Coming up soon is Bridge the Economic Gap Day, on Tuesday, September 4, which is the day after Labor Day. We have a nice collection of archived posts just waiting to satisfy the curiosity of readers who want to support and participate in this nationwide annual event.

Organizations that get involved include unions, faith-based groups, non-profits, businesses, and more. In 2005, House the Homeless co-founder Richard R. Troxell wrote to then-Senator Barack Obama about Bridge Day and the Universal Living Wage.

Here are photos from Bridge Action Day in 2010. In 2015, the 14th Anniversary of Bridge the Economic Gap Day was celebrated. This commemorative page also includes a record of the various campaigns and activities initiated and backed by House the Homeless.

The following year, we quoted Richard’s words:

We need to index the federal minimum wage to the local cost of housing. In this fashion, if a person puts in their 40 hours of work, they will be able to afford a basic rental property… No matter what that rent escalates to, or where it’s located. This makes sense for business as it stabilizes their minimum-wage workforce. This makes sense for the local construction industry (nationwide) that will get to construct housing for the 3.5 million people experiencing homelessness. And it makes sense for the homeless minimum-wage worker who can finally attain housing.

Additionally, our website holds many more resources, like a whole section on the Universal Living Wage, and a copy of letter that Richard recently sent to Spencer Cronk, the City Manager of Austin. This missive recalls the decades-long resistance against “right to rest” laws up to the most recent activities of HtH:

I came with a winning argument that yielded the compromise with Council Member Randi Shade, the Health and Human Services Committee, and the City Council. The people got every point now reflected in the enclosed No Sit/No Lie ordinance guide. We have reissued these cards to our citizens in English and Spanish, and to our police officers four times in lots of 5,000. In the end, we were all winners.

The Home Coming Statue

Last time, we talked about the project that puts a positive face on homelessness through artistic expression. The Home Coming is a work with several components, one of them being canine, and we brought up some of the important things to remember about the human-animal relationships that are, for many people experiencing homelessness, so important to both physical safety and mental health.

We will recount the whole narrative backdrop of the sculpture in a future post, but the salient fact to know right now is that another of the characters in the still-life drama is a child. What do we know about child homelessness in the greatest country on earth, the United States of America?

Homeless children are of different kinds. A baby with its mother is a whole different category of child than a 14-year-old who ran away from an abusive step-parent. Unaccompanied youth are the best at hiding their housing status. They bounce around from place to place, and because youth in itself is attractive, they “clean up nice” when it’s necessary to pass for what is considered to be normal.

In the counting department, it’s a shame when a state official says the only available estimates are “based on overall nationwide perceived percentages of homelessness amongst unaccompanied children.” What? Where does the federal government get its numbers from, if not from the states? Even more discouraging is when the same official doesn’t care about getting numbers anyway, because he or she doesn’t believe any of them.

A circular dynamic happens. Because there are no services they can apply to, kids are not identified as homeless. So they are not counted, and when the time comes for an agency to ask the state or federal government for financial support, the paramount question is, “How many kids are we talking about?” And nobody knows, because… (go back to the beginning of the paragraph.)

Trendct.org presents a number of promising ideas to incentivize kids to make themselves known to the system. For instance, if an adult wants to ask questions, have that person vouched for by a juvenile who is trusted by the other juveniles. Of course, concepts like social proof and personal vetting have been around since cave people days. The trick is, teaching people how to be more competent at winning the confidence of strangers, through authenticity and other ethical methods.

(To be continued…)

Reactions?

Source: “Homeless children: A new strategy to count an invisible population,” TrendCT.org, 05/07/15
Image by: House the Homeless

Consensus holds that between 5% and 10% of people experiencing homelessness have pets, most often dogs. The notable exception, Ace Backwords, lives in the Berkeley hills with a herd of cats that he feeds, photographs, and writes numerous blog entries about.

Most homeless shelters don’t allow pets. But of course, the people who are allergic to hairy animals deserve consideration too. As do the people responsible for keeping shelters clean. Dogs can and often do have continence problems. Even a dog who is trained to only relieve itself outdoors could make a mistake, because institutions run on schedules. There are safety issues, and a responsible shelter can’t let people wander in and out all night long.

Richard R. Troxell of House the Homeless says:

We are also now learning that many battered women won’t enter a shelter because they won’t leave their “other child” (dog or cat) with the batterer. In response, many woman’s shelters have now opened their hearts and their doors to these beloved family members, so all battered women can find sanctuary.

Occasionally there is a situation that is unclear, or hard to resolve. What about a blind person with a guide dog? In that case, the Fair Housing Act forbids discrimination against the disabled, and supersedes the no-pets rule. But a City Rescue Mission in Pennsylvania got in trouble for not knowing that, or not caring.

It is probably fair to say that most of the dog owners are street people, because of the hassle. Who is on their side? Depending on where a person lives, either nobody, or a patchwork of a safety net that may or may not be able to help with any given problem. It all depends.

