The last couple weeks I’ve suffered from intense writer’s block. My mind has been focused on something more important than this site (sorry, frequent readers!): graduate school. Part of my role as a doctoral student requires gaining experience counseling others. This year I’ve acquired a spot at the local homeless shelter. It’s forever changed my understanding of homelessness and the financial concerns/distress they face.
Prior to working at a homeless shelter, my perspective was naive and simple. Generally, I felt for them and wondered how I could most help. Whenever I spoke with friends, I talked about how we should help people like this. Sometimes I gave pocket change or a cup of coffee to someone on these streets. But despite a couple moments in high school as a soup kitchen volunteer, I had never taken the time to serve/help the most vulnerable in America. That bothered me.
I’ve been at the homeless shelter for about a month now. The experience is different every day, and because it’s related to the practice of counseling psychology, I can’t say much about it due to confidentiality. What I can speak to is that the people I’ve met smashed my preconceived notions and gave me a framework for understanding how someone gets there.
This great country heralds a flawed understanding of success and path to achievement. Basically, we oversimplify the rules of society and deliver a soundbyte to a highly complex idea: work hard and you’ll succeed. This is a disservice to everyone; the fortunate and suffering, alike.
We have resources in this country that help young adults, but they don’t guarantee success. The world needs to receive this message — not only our country. This meritocracy claim is flawed. The importance and reliance on hard work, self-motivation, and personal responsibility are beautiful aspirations, but they don’t adequately account for the many variables that attack individuals’ abilities.
Trust me. There are cracks in society, and people fall through them. I’ve seen it in the flesh. Medical bills from horrific accidents can pile up, leaving someone unable to work or transport themselves. The financial burdens can quickly engulf any hope for personal dreams. When I ask most people what they’d like to do if they could choose something, most answer that they just want a decent job — that pays the bills. That’s all.
See, the American dream is dead for many in this disenfranchised group. They’ve been kicked around from home to home, job to job, bill to bill, with little support. When I ask this privileged question about dream vocations, they can’t answer. It hurts to hear, but I can empathize with how they got there.
Hard work, self-motivation, and personal responsibility don’t account for death, abuse, domestic violence, psychological illness, and disabilities (to name a few). Each of these unaccounted for variables are swept under the rug, and personal finance websites often miss this target population entirely. Hell, most homeless people have severely restricted access to computers. Many need to go to public libraries to access the Internet — and only for short periods of time. Moreover, I can’t imagine many of them venturing on to personal finance websites because their problems are more fundamental.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was introduced in 1943. The pyramidal structure postulated that individuals move through a process of needs, ultimately getting to “self-actualization.” If all your needs were met, you could feel secure, safe, and self-confident. Unfortunately for the most vulnerable, creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving skills are reserved for states in the highest level of the hierarchy. When basic needs such as food and shelter are of concern — worrying about where the next meal comes from — it can be challenging to imagine personal finance questions or plan for that dream job. Despite the psychological understanding and history for the hierarchy, society largely ignores it.
Boasting on and on about complex ideals in American society, we can become inured and desensitized to the struggles of these people. I’m a firm believer that we naturally want to help others. But with homeless people, we seem to make exceptions. For instance, I’ve heard many say, “I would donate or give change, but they’ll probably just buy drugs and alcohol.” I’ve seen parents squeeze their children tighter, as they pass a homeless man. Most people that see a sign and cup pass without glancing — purposely avoiding eye contact. Society allows this dehumanization. That’s considered normal and okay. Who else in society can be so easily cast aside?
With psychological dissatisfaction directed towards the most vulnerable, society can sometimes get creatively disturbing. For instance, The Guardian recently profiled a horrific rise in anti-homeless architecture:
“…stainless steel ‘anti-homeless’ spikes…appeared outside a London apartment block recently, the benches are part of a recent generation of urban architecture designed to influence public behaviour, known as ‘hostile architecture’.”
That simple quote doesn’t do justice for the medieval constructions. From silver daggers that prevent curb-sitting to park benches with added breaks to prevent laying down, this design destroys comfort for those with nowhere else to go.
