Homelessness

7 Things About Homeless Kids You Probably Didn’t Know

May 27, 2014 Ann Brenoff, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Children, Homelessness

There are more than 1.6 million homeless children living in the United States, says The National Center on Family Homelessness. That's one in every 45 American kids who goes to sleep at night without a bed to call their own. Families with young children now account for about one third of the homeless population. And in case you are wondering why, the recession caused a 50 percent jump in the number of students identified as homeless in school districts throughout the country. Here are seven things about being a homeless kid that you probably didn't know: 1. Making friends is harder when you're homeless. Carey Fuller, who lives in her car with her 11-year-old daughter Maggie Warner in the Pacific Northwest, said she "cringed" when she recently took Maggie out to play in a park. Things were going fine until "someone asked her where she lived," Fuller explained. It's the death knell question, the one that throws the wet blanket on the playdate and it's usually just a matter of seconds before the other kid takes off in the direction of someone else.

New Haven Dismantles Homeless Camp

May 19, 2014 Thomas MacMillan, www.newhavenindependent.org Resist! Homelessness, Housing

Just one day after activists set up a camp for homeless people on Rosette Street, the city removed their tents—and took two organizers away in handcuffs. That was the scene Friday afternoon in the Hill, where the police arrested Gregory Williams and Mark Colville after they refused to leave a piece of city-owned property. On Thursday, Williams and Colville had organized an encampment for homeless people following the closing of the seasonal 88-bed “overflow” shelter on Cedar Street. The Harp administration had told the activists that they were occupying the vacant lot illegally and would have to leave. ..Luz said she recognized that the camp was not a permanent solution, but it was the best alternative given the situation. “I don’t appreciate that they take our leaders,” said a man who declined to give his name. He said he slept at the camp Thursday night. “I was going to stay tonight,” said Nicholas Terlecky. He said he came to the nearby Amistad Catholic Worker house for breakfast and was invited to stay. Terlecky said he was happy for the opportunity to get away from bedbugs in the shelters.

America’s Homeless: The Rise Of Tent City, USA

May 19, 2014 Blake Ellis, www.money.cnn.com Educate! Homelessness

Homeless encampments known as "tent cities" are popping up across the country. Formed as an alternative to shelters and street-living, these makeshift communities are often set up off of highways, under bridges and in the woods. Some have "mayors" who determine the rules of the camp and who can and can't join, others are a free-for-all. Someare overflowing with trash, old food, human waste and drug paraphernalia, others are relatively clean and drug-free. The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty documented media accounts of tent cities between 2008 and 2013, and estimated that there are more than 100 tent communities in the United States -- and it says the encampments are on the rise. "[T]here have been increasing reports of homeless encampments emerging in communities across the country, primarily in urban and suburban areas and spanning states as diverse as Hawaii, Alaska, California, and Connecticut," the organization's study states.

Florida Couple Fined, Threatened With Jail For Feeding Homeless

May 17, 2014 Bill Briggs www.nbcnews.com Resist! Homelessness, Police

A Florida couple who retired from their management jobs to care for the poor vowed Monday to wage a tenacious legal fight days after being fined more than $300 each for violating a local law. Debbie and Chico Jimenez openly admit committing the act that earned them two citations apiece: feeding more than 100 people who are homeless in Daytona Beach. Police in Daytona Beach also threatened them with arrest and incarceration, if they offer any more of their home-cooked meals at Manatee Island Park, a gathering the Jimenezes say they’ve hosted every Wednesday for the past year. “The worst thing is, these are people we have grown to love, they've become like family to us, and now we’re not allowed to go down and do that anymore. It's just heartbreaking. I have cried and cried and cried,” said Debbie Jimenez, 52, a retired auto parts store manager. She and her husband, 60, a retired construction manager, operate New Smyrna Beach-based ministry called “Spreading the Word Without Saying a Word.” “One of our (homeless) friends said that Wednesday is just not going to be Wednesday anymore,” Debbie Jimenez added. “We were given 10 days to either pay the fine or tell them we're going to court. We’re going to court. The police don’t like it. But how can we turn our backs on the hungry? We can’t.”

Let The Albany Bulb Be Free!

