Don Robert's Almanack

Home Less

Early memories of what are now called the "home less" are few, although the Depression era meant that we had people moving through our community in Los Angeles who were not residents,  and who often asked for support,  had something to sell,  or offered to work or provide services.  They came,  as I recall to the side door in the back,  not the front door.  Our very modest duplex was right on a main boulevard, adjacent to an intersection,  and thus we saw these people fairly often.

The number of indigent people has swelled over the years,  and yet the problems associated with this go largely unmentioned in the media.  Why?  My suspicion is that it is very much a stigma to be without a place to live,  and those who could report on this tend not to.  A friend of ours runs what would have been called a "soup kitchen"  in the Depression,  and although she says they get fairly substantial support from the community for their services the media coverage is minimal. 

My reacquaintence with homelessness came in Minneapolis several years ago,  especially in two instances.  One with a group of "caregivers"  who were being sensitized to the issues by meeting with people without homes,  talking with them and sharing a meal at a shelter.   Very eye opening because we found out in short order what does not come over the news.  Namely that many people do not go to shelters because they find them dehumanizing,  would rather sleep under a bridge,  or in a car,  whatever.  They will come to a "kitchen,"  but will chance death by even sleeping out in subzero conditions if they have to.  I carried a sign for a man named Eugene who died of exposure back then on a walk from Sharing and Caring Hands to the Simpson Shelter to highlight the tragedies of home- lessness in the Upper Midwest.  I still have that sign and have it out right now to remind myself of the conditions which surround us in America.

The second was because of a chance encounter with a person who reminded me of the huge population  of homeless people in  Calif.,  which I mostly observed in Venice.  The benign weather there means that by far California has the greatest number of people living on the street,  and that many of them barely exist in a "climate"  of competition for resources  For example,  there is a shelter not far from where I lived  that provided a place to wash clothes,  take a (cold) shower,  and get a peanut butter sandwich and coffee at midday.  Otherwise it was pan handling in order to eat in what is now known as "food deserts," places which sell substandard food/drinks  as food.  Which brings me front and center to why I wrote this.  I want to call attention of these food deserts (urban and rural -  see the USDA descriptions under Agricultural Marketing Service).  Will our President mention these problems in his Inaugural Address next Tuesday?   Doubtful,  and tragic.  Mum's the word.