A Good Works Staff Perspective

First, the Big Picture...

THE RICH ARE GETTING RICHER AND THE POOR ARE GETTING POORER
According to data released from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Associated Press, poverty in the United States rose a second straight year in 2002 to 12.1%.  This is up from 11.7 percent in 2001. In 2002, 34.6 million individuals lived below the poverty level in the United States, an increase of 1.7 million since 2001. Also in 2002, 12.1 million children were living in poverty. That is 16% of all of the children in the US. Measures to examine the depth of poverty indicate that the average income of poor people are further below the poverty level than in past years.  (www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2002/cb02-124.html) Two trends are largely responsible for the rise in homelessness over the past 15-20 years: a growing shortage of affordable rental housing and a simultaneous increase in poverty. Persons living in poverty are most at risk of becoming homeless, and demographic groups who are more likely to experience poverty are also more likely to experience homelessness. (source: The Coalition on Housing and Homelessness in Ohio.)

WHY DO PEOPLE BECOME HOMELESS?
A Good Works staff perspective...

WORK AND HOMELESSNESS
It is a common misconception that poor and homeless people do not work.  The unfortunate fact is that 6.3 million of the nation's poor work full-time.  The percentage of poor people working full-time in the U.S. has grown by 33% since 1979.  Today, 18% of the people who work full-time are below the poverty line (in 2000, 'poverty' meant making $17, 050 for a family of four).  With a steady decrease in affordable housing and a steady increase in inflation and standard of living, poor people are lagging further and further behind.  With the minimum wage at $5.35 an hour and the local housing market dominated by students, the rural poor of this area have a tough time making ends meet.  While a number of this group spend some amount of time in shelters like The Good Works Timothy House, an even greater number are barely hanging on, living from paycheck to paycheck.  A moderate emergency such as a blown water heater or an unforeseen hospital bill can be enough to put them out on the street.

A COMBINATION OF ISSUES
Usually there is a combination of factors in someone's life which contribute to their homelessness.   In many cases, the people who come to stay at the Timothy House have been trying to get by with a small amount of money.  Then, if they lose their job, get sick, or something else bad happens to them, they no longer have money to pay for rent.   As a result, they need a place to go so they can save a little money and pay for another place to live.

TRUTH ABOUT HOMELESSNESS
Some folks believe that the reason people become homeless is because they are lazy. This is a myth. Many people who become homeless are working or had been working for a long time until something caused them to lose their employment. Sometimes people have injuries that prevent them for doing the kind of work they’re trained to do. Sometimes they lose a job because of cutbacks. Working hard doesn’t always guarantee financial security. This happened to 110 people in Perry County (New Lexington, Ohio) December 31, 2003 with little notice. (Click here for the story)

BECOMING AN ADULT
Sometimes, it is because basic life skills are not passed from one adult to another.  We take for granted many things we learn from our families and friends such as how to spend our money, how to find and keep a job and stay at them, and how to pay our bills.  Without help in doing these things, it is really difficult to become an independent person.  Then, if someone is having a struggle paying bills, they don’t have anyone in their life who can help them out for a month or two.  This could lead to them losing their home, or other things that they need in their lives.

MANY PROBLEMS AT ONCE
While there are many reasons people become homeless, everyone has their own story. Some common issues that contribute to persons becoming homeless include: lack of education, lack of affordable housing, lack of employable job skills, addictions, and mental illness. It’s important to remember, however, that these issues, by themselves, usually don’t cause homelessness. It is usually a collision of several of these issues simultaneously which eventually leads to a person’s homelessness.

LEARNING TO GET ALONG--TO SAY "I’M SORRY"
The inability to resolve conflicts satisfactorily in one relationship will carry over into another relationship. When we do not learn from the wrongs we have committed against one person, we will wrong another individual in the same way. This piling up of unresolved conflicts will create a situation in which a person has no one to turn to in a crisis situation.

ALIENATION
Another factor that plagues our society is that of alienation. Particularly in males, they are taught from an early age that men "don’t need anyone" in order to succeed. And that "real men" can make it on their own without help from anybody. This, of course is a myth, but media, as well as the language perpetuate it. Take for instance, the words "self-made-man." This is a term that describes a person who has succeeded in life, i.e. made a lot of money, seemingly without anyone’s help or influence. But nothing could be further from the truth. At the very least, in order to have the education necessary to succeed, the ‘self-made-man" had to have a teacher or two (probably more) to impart to him not only the skills, but the belief that he is capable enough to use those skills. The result of this myth is a lot of young men trying to succeed, thinking that if they ask anyone for help, they are demeaning themselves. They find out the hard way that the lies they have been taught all their youth prevent them from the success that such lies promise.

JOB SKILLS
Some people end up homeless because they can’t find a job that pays enough. Minimum wage is about $5.35 an hour. If you show up and do a good job, you might get a raise and after some months, you could be making $6.00 an hour. If you work 40 hours a week, you will take home about $200.00 a week or about $800.00 a month after taxes. That may seem like enough until you have to make a car payment, buy food, buy clothing, go to the doctor, or buy diapers.

