One Man's Panhandling
By: F. William Bracy
Ventura Co. Local Politics - May 8, 2010
What do you say to the person who holds a cardboard sign that says, “homeless – anything helps,” – one who may even have fought for your freedom. And being reminded that there are a disproportionate number of veterans on the streets, what would be an appropriate response … a smile? … a scowl? … a dollar? … or as the City of Ventura suggests, a piece of fruit? How about a simple, “Thank you?”
There are as many as 75,000 homeless veterans of the Vietnam War alone roaming the streets of America's cities, both large and small, and no one really knows why. Except Peter Brown, Social Services Director for the city. He says that a significant portion of the homeless in Ventura are in defiance of social norms in society … that they cover themselves with tattoos and use their panhandling gains to support their drug and alcohol lifestyles. Mr. Brown provides no conclusive evidence for this … no serious studies of any sort … because it would be a practical given that none exists.
The real problem with panhandling, some will say, is that if we allow a few to do it, that just opens the floodgates. Same argument, you see, as the one that goes, "We can't legitimize the gay lifestyle. If we don't nip it in the bud, first thing you know, children will end up on the endangered species list."
A City Hall Greeting – Visitors to the Ventura City Administration building are instructed in the delicate art of class discrimination
In the immortal words of Ronald Reagan, “Well, there you go again.” ... as establishment types look around at all the ne'er-do-wells among us.
“Always trying to wangle your way into a good thing, ain'cha? Like when you choose homelessness. Like when you choose homosexuality. Like when you choose poverty.”
Well, you could be right. There sure is a draw toward the good life. Let one in and pretty soon ... there goes the neighborhood.
Maybe the skeptics ought to try one of these lifestyles on for size before jumping to conclusions. Would even one of them trade the life they now have for one that is scorned, derided, marginalized and even hated by folks they've never even met?
Many of us learned a long time ago that in some life situations, if you don't laugh, you'll cry.
“Panhandling for Fun & Profit”
(A Sketch in Twenty Lines or Less)
By “Fritzwilliam”
Whip-lash :: Hey, I remember you! You're Joe, right? Didn't you used to work over at the ...
Chain-gang : The Brickyard! Absolutely! An I remember you too. You're Tony, ain'cha?
Whip-lash :: Hey, you got it! Wow, what'cha been up to? Looks like you hit the skids a little. What happened?
Chain-gang : Aw, man! No way, the skids! You got it all wrong. I'm a big time panhandler these days..
Whip-lash :: Really? You mean you can make money at it? C'mon. Get serious.
Chain-gang : Totally serious, parder. Listen, y'better hang on ta yer hat. See that buggy over there? The one with the three pointed star clingin' on ta the front end? Well that baby's all mine, dude. An' y'know what else? I got another one jus' like it over near the freeway overpass, 'cept that one carries a BMW emblem.
Whip-lash :: I don't believe it.
Chain-gang : B'lieve it, cousin. I'm the envy of the neighborhood right now an' it only took me two years t'reach the pinnacle of success here an' about.
Whip-lash :: No, I meant, I can't believe. you're pushing a shopping cart that's got a Mercedes emblem wired to the front grille, I guess you'd call it.
Chain-gang : Well what else would you call it? That's a cool set of wheels, my man. That right there's a one of a kind.
Whip-lash :: No doubt. But hey, one man's trash ... another man's treasure. Uh-h, no offense, okay?
Chain-gang : None taken, bro. But jus' keep it under yer hat, y'know what I'm sayin'? Lemme tell ya somethin'. This'd be the greatest lifestyle in the world except fer one thing. Taxes'll jus' eat ya alive.
THE BACK STORY
We'll be talking about institutionalization (see note 1), so let's review. Few had even heard the term until the 1962 Hollywood production of The Birdman of Alcatraz starring Burt Lancaster, although much else has been written and produced as entertainment on this very serious subject
These walls are funny. First you hate them, then you get used to them. After long enough, you get so you depend on them. That's "institutionalized."
"Red" Redding (played by Morgan Freeman),
The Shawshank Redemption
But homeless walls? Isn't that a stretch? The first prison cell that the newly homeless person is likely to encounter is a car interior. And make no mistake – it's as solid as any prison the first time you hear that car door slam shut. Their first reaction is usually something like, “Oh my God, I can't do this.” Then assuming that nothing changes for the first month, their mindset changes into something more like, “God, I can't believe I'm doing this.” Then if they're still in their car for six months, they begin saying, “Thank God for my car … I'm better off than most.”
One year in, however, and things begin to happen. Something goes wrong with the car, or worse still, they're unable to afford registration tags. No tags, no car in pretty short order. Next up – the underpass and it's back to “Oh my God, I can't do this.”