May 7, 2014 Tatiana Makovkin, www.creativeresistance.org Create! Arts, Commons, Creative Resistance, Homelessness

The Albany Bulb is an overgrown landfill on the Western edge of the East Bay, in the San Francisco Bay Area. “The Bulb” juts into the SF Bay, surrounded on 3 sides by water. It is a green growing wildland of naturalized plants, animals and people. And it’s an organically created citizens’ gallery of outsider art featuring giant sculptural forms and colorfully painted concrete and rocks. Friends of mine have lived there, in handmade huts built from recycled materials. They were Food Not Bombs activists, musicians, and people who sought an alternative to the inhumanity of capitalist society. Now the East Bay Regional Park district (EBRPD) is moving in to sanitize the area. Residents are being harassed and evicted, art is being removed and trees cut down. Many activists and artists have lived storied lives that embue us with appreciation for the fringe-places, the edge-dwellers, the communities that thrive among the ruins and the refuse, society’s throw-away treasures. We love to find these “diamonds in the rough”, and we work and polish until the beauty shines.

Homelessness And Extreme Inequality In America

April 19, 2014 Rivera Sun, www.riverasun.com Educate! Homelessness, Inequality

Homelessness is on the rise. Despite the fact that we have more than enough houses to adequately shelter our population, three and half million homeless men, women, and children live and sleep in the streets. Imagine how it feels to be freezing to death, looking at one of the 18.5 million vacant houses in America . . . homes that are owned by banks that bought the foreclosed properties with bailout money that came from our taxpayer dollars. It rankles the soul. On Occupy Radio this week, homeless advocate Jean Stacey likened the unhoused to the canaries in the coal mine of our nation. They are signs that something has gone terribly wrong. (Listen here) Some argue that the something is the economy, but I’d say there’s nothing wrong with the economy as far as the wealthy are concerned. 95% of the 2009-2012 income gains dove into the pockets of the wealthy 1%. The rest of America saw little sign of economic recovery. For many, poverty is just one step closer.

Homeless Lose A Longtime Last Resort: Living In A Car

April 10, 2014 Zusha Elinson, www.online.wsj.com Educate! California, Homelessness

In the three decades he worked as a software engineer in Silicon Valley, Fred Smith never imagined he would spend his golden years homeless. But three years ago, Mr. Smith could no longer afford an apartment here, so he moved into an aging Winnebago camper. The 70-year-old showers at a gym where he has had a longtime membership. For most meals, he eats $1.20 orders of eggs or fish patties at McDonald's. As housing costs here have skyrocketed with the latest technology boom, Mr. Smith has found himself among thousands of people in Silicon Valley struggling to afford a place to live. The San Jose/Santa Clara County region's homeless population—about 7,600 on any given night, the fifth-highest among major metro areas—edged up in 2013, even as the number of homeless nationwide dropped, according to U.S. data.

12-Year-Old Homeless Girl Helps Over 400 Children Find Shelter

April 2, 2014 Crystal Shepeard, www.care2.com Resist! Homelessness

The idea of having to navigate cockroaches, mice, no heat and sexual predators before you even leave for school is not something any child should go through. Yet, this is the daily life for hundreds of children living in two shelters in New York City and Brooklyn. They are part of the more than 22,000 children that make up New York City’s homeless population. Now, after more than a decade of repeated citations for deplorable conditions, more than 400 children and their families are being moved from the city-owned facilities – all because of a determined 12-year-old girl. Chanel couldn’t afford the luxury of buying water in a bottle. When the water with the fancy name started arriving in the bodegas of her Brooklyn neighborhood, she felt that it represented a certain status in life she could never imagine. When her first child was born a short time later, she gave her the name Dasani, with the hope it would give her a chance in life.

James Boyd, Bruce, Pete, And All of Us

April 2, 2014 Veena Trehan, www.popularresistance.org Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Homelessness

Many in New Mexico have embraced both the ghost of James Boyd, cut down for lacking a home, and the ghost of Tom Joad, a specter of moral action. The group Anonymous called for occupation of Albuquerque police sites in a video statement describing the murder as done in “cold blood”. “This man, who was schizophrenic, obviously had no intention of hurting these police officers, on the contrary, this man looks as if he is simply attempting to protect himself from visually fierce militarized thugs,” said the hacktivist group. A coalition of groups protested over the weekend in an eight-plus hour march. The police shot tear gas canisters at largely peaceful demonstrations. The FBI has opened an investigation into Boyd’s killing, and the Justice Department is continuing their probe into a police department that has fired at 37 people since 2010, killing 23.

