Promising Much, but Doing Little to Aid the Terminal’s Homeless

Around 100 Homeless people who lived around a terminal is now destroyed in order to build a $4 billion transit hub. Many of the Homeless people are mentally ill who were to receive help in August, but even after 8 months they still have not received help.

City officials responsible for attending to the homeless said the city did everything possible to assist the Transbay population, but critics say that it was too little too late, and that the city has exaggerated the number of people it did help.

I dont understand how the city can just destroy a location where homeless people live and promise to help them find homes and never do it. It shows that the city is only concerned about building a new transit hub and could care less about the people lives.

Police identify suspect in California synagogue bombing

First thought to just be an explosion at a synagogue in Santa Monica turned out to be a bombing. A 61 year old homeless man is suspected of being part of the bombing on Thursday. 

"Investigation has determined that items found in and around the mechanism are linked to an individual by the name of Ron Hirsch, identified as a transient," a police statement said. "Hirsch is known to frequent synagogues and Jewish community centers seeking charity from patrons. Hirsch is considered extremely dangerous.

Although they dont know the reason behind the bombing it could very well be that Ron Hirsch is upset with the way the government is treating homelessness. With todays economy it is difficult to find a job and to get off of the streets. Either Hirsch wants to prove something to the government or he may just be psychotic. 

Words of hope for Japan

After the familiar experience of another earthquake and tsunami on March 11, Kathleen Koch launched "Words of Hope for Japan" which was a project to send letters to Japan. Her inspiration came from experiencing Hurricane Katrina and receiving a letter from Guam.

"It meant more than almost anything else we received 'cause it was a special kind of comfort," she said. "The letters let us know that we weren't forgotten."

Small projects like these are the projects that can make a difference. I feel that these letters will cause hope for the future in Japan and for the people.

The Growth of Homelessness

Part I: In many major cities these days, it’s very common to see homeless people living on the streets. It has grown to become a popular site within major cities and seems to be only getting worse.  The government tries to display to the public that they are helping the homeless, but they tend to be caught up with more important things because of our economic crisis . The government hasn’t accomplished much since the 1990’s and homelessness is only getting worse (1). Currently there are over 600 thousand homeless people living in the United States and those numbers are only getting higher. It is said that 4 out of 10 people live in shelters and the rest are living in places not intended for human habitation (2). I believe as a country it’s our duty to help those who have not had the opportunities as others to live a normal lifestyle. Of course there are people who have chosen to go down the path of homelessness but there are a lot of families who have tried to live a normal lifestyle but cant because of the limitation of jobs. Thousands of people struggle to find well paying jobs, the majority can only find small part time jobs or struggle to work two jobs. A man named Clement is a US veteran who since leaving the military tried to juggle two jobs just to make ends meat. He sometimes worked 70 hours a week but the strain of those jobs eventually led him to be fired for “low productivity”. Since loosing his jobs he has been in and out of shelters and struggles to find part time jobs that only allow him to meet his needs of food (3). This story of Clement shows how his dream of living as a middle class man is crushed because of our Economy. I believe its important for us as a country to provide better paying jobs that will allow the opportunity to homeless people to live a normal life. Not only will we be able to get people from living in cardboard boxes to actual homes, but could possibly point us in the direction to get ourselves out of this economic disaster. Since the 1990’s local governments have been acting more aggressive towards the homeless in order to shield citizens from obscure behavior. Such behavior can include urinating in public, shouting and obstructing traffic. But these measures have caused some cities to overcrowd their shelters, which leads to unhealthy living environments. Instead of feeling sympathetic towards the homeless people started getting frustrated and that’s when the help to aid homelessness dulled. In 1996, Clinton signed the federal welfare reform, which set rules for working requirements. Instead of helping the homeless it just put more people on the streets (1). The Government created the HUD, the US development of Housing and Urban Development in 1965. It is designed to increase the amounts of homeownership as well as decrease discrimination. The program also took responsibility to broaden homelessness around the nation in the 1980s. With the assistance of the Clinton Administration, HUD developed the Continuum of Care, which provided many services to the homeless. Such services included emergency housing, transitional housing and permanent housing. It is very encouraging to hear of such programs that the government has created. With more of these establishments, I feel that we can greatly cut down the number of the people on the streets (4).