Today, I’m here to say that it’s not okay that we tell people, “You get what you deserve.” We need to deconstruct these faults and create an inclusive, collective, supportive society. It hurts everyone when we demonize and destroy the most vulnerable. In fact, it’s cheaper to give homeless people shelter, food, health care, and job training, instead of doing nothing.
As an avid writer and reader of personal finance blogs, we have a ways to go before we meet this population’s needs. How can you make a difference?
Homelessness and poverty are extremely complex issues in society. I would love to hear more about your volunteering experiences.
“Hostile architecture” is quite the term.
One of the ways that I have been able to work in my community is by supporting others who have done things like foster and adopt children, provide information on finances, and donate extensively to a huge variety of programs and projects.
I’m glad you bought this up because I’ve heard MANY people say that homeless people probably deserve where they are because they made bad choices. Troubled suburban youth make lots of bad choices but they don’t end up homeless. They have a system and safety nets in place to make sure that doesn’t happen. Many disenfranchised don’t get that opportunity.
I see the hierarchy of needs at play with my own patients. I work in relatively low income areas, and many people lament to me about not having a job and their lack of money and inability to get a pair of glasses despite going through life with terrible vision. Things we take for granted like healthcare and food allow us to strive higher and try to improve ourselves, while those without these basic things are just trying to get by.
It’s a tough, multi faceted problem, but I would say installing spikes in the ground is NOT a way to solve it.
Until people actually spend enough time in the “trenches” of poverty and interacting with the homeless on a regular basis as you do now, the majority of society will continue to look down on the homeless and show either disdain or pity – and neither helps their situation. I too have been thinking about this from a blogging perspective in how to reach more low income Americans and your post pretty much answered my question. I need to frequent where they are, the local community centers and outreach programs, food banks and the like.
I wish I could make most of my Facebook “friends” read this. I know you weren’t making a commentary on social programs, but I get so frustrated by folks who say that we should do away with food stamps or Medicaid or housing allowances because people abuse the system. Sure, people abuse the system – but what about the folks who need help? Who are doing everything they can to make ends meet, but can’t! Should they pay for the sins of others? Make the conversation about reforms, if you must, but let’s not paint all poor people with a broad brushstroke.
Thank God for charities that we can contribute to, but it would really be nice if the billions of dollars that goes to other countries were spent on our own hungry and needy populace. Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone had a seat at the buffet in this country. The money could be used for ACTUAL free health care and free higher education. What would be so bad about a Utopian society? Who fears that and why?
Most need to realize “There but for the grace of God, go I”. Every situation is unique and when you understand the reasons behind it, you develop true compassion, as you have Sam.
I have some different thoughts. I often times wonder why aren’t we, as the United States, spending more money to combat hunger and poverty within our own people. The number of children who are on free/reduced lunch at schools is extremely high. The school that I taught at was over 75% free and reduced breakfast/lunch, and this was not in a “lower income” suburb. I think things need to change here before we can help others. Give to charity, if you can’t given money, then volunteer.
Every time me and my daughter saw a homeless person, I can see through her eyes that she really feel for them. She asked me lots of questions about them that I didn’t expected that a seven year old would asked me about those questions.
This is one of the unseen issues in our society right now. Self gratification is commonly what others are pursuing. They don’t see the need of helping and reaching out to others. I think everyone should learn to love not just ourselves, but our neighbors also.
Thank you for writing this. I think it’s too easy to dismiss and judge people who are homeless because we’re fearful and don’t understand the struggles they’ve faced. I hope you’ll reflect more on this here as your work at the shelter continues.
Great post, Sam. Thanks for tearing down the walls of this complex issue. Volunteering in our communities is a great way to begin understanding. One may even argue that it’s much more valuable than any amount of money you could give. I’d love to see these issues discussed more often in the personal finance community.
I haven’t been very good about donating money, time, etc to help people, but I’m doing better now that I’m living on a budget, even though I’ve got a load of debt to pay off. I hope to do even more as I’m able to finanically and time-wise. Thanks for the reminder that’s it’s not always their fault they are homeless or poor.
