Looking at all sides of homelessness

For Shawn, who has lived in a tent for eight years, that’s all well and good — but he really could use a hotel voucher so he could get out of survival mode for a day and take a shower.

Shawn, who didn’t want to give his last name, found a place to pitch his tent in South San Francisco away from others and said he doesn’t get bothered. But not having a place to store his possessions means he has a hard time getting a shower. And it also means he can’t do the other things many of us take for granted.

“Everything is a misconception. That everyone is on drugs, or has mental illness. That’s just false,” he said. “But what else can you do, you are in survival mode, 24 hours a day, every day.”

Shawn is originally from New Jersey and went to the University of California, Davis. He lost his job eight years ago, then lost his apartment, and he’s been homeless ever since.

While Shawn takes advantage of social services provided by local nonprofits, he sees the real solution is not giving more money to providers because it will go toward administration. “What I really need is a $100 hotel room so I can get out of survival mode for one night,” he said.

This is just one point of view, but it is one of someone who lives on the street and recognizes that even getting a minimum wage job is not a ticket to housing because of the overall high and rising cost of living.

I’m grateful Shawn reached out since often people talk about the homeless in the abstract. People see the growing homeless situation in San Francisco and the outliers stand out — the aggressive panhandlers, the severely mentally ill, the overt drug use. Those are real, and heart-wrenching, but that is not the complete picture.

Homelessness is more pronounced here because of the rising cost of living. But there are manifold issues and one can reach back to the dearth of mental health services as one root cause. Moving to address this, as Newsom has, is a step in the right direction. Yet there are others out there not contending with mental health or drug issues but who simply took a misstep or had an unfortunate event or loss of a support system for whatever reason and now face a situation like Shawn’s.

In a recent Daily Journal story, we described some concerns in San Bruno about homeless camps and the city manager suggesting there is a balance to strike in ensuring safety for the overall community and compassion for those less fortunate. In Redwood City, officials contended with safety issues with a homeless camp on railroad property and are determining the next steps for a safe parking site for RV dwellers. The gap between the haves and have nots is growing in this area, and sometimes it is apparent and sometimes it is not. However, it is important to note every community — and the homeless is a community — has a tremendous diversity. There are drug-using criminals and there are upstanding citizens dealing with a difficult financial situation, and everything in between. And there are a variety of ways homeless live — it can be in a tent, it can be in a car. It can be in an RV, it can be on a friend’s couch. A broad brush is not one to use with any group of people. And the loss of housing is one of the more difficult situations with which anyone can contend. It is destabilizing.

A billion dollars is certainly a lot of money. But the same amount was allocated last year with little difference. I have hope that the new emphasis on addressing homelessness has some success. But as the English philosopher Francis Bacon said, “hope is good breakfast, but a bad supper.”

Ask Shawn. He has been given 10 McDonald’s gift cards, and he’s a vegetarian.

Jon Mays is the editor in chief of the Daily Journal. He can be reached at jon@smdailyjournal.com. Follow Jon on Twitter @jonmays.