The injustices that Housless individuals face in the country of AMERIKKKA, especially the individuals who "defend" this countries' "freedom"
Okay let me get this straight SFHA (San Francisco Housing Authority) list is closed indefinitely right? There is no room left in the shelters, there are no drop in centers that take families anymore and definitely not for men, you now have a law that you are enforcing called the sit and lay law that prohibits anyone (houseless) from sitting and laying in a public place. Though I understand how it makes the landscape look and how it lets the tourist and everybody else know that there is a real problem with houselessness in this city but by the same token what's a person to do who is either facing or already houseless? The real question then becomes what the heck are we suppose to do, where are we suppose to go?
One might say go into the SRO's (Single Room Occupancy's) but then you have to ask how does one pay for it when you don’t have enough money or no money at all.
Like so many that I have talked to on the streets, they are either waiting on their SSI or pensions to start or they have been denied of services. The system comes up with all kinds of crazy reasons why they can't give you what you need or what you worked for when you were fighting for the freedom of this country so that we all could be safe, like Papa Bear who fought in one of the most horrifying wars that brought men back negatively different, some lost their minds, limbs and lives. Most have referred to the Vietnam war as HELL and they come back home and have to end up panhandling or begging on the street corners holding up signs of cardboard boxes for spare change that in most cases is thrown to them as if they are dogs hungry for crumbs.
I know with me and my family we stay in these Residential Hotels and we are grateful that we are able to sleep on beds and no longer on bus stop benches, no longer riding the buses all night because we've got no where else to go, no more mats on cold concrete floors with one thin sheet and blanket to cover you. In these hotels you stand the chance of being food for the spiders and bed bugs and in some cases having to share a bed with mice. These are not things I've heard only but rather what we have experienced. Even though they won't rent to us (it’s suppose to be for single people) they will let you do the 28 day thing which might I add is really illegal but you let it slide because you don't want trouble so you deal with it and keep on living the best way you can.
For those that don't have that option they are just crap out of luck. If the police catch you sleeping in an alleyway or on the street they arrest you, why? BECAUSE IT'S AGAINST THE FREAKIN LAW TO BE HOMELESS! What kind of mess is that? When you've got hundreds of empty abandoned houses and apartment units there shouldn't be a problem with finding adequate housing for people who don't have a place to live. Where is the compassion, where is that sense of community the one where you help your fellow man/woman in need, where did that go?
Everything is not about money though it seems that way. The economy is jacked up and most people don't have money or they don't have much money, especially not enough to afford a place in the city. It's crazy because you can't afford to stay and don't have enough money to leave so what do you do?
Would you rather that your Amerikkan dollaz went toward getting people off the streets by putting them in jail which is going to cost you more than helping out in ways that would teach skills to get a person back on their feet, would give them an opportunity to better themselves and to have a sense of pride.
Watch Papa Bear on PNN-TV @ POOR Magazine's Community Newsroom in August-