I got a text for Sam on my phone yesterday from California Governor Newsom’s crew and it went a little something like this:
It said:
Hi Samuel. This is xxxxx volunteering with Gov. Gavin Newsom. Yes, I am a real person texting this and I hope you'll reply.
I'm reaching out as part of an effort to make sure Democratic voters turn out in North Carolina this November.
Is there any chance you'd be willing to volunteer at least once this election to help elect Democrats up and down the ballot?
I'll be here waiting for your reply. Thanks. - xxxxx
Stop to End
Woooweee, was I glad to hear she wasn’t a robot.
Because that meant I could reply to a real person.
Why do I reply?
I answer that question with another question:
Why would I deprive this dear soul of my wisdom?
My response went a little something like this:
Hi xxxxx. My whole family are registered Democrats and we vote in every election, including primaries, and all of us would like you to relay to Gov. Newsom that we think it is incredibly cruel and horribly immoral that he is going to escalate the "clearing out" of homeless camps.
There are more empty housing units in the US than there are homeless folks.
The solution to homelessness is simple: house people.
If Gov. Newsom wonders where to get the money for housing people - here's one idea: the US should stop arming the genocide in Gaza. That is BILLIONS of dollars.
Here's another idea: tax the ultra-wealthy. Tax corporations.
Y'all have a bunch of billionaires and multi-millionaires and tech businesses in Cali.
Taxing them at a fair (and moral) rate could provide very nice housing *and* support services for every homeless person in your state. And probably the US as whole.
Yes, we will vote - for NC Governor, judges, and all down-ticket candidates.
But we don't know whether we can hold our noses to vote for president.
Harris' support of the Israeli government's genocide in Gaza thus far is absolutely inexcusable. Cease fire NOW.
(Truth be told, it was pretty stream-of-consciousness. I did not plan to publish it.)
Then I added, as I usually do after sharing my opinion with sweet texting volunteers:
Thanks for relaying our concerns and ideas to Gov. Newsom and the Dems. Hope you have a nice day. 🌈
xxxxx’s response? I won’t make you wait.
I understand. Thank you for your time.
What do you think of that tone?
Pleasant? Terse? Uptightly-politely?
I’m sure she’ll run my message straight up the flagpole to good ol’ Gavin himself.
If you don’t know, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California gave an executive order on July 25 directing state agencies to clear homeless encampments on public land - across the entire state of California.
Whew.
Let’s take a minute, friends.
Let’s talk about what a “sweeping” or “clearing” a camp means.
It means that everything, everything you have, everything you own after the very worst has happened in your life — e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. — gets bulldozed or burned or thrown in a dumpster.
Your tent or shelter.
Your bedding.
Your childhood blankie or teddy bear.
Your treasured photos.
Your favorite mug that your best friend gave you, the mug that makes everything taste a little better.
Your Social Security card.
Your stash.
Anything that you are not carrying on you.
(And who carries their Social Security card with them all the time? Or their blankie or teddy bear? That shit’s embarrassing to walk around with. But I tell you what, I still take my blankie on any trip that’s longer than one night away. I know it’s just a material item, but still. I would be devastated if something happened to Pink Blanket.)
All of it, every material thing you have left in this world. Poof. Gone.
And the community you built together. The camp you made friends in. The place you felt relative safety.
That’s gone, too.
After they bulldoze your life, cops put up fences to keep you from coming back.
Where are you supposed to go now?
A lot of us don’t like to think about it, so let’s take a deep breath and do: let’s think about being unsheltered.
Let’s think about what it’s like to experience homelessness, despite everything we’ve tried, despite how hard we’ve worked.
Circumstances have piled up and we’re out on our asses.
It’s not far-fetched.
I recently spoke with a person bussing tables at a restaurant. She had a job and was homeless.
Folks with jobs can’t afford housing. Folks who have VERY GOOD REASONS for not having jobs can’t afford housing.
Homelessness is on the rise.
Most of us in the US are one catastrophe away from experiencing homelessness.
What would that mean for you?
A divorce? The death of a caregiver? A medical emergency you couldn’t pay for? A disabling illness? A job loss? Get behind on rent, fail to pay your mortgage, you’re out.
Homelessness isn’t “them” vs. “us.”
It’s a big ol’ “we.”
You think Gov. Newsom or any of the Dems who text that they are “counting on your vote to save democracy” would treat YOU any differently if you became unsheltered?
You think Newsom would care that you voted for him?
Nah, fam.
He’d sweep your tent, right along with mine, and all of our neighbors.
“But… shelters!”
So there might not be a shelter to go to.
But let’s say there is a shelter nearby.
Some shelters are good: warm, caring, generous. Thank God if there’s a bed available.
But many shelters aren’t so good, or aren’t so good for a lot of folks.
Many shelters:
Don’t allow pets.
Do not allow children.
