They are the forgotten and ignored, the faces we look away from when they try to approach us. Theirs is a life of rejection and turmoil, where each day brings uncertainty about whether they will eat or find shelter for the night.
It’s easy for us to criticize the homeless. Sitting in our cars like they were moving thrones, we often refuse to give them money when they approach us at a streetlight. The common argument is that they could better their situations if they stopped begging and got a job. My argument is that they beg because they have no other choice.
According to the Associated Content website, more than 5,000 people in Long Beach call the streets home. Approximately 41 percent of the city’s homeless are women and children, and around 400 are former soldiers who served in Iraq. Do these seem like people who would purposely live on the street?
When I heard that there was an effort being made by certain members of the city of Long Beach to close down a homeless shelter, I was saddened. After learning that the idea was to turn the homeless shelter into a police substation, I was angered.
Think about it. A facility that provides shelter for the homeless is being considered for a police substation! What is a substation, anyway? Is it a place for tired cops to kick up their feet and shoot pool between shifts?
The mastermind behind this idea is Fifth District Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske, according to the Long Beach Press-Telegram. It is her opinion that since “the city of Long Beach provides a great deal of services to the homeless,” the former Army Reserve property should be allocated to the police department.
Some think that converting the property will create a greater police presence, which will help to protect Long Beach’s homeless. I disagree. I feel that taking away 5.5 acres worth of property from the homeless will only make things more dangerous for them.
It was only in November of 2008 that five people were murdered at a make-shift homeless camp in Long Beach. Had these people been properly sheltered, they probably would be alive today.
Thankfully, there are laws protecting the homeless shelter for at least a period of time. Because a proposal to move the shelter from Willow Street to Burnett Street and Grand Avenue was denied, the Grunion Gazette reported that “the original accommodation plan submitted to HUD [Housing and Urban Development] must be withdrawn … and a new public hearing must be held before the city submits the new plan.”
There is no end in sight for the economic crisis and countless people will be forced out into the streets as a result. These include white collar businessmen who pay their taxes and have families, older couples who lost their retirement in Ponzi schemes and auto industry laborers who know what a hard day’s work is all about.
Laziness has nothing to do with why most people are homeless.
Let’s also not forget that the mentally ill represent a huge demographic of the homeless population. How can we blame them for being on the streets? Homeless shelters are necessary to facilitate those who cannot facilitate themselves — and we must accept that.
Who knows, it could be you and me out there one day.
Grady Dunne is a senior journalism major and an assistant opinions editor for the Daily Forty-Niner.
yeah…barack obama who is often criticized for wanting to implement “socialist” policies is going to lead americans to homelessness? you should think about pointing the finger to george bush for giving us a whole new generation of lost boys because of the senseless “war on terror.”
If Barack Obama gets his way, it will be you and me out there one day. Darn hippies