RESPONSIBILITY
Whether they are material or financial, resources help us to have stability. The inability to manage or access resources can put us into a downward spiral. Often one resource can lead to the access of other resources. For example, if I have reliable transportation (a material resource) I will be able to get and maintain employment (a financial resource).

I WAS HOMELESS
As someone who has been homeless, I can tell you that loss of employment is one reason people, even whole families, become homeless. This is more likely to occur when there is only one wage earner in the family, if employment is seasonal such as construction or lawn maintenance, or if you both work and each earns only minimum wage. While there is usually a combination of reasons why people become homeless a particular one often stands out: illness.  Injury, sickness, and even mental illness can lead to being fired, laid off or replaced. Most of the time if you're not able to do the work, you are out of a job. When you live from paycheck to paycheck, sometimes all it takes is to miss one or two paychecks and you can end up homeless. This is especially true if you have no friends or family to turn to for help.

HOUSING
People become homeless because there is not enough decent & affordable housing. In Athens County there are an average of 650 people at any time waiting from 6 months - two years for a limited number of subsidized housing units.

FRIENDS AND PEOPLE WHO REALLY LOVE YOU
While there are many issues that contribute to a person becoming homeless, the main reason homelessness happens in someone’s life is due to a lack of an adequate social network in their life.  For various reasons people who become homeless–even temporarily so–no longer have a "safety net" of relationships in their life to help them when their crisis comes. Be thankful today that YOU probably DO have that invisible safety net of people in your life that will be ready to help you when you need it!

REBELLION
In this society, there is no method for young teens to assert their individuality except for rebellion to their parents. In other words, some young people find their own identity, separate from that of their parents, by going against their parents’ will. To add to the problem, as they are growing up, they get all kinds of messages that tell them that they have to rebel in order to be right, or to do what is right for them. Case in point: Ariel from the Little Mermaid. Her father expressly forbids her to communicate with a young man, but she does anyway because she is "in love." Her father eventually comes around to seeing things her way, but the message is "Your parents don’t really know what is good for you. You should do what you want to do, regardless of what they think. They will come around eventually." There are many such messages in movies and TV today. Is it any wonder then, that many young men come to our shelter in their twenties, having left their family behind, trying to "make it on their own" but without the slightest idea of what that means or how to accomplish it?

DRUG ABUSE
Some people try to forget about their poverty and troubles by using alcohol or drugs. If they become addicted to them, they will spend a great deal of money on their habit--money that should go towards rent or house payments. Alcohol and drugs also make people act differently. Their families, friends, and jobs become less important to them, and they find new friends instead. These new friends usually only encourage the addiction to get worse. Soon, they lose their job and have very little interest in taking care of their lives.

MENTAL HEALTH/HANDICAPS
People become homeless for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it is based on personal choices that lead to homelessness and sometimes there are events outside of that person’s control. A segment of the homeless population struggles with mental health issues or handicaps.  Though there are agencies that are available to help this segment of the population, the individual must first recognize that they have a problem and then approach the agency for help. Some who are mentally handicapped are not aware that they are or their handicap holds them back from seeking the help that they need.

NATURAL DISASTER
Because of a natural disaster such as a fire, tornado, hurricane or flood, some people cannot return to their homes. Insurance coverage is often not enough to help them fix or rebuild their home. Many times, people are left with few choices but to seek shelter or live on the street or in their vehicles. Even if their insurance is enough, it often takes a lot of time to collect their money.

RUNNING AWAY
Some individuals or families think that the answer to their problems is to move to a new town. Once they move to the town they may have enough money to get by for a couple of days or weeks until they find a job and a place to rent. This job might not come quickly enough and, instead of successfully running away from their problems, they end up with a bigger problem of homelessness.

MEDICAL PROBLEMS
Some people can become homeless through health problems or injuries. Working class people who live pay check to pay check are unprepared for the astounding costs of medical bills. While many “at risk” people have no health coverage at all, even people who have insurance can become a victim as well. The rising cost of medicine and surgery can leave people owing thousands of dollars, even after insurance stops paying. With no one to fall back on, they can easily lose all their possessions and their home as well.

UNPREPARED FOR EMERGENCIES
In poorer communities, where people are working in minimum wage jobs, each family is living from paycheck to paycheck. There is not the middle-class ethic of long-term saving, but even if they had such a desire there simply is not enough money from a minimum wage job to pay the rent, feed and clothe the family, and pay for the many other expenses in life and try to save any additional money. Therefore, when an emergency comes up that prevents someone from working for awhile or the furnace breaks or the car breaks down, or somebody gets sick, there is no safety net of money to pay that month’s rent. This can lead to whole families being evicted.

GOOD WORKS, INC. A COMMUNITY OF HOPE
P.O. Box 4 / Athens, Ohio 45701
Timothy House (740.594.3333) Hannah House (740.594.3336)
Administrative offices (740.594.3339)