Make you give up everything you own in order to stay there.
Have time limits (and then you get booted out and now have NOTHING - no tent, no bedding, because you had to get rid of it to stay at the shelter).
Have condescending or dehumanizing rules.
Are less safe than “the streets.”
Have no privacy or personal space.
Require you to attend church or “spiritual” services - some of which are blaming, anti-LGBTQI+, or otherwise unpleasant and judgmental.
Don’t respect trans folks’ gender.
Don’t allow alcohol or drug use, even if you are addicted and would suffer withdrawal.
Don’t accommodate disabilities.
May be full of unpleasant smells.
Don’t support outpatient opioid-addiction treatment.
Require you to work for the shelter or a shelter-adjacent business - no matter your abilities or disabilities. Often without pay (the “pay” is your room and board).
At least ten of those rules would be deal-breakers for me.
What about you?
I swear, y’all. So much of U.S. politics and so many of our policies come down to the notion:
“Poor people don’t deserve nice things.”
And closely related: “If you’re poor, there’s a REASON you’re poor - a personal or familial failing of some kind.”
Bootstraps! Pull yourself up by them!
For real, though. Think about how much of our economy and social services (or lack thereof) in the U.S. are summed up by those two beliefs.
Put them in your pipe or bong and smoke on ‘em for awhile.
We are talking about throwing folks in jail for being homeless. Throwing fines, jail fees at them on top of their troubles.
So not only do you not deserve nice things. You also belong in a cage.
Tell me what kind of government, what kind of state, this sounds like to you.
It sounds like a government that uses the carceral system to physically, socially, and economically punish people based only on their status.
It sounds like throwing folks in jail because of their state of being.
That’s what it sounds like to me.
Y’all. If folks are talking about “the homeless problem” without using their same breath and life and platform to talk about building affordable housing, increasing the minimum wage ($25 an hour would be good), free childcare and good schools, giving everyone in the US universal health care, and generous disability supports, then that person does not give one rotten fig about actually solving “the homeless problem.”
What also really irks me is how folks say “Oh, it’s complicated,” when it really isn’t.
And anyway, what if it is complicated?
You know what else is complicated?
Freaking war.
And we seem to be able to manage funding that just fine.
How do we solve “the homeless problem”?
I mean, talk with the unhoused. Talk with folks with experience. In the meantime, I have three suggestions:
1: The HOUSING FIRST approach
And it saves money in the long run.
So why doesn’t the US do it? (Hm. Is it because “poor people don’t deserve nice things”?)
Housing first means getting folks settled in livable, not filthy, nice housing that allows for their pet/s and children, and THEN wrapping around any substance abuse or mental health or educational or work or social work services they need.
2: Shift from a money-first (greed) economy to an economy of care.
What does this look like?
It’s a big shift, and it won’t happen overnight, but it can happen.
It’s what Jesus taught on the Sermon on the Mount, and it’s what indigenous folks know. (Jesus was an indigenous teacher.) It also gets the Great Cosmic Echidna’s paw of approval.
It looks like valuing CARE. It looks relation-centered instead of accumulation-centered. It looks like being a share bear.
It looks like shared abundance instead of individual hoarding.
Recently a teacher put it this way: imagine you work for a small business, and the business takes a down turn. What if, instead of “letting someone go” (i.e. firing them) to keep the business afloat, folks at the top earned a smaller paycheck for awhile? What if that was the first thing everyone would always think of?
What if there was fair tax of the ultra wealthy? What if there weren’t ultra-wealthy people in the first place, because it’s basically immoral to be that rich?
What if we had universal health care, great schools, excellent and free childcare, lovely care homes for elderly folks (or they could stay at home with free help coming regularly)?
“That’s unrealistic and unaffordable.”
Really?
Tell me. What’s realistic about thinking we can bomb our way to peace and well-being?
3: Here are some things you can do right now, as an individual person, when you encounter folks experiencing homelessness.
I was writing up my ideas but then I came across this wonderful post on Instagram from @thhheohenderson and @wetheunhoused who say it even better:
Very grateful to be in community with you. Thanks for reading this. Thanks for supporting Unruly Quaker. Thanks for being you.
Blessings on your heads.
XOXO
A homeless woman known to me just lost all her family photos. She kept them in a black garbage bag. The person whose property she has permission to live on tidied up his outside area one day while she was washing windows for a neighbor. The land owner was horrified he had thrown away something so valuable to her and compensated her monetarily. She didn’t care, she just wants her family photos.
Thank you for writing this. It's so timely. Just this morning I read this story of good intentions that harmed and took advantage of unhoused people's vulnerabilities. https://www.wcnc.com/article/money/markets/real-estate/affordable-housing-crisis/charlotte-vermelles-place-transitional-housing-scam/275-ae47d2ed-2600-4fcb-959e-d792f1866090