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Homeless Hub - Attitudes about Homelessness
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Description:
Homeless Hub backgrounder on thinking about homeless youth.
Content:
Backgrounder: Attitudes about Homelessness - How we THINK about homeless youth matters!
How can you tell if a young person is homeless? Is it the way they dress? The way they stand or sit? Where they hang out?
What do you think about when you see a homeless youth? Are you concerned about their well-being? Are you scared? Both?
There are of course many ways to think about street youth, and it is important to consider that how we think about the problem has a big effect on what we do about it. On the one hand, if we view street youth sympathetically as victims of a bad family life who now live in extreme poverty, we may want to respond by doing what we can to ensure that their basic survival needs are met, that they be protected and given help to get back on their feet.
On the other hand, we may think of street youth as scary, dangerous and delinquent; as petty criminals who threaten pedestrians, tourists and car drivers in the downtown areas of our cities. We might think that in such cases these young people are bad (or more generously, troubled), who leave home for fairly insignificant reasons, and get involved in delinquent activities once on the street, thereby putting public health and safety at risk. The solution in this case is to either arrest them or pack them up and send them home.
The differences between these two perspectives is vast, and so are the outcomes of such thinking.
Where do our ideas about homeless youth come from?
All of us have ideas about homeless youth, and many of us will have conflicted feelings. It is important to realize, however, that our awareness and understanding of homeless youth, who they are and how they got there, is shaped by different factors. In some cases our beliefs are a result of our own experiences of homelessness, or those of family members we know. We may also develop our understanding of youth homelessness through direct encounters with homeless youth when we see them on the streets, panhandling, or hanging around.
In many ways, our ideas about homelessness are actually shaped not by direct experience, but rather are influenced by media reports or the stories that our friends tell us. Think about it: What do we really know, and how do we learn about things like homelessness. Many of us will have friends who tell us they know someone who left home for this reason or that reason, but such stories may not get to the bottom of why people actually leave home (for more information, see the Homeless Hub backgrounder: Why do young people become homeless?).
Why does this matter? Our indirect encounters with homelessness have a profound impact on how we think about the problem, and the kind of solutions we will advocate for or support. The laws, policies and programs that exist to deal with homelessness are put in place because enough people support them. Finally, we need to remember that people who experience homelessness live with the stigma of poverty and marginalization (Kidd, 2009). If we want to change our approach to homelessness in Canada, our attitudes about homelessness must also change.
The news media and the framing of a street youth crisis
It is possible to argue that for most people, their beliefs on homelessness are mediated by depictions in the media – through the internet, television, newspapers and magazines, movies and books (Reynalds, 2006). In the last decade or two, newspapers have begun reporting more regularly on homeless youth. In 1997, newspapers in Toronto began to run a series of articles focusing on the growing number of young people begging for money on downtown streets.
Why the sudden interest in homelessness? Why were news reporters and politicians suddenly talking about it? One can argue that this was a direct result of the growing homelessness problem in Canada at that time – a problem that resulted from a reduction in investment in social housing, declining stocks of affordable housing, cutbacks to social programs and increasing poverty. As a result, homelessness in Canada began to increase (Hulchanski, et al. 2009)
And, when homelessness increases, it only becomes more visible. An occasional young person begging for money may draw curiosity or sympathy, or may simply be ignored. Encountering panhandlers repeatedly during a walk downtown drives home the message that the number of people who are homeless is rising. This is when passers by take note; when business owners begin to complain, when politicians start to lead the charge, and when newspapers start spreading the story of a growing ‘problem’
So, how was the problem reported? The presence of homeless youth on street corners asking passers-by for change, or approaching people in their automobiles was framed as a public nuisance; a threat to public safety and the livelihood of downtown businesses and tourism. In some cases, the so-called perpetrators were framed not as poor, homeless and impoverished, but rather, as bored suburban kids who were delinquent (Parnaby, 2003; Hermer and Mosher, 2002).
Rather than frame the issue in terms of growing poverty, many in the media depicted teenagers yet again as spoiled, dangerous and out of control. The then-mayor of Toronto, Mel Lastman, described squeegee kids as “thugs and criminals”.
The impact of framing panhandlers as ‘dangerous’
When public figures – and the news media – describe and portray people in this way, it can influence how all of us think about them. It can also shape how we think about homelessness, and in this case, street youth. The moral panic that arose in the late 1990s focused on the perceived increase of panhandlers and squeegeers (these are young people who use squeegees to clean car windows - for money).