Disabilities and mental health issues are definitely a major hurdle. I wish we had better programs. The thing that I always wonder is where is the family and social network of these people who’ve fallen on tough times. I know a lot of people struggling financially, but they’d never go homeless because their loved ones would always be there for them to provide a roof- even if they weren’t in a position themselves to be giving.
Couldn’t agree more that keeping people homeless, unemployed, with no access to education, health care and other aminities, and poor is so wasteful. I just can’t believe that any thinking person won’t figure this one out. But they don’t: otherwise decent citizens don’t, neo-liberal politicians certainly don’t.
The spikes in the UK are a national disgrace. We have some in Manchester as well and at first I didn’t realise what these are – I thought they are for cars not to park on the pavement. They are to stop homeless people shelter on a wet night. Sometimes I just think that we should sweep the Tories in the sea and be done with it.
Thank you! I’ve been disabled since I was 19. There were several years where I couldn’t support myself. The only reason I didn’t end up homeless were mainly luck: I was born middle-class, and thanks to a good education I can be relatively articulate. Most importantly, I had a family member who helped support me. Finally., when times got tight, I had credit cards to pay for pesky things like antidepressants– mental illness being another roadblock — which weren’t covered under individual health plans at the time.
Finally, that same family member was my connection in getting my last 2 jobs. The current one miraculously being a full-time job I can do from home.
While I have always worked hard to make things worked, I am well aware that the majority of my success in life (by which I mean a good job and some savings) is due mostly to lucky breaks that lot of homeless or poor people just don’t get.
For all those reasons, it’s just so wonderful to read something that acknowledges that hard work isn’t the only thing necessary to avoid poverty.
Thank you sir ! I know exactly what’s like to be homeless, with people looking down on you and demonizing you, especially the church I used to go to ( well, not anymore after I saw their real face ! ).
This is a long story, but suffice to say that I was on the streets, and those people who used to call me ” brother brother ” at church despised me like it was my fault I was homeless living on the streets !
A rich man I knew in this church could have very easily helped me, he own several houses, but well, I was not his son or his nephew, in his eyes I was just nothing. He was proud to reveal to me he is a multimillionaire, and showing off his riches, and telling all kinds of stories about how he get that far, what business he does, etc.
I was shocked he knew I was homeless, told me he is a multimillionaire, but wasn’t willing to help me having a real life, I mean getting a higher education , a job, and bam, I could succeed in life at last !
It’s like my poorness was a kind of leprosy, and that leprosy was my fault, hence I deserve it !
I could see that in the way those so called christians looked at me in church, the way they talked to me or avoided me like I was some kind of a subhuman being, or a worthless object.
I tell you, I understand perfectly now how many of the Israelis in the concentration camps became atheists because of the Nazis. The Nazis were also so called christians ! And they called homeless people like me ” useless eaters ” who don’t deserve to live ! Guess what ! That’s exactly what I heard and see in the eyes and behavior of many so called christians today, and this is a marvel I didn’t become an atheist because of them, because that way they don’t represent Christ, they represent the stone-hearted Antichrist, and they are stone-hearted antichrists who see homeless people as ” useless eaters ” who don’t deserve to be considered their equal, who don’t deserve their respect, who don’t deserve their help and support, who don’t deserve to live, who just deserve their horrible silence when they are suffering hell on earth !
Did those antichrists forget that Jesus was poor ? That he was also a homeless man ?
And they call themselves christians ! Liars ! Murderers !
Money, truly, is the root of all evil, but it’s also the golden calf of all those stone-hearted and fake christians who indulge in all kinds of indecent behavior like fornication, pornography, etc.
I practice abstinence before marriage, but I tell you, I never heard once a preacher in that church that preached about abstinence before marriage among this generation of fake lovers and verified fornicators !
I guess they also hated me for that in that church, because who loves ” fundamentalists ” among fake christians ? No one ! Of course ! ” Fundamentalists ” are the devil to them, and liars are their prophets !
I guess the spirit of the Antichrist is already there after all, as it is written.
They can hate me for telling the truth, this fallen world is not mine anyway, the paradise is mine…forever…
and there is no money whatsoever in heaven ! A heavenly world without money is truly paradise !