Allies and advocates

In Los Angeles, a park hosts health fairs for people experiencing homelessness and their pets. Pets of the Homeless is a national group with 424 donations sites, which have collected 588 tons of pet food and extended medical treatment to more than 18,000 pets.

In Louisville, KY, the group My Dog Eats First helps out with pet food and supplies, vaccinations, and even spay/neuter services. It’s not just for the sake of the humans. Pets have healing power that helps people, and there is benefit also to the healthy pets who will not wind up in shelters, or worse yet, euthanized. The local volunteers pick up donations, clerk at the Pet Food Bank, and separate jumbo size bags of food into 1 gallon plastic zip bags.

The video on this page shows the process involved in helping to supply My Dog Eats First with food and other commodities to distribute in the homeless community. It was made by Prank It FWD producer Tom Mabe, who has a message for uncomprehending housed people:

I used to get really upset when I would see a homeless person with a dog. I would think, “You can’t take care of yourself, how are you going to take care of this dog?” But after spending a lot of time with them, I realized that they take great care of their dogs… They’re best friends, there’s all kinds of unconditional love. A dog doesn’t judge the person, a dog doesn’t steal from the person… Maybe think twice, the next time you see a homeless person with a pet.

Mabe also said, “It gives them something to be accountable for,” which is no small matter. Part of that accountability is that a canine companion might also motivate some folks to steer clear of avoidable trouble. You don’t want to go to jail if that will jeopardize your best and only friend.

Aside from giving the human a sense of purpose, a dog often lends protection, or at least some extra-alert senses. If someone is asleep and would be better off awake at the moment, a dog will know it. There are shady humans intent on thievery or assault, and even some very ill people who believe that their divine mission is to execute rough sleepers.

Personal testimony

Becky Blanton, who has experienced homelessness and presented a TED Talk about it, was blocked from renting an apartment partly by the security deposits that her cat and dog would require. (Again, it is hard to blame landlords, because even nice animals can do extensive and expensive damage.) But loyalty to the pets was certainly a factor in her staying in a vehicle, rather than gaining a roof.

HtH has written about the film Wendy and Lucy, in which a heartrending dog-related decision is made. If the pet owner happens to become homeless in a city where people tend to be rehoused pretty quickly, the temptation is strong to hang onto the pet or pets, even if it means living in extremely limited conditions, i.e. outside of the official shelter system. After all, it would be terrible to give up the pet, find a place soon, and later have to think, “If only I’d held onto Buddy for just two more weeks!”

What can people do?

House the Homeless raised awareness by publishing Pet Calendars, two years in a row, and redesigned its logo to include a canine companion (see top of page.) Also relevant is the memorial page for Austinite Judy Lynn W. Beall. If you are someone who carries around extra clothes or water to randomly give out, consider adding some dog food to the stash in your trunk.

NOTE: Actually, this post is a teaser. We will be talking more about a specific little dog named Joey, in the context of a project called The Homecoming.

Reactions?

Source: “He Said He’s Filming The Homeless & Their Pets, But What He Really Does Shocks Everyone,” PawMyGosh.com
Photo credit: Steve Baker on Visualhunt/CC BY-ND

A recent headline reads, “This Is the City Most in Danger of a Housing Crisis, Study Finds.” What they mean is a specific type of housing crisis, defined by certain parameters and formulae.

The page says, “GOBankingRates determined which places are most in danger of a housing crisis based on three factors,” and then proceeds to list not three, but six precisely enumerated factors:

1. Percentage of homes with mortgage in negative equity
2. Total number of homes in negative equity
3. Number of homes at least 90 days late on mortgage payment
4. Negative equity delinquency rate
5. Homeowner vacancy rate
6. Rental vacancy rate

Negative equity is when the person owes more on their mortgage than the market value of the house, so even if they sold it today and turned all the money over to the bank, they would still owe — which is a terrible situation to be in. Being stuck like this influences many life choices. It precludes the opportunity to move away and start over somewhere with a better job market.

In a negative-equity condition, the home “owner” is unable to borrow money for other purchases, and the whole economy goes to hell. As Zillow.com notes:

Negative equity can have a number of other chilling impacts on local housing markets, disproportionately impacting minority communities and owners of lower-valued homes, exacerbating inventory shortages and increasing the likelihood of foreclosure for underwater homeowners.

At the peak of the negative equity crisis in early 2012, nearly a third of all homeowners with a mortgage — 16 million people — had negative equity in their homes. At the end of 2017, roughly 5 million homeowners still were underwater, more than half of them deeply so, with mortgage balances totaling 120 percent or more what their homes were worth.

That sounds bad enough, but it gets worse: 15% of the “underwater” home owners owe at least twice what their homes are currently worth. It must drive people insane, wondering how that is even possible. You’ve been paying the mortgage for years, and now owe more than you did at the beginning. So, if you found someone willing to pony up the market value in cash right now, it would only pay off half of what you owe.

