Maryann Broxton: "Homelessness is a man-made disaster." #CSocD58
The statement below is Ms. Maryann Broxton’s contribution to the Commission of Social Development side event on homelessness, “Finding Our Way Home – A call for integrated solutions built on the lived experience of homelessness and poverty,” held on February 14, 2020.
As coordinator of the Multidimensional Aspects of Poverty (MAP) research, I had the opportunity to learn from people all across the US about their experience of poverty. I would like to share some of their words with you today.
Of the many topics we discussed in determining the nine dimensions of poverty named in our report, the one thing that was mentioned at length in all of the 23 peer groups we conducted, in both rural and urban settings, was housing. From people with past experience of homelessness, people currently experiencing homelessness, or people that are housed, but live in constant fear from teetering on the edge; knowing that they are one missed paycheck, one illness, or one unexpected financial emergency away from losing their home, everyone talked about housing in one form or another.
As one participant in New Orleans stated, “I’m not sure how I’m going to pay my rent this week.”
Often, when people talk about homelessness, it’s described as a crisis, affecting vulnerable people. That’s not true. And it is misleading.
Homelessness is a man-made disaster, affecting purposely marginalized groups based on their perceived social and material worth. As a NYC participant stated, “Here in the U.S., who you are is defined by what you have. When you have not much, you are not much.”
Last month, The Atlantic magazine ran an article stating, “In Manhattan, the luxury skyscrapers are vacant… as 80,000 people sleep in shelter or on its streets.” That’s because the price is broken; not the people.
We know African Americans make up 40% of the population experiencing homelessness, even though they only make up 13% of the US population. That’s because the system is broken; not the people.
Some use the term “the invisible homeless,” but there are far too many men, women, and children experiencing homelessness in this country for figurative invisibility. Others look past system and structural failures, and blame the people experiencing homelessness themselves. Seeing them as a “convenient” group to disparage; believing it is permissible, or acceptable, because thosepeople are the fringe population, have character flaws, and no commonality of morals with us. They are lazy and irresponsible, and are drug abusers and alcoholics.
But that’s because our perception of the reality of homelessness is broken. Not the people experiencing it.
As a participant in Boston stated, “I live in a shelter. I don’t like to tell many people because they look at you like ‘what are you doing wrong?’ Like it’s a bad thing that you should be able to fix, but that I’m not fixing.” And as a NYC participant stated, “We shouldn’t be asking what’s wrong with you, but instead, what happened to you?”
St Mary’s Center in West Oakland California works with senior’s experience homelessness, and was one of our MAP research locations. West Oakland is home to 75% of the homeless encampments in the entirety of the city. Exorbitant rents and gentrification, coupled with lack of affordable housing and subsidized housing lists (Section 8) with waiting list that can be over a decade long, and constant redefining of who “qualifies” as homeless, has left them no other alternative except the streets; with several people now sleeping on the same block where they were previously housed. Participants there spoke of the “criminalization that occurs in public spaces,” and the constant threat of police destroying their possessions in order to make them “move along,” letting them know they are no longer a part of “our” community.
In NYC, participants spoke of not being able to rest on a bench because of “aggressive” architecture- the “arm rests” that are strategically placed every two feet on a bench- or use a public rest room without first making a purchase. They also spoke of how the need to remain hyper vigilant, in order to protect their physical safety as they try to rest in public, has taken a toll on their mental health; creating issues that did not previously exist when they were housed. Others spoke of how the anxiety developed during homelessness remains with them long after they become housed again.
Participants in several MAP locations spoke of their experience in shelter; the physical conditions of the shelter, locations that that are far away from social support networks and vital resources, and demeaning regulations that infantilize adults. As one participant stated, “When you get involved with the social system, you don’t have a voice or choice anymore.” They also spoke of the bureaucracy in the shelter system, with one participant stating, “It’s the ‘catch 22.’ I live in shelter, so I can’t save for a deposit for an apartment to get out, because then it would put us over the limit to be there,” and another stating, “The system is not designed to evolve out of it.”
There is no singular cause of homelessness; there are multiple. We are now 2 months into 2020. That means we now have less than ten years to achieve goal 11 of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals- “ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing.” If we aim to achieve that goal, we need to create shame free solutions that are multidimensional.
One first step in that direction, is recognizing that poverty is multidimensional. As was done on January 21st of this year when the Massachusetts House of Legislature unanimously passed ATD Fourth World’s resolution recognizing poverty as multidimensional.
Another step would be to use our nine dimensions, as a guide in creating shame free policy and best practices, that recognize the worth of people.
And most importantly, people with a lived experience of poverty and homelessness need to be part of the decision making process in creating solutions - as legitimate, equal partners, whose voice and input carries as much weight as those traditionally looked to for solutions. If you are at the table with them, share the power, and make room for their voice. And if you are there, and they are not, demand that they be there alongside you.