the poor will work harder if we give them less.”
boy, that’s rich!
Daily I pass through the Invisible populations of my city–Las Cruces–and wonder what can be done and wonder why nothing has been done to alleviate the suffering of those who live in the street or near poverty level. The first thing to do is to see not only look at the people who wander our streets, the mother and daughter in the Walgreen parking lot, the restless man at the Post office, those many who walk the streets shrouded in blankets, the men with dogs and their shopping carts, the Refugee and Migrants who now and have always been part of our community. My heart is broken every day. I do what I can. I never have cash, am on a budget and often struggling myself, but I can give what I can–books, clothing, food. Let’s work toward healing our communities and bringing love and respect into all our lives.
VB, as usual, you’ve covered the topic with insight and compassion. As you pointed out, we know what are the causes of homelessness, and with the political will to do so it likely could be greatly reduced.. As you note, one of the major causes is our capitalistic economic system, which four all the good it has done also has harmful consequences that could be mitigated. Data continue to show us that in this country the richer our getting richer and the poor are getting poorer as all measures of economic and equality show a growing gap between the top and the bottom. We need the will and the right leadership.
Might I also had one group that often seems to be neglected— this nation’s children.
VB, you hit the nail on its head. It’s beyond me how building expensive new casitas and duplexes will benefit the unhoused and low to no income people. Are we being duped by the City of ABQ? Watch carefully tonight or express yourself.
An important column as always, V. B. I think every single one of us has come across someone in the situation of the man you describe. We need a complete systemic overhaul to solve these problems. I keep hoping…
Homeless is a big subject any where along the coast. Because many cities in California it does not snow. Unless you are at higher elevation 30 degrees is the lowest. So many homeless have found their way to the western coast. There are many videos on youtube that show how bad it is. SF, Portland, Seattle, and even LA have whole cities of homeless covering DT side walks. It is an epidemic we assume these people want to go inside but that will depend on the mental state of those you wish to shelter. The really big part is getting them the counseling that they need. Helping them to re-trust society that put them there or put them out.
Housing there are all types. In Japan they have hotels that are basically tubes with a tv and phone for business people and the restroom is shared. There is a man I know who makes small human pull-able teardrop trailers that can be pulled by hand or bike. Many cities are putting them in hotels, or building inexpensive houses for family’s to live in.
And on top of that is the price of houses. there is a house for sale on my block. In 1994 when we bought our house it was under $200k the house 4 doors down they want $900k they moved to Kentucky where they got a mansion for much less.
Until the cost of living comes down to a level they can have a job or be on a program till they get on their feet. Even if we put them in a home! where is food, heat, and water coming from.
There is a hole in the bucket dear Abbe. My favorite song.