Part II: With the thousands of homeless people living on the streets, there have been many programs that have been created for those in need. Along with Government responses, local and state responses have come up as well. Upon the increasing technology, growing social networks such as facebook and twitter offer some homeless people to reunite with their family members.  On February 26, Daniel Morales a homeless man living in New York City was given the opportunity to carry a cell phone around with him. The program that gave Morales this opportunity was called “Underheard in New York,” this project was established by a group of interns at an advertising agency called Bartle Bogle Hegarty. It was created to give a voice to those in need. By accepting the agreement to give daily updates to the public about living on the streets, gave Morales the liberty of owning a cell phone. And with the help of twitter Morales was able to reunite with his family. Although he is going to continue to live in the homeless shelter, Morales said "I'm going to do whatever it takes to keep them near me (5)." It’s astounding to hear of a story about social networks giving people in need the opportunity to reunite with family members. With an increase of projects such as “Underheard in New York” we can help more people in need.

            Even with the help of small projects we still require the aid of the government to be the ones in charge of helping the homeless. But in New York City the government has decided to eliminate the rental voucher program. This program allows 15,000 families to live in normal living conditions. But with the elimination of this program it will only increase the cost of financing shelters by $455 million. The city claims that they must repeal this program because of the state budget cuts. But even by eliminating the rental voucher program their only increasing the costs of keeping homeless shelters open (6). Not only is the Government taking these families homes away but also do not have a plan for these people to fall back on. It doesn’t make sense to remove a program that is helping so many thousands of people stay off the streets and which will only increase the cost of financing shelters.

            Part III: There are many causes as of why people are living on the streets. But the main cause of it is the low paying jobs mixed with the high rents of homes. Thousands of people lie under the burden of making next months rent. With today’s crumbling economy people everywhere are jobless. They struggle to find any kind of job and for the fortunate who find a job they are usually paying them minimum wage. It’s nearly impossible for a couple to live off minimum wage let alone a family. For those families who are lucky to have a roof over their heads usually struggle with rent. More than 80% of families in California who are living beneath the poverty line spend over 50% of their monthly income on rent (2). Not only do these families have other bills to pay but they can hardly afford necessities. Since the population is increasing and wages increasing unequally, the rents for apartments and homes increase. Knowing that rent is increasing it will hardly be a surprise seeing these numbers grow. Rent isn’t the only problem that so many families face but it’s also the wages people are being paid. In 2009, low paying incomes decreased by 2% and in some states it even dropped 10% (2). What frightens me is what do the families do who don’t have health insurance. One trip to the emergency room could land any family straight to streets. Robyn frost said, "If anything, we're going into a time of greater uncertainty (7).” It’s astounding to me how even with these statistics the Government believes people can get by with just minimum wage. If we continue on like this we will just keep seeing an increase of homelessness. Although our country is going through an economic crisis and has many issues to deal with on there plate, but they cannot forget about the people. If the Government wants to see a decrease of homeless people and less people living beneath the poverty line they must make a few changes. Congress must establish free health care, offer more homes with cheaper rent, and offer more jobs with an increase in minimum wage. These three steps could greatly decrease the amount of people living on the streets.

As my community service I was able to help homeless people in Berkley. Along with my soccer team we were able to give back to the community by going to St. Marks Church in Berkley. We were fortunate enough to help feed some of the homeless people living in Berkley. My job was to serve the homeless people thanksgiving dinner, with a partner we served about 20 people. There were people of all ages and ethnicity there. What really shocked me was when I saw a couple people who weren’t much older than me. It really showed me how many people suffer from homelessness. But even though all those people that I was serving were homeless the majorities of them were very friendly and seemed happy. This experience showed me how fortunate I’m to be living the life I am. And by writing this paper it allowed me to have a better prospective of our world and how many people are affected by homelessness. 

Making sure 'motel kids' don't go hungry

In 2009, authorities estimate that there are 1,000 families living in motels within Orange counties. But Bruno Serato, a local chef feeds over 200 kids a week a pasta meal every day.

