Most homeless people are not drunks or drug abusers or
former mental patients. Most are able or willing to work.
They are not the perpetual social problem many people
believe they are. So who are they?
Full-time
workers
One out of four homeless is employed full- or part-time,
according to the United States Conference of Mayors. The
arithmetic is simple and frightening: a person who works
fourty hours a week at the 1992 Federal minimum wage of
$4.25 per hour grosses about $700 a month, takes home
less than $600-- and is a prime candidate for
homelessness.
Disabled vets
One quarter of the homeless are war veterans, most of
them from the Vietnam conflict. Do you remember Ron
Kovic's story in the film, Born on the Fourth of July?
It dramatized the fact that the veterans of that war
were abandoned and discouraged, even dishonored, and in
Ron's case wound up on our streets, some of them disable,
others mentally traumatized by their war experiences,
others simply unable to find work.
Children
One out of four homeless people is a child. The fastest
growing homeless group in the United States is families
with children. Their number nearly doubled between 1984
and 1989, and continues to do so.
Even more appalling, many homeless children are alone.
They may be runaways who left home because there is no
money for food, because they are victims of rape, incest,
or violence or because one or both of their parents is in
emotional turmoil. Some are "throwaways" whose
parents tellthem to leave home, or won't allow them to
return once they leave.
The Elderly
Elderly people on fixed incomes don't fit the traditional
image of homeless folk. But the fact is that a senior
citizen who receives $450 a month in benefits and pays
$350 for rent can't survive in any U.S. city. However,
Social Security, Medicare, and other senior-oriented
programs provide a safety net for many of the elderly,
making their numbers disproportionally less among the
homeless than other minorities. Although the elderly are
not as likely to be found in shelters, it is true that
some are afraid to go to shelters, or even a soup
kitchen. Others are living in poverty, not homeless, but
often homebound and without proper heating, water, or
other amenities.
AIDS victims
Thirty-two thousand people with AIDS and their dependents
were homeless in 1989. By 1995 over 100,000 AIDS related
sufferers are projected to jointheir ranks.
Fast
facts The number who are homeless for at least one
night during the year is probably over three million. The
majority of homeless are male; the largest proportion are
single men. Illegal immigrants are swelling the ranks of
the homeless. One child in five lives below the poverty
line, making children the poorest age group in the United
States, which accounts for the growing percentage of
children who are homeless. Many homeless people have
completed high school; some have attended college and
even graduate school. The homeless are found not only in
cities, but in small towns, rural areas, and affluent
suburbs. Millions are among the hidden homeless--people
who are one crisis away from losing their homes. They may
be doubled or tripled up in housing or 48 hours from
eviction or about to leave a hospital with nowhere to go.
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