House The Homeless, Inc.
P.O. Box 2312
Austin, Texas 78767
HOUSE THE HOMELESS INC.
STATISTICAL SURVEY
AND
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION OF AUSTIN'S
VISIBLY HOMELESS "HOME GUARD"
as it relates to the concept of "Transientness"
Researched and Presented
By:
Richard R. Troxell
President
512 476-7244 ext. 324
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A Special Thanks To:
Dr. Robert Ambrosino Ingrid Elerbee Katie Grau Jose Medina
With a Very Special Thanks To:
House the Homeless Inc. which is open to all of Austin's homeless population and Austin's Visibly Homeless, who have helped us tell their tale...at least in part.
Colleen R. Troxell Sylvia C. Troxell
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Historical Background and Perspective pp. 1-5
II. Research Questions/Hypothesis p. 6
----Core Questions
111. Research Process pp. 7-9
IV. Findings-Participant/Observation pp. 10-15
V. Conclusions pp. 16-18
VI. Appendix p. 19
A. Survey Results
B. Survey Chart
C. Survey
D. Survey Letter (English)
E. Survey Letter (Spanish)
VII. Works Cited p. 20
I. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND PERSPECTIVE
It is clear that today, there are strong prejudicial feelings about homelessness and those who make up its ranks. The source of this ire seems to stem from as early as the 1800's when the railroads and the men and women who rode them for free settled the "West." Later, as desperation grew around and during the Great Depression, so did the level of general animosity that was directed toward this adventurous population.
There are different categories within this homeless classification. They consist of the "Hobo", the "Tramp", the "Bum", and the "Home Guard." The "Hobo" has traditionally been a migratory worker who "works at whatever job is convenient in the mills, the shops, the mines, the harvests, or any of the numerous jobs that come his way without regard for the times or the seasons," according to the book, THE HOBO. Their geographic work area has at least been nationwide. In a single year, the "Hobo" may work in more than one field of work and he may possess "a trade or even a profession." Although the "Hobo" may resort to begging between jobs, "his principle livelihood is work." "He aims to live by his labor," states The Hobo.
The term "Tramp" has often been used to broad brush "all classes of homeless and potentially vagrant or transient types......" The Hobo. However, he is seen historically as "an able-bodied individual who has the romantic passion to see the country and to gain new experience without work (emphasis added) The Hobo. The Hobo describes the "Tramp" as typically without substance abuse problems and as "an easy-going individual who lives from hand to mouth for the mere job of living." Maury Graham, (AKA, King of Hobos) in his book, Tales of the Iron Road, claims that the term "Tramp" had its origin as meaning an "unsavory woman" who traveled the road, "mostly transients following the harvests, largely homeless, usually alone and almost always as tough and hard as nails." This term later came to refer to both men and women.
Again, according to the book, Tales of the Iron Road, the "Bum" unlike the "Hobo" and the "Tramp", is not migratory in nature. Similar to the "Tramp", the "Bum" is unwilling to work. He stays in one locale, steals and begs for a living.
The last category comprising the homeless population has been referred to as the "Home Guard." They work "regularly or irregularly at unskilled work, day labor, and odd jobs." Hope and Young, in the book Faces of Homelessness, refer to them as the "new poor" who seek marginal jobs as waiters, gardeners, maintenance men, non-unionized factory hands, assistant mechanics, assistant carpenters, assistant electricians and other assistants. But unlike tinkers of yore, "they have little status or function." Until recent times when their growing numbers have caused anti-homeless ordinances nationwide, they remained free of police entanglement. However, their ranks have swollen. "The slightest misstep or misfortune, a temporary layoff, a large medical bill, or a divorce could send a low-income person or family onto the streets....", according to State Representative Charles Schumer, as quoted in the "Reference Shelf." It is worth noting that according to "Homeless in America", found in Information Plus, published by The Bureau of Labor Statistics, it has been determined that "low earnings" are $192.40 or less per week. Furthermore, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that resources have dwindled, (menial labor jobs in the U.S. have decreased drastically over the last 15 years), and as a result, major attention has been focused on this group. We might also refer to them as the "visibly" homeless.
Even at the reprinting of The Hobo in 1975, it was reported that "one-half of the homeless men in Hobohemia were 'Home Guard'." The majority of studies report a fair degree of stability. In San Francisco, for example, street people reported living in the city for nearly two years on the average. In Baltimore, nearly 60% of 51 mission users had lived in the city 10 years or more. A statewide study in Ohio reports that 64% of homeless persons had resided in the area in which they were interviewed for one year or more. For a clearer picture of the magnitude of the overall situation, it is important to realize that in 1987, the United States Congress, recognized that there were 600,000 homeless people, (in accordance with the findings of the United States Department of Agriculture as reported in "The Homeless"). In response, the United States Congress declared the situation a national "crisis;" passed the McKinney Act. The Act which stated that after a process, federal surplus property, either real or personal, should be made available to communities to benefit this homeless population. However, less than one percent of closing military bases and surplus miliatry equipment has reached its Congressionally intended destination. Recently, the Clinton Administration announced that from 1984-1994, between seven and nine million people have experienced homelessness at one point or another! Mitch Snyder, co-author of Homeless in America woefully remarked, "we will know how many there are only after we have brought them inside."