The economic downturn was a challenge, though. Serato lost 30% to 40% of his customers, and the number of children he fed each night more than doubled. He often found himself giving away more meals than he served in his restaurant, and he was forced to refinance his home to keep going. But Serato found that his work with the children helped sustain him, at least on a personal level. "So many nights ... it was not too many customers," he said. "[To] know that I served 150 kids ... it made me feel better."

What amazes me about this story is that even though Serato sometimes looses money, it doesn't seem to bother him since he knows he is helping those in need. If there were more people like this we would have a lot less children out there that are hungry. 

 

Amid disaster, Japan's societal mores remain strong

Being one of the worst disasters the World has ever witnessed, you would expect people panicing for food and other resources. But in Japan, people are calm and waiting hours in lines just to receive a couple beverages and food without any complaints. 

Shichigo Elementary School in Sendai is now home to hundreds of tsunami victims. In a third-floor classroom, families have self-organized themselves on cardboard boxes and blankets. No one family has a larger space than the other, just as you see at any average family festival. Shoes are not allowed on the blankets in order to maintain sanitary conditions. Food is shared as equally as possible, even if one person eats or drinks a little less in order for everyone to have some sustenance.

Its amazing to see how organized this country is and how sympathetic these people are being with one another. Everyone there is getting along even with the horrible conditions of being homeless and having nothing anymore.  

Honolulu’s Homeless, an Eviction Notice

75 remaning tents sitting on the sidewalk on Ilalo Street in Honolulu are about to be evicted by the officials. State officials say that they are simply trying to clean up the waterfront and make it more pleasurable to tourism. 

“I understand that they are caught between a rock and a hard place,” Doran J. Porter, executive director of the Affordable Housing and Homeless Alliance in Hawaii, said of state officials. “This isn’t an appropriate place for lean-tos and tents.”

 I know how it is to be a tourist and if i were to witness a bunch of homeless people out on the waterfront living in tents it would throw me off and make myself second guess if this is an enjoyable tourist location. I do believe that the spot these homeless people picked is the wrong place to set up camp and is an obvious spot to be kicked out of. But its state officials jobs to allow the opportunity for these homeless people to have cheap living places so that they can get off the streets.

City May Face Increase in Homeless Costs, Report Say

In New York City they decided to eliminate the rental voucher program known as the advantage that supports 15,000 families. The reason for the elimination is because of State budget cuts, but since this program is being eliminated and the majority of these families will have to turn to shelters, the expense for spending on shelters is predicted to increase to $455 million next year.

“It is both unconscionable and unacceptable that this program is set to be eliminated without any safety nets in place,” said Annabel Palma, chair of the City Council’s General Welfare Committee.

I agree with Annabel, the fact that the city will now have increased homeless costs and removing a program that allows thousands of families to afford living in a home is irresponsible. Its sad to see that the state doesn't have a plan for these families who rely on the program.  

Twitter helps homeless man reunite with daughter

Daniel Morales, a homeless man in New York reunites with his daughter after 11 years through twitter. He had been given a phone three weeks ago through a project called "Underheard in New York," which aims to give homeless people a voice. His only instructions to use the prepaid phone was to give his followers 140 letter updates about his life.

One such tweet -- a photo of his daughter taken in Puerto Rico in 2000 -- led one of his Twitter followers to contact Rivera on Facebook, she said. Although skeptical at first, Rivera knew it was her father after seeing his photo online.

Its miraculous to hear of such a story and the fact that it was an online social site that gave Morales the opportunity to reunite with his daughter. Such sites are giving thousands to reach out and tell their stories.  

Report: Massive landslide hits Bolivian capital

Late February, a seismic wave caused a mudslide to occur in La Paz, the Bolivian Capital. The mudslide caused tremendous damage to homes, buildings and roads and left 800 families homeless. ABI news didn't report any injuries or deaths.

During a visit at a school that served as a shelter Sunday night, Vice resident Alvaro Garcia Linera pledged that the government would help victims rebuild. "Many of you have lost the homes that you spent so much time and effort building, and I want to tell you that we are not going to abandon you," he said, according to ABI. 