After GOBankingRates published its report, other websites adapted the information and created annoying, time-sucking click-bait versions of it, generally with a title referencing the 54 cities most in danger of a housing crisis (and potentially 54 pages to get through to find your own city). At least GOBankingRates has the decency to place all the bad news on one page.

In the bankers’ analysis, by the way, the five cities most likely headed for a crisis are:

1. Newark, NJ
2. Chicago, IL
3. Hartford, CN
4. Jacksonville, FL
5. Baltimore, MD

The math just doesn’t work out

In most of the country, a minimum-wage worker needs two-and-a-half full-time paychecks to rent a one-bedroom apartment. This is based on the “rule of thumb” conjured up by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to represent the percentage of income a family should spend on housing, which is 30%, or almost one-third.

When the baby boomer generation went to school and learned a subject called Home Economics, the governmentally recommended standard for that ratio was 25%. Americans used to be taught that one dollar out of every four was the proper amount to expect to spend on housing. Now we are told that one dollar out of every three is the correct amount. The switching of that recommended proportion is as egregious as any of the history-wiping imagined by George Orwell in his novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four.

This is the miserable irony of that line about the 54 cities in danger of crisis. There is no place in the United States where a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford to rent a one-bedroom apartment. If that isn’t a housing crisis, we don’t know what is. Many more than the named 54 cities are in danger of a housing crisis. Many more than 54 cities are already fully in the grip of a housing crisis. This is glaringly obvious from the numbers of people experiencing homelessness, everywhere.

Here, from Zillow Research, is the rundown of the 10 most cruelly, brutally unaffordable rental markets in the land of the free:

1. Los Angeles, CA
2. Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL
3. San Diego, CA
4. San Francisco, CA
5. New York, NY
6. Riverside, CA
7. San Jose, CA
8. Boston, MA
9. Sacramento CA
10. New Orleans, LA

Now, remember those numbers from a couple of paragraphs ago? How one-fourth was the amount that people used to normally spend buying or renting a place to live, and then how the recommended fraction magically grew to one-third?

In Los Angeles now, the median share of household income spent on rent is 47.6%. That means people are spending very close to HALF their income, just to stay housed. And the crisis is everywhere.

Reactions?

Source: “This Is the City Most in Danger of a Housing Crisis, Study Finds,” GOBankingRates.com, 07/13/18
Source: “Housing Data 101: What is Negative Equity?,” Zillow.com, 07/18/17
Source: “A minimum-wage worker needs 2.5 full-time jobs to afford a one-bedroom apartment in most of the US,” BusinessInsider.com, 06/14/18
Source: “10 Most Affordable Markets for Renters,” Zillow.com, 05/31/18
Photo credit: Richard Masoner/Cyclelicious via Visualhunt/CC BY-SA

In Austin and Travis County, the homeless count has grown by 5% in the past year. Almost 3% of public school students declare as homeless, while an unknown number of others are able to conceal the fact.

One Community Impact headline reads, “Austin seeks $30 million to scale its homelessness solutions.” It’s confusing, however, because the current bond proposal asks for $250 million for affordable housing.

Ann Howard, Executive Director of the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, makes a good point, saying, “By doing nothing, we’re still incurring huge costs, so it would be smarter for Austin to spend the money to house people.”

This may be the place to explain a concept called “functional zero” in regard to the homelessness rate. It basically means that fewer people become homeless than return to housing. Some would say that “functional zero” belongs in the category of weasel words, a term credited to Theodore Roosevelt, who did not care for them.

Any city, county, or state could achieve “functional zero” by merely keeping the influx into homelessness balanced with the outflow back into housing. In reality, there could still be half a million people experiencing homelessness, but as long as the comings and goings equal each other, “functional zero” can be proclaimed. Don’t fall for it.

Another weaselly concept

Think about this:

More than a third of Travis County households are cost-burdened, in that they spend more than 30 percent — the standard recommended by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — of their total income on housing.

It’s not journalist Emma Freer’s fault of course, but the concept of being “cost-burdened” used to apply to a different number. Back when the school curriculum included Home Economics, young women were taught that a family should not spend more than 25% of its income on housing. Somehow, somewhere along the way, someone decided to raise the bar.

Cynics might say that “cost-burdened” is just another word for “ripped off.” Freer goes on to say,

Fred Fuchs, an attorney at the Texas RioGrande Legal Association and the director of The University of Texas School of Law Housing Clinic, said many Austinites struggle with burdensome late fees, which can sometimes surpass rent, and laws that allow landlords to consider a prospective tenant’s eviction history for up to 10 years. For those already living near the margin, car trouble or an unexpected illness can reasonably lead to an eviction.

Austin’s Quality of Life ordinances

Richard R. Troxell was interviewed for three hours for the City of Austin Audit regarding the “No Sit, No Lie”; “No Solicitation”; and “No Camping” ordinances. These laws are not engraved in stone, and can be dismissed or amended by the citizenry.

