I stood there, harboring a chip on my shoulder and feeling like I was carrying a burden in my chest. School was entering the toughest part of the year, and I was still trudging along in sub-zero, arctic-like temperatures of Iowa. Stressed out and pissed off, the snow pummeled and angled for my eyes.
Over a foot of snow accumulated in two hours. I couldn’t see the concrete. Roads and pedestrian paths disintegrated. Cars revved and swerved with each degree shift of the wheel. I feared I’d be the accidental recipient of an absentminded or reckless driver.
A face mask crystallized my condensed breath. I blinked and shards seemed to puncture my eyelids. Although, without it, my nose would likely fall off. I could barely breathe – artificially choked by the restrictive layer like an asthmatic marathoner.
Snow drifts and plows lined the sidewalks. My momentum couldn’t carry me over the hills, so I looked like a football player running through tires. The tendons in my knees stretched and torqued under the trot. I could tell they weren’t happy with me — every time I stopped they screamed and ached.
What was I running to? My place of work: the homeless shelter. A beacon and bastion of hope – the warm solace where my weathered feet might warm. Even more, I was motivated by the fact that my brief discomfort was another’s quotidian life. The punishing cold and snow was an unfortunate norm to the population I came to serve. The homeless were suffering far more at the worst part of the season. I needed to get there and try to make a difference.
An academic year — summer to summer — passed since I started working at the shelter. I saw the seasons change, turnover in residents, and demographic shifts. People with pennies to their name would come in and seek shelter — some would be turned away for lack of room. Some would be paired with case managers, find work, and a fresh start in a new apartment. Sometimes the system worked, and sometimes it failed. Some homeless people were self-starters, and others needed additional help.
As a white guy from a middle-class neighborhood in the Denver area, my experience in life seemed to differ from many of the residents of the shelter. My parents worked hard, but also made time for me. They are still married after 30 years. And they consciously decided on neighborhoods with strong schools. Many residents came from broken families and piss poor educations.
I was born white, and with it, I gained an unearned privilege. Police would pay less attention to me. Teachers would pay more attention to me. Honors and advanced placement (AP) courses were always available, and I was encouraged to take them. Life was easy in these respects. I had difficulties growing up – often feeling like an outsider – but these paled in comparison to systemic racism, segregation, and lost opportunities.
In many ways, I grew to appreciate that shelters are society’s measly attempt at righting systemic wrongs. They focus on the bare necessities usually: a place to sleep and a daily meal. Occasionally, there’s a pair of shoes or gloves that will prevent frostbite.
How do we let people ever get this low? How do we fail to provide for those in need of greater assistance? Unfortunately, answers are complex. It requires changing the dialogues we have with others and in our own heads about poverty, income/wealth inequality, and homelessness.
On my last day, I hugged the staff goodbye and shook the hands of some residents I had gotten to know. My eyes welled up with sadness. A year of counseling and communication with one of the most vulnerable populations… It was overwhelming. I had continuously reached my limits as a counselor – newly defined due to this experience. Sometimes I couldn’t help as much as I wanted because basic needs were unmet. My role at that point became to assist in whatever way I could.
Today, I write about this experience in the hope that you’ll listen and advocate for those in need. The financial burdens of people without homes is great, but the systemic problems that lead to this place are even greater. Advocacy is the only option, and it goes beyond serving food at a soup kitchen or counseling. Change necessitates sociopolitical involvement, which requires us to write, vote, and get upset about it.
We live in a perplexing time of great wealth with horrific poverty. How the two exist and continue is a consequence of systemic, legal, and political action. To change it, we must use the same tools.
In Salt Lake City, there’s a movement afoot to change this paradigm. It’s called, “housing first.” Instead of judging people and calling them “lazy addicts,” Salt Lake provides housing to the homeless. Radically simple, isn’t it? They provide housing, which clears and cleans the streets, and it turns out that it’s cheaper than letting people freeze to death and/or suffering horrific injuries that need the emergency department as a primary means of care.
When you provide housing first, you stop judging someone for all their faults, and start seeing a person that is from a community – who had varying opportunities to succeed. And best of all, it’s affordable.
The sun is beaming down and a breeze passes through my hair. It’s pleasant. And then I think, what will it be like for those out there on the streets tonight? I never used to think that, but now I do almost every day.
This is a beautifully written article. Where has this blog been? Blessings and thank you to Sam Lustgarten for his work in the homeless shelter and brilliant observations on this continually growing problem. The planet needs more people like Mr. Lustgarten.
Thanks for your kind comment, Ellen. 🙂 I’ll keep at it.
Hi Ellen, I feel the same way… “Where has this blog been?!?!”. This is one of the best blogs I’ve read in awhile and it certainly is one of the best personal finance blogs since it talks about people and planet in addition to profit.