News flash here … you'd be surprised at what you can do. Furthermore, maybe you've never had the opportunity to see what clinical depression feels like. Chronic homelessness and chronic depression. Why would anyone think these two don't go together?
Does this mean that we should look to psychiatry for solutions to the homelessness problem? Or could it be that this opens the door to as many new questions as answers? … at least when we look at the research being conducted by privately funded organizations such as the Melville Charitable Trust.
The Search for Answers
“Committed to finding the causes and the cure for homelessness” is the long-running promotional tag line heard on National Public Radio (NPR). Its sponsor is the Melville Charitable Trust, a Connecticut based organization that has, as its mission statement suggests, a vested interest in identifying solutions to the homelessness phenomenon. One of their national grantee partners is the National Alliance to End Homelessness, (http://www.endhomelessness.org/) upon which the Trust bestows its accolades, declaring the advocacy group's website “ an excellent primer on homelessness.” When we look, this is some of what we find:
Date: 23 Mar 2010
Author: National Alliance to End Homelessness
Files:
Nearly 10 years ago, the federal government made a commitment to end chronic homelessness. Since then, a great deal of progress has been made on that goal, much of it due to incentives and directives from the federal government, and much of it due to the benefits of reducing chronic homelessness. This brief examines:
- Who experiences chronic homelessness;
- The progress made in reducing chronic homelessness;
- Federal policies and local practices that contributed to that progress; and
- Who experiences chronic homelessness;
The remainder of this brief excerpt can be found here or you may download the full brief, if you'd like, by using the PDF link above. What we see is almost what one would expect – the declarations of success and praises for positive outcomes. Yet homelessness is up all over the country (see article, Homelessness Around the US.html [Source: note 2]) and homeless shelters, relief organizations and charities are either cutting services or closing altogether. Note that the cited brief in this section is up-to-date, leaving a bit of wonder in the reader's mind as to just who is doing the talking (or writing).
The point that needs to be addressed here, however, is that the emphasis in all the work cited seems to surround so-called “chronic” homelessness, and yet nothing we have come across in any of this documentation mentions the “defiantly homeless,” as it has been called in a video presented by Peter Brown, Social Services Manager for the City of Ventura (see article on this site: Peter Brown on Homelessness). We think the reason for this is because no such thing exists. We think that the data we've reviewed also fails to address the phenomenon of institutionalization as it may relate to homelessness. But that's just us. We'd like to know what you think, and if you've experienced homelessness yourself, you probably have even more to add to the conversation.
The Melville Trust's policy page includes the following heading with a list of statements as follows:
“What We've Learned"
After working with more than a hundred grantee partners for over a dozen years we are now convinced of the following:
- Homelessness is a solvable problem.
- Decent, safe, accessible and affordable housing is indispensable to solving the problem of homelessness.
- Providing housing with support services to those who have enduring disabilities is the smart, humane, cost-effective solution to long-term homelessness.
- Our society has more than adequate economic capacity to invest in the housing and provide the services that can eliminate homelessness anywhere in America.
- Government agencies and officials, as well as our elected representatives on the local, state, national levels must be in the forefront of efforts to end homelessness, investing significant resources in housing and service programs that lead to individual and family independence.
- All that is needed to eliminate homelessness in America is the political will to do so.”
The final statement, #6, is the one that holds our interest. The political will is in us – the people. And where have the people of this country been going on social issues over the past 35 years, or since the Reagan Presidency, if you like? Here's our answer: it's been going steadily backwards.
The Search for Some Maalox
The accompanying article and the source link to it has already been given in the previous section. We intend to keep updating this information on a regular basis in order to help keep Ventura County residents informed of the latest homelessness statistics from around the country. But in this our inaugural reporting date on homelessness we've found some jaw-dropping information, and you may read it for yourself.
Something very interesting is going on in the state of Florida. In Broward County several large shelters have closed. The article goes on to say that a “proposal [is afoot] to continue to criminalize homelessness in Ft. Lauderdale and Oakland Park will fine people who give food and money to homeless people.”
There is every chance that someone within one or more of the governing bodies in Ventura County will read about this and decide that it's Ventura County's turn to rewrite the biblical Tale of the Good Samaritan. After all, since the weather is responsible for the homeless problem there just as it is here (see Peter Brown on Homelessness), then before the inkling even gets going we suggest that someone first confer with a constitutional scholar.
Never mind the fact that outlawing ones ability to express solidarity and support for a humane cause in the manner of their own choosing would be a flagrant violation of protected free speech, a movement like this is absolutely emblematic of the mean-spiritedness that so often draws people into local politics. One further note ~ if it happened here, we would be pleased to volunteer our services in testing the validity of this proposition.