Richard is uniquely qualified to speak on the subject. In addition to co-founding House the Homeless, he has been on the National Coalition for the Homeless board since 1997. For seven years during the last presidential administration he, along with Michael Stoops and Brian Davis, met with the Department of Justice to talk, mainly, about so-called Quality of Life ordinances.

Some of the points they made included what enormous disadvantage it is to have a record, if the person ever considers seeking employment. People in hiring positions are trained to reject the applicants with tickets or Class C criminal histories.

The government makes rules requiring the government to pay police to hand out paperwork and fine or arrest people who will then be unemployable. That costs the government even more money in terms of homeless relief. They also point out how wacky that basic operating policy is.

Issuing thousands of arrest warrants pursuant to the “No Sit/No Lie” ordinance could be described by harsher critics as nothing more than a full employment program for police. As far as anybody else is concerned, there is no upside. If offenders are fined, they can’t pay the fines. If they are jailed, that costs the taxpayers money. Plus, when released from jail back into the streets, people have criminal records and become unemployable, and their existence ends up costing society even more dollars.

Let’s get civilized

Richard points out that even outside the homelessness assistance facilities, people waiting for appointments can only sit on the sidewalk or in the gutter. And guess what? All over the city, even housed people can use the opportunity to sit and rest. Not every person is at the peak of health at all times. A senior citizen out for a health-giving walk might need to sit and rest for a few minutes. A parent with kids might need to stop and clean up a spill, or look at a crying child’s scraped knee, or sort through the equipment bag for the spare pacifier.

Looking objectively at a city, from the point of view of a foreigner or even a space alien, surely it is more seemly for people in public venues to sit on benches than to squat on their haunches or sprawl on the ground. Even without knowing the language or anything about the culture, it is a positive sign when human beings in public spaces are able to use outdoor furniture, rather than share the pavement or grass with squirrels, insects, dogs, cats, and other beings. Even though we are all God’s creatures, some of us, thanks to long history and a little thing called civilization, have grown accustomed to sitting on chairs.

A space alien with an objective point of view might even think, “What the hell kind of a way is this to run a so-called civilization? Their cities can afford all kinds of amenities, like the yearly splurge on winter holiday decorations. Bolted-down metal benches may be costly, but they are a one-time expense. Once installed, they stay forever and require no maintenance. They don’t need to be watered, tuned up, repaired, or replaced. What’s wrong with these people?”

If you’re in Austin, sign the petition!

The long and short of it is, right now the good people of Austin have the opportunity to sign a petition titled, “Get Our Homeless Neighbors up off the Sidewalks & Their Feet out of the Gutters.” It asks for benches for people to sit on, like respected and self-respecting human beings. Yes, the petition asks for dignity and fairness. Be among the first to concur!

Reactions?

Source: “Austin seeks $30 million to scale its homelessness solutions,” CommunityImpact.com, 07/26/18
Photo credit: Arturo Yee on Visualhunt/CC BY

“The Monkey’s Paw” is an immortal tale because it embodies an unassailable truth: Be careful what you wish for. Amazon has not yet named the next city to be blessed or cursed with the company’s presence. Do the competing cities have any clue about what is in store for the winner?

One thing is for sure. Wherever Amazon HQ2 lands, the number of people experiencing homelessness in that city will increase.

The residents of Seattle were manipulated to want Amazon. Having viewed an Amazon recruitment video, Seattle journalist Dae Shik Kim Hawkins implies that professionals all over America were equally manipulated into relocating to Seattle.

Naturally, the company portrayed the town as yuppie heaven — which it pretty much was, and largely still is. This is partly because the city is adept at rendering its homeless people invisible, and “the most helpless communities are being systematically displaced to make room for others.” The writer says:

Rather than eradicate homelessness at its root, the city’s strategy thus far has been to sweep the homeless from public view; destroying their encampments, issuing tickets for their vehicles, and installing hostile architecture that keeps people from sleeping on benches and in city parks.

In Seattle, site of HQ1, the homeless count is the third largest in the nation. Hawkins correlates the era of displacement with the “Amazon boom” of 2012. There are about 12,000 homeless people in King County, and about half of them are unsheltered. In the first half of this year, 52 members of the community died. Last year, Seattle spent over $10 million on “sweeps.”

Snitch culture

Hawkins describes a new smartphone application that sounds like a nifty idea on the surface; a way to report to the city if a traffic light is out of order, and so forth. But zealous citizens also use “Find It, Fix It” to report homeless camps and people asleep in vehicles. In other words, the app has “warped into a powerful instrument for high-tech community patrolling” that makes it super-convenient for annoyed citizens to punish people experiencing homelessness.

It became especially appreciated by residents of a particular upscale neighborhood. The Ballard Alliance, headed by Mike Stewart, took it upon themselves to get the locals riled up about homelessness, but not in any useful or constructive way. Hawkins says,

Stewart’s idea was to use this app to bombard the inboxes of city officials with homeless-encampment sightings around their neighborhood, hoping to create a sense of urgency for the city to remove homeless people from Ballard.