Well done Sam!!!
This makes me hope I’ll meet you one day – I feel like you could only inspire me to be a better person. Do let me know if you’re ever in Berlin, and if you’re looking for a new community there’s a huge refugee community that could always use an understanding hand.
Belle,
You betcha! I’ve never been to Europe, but the first chance I get, I’d love to see Berlin. Thanks for the invite.
Sam
You are so right that this is more than just a ‘lazy addict’ issue. Many of these people just need access to some healthcare to help with their issues.
I am in the process of moving. My husband moved first and I stayed to finish up some work. Before we moved, we sold our couches. Then, a few weeks later, I donated the bed. Last night was my first night without a bed. I slept on the hardwood floor. It was terribly uncomfortable and I was feeling sorry for myself.
However, I only have to endure this for 2 nights and that’s it and I will have a bed. I have a warm, secure, clean condo and a roof over my head with food in the refrigerator. I see homeless people outside my door sleeping on concrete stoops and hard benches and they have to do this all the time, unless they go to a shelter. I could easily afford a hotel room for these 2 nights or even ask/pay a friend to stay on their couch for 2 days, but I am doing this intentionally because I believe that sometimes we need to get out of our comfort zone a little to realize how wealthy we really are with the little luxuries in life.
I should quickly add that getting out of our comfort zone shouldn’t just be about feeling personally fortunate, but to have empathy for others to want to help them and make a difference.
Very well said simpleisthenewgreen.
Beautifully said. Thanks for sharing your experience. Getting out of our comfort zones is a big first step towards understanding other people’s perspectives; albeit, having the money to choose a hotel, if preferred, highlights part of that wealth. 😉
I do hope you return to a regular bed soon. Tried that for a few weeks myself, and it wasn’t pretty!
Sam
I attended a week-long training session in Salt Lake City in the mid-90’s, and I was astounded at how many homeless people were present downtown. I had lived in all sorts of metropolitan areas in the US, but I had never seen so many park benches occupied by homeless as I saw in Salt Lake. It was only til much later (and more business trips to SLC) that I realized that homeless people go there because there is support, people who care, and some kind of support system. SLC was feeding the homeless, trying to find a place, trying to make an impact. I’m not a Mormon, don’t understand Mormonism, not religious at all – but I understand enough that the Mormons of SLC are at work to make things better for the homeless.
I wonder if it is a Mormon thing, an economical effort, or both! When there’s a direct line to tremendous financial savings to a community, why wouldn’t they pursue it? It sounds morally right and financially smart — what a wicked combination! 🙂
Kudos to Salt Lake City! I feel like so often the privileged people of the world fail to weigh cost versus quality… That’s basically a term from manufacturing engineering, but consider this. At my current employer, we have a manufactured assembly that we cannot make the same way twice because the tooling is so poorly set up. Instead, when we reach the end of the line, we custom fit this assembly to whichever product will accept it. That takes extra man hours (which cost $$). Then we spend hours testing out the fit up. You know what would cost less? Retooling the assembly. It takes a hefty investment up front, but saves money in the long run AND makes the end product a higher quality product.
That’s a lot like the homeless situation. Instead of spending money on bandaids that don’t even work, why not invest money up front to take care of people’s basic need for shelter in order to ensure that their other issues can be worked out!? Totally makes sense.
Kirsten,
Well said. You’ve noted an incredible problem in much manufacturing today: it’s disposable. Most products of yesteryears were created to be lasting for lifetimes, with mechanical fixes and tune-ups expected. Now, we buy and throw away after use.
When it comes to solving homelessness, it seems that the upfront costs far outweigh the long-term costs. All we have to do is get past these prejudices…
Sam
Sam, thank you for the reminder about those in need. I tend to think about the homeless most in winter when it gets very cold, but homelessness is a year-round problem. While we are trying to save money and pay off debts and get ahead, there are many who aren’t in a position to do that, because of physical or mental health or a variety of other reasons. Everyone needs shelter, food, and health care. My wife volunteers at the local food bank, and they do great work there, but the cycle won’t end until we start addressing the causes and not just the symptoms. Thank you for being part of the solution.
Sam,Its good to see that you care about social justice as it is closely related to personal finance.Many Finance writers are focusing on the finance part without finding out the underlying root problems-Discrimination,systematic racism,lack of opportunities,poverty etc.Keep up the good work
I write about homelessness that I observe in different places that I visit. I used to work with international students who were constantly shocked to see the homelessness that they observed in the United States. I believe that how we treat those who are “weakest” in our society says about our society. I loved this post. Also-if you’re still in Denver I would love to meet for coffee! PF bloggers/FinCon meetup.