Homeless

1. Feeling alone, the army's up the road
   Salvation a la mode and a cup of tea
   Aqualung my friend don't you start away uneasy
   You poor old sod, you see it's only me Jethro Tull, Aqyalung
2. Ever been homeless" I have. Ne and my friend Deb were for 4 days in  Ft. Lauderdale, Fl in 2002. Just bad luck and a bad economy in a bad spot. No drufs or alcohol. We had both been clean for years.
3. It is a nightmare. If you want to get in a shelter, you have to register about sun up and, then, you cannot stay there in  the daytime. That didn't matter because we were not going to one. They are more dangerous than the streets. The daylight hours aren't too bad/ You can walk around and hang out in malls or parks. Then comes dark.
4. You cannot stay still fir long. Coos will move you along or try to arrest you. Not their fault, just their job. There is no place to get indoors. If it;s cold or rainy, you just have to do your best and get under a tree or behind a wall to break the wind and rain. When the weather breaks, you walk.
5. Sleep is the real issue. It is far too dangerous to sleep on the street sides or any open grounds. Even if it were safe, the street noise is constant. If you find a quiet place, out of sight, it is even more dangerous because, if you find it, so will others.
6. There are people out there, at night who are dangerous,, mean, crazy or both. Of course, alcohol and drugs are often their fuel, but nit always. Sometimes, the sober ones are the worst.
7. Then are the scenes that break your heart. Women with little kids, Physically handicapped people. Old folks, some very old.
8. Again, sleep is the problem. You catch naps. 10 minutes here, 20 there. And it is not really sleep. more of a light doze. By the end of the 3rd day, I was hallucinating lightly. By the 4th, it was fairly intense. Blessedly, a few things went our way and some nice folks helped and we got out of it. Things were touch and go for a spell, but they did get better.
9. Right now, in America, there are many, many homeless. About a quarter of the m are children. I cannot imagine what this does to them. Something must be done, but what?
10. Government, on all levels, seems to have no clue. Churches, some of them, do help a bit. The problem is that there are just so many to help.
11. It is almost impossible to find work when you have no home. You need to be in a reasonably stable environment to make any headway. If you get a little money, there are extended stay hotels and thatr is a whole lot better than nothing, but they take most of a week's wages to stay in and you can never seem to get ahead enough to get a real place. Also, apartment agents do not look kindlt on such places when they start checking you rebtal history. And while those hotels are better than nothing, they are not places that you want to stay at for ling. They are costly and many of the folks there are none too stable.
12. The only solution I can think of is for Governments to but abandoned properties and renovate them to house the homeless. The cost would be extremely high, but something must be dome if we are to continue to call ourselves a civilized land
13. Truth is, nothing will be done anytime soon. There is no will to do this. Instead, most people will just go about their business and, when they see a homeless person, just shake their heads and say'what a pity.' Or they will grow hostile. I have seen this. They want such folks rounded up and hauled away. Where" they don't car e as long as they don't have to see them.
14. But see them is assured.  Again, what will the children going through such nightmares grow up to be. I can promise you that it will nit be pretty.
15. I will leave you with a thought from Steely Dan's song Razor Boy. "Will you still have that song to sing, when the Razor Boy comes and takes your fancy things away." Always in this World, the chickens come home to roost..

