More on Homelessness

As a few of you know, I took in a homeless individual whom I had known for almost 30 years.  During the seven months he was here, I learned a great deal about homeless culture (he had been on and off the streets for the last 10 years California, Idaho, and Hawaii).  He spent some time with many of the local waterfront homeless and shared their stories with me.  The culture is fascinating and is far more complex than simply folks who are down on their luck.  

I spent days at shelters for homeless individuals talking to directors and to the clients.  "Do-gooders," "churchies," "Junior Leaguers," or "charity ladies" were mocked unless they were in attendance day in and day out, cleaned up puke, and personally handed out the food.  Shelters take families first, then single individuals; shelters are exclusively faith-based as per the political preference for such facilities, and as such have requirements like the ones previously cited.  Homeless individuals who are disabled refer to their monthly support checks as their "crazy money," i.e., funding because of their diagnosed mental illness.  All of the mentally ill with whom my friend and I had contact self-medicated with non-prescribed substances.  Those who do not qualify for crazy money or Social Security (all who were eligible drew their SS at 62), were designated as panhandlers.  There is a strict hierarchy for preferred sleeping areas.  I will not share in this forum how they disposed of their waste (dumpster diving is not recommended unless it's a restaurant dumpster.  Do not open boxes you find in other dumpsters). 

Homeless individuals create small cohorts for protection and sustenance, each group consisting of crazy money recipients, recyclers, panhandlers, and ideally someone willing to turn tricks, and a SS recipient.  This provides a regular source of income for the group until about the third week of every month.  At that point, depending on their individual needs, they may turn to soup kitchens and church meals.  My friend was a lifelong vegetarian (whodathunk) and was forced from time to time to eat ground beef, pork, chicken, or turkey as part of the food provided.  It upset him, but his choice was violating his beliefs or suffering malnutrition and starvation.  

Burglary was restricted to checking for unlocked doors and open windows, so-called "crimes of convenience."  Since the entire community numbs the pain with their individual substance of choice, the idea of planning anything other than who would be panhandling for the day was out of the question.  Whenever possible, shoplifting was done by all members of the group, even those who had once been middle class homeowners, business owners, and family men, like my friend.  The attitude was, "They shoulda taken better precautions."

Homeless cohorts will do their best to protect the weakest in the group, but my friend, the oldest at 68, was often left to be beaten and robbed of his money by other younger or better armed groups.  Protection was best guaranteed by providing alcohol (or drugs if one had access) to the group when money was available, but sometimes the memories were short.  Women must have a male protector even if they are lesbians as the violence ignores sexuality.  

Rehab programs are referred to as "spin dries," and are, according to my friend, completely ineffectual.  Attendance at AA and NA meetings, whether court-ordered, shelter-ordered, or family-ordered, usually end with a shared 40 (40 ounce beer) on the way home from the meeting (at least the meetings on Tennessee Street).  There are several conveniently located liquor stores on the way back to the waterfront.

Being cold is treated by passing out.  Doesn't take but one pint of Takxa (sp?) vodka ($1.95) to put you under if you've been drinking beer or smoking week all day.  It apparently gets one through the coldest part of the night, and then it's time to go recycling, checking doors, parking lots like the Bay Terrace, hitting up restaurant dumpsters for food or wine, etc. until dawn.  After dawn, the job in most cities, if you're not a panhandler, is to keep moving so you don't get cited for vagrancy.  Here in Vallejo, that isn't a problem.  

Sometimes, if things have been really bad for a while, an individual may choose to get arrested to provide her/himself with the proverbial "three hots and a cot."  If one is lucky and chronic drunkenness or drug use is determined, one is sent to "spin dry" where health can be somewhat restored and one can contact family if one chooses. 

This is just a synopsis of the pages of notes I have taken from personal observance and first-hand narrative.  It is a much bigger problem than creating a tent city.  The LA experiment was well-intended, but created even greater problems.  We are (thank god) not LA or SF or any other metropolis, but our issues are proportionally as big.  

I mean no disrespect to those who dedicate time to helping the homeless, and I know that for at least a few days of the month, their help is greatly appreciated by the members of the targeted community.  But the bottom line is:  something must be done.  Current interventions do not work.  Is this a law enforcement issue?  Is this a human rights issue?  Is this a morality issue?  Is this a substance abuse issue?  I think it can be agreed that on some level or another it is at least a public health and quite possibly a public safety issue.  The question is:  what next?