According to August Drake-Ericson, of the Seattle Homeless Encampment Response team, last year the city registered 12,500 homeless-oriented complaints, averaging more than 30 per day, and mostly originating from the new app. When anonymity can be maintained, the idea of being a ratfink is more attractive.

Crisis sometimes produces comical headlines, which happened in July. Examples: “Seattle mayor suggests rental assistance, car repairs could help some homeless” and “Seattle authorities luring homeless off the streets with plane tickets, rent.” Rent money could help the homeless. Who knew?

This is a mayoral plan, christened “one-time diversion spending,” and designed to keep people from slipping into homelessness. In real life, it’s no joke. Often, a one-time expense will tip the scales for an individual or a family. If you need a car to get to work, or else lose your job, and something happens to the car, and you have to choose between fixing the car or paying the rent, that scenario can throw a person into the streets.

It’s also the exact type of one-time financial emergency that friendly intervention, in the form of cash, can actually help. A month or two of rent, donated at the right time, can save the city a lot more than that, later on.

In June, the city council passed a tax on the full-time employees of the biggest local businesses, including, of course, Amazon. Originally, it was supposed to generate $75 million per year for affordable housing and homelessness services, but the corporations wangled it down to $45 million.

That much could be expected. In the kabuki theater of negotiation, the initial demand is always unreasonably high, in order to give the other side a partial win, in the name of compromise.

It didn’t work. The corporations, organized under the umbrella of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, waged an aggressive pressure campaign, and a few weeks after it had been passed, the tax was repealed. Writer/activist Hawkins added a few words about the irony of Find It, Fix It:

If anything needs to be fixed here, it’s the fact that a city with so many resources is not using its financial might and technological prestige to help the vulnerable few.

Reactions?

Source: “An App for Ejecting the Homeless,” TheAtlantic.com, 07/02/18
Source: “Seattle mayor suggests rental assistance, car repairs could help some homeless,” KOMONews.com, 07/02/18
Source: “Seattle authorities luring homeless off the streets with plane tickets, rent payments,” WFIN.com, 07/02/18
Photo credit: Backbone Campaign on Visualhunt/CC BY

There is more to say about Amazon’s headhunting expedition in search of a city in which to establish its second headquarters (which is an oxymoron, but never mind that). No, the problem is that wherever HQ2 lands, it will create a housing shortage, and a housing shortage inevitably creates more homelessness.

Only a week ago, the headline at the National Association of Home Builders announced, “Housing Starts Fall 12.3 Percent As Tariffs Draw Increased Concern,” and the first sentence stated,

Total housing starts fell 12.3 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.17 million units, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Commerce Department… Meanwhile, the multifamily sector — which includes apartment buildings and condos — dropped 19.8 percent to 315,000.

NAHB Chair Randy Noel told journalist Elizabeth Thompson,

We have been warning the administration for months that the ongoing increases in lumber prices stemming from both the tariffs and profiteering this year are having a strong impact on builders’ ability to meet growing consumer demand.

Federal government policies have not only decreased the number of available construction workers, but have jacked up the cost of imported lumber. In only a few months, the higher price of wood added almost $9,000 to the cost of a new single-family house. The largest portion of this market is always single-family homes, which in and of itself does not do much toward housing the people who cannot afford to buy houses.

“Hosting Amazon isn’t all puppies and rainbows.”

That quotation is from Steve Nicholas, of the Institute for Sustainable Communities, who for eight years was Seattle’s sustainability director. He goes on to say,

Skyrocketing prices are not only rendering Seattle housing out of reach for many but also exacerbating the challenge of homelessness: Seattle now has the country’s third-largest population of homeless people.

Among other recommendations, Nicholas urges the winning HQ2 city to prioritize the preservation and creation of affordable housing. No disrespect, but it doesn’t take a college degree or a white-collar job description to come up with such an excellent idea. Anyone who is being “moved along” from a street-corner or “swept” from an encampment of cardboard and plastic dwellings can nail that one. None of this bodes well for impoverished people in a state of bare survival.

Sometimes you have to wonder about the language that news is framed in. For instance, Jonathan O’Connell says of Seattle, “Amazon has contributed $30 billion to the local economy and as much as $55 billion more in spinoff benefits.” Doesn’t “contribute” mean something like “give” or “donate”? Because if we’re talking about payroll here, that’s not a gift.

It’s one party paying another party to perform labor, which is the way these things are usually done, and not especially laudable in itself. O’Connell goes on to quote the corporation’s real estate guy:

Next year, Amazon will complete its most prominent addition — three glass biospheres featuring about 40,000 plants, “a unique environment for employees to come and collaborate and innovate,” Schoettler said.

That’s all well and good for the 40,000 plants, but what about the estimated 12,000 people experiencing homelessness? And speaking of large numbers, the Amazon HQ has registered 4,000 employee-owned dogs. How many tons of dog poop does that constitute per week, and where does it wind up?