City Demands Church Stop Sheltering The Homeless

March 25, 2014 Adam Peck, www.thinkprogress.org Educate! Homelessness

On Sunday night, the temperature in Rockford, Illinois is expected to drop below 20 degrees. On Monday and Tuesday, the area could see several more inches of snow. And yet the city has informed leaders at the Apostolic Pentecostals of Rockford church that they are no longer permitted to act as a temporary warming center and homeless shelter because they do not have the adequate zoning permits. David Frederick, the owner of the church, told WIFR that he was warned by city officials that if he kept opening his doors to the city’s homeless, he would be doing so illegally. It’s unclear if the city is prepared to levy any kind of penalty against the church if they ignore the warning.

Hundreds of SF residents’ Homes Saved From Condo Conversion

March 9, 2014 Jonah Owen Lamb www.portside.org Resist! Homelessness

The apartment complex, called the Fillmore Center, lies just south of Geary Boulevard along Fillmore Street and takes up several city blocks. The complex, which has had numerous owners, was completed in 1991 on land owned by the now-defunct Redevelopment Agency with the guarantee that 20 percent of the units would stay below market rate until 2017. In exchange, the developers received “advantageous financing terms,” according to the City Attorney’s Office. The case, which was heard by Superior Court Judge Curtis Karnow, was originally filed in 2008 by current owners Fillmore Center Associates after they were barred from converting more than 1,000 units into condominiums because the previous owners had relinquished such rights.

Hidden Homeless Camps In The Woods

February 22, 2014 Staff, www.dailymail.co.uk Educate! Homelessness, Housing, Poverty

Marcin said he first stumbled upon the homeless dwellings as he hiked through the woods bordering the city during hunting season. When he saw a 'mini-fortress' made of milk crates just yards from a major thoroughfare, Marcin began searching for other transients 'living off the grid'. Most were based near railroad tracks, Walmarts, gas stations, and liquor stores. 'I have always been interested in the unique places people live in, particularly where there exists an element of defiance or desperation, or both. In these situations, a house can often reflect the dilemma of its owner. In the case of the hobo camps, this reflection is quite pronounced for obvious reasons,' he told The Atlantic Cities.

Portland Pitchforks & Torches Protest Mayor’s Crackdown On Homeless

February 15, 2014 Eleanor Goldberg, www.huffingtonpost.com Resist! Homelessness

A group of fired-up activists in Portland, Ore., who were tired of seeing homeless people being mistreated staged the kind of protest that will be difficult for the mayor to ignore. An estimated 4,000 people sleep on the streets of Portland, Ore., on any given night and, since last summer, life has become increasingly difficult for them. So, a group of protesters descended upon Portland City Hall on Tuesday night carrying pitchforks and torches to "shame the mayor into action," organizer Jessie Sponberg told The Oregonian. Portland appears to be gearing up to revive a bill that would allow police to rouse homeless people sitting on sidewalks, The Oregonian reported at the end of last year. In July, Mayor Charlie Hales launched an effort to clear out homeless campsites,according to the Portland Mercury.

Town Reverses Course On Blanket Ban

February 15, 2014 Alex Leichenger, www.thinkprogress.org Educate! Homelessness, Poverty

The 2013 law made it illegal to sleep “out-of-doors…adjacent to or inside a tent or sleeping bag, or atop and/or covered by materials such as a bedroll, cardboard, newspapers, or inside some form of temporary shelter.” The initiative referred to homelessness as “camping,” a benign term that minimizes the plight of people lacking reliable access to food and shelter. Yet after a torrent of critical press coverage and a Change.org petition, Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward reversed his previous support for the ordinance and urged the council to amend it “after reflecting and praying on this issue.” Hayward tweeted a picture of himself and his wife supporting a blanket drive for the homeless earlier in the day and posted a photo to Facebook announcing the Council’s vote. Pensacola City Councilwoman Sherri Myers, an original opponent of the ordinance, brought forward the proposal to amend it.

Homeless: The New Normal

February 9, 2014 Tina Braxton, www.firedoglake.com Educate! Homelessness

Homelessness is growing rapidly in America, and it’s on the rise in other industrialized countries, too. With fewer good jobs, rising costs, and a disappearing safety net, housing―something we used to take for granted– has become, for many people, unaffordable. A fortunate few can bunk in with relatives, at least for a while. But most of us must sleep in our cars, or pitch a tent, or go to a shelter, or hit the streets. Often, we try several of these options in succession, as our resources dwindle and run out. We keep hanging in there, looking for a real job, searching for solutions, and praying for a miracle. Sometimes things get better, but often they do not. With no roof above us, no walls around us, and no locked door between us and the wide world, we are vulnerable―to the weather, to illness, and to violence.

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