So, while many young people hang around on downtown and suburban streets, often dressed in clothing some might find unusual or even intimidating, it is not this alone that alerts us to the presence of homeless youth. In fact, in many ways the key identifying characteristic of homeless youth is the way they make money. That is, it is through the money making practices of homeless people that we are made aware of the existence of the issue; an awareness that may be visibly and tangibly reinforced on a day to day basis. A homeless person staying in a shelter, living in an abandoned building, an alley way or in a part of town that few people frequent may be rendered invisible.
Even a homeless person sitting on a sidewalk or on a park bench may not draw our attention, or eventually will become part of the backdrop of urban life. We may not think of them as homeless; we may not even know that they are. But when a street youth is making money – either through pan-handling, squeegeeing, prostitution or other means - it becomes much more difficult to ignore them. When people who are homeless panhandle, they in fact make homelessness and poverty visible to all passers by. The issue of homelessness becomes much more direct, personal, visceral and to the chagrin of many, unavoidable.
Think about it: When someone extends their hand, stands in front of us, speaks directly to us, looks us in the eye, it becomes an encounter that we cannot ignore. Homelessness is no longer invisible - it becomes something we are forced to deal with.
And, how we deal with it may be shaped by our pre-existing understandings of poverty and homelessness, or they may cast them in a new light. Polite appeals for money may draw on our charitable impulses; our desire to help an individual in need at a time when we are becoming increasingly aware of this modern manifestation of poverty. However, difficult encounters may provoke a different kind of response. When the person asking for change is rude, imposes on our private space, or threatens violence, this gives us a whole other impression.
These single encounters may reinforce our prejudices. If we are repeatedly reminded that homeless panhandlers are “thugs and criminals”, how are we to respond when someone is rude to us? One difficult encounter with a homeless person, whether experienced directly or through the stories of others, may lead us to generalize this negative experience to all people who are homeless. But can we really say that one encounter – a person yelling at us, or appearing to be stoned – allows us to assume that everyone in this situation is the same? This is how discrimination works.
We need to think about this, because our prejudices can lead us to specific conclusions or outcomes. We may, for instance, be led to conclude that people who are homeless are not deserving of our charity, and that their presence on our city streets degrades the experience of the city for all. The fact that many ‘appear’ to be fit and able to work only reinforces our view that we should discourage these acts.
All of this is important. The way we think about youth homelessness is never neutral. How we think about homeless youth shapes how we respond to them. If we think they are young scammers who should just get a job, then we will use law enforcement to deal with the issue. More police, more tickets, and a good dose of discipline is needed in order to encourage them to get a job, get off the streets and become good citizens.
However, if we think of street youth as young people living in poverty who have had bad things happen in their lives (for more information on the causes of youth homelessness, see the Backgrounder: Why do young people become homeless?), we may be inclined to think of different kinds of solutions to youth homelessness.
Stephen Gaetz (2009)
“How we THINK about homeless youth matters”
Homeless Hub – Educational Resources.
York University
Additional Reading:
To explore first hand accounts of the lives of people who have experienced homelessness, visit the Homeless Hub Experiences section:
For more information on the following subjects, visit the Homeless Hub’s Topics library:
- Legal and Justice Issues
- Criminalization of Homelessness
- Discrimination
- Income, Employment and Education
Type of Resource:
Toolkits/Curricula/Training Materials
Organization:
Homeless Hub
Date Issued:
2009
Location:
Canada
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It's really a shame that the issue circulating the homeless people are still exist in today's society. In some developing countries the number of homeless youth may be even more as the gap btw the rich and the poor are getting wider.
All local govts and associations should work harder in providing a shelther for these youth, they are prone to committing in crimes and other illegal activities if left unguided
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A very relevant article that carriers across the seas. Youth homelessness is a major concern for Australia as well. While we dont have the population of the USA, youth homelessness effects a large proportion of young people in our country.
Attitudes of communities plays a large role in the work that we do. On the 14th April 2010 National Youth Homelessness Matters Day occurs in Australia. A day thats developed to put youth homelessness on, not only our politians agenda, but on everyday average Australians agenda as well.