Extended Stay Hotels

Last week, I wrote about my experiences living at Crossland Economy Studios in Lawrenceville, Ga. I took the post down, not because I exaggerated the problems there, but because the post was not well written, mostly because I was so furious. So, let me try this again.
To make a long, boring story, short, I'll just say that the place is unpleasant and dangerous. The staff is rude and incompetent and the property is getting dirtier by the day and housekeeping is almost non existent. The Manager was making a semi-effort to get things together, but she is not really capable of doing so. It looks nice, until you look past the surface.  Do not stay there.
But, that is not what I want to write about. The very presence of places like that, extended stays, is the issue. Such places have been around for a long time, but there is a twist. Instead of old, single people, reclusive artists and ne'er-do-wells, extended stays are now home to families  young couples, impoverished seniors and  anyone who has had any financial troubles. Why?
When, under Bush 2, the housing bubble burst and recession set in, a lot of home owners were foreclosed, They had to go where you could rent with no credit check and no questions asked, Pay each week and you at least had a roof over your head and utilities paid. The fact that you shared the place with hookers and drug dealers had to be overlooked. The hotel owners did not care who or what you were, as long ass you paid each week They also had no incentive to keep the property up.
Those working, who had to rent in such places, found most of their check going each week to rent, There was almost no chance to get enough together to get a real place to live. We were caught in such a cycle. Now, on Social Security, we have caught a small break or two and are, trying to find a place, Unfortunately, where we are in Gwinnett Ga. is being swamped with folks, who for some reason, think this is the Land of Milk and Honey (it is definitely not-don't move here) . There is now a housing shortage and we are ready to move far away from the Metro Atlanta area.
This, like all explanations, is much oversimplified., but it is the essence of the natter. We will get by, but I am horrified that kids are being raised in these places. One of the saddest sights imaginable is a group of children waiting outside one of these places, waiting for the school bus.
The solution? I have no idea. Many immediately recommend Housing Authority, Good idea, but there are long, long waiting lists and many of their places are not much better that the hotels. The ideal thing would be for a bunch of developers to build affordable rental properties. They could make some money, and being private, could demand that certain requirements be met by those living there, ie drug testing, This could be done. Something an little bit similar was done IN East Lake, a section of Metro Atlanta. It helped , but I see little interest in continuing to expand such ideas.
Something must be done. A fairly large part of a generation of kids are being raised with no roots, no sense of home. They will be constantly on edge after years of being raised in dangerous . hostile conditions. It is hard enough for adults, You have elderly people, who still have a lot to offer the Nation, crammed into places where they are scared to stick their heads out. Norcross, a nearby community has all but banned these hotels. severely limiting the time you can stay at one. Fine, I understand, but what then. There  will be many more living in the streets, Most folks don't know that about 25% of America's homeless are kids.  Something must be done or our streets will be like the streets of places like Rio de Janeiro, home to vast, unmanageable gangs of kids.
Bit, for the life of me, I have no good ideas.  Well, think about it. Maybe you can \come up with something. Have a fine, Blessed day and pray for those who are not so fortunate.

Americans on the Edge of Survival - Gimme Shelter

Ever been homeless? I have. My wife and I spent 4 days with no home and it was very strange. The daytimes pass okay. There are always things to look at; you can wander in and out of malls, hang out in parks, visit the library, that sort of thing.

But, nights are a different thing, especially in an urban setting. There are folks who stay in wooded areas and survive fairly well, but we were in the middle of Fort Lauderdale, Fl. No place to go. No place to hide. You are wary of talking to anyone, strange people roam the late night city. You cannot stay in one spot for long without the cops starting to pay attention. If you do find a place out of sight, you cannot sleep because if you find that spot, you can be sure others will too. The sleep is the big issue. After 3 days of no more than a few minutes light dozing here and there, you are more than exhausted; mentally you are just fried and hallucinations become an issue.

My point? Not everyone on the streets is a worthless drug addicted, alcoholic bum. Sometimes, life just deals you some funny cards and you have to play the hand until the deck is reshuffled and a new deal goes down. Do not judge the homeless too harshly, especially in these economically difficult days. Remember, many of them are veterans and about one-fourth are children. I cannot imagine what it is like to be out there for long periods but I understand that the longer you are, the harder it is to get back to normal.

Shelters? I know some who have stayed in them and many would rather stay outside, that's how bad they are. If you stay in one you have to be constantly on your guard.

There are those who live in sort of a nether world. They are not on the streets or in shelters. Instead, they have managed to keep enough ahead to pay rent in extended stay motels. That is our currents state, one that is about to end soon. They are better than the alternatives but, often, still dangerous. A good many who stay in these places are transients and none too stable. Others are dealers in various substances who find it to their advantage to have no permanent address. On the other hand, there are many. like us, who have simply had some rough times and, sadly, a lot of families, sometimes with 3 and 4 kids are forced to stay in these places.

How bad are they? The one we are in now is really not too bad. Some are dreadful, filthy places a cockroach would not want to call home.

Here is the problem. Once you move into one of these places, you are stuck. If you are working a low paying job, or like us, on a fixed income, you will have difficulty saving enough to move to a nicer place, one requiring first, last and security. You have to pay rent in extended stay weekly and it is brutal to save. You do get your utilities included, but without a full kitchen, it is hard to prepare food that is economical.

The solution? Well, I do not have one. Sorry, I am fresh out of ideas except to say that much of the fault lies with big businesses. I do not mean run of the mill businesses, I mean the huge corporations. I have shown in earlier posts how the mega-corporations have manipulated the American economy into the sewer. That must change, but I do not know how that will happen.

I will also add that I am disappointed by the Churches. Often, too often, they preach charity and the only thing they do is, maybe, provide a wee bit of cheap food. Here and there, they may help with a week's rent. Yet, they have enough to build grand Churches, while paying their Pastors huge salaries. Again, let me be clear. I am not talking about the little Church on the corner or storefront Churches. I am talking about the grand Mega-Churches, the ones raking in a whole lot of cash and using it to build luxurious buildings where they can meet and pat each other on the back, assuring each other of their piety. I do not believe that is what Jesus had in mind.