Its awful to hear about natural phenomenon that causes many people suffering. But luckily it didn't harm anyone and it looks like Bolivian government is determined to help the people who have lost their homes and ensure that they will soon be living in their own homes again.

I was homeless; 'the look' judged me worthless

Michael Sullivan said that when he was a child and was being raised that he looked at homeless people as not being human but thugs and murderers. Until he found himself living on the streets and receiving "the look" from people that made them feel apart from society.

I was desperate. I begged and applied for any part-time or temporary job, even washing my hair in a toilet at a nearby university, using the soap in the dispenser so I would look presentable for an interview.

Its very upsetting to hear of people that judge someone by their looks and feel that a homeless person is an alien to society and therefore deserve to be treated differently. But as Americans we should be accepting of anyone because we are a country of immigrants and have a huge range of different people. Its terrible to hear of people like these but those people just need to be educated to at least be respectful towards those with misfortune.

Cities Deal With a Surge in Shantytowns

City's are growing with more homeless people on the streets. It's almost like it was a few decades ago when Hoovervilles were popping up. As more people loose their jobs the more people land on the streets, trying to make tents homes under freeways.

President Obama was asked directly about the tent cities and responded by saying that it was “not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours.”

Its such a shame to seeing the rate of homeless people going up as opposed to going down. A strong nation like ours should be able to offer these people jobs so that they can get a roof over their heads and serve food at their dinner table. Its unfortunate to see our economy fall like it has but I'm am positive that we can get these people off the streets and supply them with new jobs like we have done the last time we were in this position.

A Night Out, Counting the Homeless

Every two years the Homeless Coordinate Board count the amount of homeless people living in San Francisco. With the help of hundreds of volunteers they are able to count the homeless people living on the streets along with the amount of homeless in shelters, jail and hospitals. The number of homeless keep rising and has risen 3 percent from 2008 to 2009.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development requires that a census be conducted every two years as a condition of receiving federal money under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. This year, San Francisco received $18 million from HUD under the program.

Its great to see how many people come to volunteer to count the homeless so that the funds received by HUD can keep supporting organizations such as shelters. Its unfortunate to see the amount of people on the streets growing, but the economy must have an affect on this and with time hopefully we will start seeing decreasing numbers of homeless people.

 

Seeking a Warm Place on City’s Coldest Night

On Januaray 22, temperatures in Pennsylvania were predicted to plumet down to 4 degrees the coldest day this Winter. Mr. Sanders accompanied with his partner Ms. Washington found a warm place to stay for the night at the Penn station. Even thought shelters loosen their roles on night like these some homeless prefer to make their own arrangments.

Around 11:30 p.m., several of the homeless people staying the night in Penn Station burst into an impromptu dance session in front of a man banging on pots, pans and five-gallon plastic drums. As commuters watched, a woman who identified herself only as Sophie swayed with two men. “Yes, I’m partying, I’m enjoying my life,” Sophie said as she sipped a beer.

What suprises me is that even though their homeless they still are able to enjoy their lives they are living and make the best of their situation.

In High School and Alone in a Homeless Shelter

Thakane Masondo spent most her life in South Africa, but moved to the United States when her mother moved her back over. You would expect her to be a full time student with many friends enjoying her last year of High School as a Senior, but Ms. Masondo struggles to have a relationship with her mother and returns to a homeless shelter everyday after school. She is not able to lead a normal teenage life and is unable to have many friends because of her living situation.

With nowhere to turn, Ms. Masondo ended up last fall in a homeless shelter in the Bronx. She was the youngest person there and often finished her homework on the hallway floor after the lights had been turned off in the sleeping quarters. “I kept asking myself, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ ” she said.

I cant believe the stress and how hard she must struggle to keep herself going to class eachday. Its terrible how some parents can be so heartless to let their children live on the street and not keep in contact with them. Its inspirational to hear of a student thats my age who can keep herself afloat with all the problems surrounding her and to find the motivation to get her diploma and who is trying to go to college.