Raising awareness of the issues and systemic contributors to youth homelessness is essential for us to try and create more shared responsibility and committment to our young people. Waiting for Social Housing providers, Government POlicies/ funding to house our young people isnt working for us -- we are trying to develop creative local solutions, while at the same time holding our social policies/ leaders accountable for the housing crisis they have created.
Homelessness, as we all know, is more than just rooflessness -- yet working with young people with extensive trauma experiences and trans-generational issues makes that "rooflessness" all that more pertinent. Supporting young people to survive whilst sleeping out or couch surfing is difficult - coupled with the discrimination they experience in their own communities because of ignorance!
More power to all of us working to support these young people and working to change the attitudes of our communities. Its a long road, but a road that we can all walk together!
Cheers Michelle
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This is a GREAT article and something that I speak about often to many schools, churches, community orgs etc. My name is Sean Wrench, and I founded the Forsaken Generation Youth Homeless Project. Sadly we live in a society where personal perception often equates to reality. If we perceive something to be true, than we believe it to be factual or true. Many people see or hear about homeless youth and immediately label them as a 'bad kid'. And I can assure you this is as far from reality as you could possibly imagine.
I just spoke at a Rotary meeting the other day. One of the first questions I was asked after I got done speaking was, "Aren't most of these homeless youth just runaways?” The short answer to the question is no. The reality is that there are millions of homeless youth in America right now. There have been numerous studies done. These studies suggest there are anywhere from 1.5 to 2.8 million homeless youth. Congressman Jim McDermott did a study that came up with the 2.8 number and he even said that it's probably much higher. Sadly there are so many more out there that we just don’t know about.
So the overall societal view of homeless youth seems to be that they ran away from home. This is partially true, because many did, however it’s not the complete reality. But now the questions is why? Why did they run away? When I first started this organization I was shocked at how many of them ran away because they were being physically or sexually abused. I was even more shocked to find out many of them were simply abandoned by their parents. I asked one young man why he was homeless and he told me, "My Mom loves her drugs more than me."
So what I ask of everyone reading this is to begin to change the way you look at things. One truth that I will always stand on, is that if you change the way you look at things, the things you look at begin to change.
What do I mean by that? We need to stop immediately qualifying something as truth just because we perceive it to be true. Here's a great example a friend of mine shared with me. He was in a restaurant and a mother with a handful of extremely noisy children was attempting at no avail to quiet down the rowdy children. My friend sat there very annoyed because the children were being extremely loud. Overall the restaurant was very quiet, so the noisy children really stuck out like a sore thumb. Finally my friend decided enough was enough, he got up and very politely asked that the mother quiet down her children. What happened next is something that changed his life, and after hearing this story truly impacted mine as well. She looked at him and tears began to roll down her face. She spoke very softly and said, "Sir I'm very sorry these aren't my children. They are my brother's kids. He just passed away and we just left the funeral."
If you are anything like me your jaw is wide open right now. I share this story with you because I want to emphasize the point that our perception of reality isn't always the truth.
So I ask everyone to please stop looking at the issue of youth homelessness and immediately label them as a 'bad kid'. Many of these kids have been through living hell in their lives. They are hurting and broken children who desperately need our help.
We need to change the way we look at things, because if we do, than the things we look at will begin to change. Why? because we will seek real truth, and not settle for perceived reality.
I personally do what I do because of my faith. My prayer everyday is that I can see people the way Christ did. I don't say this to enforce a belief because I have nothing but respect for everyone's personal beliefs. It's simply why I do what I do. If I can see people as I believe Christ saw them, then I won't look at them and judge them, but I will love them unconditionally.
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It's truly a shame that the homeless are so vilified in our society. It's not as though people want to be homeless. I'm sure most people would prefer to have a meaningful job and a nice place to live. It's also a shame that so many so-called "Christians" refuse to lift a finger to help. Stop smoking now
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when a specific case about a homeless youth or person showed on TV, people will give great concern and help to that specific person. but beyond that, people usually just ignore the existence of those homeless people. people will agree to the government puts money in scientific researches, but not everyone will think it is necessary to study about homeless people. someone has told me that it is kind of wasting money to study homeless people, it is better to just give those money directly to those homeless people. but homelessness could be caused by various and multiple reasons, money may help them to solve the problem in short term, but can it be helpful in long term? or will there be plenty money to be invested to help each homeless person?
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