S Q's List: Books/Resources

• As someone who has worked in homeless shelters I am very aware that the vast majority of homeless shelter workers are good people who are doing their best. I am glad that homeless shelters exist to help people without homes. However, it would be an injustice to pretend that homeless shelters in America are plentiful enough or that all of those shelters that exist are safe enough, or free from downsides.
• So if you sleep every night in a different bed that a long string of other homeless people have slept in, eventually you are bound to get head lice, pubic lice or scabies. It's hard as heck to get rid of parasites when you are homeless
• Contrary to popular belief, many homeless people have jobs. Because check-in hours for shelters are often rigid and the process of waiting in line and checking in usually takes hours, many working homeless people cannot use them
• Other homeless people work evening or night hours which don't allow them to get into a shelter before curfew.
• People who work from nine to five usually can't use homeless shelters, either; by the time they get off work, it's usually too late for them to get in line to check into a shelter
• nother reason some homeless shelters are incompatible with having a job is that they require the shelter users to attend AA or other drug abuse rehab classes (often held during normal work hours) every day they use the shelter - whether those people have a drug or alcohol problem or not.
• Also, though there are usually attendants of some kind on watch almost none of them are trained to deal with violent behavior making homeless shelter users vulnerable to other shelter users who are predators.
• Criminals are well aware that police take seldom complaints from homeless people seriously.
• Many of those with chronic coughs have chronic illnesses, transmissible diseases. Tuberculosis is frighteningly common among homeless people
• I was shocked and sickened to see a man turned away from a homeless shelter because he was in a wheelchair. Another person and I offered to pull his chair up the stairs and help him inside the shelter if he needed it. They told us it had to do with insurance concerns and said that they were sorry but, no, he couldn't use the shelter. That was the first time I saw a handicapped person turned away from a homeless shelter but sadly, it was not the last.
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   I was asked questions such as "Do you have any sexual partners you could stay with?" as well as other questions about my sex life on more than one occasion. One shelter worker even suggested that I find a boyfriend to stay with; basically she was suggesting I exchange sexual favors for a place to sleep. Keep in mind that I, like most women homeless more than a few weeks, had already been the victim of sexual assault. I felt violated.
• However, many drug users and dealers do not, making some homeless shelters hot spots of drug activity.
• Still others are themselves trying to get off drugs and being around other users makes it very difficult for them to do so, so they avoid homeless shelters while trying to kick their drug or alcohol habit.
• Women can bring their pre-teen children into most women's shelters but teenage male children (as young as 13) may be required to go to a men's shelter which they may not even get into. Can you imagine a mother leaving her young teenage son to sleep alone on the street without her protection while she sleeps in a homeless shelter? Most don't so the whole family sleeps in their car or outside.
• Men and women usually cannot be in the same homeless shelter so husbands and wives are separated, knowing their spouse might not get a bed in a different shelter. These people are often elderly or disabled and depend on each other for safety and care
• Also, children cannot stay in the vast majority of men's homeless shelters. This leaves homeless single fathers in a very difficult spot. This seems not only heartbreaking but criminal.
• Service dogs other than Seeing Eye dogs and hearing assistance dogs are sometimes denied entry to homeless shelters. Mobility dogs (dogs that help you stand or get into your wheelchair, assist you up stairs, etc), dogs that provide assistance for mental conditions such as anxiety or agoraphobia, and other service dogs are even more often denied entry.
• While I'm sure they mean well, many shelters and shelter employees or volunteers take it upon themselves to cure homeless people of their sometimes non-existent addictions and criminal ways. Some shelters put a lot of pressure on people who use them to attend alcohol and drug abuse counseling even if they are not alcohol or drug abusers.
• Forced participation in substance abuse counseling even for non-abusers takes time away from job searches and current employment which the average homeless person cannot afford, causing most employed homeless people and those actively seeking employment to avoid homeless shelters that require it.
• It only takes one to spoil a shelter for everyone else. When you are homeless, your little bit of stuff is precious; it's all you hav

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  While most homeless people are not thieves, a few of them are
• Homeless shelters try to make the most of their square footage by squeezing as many beds into their shelter as possible. That makes shelters frightening to people with claustrophobia, social anxiety, or fear of crowds.
• I was allowed entrance to the homeless shelter, but I was told I had to give my walker to staff for "safety." Apparently, they were afraid that either someone would trip over it or that I would use it as a weapon
• No matter how many homeless people choose not to use shelters there are still not near enough beds available for those who would like to sleep indoors despite the risks involved.
• This may be why some homeless shelters have made their requirements for use so restrictive. In fact, they've made their requirements so strict in some cases that despite a line of a hundred people trying to get a place to sleep they don't even fill the 20 beds they have.
• So what you can do about it is find out what your local laws regarding homeless shelters are and write to your congressmen and representatives as well as donating to local shelters and helping to fund new homeless shelters.
• Since homeless shelter workers are not trained to distinguish between violent criminals and harmless people with mental illnesses the tendency is to be overly cautious and refuse anyone with any mental health issues entry at some (but thankfully not all) shelters.

• Do You Think Homeless People Should Be Grateful For Homeless Shelters No Matter How They Are Treated?

   

    Or do homeless people deserve to be treated like the human beings they are?
• Some people believe that homeless people should just be grateful for any scraps tossed their way no matter what indignities, dangers, or humiliations they must face to get them. They believe that homeless people should be grateful even if a worker suggests they exchange sexual favors for a place to stay or if they get assaulted in or when leaving a homeless shelter. They believe that anyone who suggests that there is anything wrong with homeless shelters as they currently exist is simply hateful. They believe it's a sin to criticize any efforts to help homeless people no matter how those homeless people are treated
• While I have worked in homeless shelters for many years as a volunteer and I absolutely know that the vast majority of shelter workers are doing their best I believe the system is deeply flawed, that there are not enough shelters, there is not enough security at existing shelters, and that a homeless person is a person, deserving of a degree of dignity. What do you think?

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