It is believed, after cumulative review of the experts in this field, that it is the ranks of the "Home Guard" that have swollen unfathomably and unwillingly in this country. Furthermore, it is asserted that the transitory nature of the "Hobo", the "Tramp", and the "Bum" of the past have little bearing on the massive ranks of the visibly homeless Home Guard of today. However, this has not prevented the Home Guard from being stigmatized with the more derogatory labels attributed to the other groups. The "Home Guard" of today, the visibly homeless, come from the ranks of the general homeless population that is comprised of the "frail elderly, Vietnam Veterans, families with small children, single mothers, mentally ill and disabled men and women," according to Coates in A Street is Not a Home. And while our general society makes acknowledgements and accepts the exceptional dilemmas of many members of this group, it does not recognize the equally compelling plight of the single homeless "Home Guard" male. Coates also contends that professional surveys undertaken in various cities by job specialists have concluded that "nearly one-sixth of any city's homeless are actively looking for work and are 'job ready', another sixth are looking for work but their skills, their self-esteem and appearance need sprucing up before they can be successful." Again, they have been referred to as the "new poor."
The visibly homeless "Home Guard" of today does share the worst stigma of each of these other categories. Today, the general population believes that the average homeless person is a white male, between the ages of 16 and 60, unwilling to work, begs for a living, transient in nature and having no emotional or other ties to the local community. It is precisely that contention that this research sets out to either prove or disprove.
The Community Action Network ("CAN"), which is the social service arm of the Austin City Council, using figures compiled by the City/County Health Department, contends that there are approximately six thousand homeless persons in Austin. This embraces the United States Congressional McKinney Act definition of homelessness. Homelessness is therein defined as "not having a fixed, permanent residence." This definition captures men, women and children sleeping under bridges, in abandoned houses, in the woods and shelters. Additionally,because of its broad nature, it also encompasses those in battered women's shelters and entire families rotating endlessly throughout the AISD school system who move from motel to motel to avoid eviction. This alone amounts to thousands of people as evidenced by the 1994 Project HELP report produced by the Texas Education Agency.
However, in Austin, open controversy about homelessness stems principally around the visibly homeless. Here we refer to the homeless that hang out on street corners and are spilling into the street at the "Day Labor Work Corner." The City of Austin Police Department has estimated this portion of the homeless population at between 250 and 300. It is this portion of Austin's homeless population that the COA Police Department has specifically targeted with the "No Camping" Ordinance that was passed by City Coucil in January 1996. Within this figure, there is another group of homeless individuals in Austin who constitute an even newer yet still separate segment of the visibly homeless population not addressed here. Reference is made to the very angry, very aggressive, very visible homeless youth who are found primarily in the University of Texas area along the strip referred to as "the Drag." A separate, specific study of this group is recommended. Additonally, the visibly homeless who congregate at 7th Street and Red River, and those congregating at Caesar Chavez east of IH35 were also not specifically surveyed. Because of the centralized nature of the adult group at the Austin Area Resource Center (Arch) and the Day Labor Work Corner, this group will constitute the focus of this study. Furthermore, this is a non-probability sample that is composed of subjects who were not only available but also deemed to be willing to participate in the study. It is for these collective reasons that the group was selected for the study sample.
II. RESEARCH QUESTIONS/HYPOTHESIS
There seems to be a pervasive belief throughout the general Austin population that single homeless males are rootless ("Transient"), unwilling to work and non-contributing members of society. The purpose of this study is to explore the validity of this perception.
Specifically, the study looks at visibly homeless single men in Austin, Texas that are in the age range of 18 to 65. One of the questions to be explored is whether they are "transient" as defined by residing in Austin less than 6 months. Furthermore, in exploring the concept of what makes a "transient", the study questions whether these individuals have formed any type of binding relationships with the community or formed only superficial relationships among themselves. Additionally, this study questions whether these individuals fail to contribute to the community by not working and/or paying taxes.
CORE Questions asked included:
-Are you homeless?
-How long have you lived in Austin?
-Do you work?
-Do you buy things or rent a motel room in Austin?
-Other than "casual acquaintances," have you made any friends since you came to Austin?
Finally, subjects were asked about their connotative perception of the use of the word "transient."