Meanwhile, how is the situation around restroom facilities for people who survive in public? Seattle.gov offers a helpful interactive hygiene services map denoting the city’s public restrooms, and showers and laundry services supplied by organizations for those who don’t have their own.

Why then, only a year ago, was Dyer Oxley moved to write,

People relieving themselves on sidewalks or in parks is commonplace… The King County Council recently had to convene a special panel just to discuss how bad the environment around the courthouse has become. A big part of that is people are defecating and urinating in the streets around the building.

Seattle should revisit the public bathrooms idea, and do it right this time. Assign personnel at the bathrooms to ward off illegal behavior and keep them clean. Don’t just set them and forget them. Public bathrooms are not just a means of diverting the public nuisance. Residents and tourists have bladders, too.

Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, is unable to think of any more practical use for his excess billions than to start his own space program. But perhaps he is not entirely oblivious to these matters. Who knows, maybe the plan is to collect all the poop and send it to the asteroid belt.

Reactions?

Source: “Housing Starts Fall 12.3 Percent As Tariffs Draw Increased Concern,” NAHB.org, 07/18/18
Source: “You’ve Won Amazon’s HQ2. Now the Hard Part Begins,” Governing.com, 06/26/18
Source: “What would happen if Amazon brought 50,000 workers to your city? Ask Seattle,” WashingtonPost.com, 10/19/17
Source: “Seattle should bring back public bathrooms,” MyNorthwesto.com, 07/12/18
Photo credit: Ashlyn Gehrett on Visualhunt/CC BY-ND

New York City’s official government page says that when the temperature is more than 10 degrees above the “average high temperature for the region,” or the heat lasts for “prolonged periods” and is accompanied by high humidity, that is extreme heat. Since New York is made of asphalt, concrete, and metal, it traps heat like an oven, and might easily be 10 degrees hotter than the outlying areas.

While the heat wave is an inconvenience for many New Yorkers, it can pose significant dangers for the thousands of homeless people living on the streets or in shelters without air-conditioning… It is important to note that homeless individuals and families always have a right to shelter in New York City regardless of the weather, but there are expanded outreach and intake rules when Code Red is in effect.

So wrote Jacquelyn Simone for the Coalition for the Homeless in New York City, where summer weather started a bit early this year. Code Red is of course the condition of heat danger, the opposite of Code Blue which is the freezing hazard in winter.

She notes that under extreme heat conditions, the City has cooling centers in air-conditioned public places, found by calling 311 or going on the Web to Cooling Center Finder. Many of the locations are wheelchair-accessible, and the site advises checking in advance each time, because not all are open every day.

Elsewhere

In Albany, New York, the Capital City Rescue Mission is equipped with central air conditioning, two large ice machines, and a freezer full of ice cream and popsicles. The director, Perry Jones, related how the winter had brought the “code blue” condition many times, and expects the summer to bring many “code red” days.

People who were present when a reporter visited, spoke of being hospitalized for heat exhaustion, and of the rare relief of finding shade under a tree or a bridge, and of volunteering to spread the word about the Mission’s cool refuge.

In Newark, New Jersey, people experiencing homelessness tend to congregate in the rail station, public library, and two city parks. The Central Ward shelter that helped with their needs ran out of money and had to close, earlier this month, displacing about 180 residents. Thanks to the generosity of corporate donors it was able to reopen almost immediately, and the donation will keep the facility going until the end of this month.

What you can do

During that closure in Newark, Facebook spread the word, and local people came around to donate water and snacks at a nearby park. Disseminating such information through social media is something that a person can do even if unable to do anything else.

And informing yourself is very helpful, too. Become cognizant of what kind of aid is available in your city. Work with local authorities and organizations to create better facilities. Do you even know where people experiencing homelessness can get free water, or take a shower? You might even print up little slips of paper with useful information, to give out.

If you see a person who seems to be in distress from the heat, (if it seems safe) ask the person if they are all right, if they need help, or if they have somewhere to go. Maybe even just a gift of bus fare would help, if the buses are air-conditioned. On a rare occasion you might see the need to call 911 for emergency assistance.

Get personal, and find out what this particular individual needs. Maybe in their unique survival situation, the thing that would help most is an umbrella to keep the sun off. You don’t know until you ask.

Of course, there is the obvious. Buy a bottle or a case of water to distribute, and don’t forget, people might have pets who need water too. Give out cups or bags of ice. Distribute sunscreen to prevent sunburn, or aloe vera lotion to sooth it. One of the aggravations of having limited access to water is the difficulty of washing sticky hands, or removing spills onto clothing. Distribute individually packaged wet wipes.

In Austin, Texas, House the Homeless is giving out baseball-style caps with sunflaps to protect vulnerable necks from sun damage. This is a great idea that more cities and groups could adopt, along with other measures to prevent heat stroke, heat exhaustion, skin cancer, and dehydration. And of course, and most helpfully, we can all do more to end homelessness and make this a non-problem.

Reactions?

