Homeless 101.9: How I Became Un-homeless

Illustration by Hugh Macleod @ Gapingvoid.com

I simply moved out of the government shelter. And felt an immediate sigh of relief the minute I walked out the door. All of a sudden I had my freedom back, my self respect, my creativity, my energy, my intellect. I had become a man again.(Continued...)

This blog. aHBiNYC is now available as an eBook. It covers the writer's homeless experiences in New York City from September 11, 2011 through January 2013 in 245 pages and 50 chapters. To order simply use the PayPal button in the sidebar, send $10, and include your email address in the PayPal memo form. Thank you.

Homeless 101.8: New York Mayor Bloomberg Declares War On the Homeless!

And the 12th richest man in America means business. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, under Bloomberg's tutelage "The total homeless shelter population is 33% higher than when he (Bloomberg) took office and the number of homeless families is 45% higher." So Mike's not messing around. A guy like that lives in a pretty nice house so it's fairly obvious that he really doesn't like people who live in much less. "New York's a classy city", he said, "and having all these bums, and families and children on the street just doesn't look good - so let's put em' where we don't see em'". Out of site, out of mind. That's the Bloomberg plan. 

According to the Wall Street Journal, the bible of America's 1% wealthiest, "The number of people in New York City's homeless-shelter population exceeded 40,000 last week for the first time, capping a rapid rise in homeless children and families since the spring when the city eliminated a rent subsidy program, according to a report to be released Wednesday. Mr. Bloomberg had earlier set a goal in 2004 of cutting both the number of people who sleep on the streets and use the shelter system by two-thirds by 2009, but neither pledge has been fulfilled." Instead, in measures more draconian than used on the Occupy Wall Street protesters this week, Mr. Bloomberg simply ignored his own promises and his dismal record on the issue. "Getting rid of those protesters was cheap. Housing 40,000 homeless will cost about a billion-five a year, but that's better than having them on the street", he said. "Looks nice around here, doesn't it?"

Homeless 101.7: Internet, Hot Food, Freedom - Three Things a Homeless Person Can't Have - Aside From a Home

Yes, we have
no bananas.

And you thought missing a home was the worst of your problems. Just in case the DHS forgot to tell you, while you're down on your luck and poorly funded, there are just a few more things you can't have that even the average American 7th-grader can. INTERNET: In the homeless system, as defined by the fine city of New York, homeless people are too stupid to operate websites or too poor to have a computer. That's why there is no wifi nor internet connection of any kind at the 30th St. Men's Shelter - nor is there at any DHS or welfare office. In my case, even my Back to Work program prohibited me from using my laptop on their premises. I was informed of this by the manager at Career Education Counselors. Yes, they have computers there until 5pm, but you can't use your own and can't keep a home screen or bookmarks to aid in your job search - so every day on a computer is like starting over again. HOT FOOD: "It's a cold day out there buddy. Better get some hot soup or oat meal in yer belly today", one might imagine a friend saying. But the homeless system is not your friend - instead, it does its best to be your enemy by denying you hot food in the shelter. Additionally, with food stamps, a homeless person is prohibited from buying hot food with their EBT (Food Stamp) card. Cold food ok. Hot food, not okay. Go figure, because that doesn't figure at all. FREEDOM: In by 10pm out by 8am. Guards on every floor. Locker checks. Metal detectors. "You don't deserve any freedom if you can't pay the bills. We'd like to take your self respect too if we could", but that's up to you to loose -  if you choose.

Homeless 101.6: Now I Know What I Can't Be. I Can't Be the Poster-child For the Homeless

How did I get here?

The last few months have been fraught with soul searching. "How did I get here?" - as the Talking Heads might have said. And what I have come to realize is that once one succumbs to the psychological mind frame that allows a person to live as a "professional homeless", the battle has been lost. You will have become what you fear most. And compromises must be made to live on a state owned bed and just $200 in food stamps and $45 cash a month that the government allows you. One of the men in my room at the shelter is a loan shark for crack heads. He loans them $20 and they give him back $40. Another can sell three packs of cigarettes a day at the shelter, one by one, and pocket maybe $20. And not a one of them is looking for a job - they already have jobs. In fact, in my entire time at the shelter I have not met one single person who mans the commercial job hunt and is really trying to work themselves out of the system - rather, they learn how to gig the system - how to get the most out of it that they can in legal or less than legal ways. It is not exactly a breeding ground for role models.

And so now I have learned what I cannot be. I cannot be a poster-child for the homeless. I cannot beat the system and show others how to bootstrap their way out. That is simply not possible - because the system is not built to make that happen. That you must do for yourself. I came to see this a week or two ago when I realized that a number of people thought because I was white, good looking, well spoken and waspily-dressed that I could put a different face on the issue. I could, but that won't solve a goddamn thing. It will simply be a deckchair rearrangement on a Titanic that I didn't build. And as much as I have learned a new-found respect for the issue and acquired a desire to affect it positively, I can't do that as a homeless man. 

But I can, as a man with a job and a voice. It's just that simple.