sophie's fair

Asterix & Obelix (c) René Goscinny & Albert Uderzo

i live in a city of two tales. cosmopolites, skyscrapers, power lunches, concerts... the city is thriving. is it, really? look closely. i could ignore displays outside the upscale shops, but i couldnt ignore the homeless. one time, there was this person quietly holding a sign which read, "just plain hungry." it was a very cold night. i'd be going somewhere warm and cozy -- my home. but what about him? all i could do at the time was give him warm food. he turned out to be blind. another time, a man with an amputated leg was asking for change outside a pharmacy. a lady passed by and said, "you dont have to give them anything, there's a place for them, you know." i know. but have you stopped by to hear his story? lady, your megaphonic voice was so audible. he isnt deaf, he's maimed.

my mind is
a big hunk of irrevocable nothing which touch and
taste and smell and hearing and
sight keep hitting and
chipping with sharp fatal tools
in an agony of sensual chisels I perform squirms of
chrome and execute studes of cobalt
nevertheless i
feel that i cleverly am being altered that i slightly am
becoming something a little different, in fact
myself
Hereupon helpless i utter lilac shrieks and scarlet
bellowings.
-- e.e. cummings

Homelessness and poverty are inextricably linked. Poor people are frequently unable to pay for housing, food, child care, health care, and education. Difficult choices must be made when limited resources cover only some of these necessities. Often it is housing, which absorbs a high proportion of income, that must be dropped. Being poor means being an illness, an accident, or a paycheck away from living on the streets.
Two factors help account for increasing poverty: eroding employment opportunities for large segments of the workforce, and the declining value and availability of public assistance.

Love and business and family and religion and art and patriotism are nothing but shadows of words when a man's starving.
-- O. Henry

Welfare caseloads have dropped sharply since the passage and implementation of welfare reform legislation. However, declining welfare rolls simply mean that fewer people are receiving benefits -- not that they are employed or doing better financially. Early findings suggest that although more families are moving from welfare to work, many of them are faring poorly due to low wages and inadequate work supports. Only a small fraction of welfare recipients' new jobs pay above-poverty wages; most of the new jobs pay far below the poverty line (Children's Defense Fund and the National Coalition for the Homeless, 1998).

Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.
-- Norman Vincent Peale

People with disabilities, too, must struggle to obtain and maintain stable housing. In 1998, on a national average, a person receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits had to spend 69% of his or her SSI monthly income to rent a one-bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent; in more than 125 housing market areas, the cost of a one-bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent was more than a person's total monthly SSI income (Technical Assistance Collaborative & the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Housing Task Force, 1999).
Presently, most states have not replaced the old welfare system with an alternative that enables families and individuals to obtain above-poverty employment and to sustain themselves when work is not available or possible.

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.
-- Virginia Woolf

Particularly within the context of poverty and the lack of affordable housing, certain additional factors may push people into homelessness. Other major factors which can contribute to homelessness include the following:
Lack of Affordable Health Care, Domestic Violence, Mental Illness, Addiction Disorders.
Homelessness results from a complex set of circumstances which require people to choose between food, shelter, and other basic needs. Only a concerted effort to ensure jobs that pay a living wage, adequate support for those who cannot work, affordable housing, and access to health care will bring an end to homelessness.

before passing judgment on other people, let's put ourselves in their shoes... not a pretty picture at all, huh.

If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you.
-- Leviticus 25:35