Where do you feel home?

Hello readers and subscribers. If you've read my past articles and stories, you know some of the global, national, and humanitarian issues that I focus on such as solving the homeless epidemic and spreading a consciousness of protecting our earth and environment.

In the past, when I was young and ambitious, I had thought that my legacy was to leave lots of material things to my blood heir, my only child, my son. I had thought that if I worked diligently, stayed focused, and showed a strong work ethic that I would accomplish a legacy worth inheriting - one that my son could be proud of. As I've mentioned before, life didn't go according to "plan" which is why as I approach my 54th birthday, I rarely make plans anymore. My son is not proud of me nor do I have a legacy to leave him for all my hard work. I complained bitterly for many years about it, but I'm over it now. My mother didn't leave me anything either and she worked just as hard. That's life. Oh well. There's a bigger legacy in the big picture that involves all of us, not just father and son, or mother and daughter, or parent and child. The bigger legacy is Earth, our civilizations, our history, and all that humanity has and can accomplish for the betterment of life. That is the legacy that I focus on now that I'm "over the hill" and trying to "age with grace".

I wish to talk more about recycling and environmental issues, however this article is about housing and solving homelessness. I've been collecting data and analyzing this problem or situation for a very long time, over three decades. I have much life experience to bring to this table of conversation including being an apartment tenant, a resident of luxury condominiums, a child of a mortgaged homeowner, a resident of various homeless shelters, a survivor of jail time, a camper living out of a van, and a church member who has reached out to homeless people who were sleeping on the sidewalk or on a park bench. I've also traveled far and wide and to various corners of my own city collecting demographic information while listening to research provided by my peers who sought similar answers and shared.

Though I won't brag that I have all the answers because this article is not a new version of Mein Kampf or the Communist Manifesto, I can tell you that while the modern cities are still working on restoration projects and economical challenges, there are housing solutions that are better than what we've got now and what we've done in the past. In order for me to explain those to you, we should first begin with what we've done in the past and why we are still dealing with the problem. Some of you may be thinking to yourself that this doesn't concern you. You think that homelessness is self-inflicted or deserved or a direct result of bad choices in life. Not only are you wrong, you will have no claim on the legacy of the future of humanity if you continue to think like that. In fact, I will go even further to say that those of you who feel apathetic to the cause of "Habitat for Humanity" are actually the culprits of homelessness regardless if you've never found yourself sleeping on a park bench or at a homeless shelter.

I can understand why people of various ethnic backgrounds would complain or oppose of public housing programs provided by the city's housing authorities. Programs like vouchers and project buildings for the poor or seniors have had a history of controversy. Many wrote historical reports about modern American ghettos that were plagued with "projects" (free housing for the poor) and adverstisements in those ghettos for alcohol and cigarettes. It was not a mystery to those who grew up in those areas as to why so many kids grew up to become drug dealers and landed in jail. "It's the system" they said shrugging, and the free housing and the free food did not instill any sense of work ethic or pride. It's an argument, but it's not the whole truth. As I know from the other side of things, that being born with a silver spoon, sheltered in glamourous white neighborhoods, obtaining an education and having a strong work ethic, can still bring you to the same jail cell as the ghetto resident. Those arguments are pointless and have nothing to do with the problem and the solution. They are just distractions that keep us away from solving it. Homelessness is not a problem of the mentally ill or the ghetto residents. Homelessness is an economical issue caused by apathy and greed. There is no race or ethnic group that defines homelessness.

I was 18 years old when my mother told me to get out of her house. She had fulfilled her obligation as my parent. I was officially an adult. It was not her responsibility anymore to provide a roof over my head or food in my mouth. She was going to allow me to rent a room so long as I followed her rules and continued to show her the same respect that I had as her daughter. I didn't like the deal. I didn't feel that I should have to respect her like a daughter without the benefits that I had received as a daughter. She was a landlord, not my mother. I paid rent, therefore I should get to live my life by my own rules. She didn't agree with me and told me to leave. Just like that, I was homeless. I was 18 years old and I had never stepped foot in a mental ward. I was not diagnosed with mental illness at that time. I was working full-time for GTE and I had my own car. I was a high school graduate and I had no children. I was homeless at the age of 18 simply because I did not own a house. It wasn't because of a lack of education. It wasn't because I was addicted to drugs. It wasn't because I had too many kids/mouths to feed. It was simply because my mother said "Get Out." My point is that for many years as I've approached the subject of homelessness, people wanted to dodge the solutions with distractions about drug addictions, mental illness, and systematic inequality when those are not the only causes of homelessness. What about people who just can't afford a home? Working people. Ethical people. Good people. Sane people. Homeless people who are citizens of the best most powerful nation: The United States of America. Graduates who pay taxes every time they fill their car with gas and recall the Pledge of Allegience verbatim. You think it's bad that a veteran is being neglected after having served and protected, yet you think it's alright for a taxpaying American citizen to be homeless? There is no justification for that. I must admit that I was surprised when New York City told recent foreigners to go back to where they had come from. I never thought that Lady Liberty (some had called her the Statue of Bigotry, bitterly) was going to put up a "No Trespassing" sign and burn the Emma Lazarus poem. However, New York City is not the same city it was when Emma wrote that poem. It's overcrowded and simply can't help newcomers anymore. It's like bringing 100 homeless people to the poorest most run down house in the ghetto and asking them to help. It's not reasonable. People think New York City is glamourous and rich, but that's all smoke and mirrors. New York City is a rat infested island totally dependent on shipments from elsewhere. The taxes are extremely high because of their healthcare system, their housing systems, and their transportations systems. It's not "If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere" anymore. It's more like, "If you weren't born there, why would you go there to be tortured?" Frank Sinatra and Alicia Keys wrote anthems for New York City, but the reality is that island is overpopulated and economically tragic. America is so much more than NYC or LA. We are so much more than Hollywood or Cowboys. I have said it before and I will say it until my last breath, there is absolutely no reason in my great country for any American citizen to be homeless. (Yet the problem persists!)

In almost every city in America, there are abandoned buildings. Some were schools, some were malls, some were old motels. All of those could be turned into housing projects. Can't appropriate funds? Just give the homeless people the permission. Why keep them in the park with protesting signs or going through the revolving door of the jail system simply because you don't know how to balance the American budget? Give them those rotting buildings. Let them fix it. Let them make their own home. So what if they don't have a job. So what if they don't have a perfect credit score and a mortgage. If you can let Scientology call itself a religion and let them skate away from paying taxes, then you owe the American citizens a place to live. Not a reservation for defeated natives. A home they can claim and build and restore with their own hands without having to consult with a real estate agent or a title company.

President Jimmy Carter passed away at the age of 100 on December 29th, 2024. He had advocated for and was the founder of the organization "Habitat for Humanity". They were committed to helping Americans achieve home ownership. Don't let that legacy fade away from American history and culture. Homelessness hasn't gone away. If we love our country, our children, and the future we must remember that the first rule of survival is shelter. The evolution of shelter is a "home". Home is not the sidewalk. Home is not a park bench or a homeless shelter or a jail cell. So long as any country has homeless citizens, it can not brag of being a great country.