Source: “Extreme Heat,” NYC.gov
Source: “Help Homeless New Yorkers Stay Safe During the Heat,” CoalitionForTheHomeless.org, 06/18/18
Source: “Local shelters getting ready to help the homeless beat the heat,” News10.com, 06/29/18
Source: “Homeless shelter that closed in sweltering heat reopens (for now),” NJ.com, 07/05/18
Photo credit: Marco Verch (wuestenigel) on Visualhunt/CC BY

When conditions of deprivation in third-world countries are discussed, one familiar trope is the procession of women carrying vessels on their heads, who walk miles every day just to get some water. And yet, in most of the world’s allegedly advanced metropolitan capitals, people can’t get water.

The May edition of the House the Homeless newsletter foretold the coming of the hot season, and now North America is in the thick of it. Well over half a million Americans experience homelessness on any given night or — more to the point in summertime — on any given day. The newsletter included a note from HtH Content Director Steve O’Keefe reminding us that in some places, animal cruelty statutes are more protective of non-human species than they are of human beings. The Humane Society says,

Animal neglect situations are those in which the animal’s caretaker or owner fails to provide food, water, shelter, or veterinary care sufficient for survival…. Many states have a provision specifically addressing animal neglect written into their animal cruelty laws…

And yet the United States contains millions of people who don’t have enough food, water, shelter or medical care to survive. Humans suffer and die every day from the lack of those things. When law enforcement officials encounter neglected and abused animals, the surrounding humans are held responsible and blamed. When law enforcement officers encounter neglected and abused humans, they themselves are blamed, and often end up in even worse circumstances and with criminal records.

For an example of extreme protest against this reality, see an essay written by Cheryl Jones, founder of the American Homeless Families Foundation, titled “US Government Treats Our Wounded Homeless Veterans Worse Than Animals!”

The science

The human body is 60% water; the brain is between 70% and 80% water, depending on who answers the question. Water has several exit routes from the body, and needs to be constantly replaced. Medical authorities recommend drinking a liter or two every day. Most people don’t drink enough of it even when they have the opportunity.

Sufficient advice is available on how to avoid heat-related death, but people are not always in a position to follow good advice. While the happily housed and cheerfully oblivious are urged to stimulate their desire for water by brewing exotic unsweetened teas, or adding costly little flasks of natural flavor, unhoused people don’t need to whet their appetite for water. The thirst and the genuine medical need are present. Too often, the water is not.

Exposure-related problems include heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Some “rough sleepers” stay awake and alert at night for safety reasons, but fall asleep in open areas during the day, and add sunburn to their list of ailments. Overexposure to the sun is a well-known cause of cancer.

Dehydration and health destruction

Ongoing dehydration has scary and expensive health consequences, including digestive and metabolic problems, blood clots, seizures, urinary tract infections, kidney stones, immune deficiency, high blood pressure, joint pain, susceptibility to asthma and allergies, and bad breath.

In the short term, it affects mood and cognition. Alertness, concentration, and short-term memory can be disrupted. Dehydration can cause confusion and fogginess, inability to mentally focus, muscle cramps, weakness, chills and fever, headache, depression, and fatigue.

Here is an important and compassionate thing to remember: When a person is forced to survive in public, she or he might appear to be drunk or drugged, when the real problem severe and chronic dehydration.

What is the answer? The charitable giving of bottled water must have its limits. Citizens already scream about the amount of trash that accumulates in homeless camps. Every disposable container contributes toward the death of the oceans. Handing out plastic bottles is far from the best answer. People need containers they can hang on to, and sources to fill those containers.

Drinking water needs to be available to the public at all times and in many locations. It matters not what architectural landmarks a city boasts, or how many operas and ballets it supports. If the people don’t have access to water, the single most necessary element of life, the place can’t really be considered fit for human habitation.

Many countries share the shame

In Great Britain, which supposedly has been civilized for centuries, there was a commotion just last month in the city of Birmingham. A group of volunteers distributed water which, reportedly, the recipients literally fought over. A detail that adds insult to injury is that Birmingham had numerous public fountains in the past.

Many cities, behaving disgracefully, have shut down public water sources. The journalists who compiled this story quoted a woman named Sarah:

If I go into a shop or cafe and try and ask for a glass of water, they always say no. If people think you’re homeless, they just won’t help you. If someone who didn’t look homeless went in and asked for water, they’d get it. It’s so frustrating.

Security guards are always on the look-out for you. They think you’re scum. They’ll make sure you’re not in their place for too long, or just boot you out straight away so it’s hard to find shade for a long time. Even in parks and that there’s always someone to tell you to move on.

Suppose that, by some incredible stroke of luck, an unhoused person has access to a dependable source of clean drinking water, enough to drink a health-compatible amount. And what if there is no nearby location where it is legal to perform nature’s other functions? Cosmic jokes to play on people experiencing homelessness — the Universe never runs out of them.

Reactions?

