I can’t remember the first time I became aware of the situation of homelessness.  But I do remember noticing it more once I moved to Austin in 1995.  I imagine this was either due to living and being in the downtown area whereas in Ft. Worth I was mostly in the suburbs – or it was because Ft. Worth had a privately owned police force that kept the homeless almost out of site so as to not hinder the development and progress of the city.  It was in Austin after age 30 where I started to notice people asking for money on the street corners, people with severe mental illness sleeping in dark corners of downtown alleys, and shelters where people could go for help.  But more importantly it was then that I learned about a somewhat hidden type of homelessness.  I learned that lower and middle class families who appeared successful and happy were living paycheck to paycheck and then sudden illness or layoffs could make them instantly homeless (as could something like a natural disaster like Hurricane Catrina or Rita).

I have bounced around for years wondering what I should personally do about homelessness.  I’ve gone from serving on a board of directors of a local homeless organization for families to giving gum to the people on the street corners instead of money to doing interviews of people at shelters to learn their stories to trying to figure out how to get to at least know the names of homeless people whose paths I cross on a regular basis.

I’ve never been happy with the results.  I’ve never been happy with what I’ve attempted.  I’ve always felt I could do more.  I’ve never felt right just giving money.  I don’t feel “called” to solve the problem for humanity or even for my neighborhood, but I know I’m supposed to be doing something about it – somehow.  I think we all are – in our own way – using our own gifts.

So this blog entry marks the beginning of my journey to figure it out at least for myself.  I plan to log each step I take on the journey – no matter how large or how small.  Some steps will be research and learning and others will be action.  I felt that by putting it in writing and having all of you read along with me, will maybe help encourage me to keep taking steps.  Maybe some of you will even comment on the steps and help either speed up the journey or else expand its scope and effectiveness.  And, there is also that dark likelihood that I quit.  If you keep following these blog entries, you’ll soon see that the journey will be a mess.  It isn’t me trying to feel good about myself or trying to get recognition.  It is seriously just documentation of a journey – no matter how right or wrong or good or bad or effective or total failure.

For starters, I want to learn more.  What is homelessness?  Who are they?  How do they become that way?  What do they need?  How are they already being served and by whom?

People talk about “The Homeless” like they are all the same – same situation, same needs.  It seems like a lot of people like to “Feed The Homeless” – as if that is their only problem.  I feel like one step might be to strike the word “homeless” from our vocabulary and use “poverty” instead.  I know for a fact that people considered homeless come in all shapes and sizes with many different needs – sometimes I feel like food is the least of their needs.  One homeless person at The Arch downtown told me that “…any idiot can get food whenever he wants it in Austin.  We need jobs…”

My first step is going to be brainstorming about all of the possible categories of homelessness with the thought being that breaking things down into smaller pieces can reveal new ways to look at or help that particular piece or category whereas looking at the larger group can be overwhelming or misleading.

(A) First Dimension: Desire to Change

This seems important. Can you help someone who doesn’t want to change? I’m guessing the answer is an absolute yes, but I also bet the ways in which you help those who want to change are much different from the ways you help those who don’t or can’t.

1. Those who want to no longer be homeless
2. Those who want to remain homeless
3. Those who don’t have the mental capacity to know what they want or need
4. Those too young to understand their situation or what they want or need

(B) Second Dimension: Type of Homelessness

When we talk about “serving the homeless”, it seems like we need to be either more specific about or more aware of who they are. Maybe our gifts are such that we can only help one of these types of homeless, but let’s not confuse that with thinking that we are helping all of the homeless – and more importantly, let’s join together to make sure that all of these types of homelessness are being served by someone.

1. Families in between jobs or hit with sudden financial/medical difficulty
2. Mentally ill people with no capacity to be self-sustaining or productive
3. Youth who have been abused or abandoned and left to survive on their own
4. People with substance abuse problems that prevent keeping or getting a job
5. Street Corner People who need or want help getting off the street

(C) Third Dimension: Homeless Needs

This list should probably be many pages long. If you ask the downtown shelter what they need, it would likely be socks, towels, and toiletry items. If you talk to a family in between jobs who just lost their home to foreclosure, they might need help with interviewing skills or their resume, a place to stay, and childcare for their baby while the parents are out interviewing. If you ask a person on the street corner with a sign that says “Hungry”, they will likely not want something to eat and would prefer cash. But I think my point is that we should figure what the most effective needs and services are before we just start feeding or emptying our wallets.

1. Temporary help until they can secure another job or be self-sustaining
2. Counseling/Therapy to control whatever is preventing holding down a job
3. Foster care until they are old enough and know how to be self-sustaining

(D) Fourth Dimension: Age

I’m sure there is overlap, but I’m also sure that each age group has unique needs and approaches to get out of homelessness and into a productive meaningful life. These age ranges are just off the top of my head for now.

1. Children who can’t help themselves (~under 15)
2. Youth who need help helping themselves (~15 to ~20)
3. Young adults (~21 to ~29)
4. Adults (~30 to ~65)
5. Seniors (~over 65)

These categories are just off the top of my head.  I plan to do more research on them and even come up with new dimensions that might be more helpful.

I get the feeling that most help for the homeless comes under the category of “Temporary Help”.  This includes providing food and shelter.  It might also include providing training, a mailing address, a phone number to receive voice mail, help writing resumes, childcare so parents can interview for jobs, etc.  This stuff is great and greatly needed.  But somehow I think it only touches the surface of the problem – and sometimes even prolongs the problem.

In each post I hope to also share a story about an experience I’ve had or heard of related to homelessness.  This one is about a 19 year-old I met over dinner at Mission Possible one Tuesday night.  It was my first and only time to serve there so far.  We were instructed to help prepare dinner, then serve it, then serve ourselves and sit with people and get to know them.  My passion is helping youth, so I looked for the youngest one in the room and sat with him.  We’ll call him Ricky.  It didn’t take long to get Ricky talking about his situation.  I felt awkward at first because I didn’t want to say the wrong thing, but it became easy to ask questions about where he stayed at night, where he grew up, what he would like to see in the future, etc.  

He talked about how he preferred to hang out and “live” in the Guadalupe area as opposed to the East Side because it was easier to avoid drugs at one more so than the other.  He knew he needed to avoid drugs in order to move forward.  He talked about how his dad gave him his first marijuana joint to smoke at age 11.  His dad still lives in Austin, but he rarely sees or talks to him.  I forget where his mom was, but she was completely out of the picture.  He was on his own.  He was sharp.  He knew more about life and was likely sharper than lots of 19 year-olds I know.  He got odd jobs now and then.  He tried to save money from them.  His hopes were to eventually get a good enough job to be able to have an apartment, car, etc.  I wish I had a great ending to the story.  I wish I had have encouraged him in some way – or found out how to stay in touch and help him in some way.  But I didn’t.  

I felt paralyzed.  I didn’t know what to say or do.  All sorts of fear came to me.  I regret it, but this one of many reasons I’m taking this journey, no matter how fast or slow, to try and figure out what to do next time – not only for a situation like this – but for all of the other situations – many of which I’ll write about soon. And I hope over time, some of you will write about in comments too – where you agree or disagree or have additional info. Stay tuned…