Vulnerable People: One more Night as a Homeless Person
Photo: Pedrontheworld Studio
From streets, to shelters, to sleeping bags, and even side-walk camping, they sleep wherever they can in order to feel a little more protected from weather variations and possible nighttime threats--meaning other not well-intentioned homeless people.
From streets, to shelters, to sleeping bags, and even side-walk camping, they sleep wherever they can in order to feel a little more protected from weather variations and possible nighttime threats--meaning other not well-intentioned homeless people.
I ask Jimmy, a
homeless person whom I interviewed a few years ago, and who dreamed about being
a journalist, why he wouldn’t go back to school? “Come on, Kid. Look at me. I
am old and a homeless person. Society has no place for me, and my time has
passed.” I verbally disagree, but deep
down I am surprised by how aware Jimmy is. “It’s as though being homeless, once you are there, becomes a stigma and part of who you are,” he
finishes.
A survey done by the United States Department of Housing
and Urban Development, in 2014 (TNYtimes, 2015) showed that on any night in
America, 500,000 people face homelessness, of which 300,000 are over 50 years of
age. The reasons vary from drug abuse to mental illness to lack of income. They
come from all over the country, and, contrary to popular belief, 47% of older homeless people
declare themselves to be white (DHUD, 2017).
In spite of the hope of a better future and the availability
of shelter (the DHUD reported over 5 million shelters throughout the country
qualified to receive people facing homelessness), the idea of being homeless
one more night and the uncertainty of life improvement still haunts those who
have lost everything.
For further information click here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/31/us/americas-aging-homeless-old-and-on-the-street.html
https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2017-AHAR-Part-1.pdf
By Pedro Oliveira.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/31/us/americas-aging-homeless-old-and-on-the-street.html
https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2017-AHAR-Part-1.pdf
By Pedro Oliveira.
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