Source: “The Dangers of Chronic Dehydration,” NuuvoHealth.com, 08/11/17
Source: “Heatwave leaves homeless ‘fighting’ over water,” BBC.com. 06/29/18
Source: “Animal Neglect,” humanesociety.org
Source: “US Government Treats Our Wounded Homeless Veterans Worse Than Animals!,” linkedin.com, 10/05/14
Photo credit: International Livestock Research Institute on Visualhunt/CC BY-SA

Q: What do you call an 800-pound gorilla in your living room?
A: Sir.

It’s the oldest joke in the book, and not so funny when, as in Seattle, several gorillas (with names like Amazon, Tableau, Microsoft, Google, Expedia, Facebook, and LinkedIn) are lounging around on the parlor sofas with their feet up on the coffee table. What happens when mega corporations take over a city? They pretty much have to be called “Sir,” and, in civic matters, they tend to get their way.

As we discussed, the homeless population of Seattle has increased by 4% in the past year. Of all U.S. cities, Seattle contains the third largest group of people experiencing homelessness — not by proportion, but by actual count.

Amazingly, Amazon owns more office space in the city than the total owned by all of the next 40 largest employers combined. Even though this is commercial real estate rather than living space, Amazon’s near-monopoly is seen as contributing to homelessness in the area.

Jonathan O’Connell cautions the cities who strive to become Amazon’s HQ2, cities where officials want the luring of Amazon to be an item on their resume. They are tempted to offer all kinds of enticements and exceptions and treats, as well as forgiveness for sins not yet committed. O’Connell wrote:

In Seattle, that meant rehabbing an area of more than 350 acres at a cost to taxpayers of hundreds of millions of dollars in ongoing transportation and infrastructure upgrades expanding public transit, road networks, parks and utilities.

Rents in King County have more than doubled in the past 20 years, and gone up 65 percent since 2009. Seattle spends more than $60 million annually to address homelessness, up from $39 million four years ago.

On an average day, Seattle gains almost 60 people. Landlords openly advertise the favors they are willing to do, but only for those employed by Amazon, Google, or Microsoft. Low-income workers with jobs in the city have had to move farther and farther away, costing them additional gas and other transportation fees. Also, with more cars driving more miles every day, air pollution increases.

Bellwether Housing, a nonprofit that manages 2,000 affordable housing units, cites a vacancy rate that hovers around 1%. There is a glimmer of light. O’Connell says:

As Amazon’s boom has continued, the city approved a rule this year requiring landlords to accept the first viable renter who applies — rather than cherry-picking a tech worker. The government also adopted an inclusionary zoning policy requiring developers to set aside some new units at below-market rates or pay into a fund to develop other affordable units.

Late last year, journalist Drew Atkins wrote:

In over eight years of meetings with voters, Seattle city councilmember Mike O’Brien has never heard a nice story about Amazon. O’Brien has listened to the company get linked to nearly every major problem facing the city.

Amazon’s negative reputation in Seattle has roots in its philanthropy. Or its lack thereof.

Currently, Amazon lists 70 local charities that it has supported, but the giant corporation had to be shamed into it. Until the light of public scrutiny was cast in their direction, Amazon was not even supporting United Way. Even now, and unlike similar corporations, they don’t reveal the size of their gifts. For all anybody knows, they gave 70 charities $10 apiece.

In a comprehensive and very digestible article about the Seattle situation, April Glaser quotes Rachel Fyall, professor of public policy and an expert on housing, who defines Amazon as the biggest player in the housing market crisis, and goes on to suggest the potential helpfulness of involving the financial big dogs in municipal planning processes.

This would be in return for paying some taxes once in a while, a civic duty that corporations are loath to perform. Glaser says the contribution to urban planning could include…

[…] supporting different kinds of housing initiatives for people who are at risk of being displaced or policies that would help those currently in Seattle from being forced to leave, or enter homelessness, while zoning and construction catch up.

 

Or, it could be a total train wreck. In too many places, and under too many circumstances, letting corporations pay to play has turned out to be a poor choice. Give them an inch, they take a mile. The more breaks and exemptions they get, the more they want. The opportunity for corruption is dazzling, and the outcomes can range from dismal to abysmal.

Glaser suggests that too often it’s all about public relations or optics, rather than “a thoughtful approach to philanthropic giving.” She winds up with a ironic or possibly snarky reference to an Amazon-backed shelter project that has had problems:

Well-paid tech employees moving to Seattle will continue to require housing, prices will continue to rise, and more families and individuals who aren’t a part of the city’s white-collar workforce are likely to end up on the street. A few of the relatively lucky ones may even find a bed at Mary’s Place.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “What would happen if Amazon brought 50,000 workers to your city? Ask Seattle,” WashingtonPost.com, 10/19/17
Source: “How Amazon earned Seattle’s scorn — and whether it’s deserved,” Crosscut.com, 10/29/17
Source: “We’d Spend Hours Each Week Unpacking and Throwing the Food Away,” Slate.com, 05/22/18
Photo credit: Joe Wolf (JoeInSouthernCA) on Visualhunt/CC BY-ND