Homelessness: Time to change it up!

Latest

A sign in downtown San Francisco. Nearly half of all older homeless people became homeless after the age of 50 according to a recent study, due largely to a “tattered safety net,” and little to help them once they have fallen into the street. The number of elderly homeless, according to one researcher, is expected to triple over the next decade. And homelessness among women has increased over 30% in the past five years.
PHOTO/SARAH MENEFEE

 
This conversation between San Francisco poet Sarah Menefee, of the People’s Tribune and ‘First they came for the homeless’, and poet and homeless advocate Suzanne McDonald, who has been homeless in several states, took place on social media in August. Suzanne added a meme about homelessness in Portland OR, where she has experienced it also.
Many such conversations, on various platforms, in meetings, camps, and on the streets, are going on every day around the country, as more people fall into homelessness and more homeless people struggle to create community and fight criminalization, as they demand housing. We would like to hear about your experiences, stories about where the resistance is happening, from people who are organizing toward a society that guarantees housing as a right and a priority.
Sarah Menefee: “If there are six empty houses for every homeless person in this country, why are we debating about shelters and whether people should be allowed to be in tents or ‘tiny houses’ or sheds, live in cars, sit on the sidewalk etc., etc.? House people now, the housing is there! What did you say, capitalism and corporate bottom lines, private property and the profit motive? If that’s what is standing in the way of taking care of everyone’s basic needs and to ending this mass suffering we all hate to see, then time to change it up!!”

Suzanne McDonald:
“Yep, a year ago on this day, and still no real conversation about THIS. But lots of sad emojis. And a handful more “beds” at congregate “homeless shelter” compounds—and in jails, too—as well as a few “innovations” in shanty-camp NOT-Solutions….
P.S. The real number of homeless people in Portland, Oregon is estimated by homeless advocates on the ground to be closer to 12,000, and not the 4,000 counted by a handful of volunteers in 3-4 hours on one night for the federal HUD count. And that’s still more than one vacant apartment for each homeless person. Since a great many of these homeless people are couples and families including children, it’s likely less than half of those vacant apartments could house them all—right now. This scenario of more vacant housing than homeless people is the same in cities across the US and globally.

PT Homeless Desk |  + Articles by this author

San Francisco poet Sarah Menefee is a long-time homeless rights activist. She is the Homeless Desk on the People’s Tribune Editorial Board. She is a founding member of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America, the Revolutionary Poets Brigade and 'First they came for the homeless'. Her latest collections of poetry are Human Star and CEMENT.

Free to republish but please credit the People's Tribune. Visit us at www.peoplestribune.org, email peoplestribune@gmail.com, or call 773-486-3551.

The People’s Tribune brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: ©2024 peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

‘We Need Urgent Global Climate Action’

Eighty-nine percent of people worldwide want their governments to do more to address the global climate crisis. Conference on tipping points says situation is urgent. Meanwhile U.S. govt does more to boost fossil fuel forms of energy.

May Day 2025: United We Will Win

International Worker’s Day is celebrated on May 1st around the world. Today, the entire U.S. working class, of which immigrants comprise an integral part, is under attack. The defense of immigrants is vital to the defense of the entire working class.

White School Officer Pepper-sprayed and Kneed Black Beaumont, TX Student, Complaint says. Will Feds Act?

A 6-second video, recorded by a teacher and reviewed by the Texas Observer, shows an officer grabbing a student’s hair, kneeing her in the face, and knocking the 100-pound girl on her back.

Pope Francis Dies After Easter Plea to End War in Gaza

"In his final public message, Pope Francis decried the “terrible conflict” in Gaza.

Bring Union Brother Kilmar Home: His Deportation Is an Attack on All of Us

The deportation of union brother Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a gut punch to the labor movement, a slap in the face to every worker who dares to organize.

More from the People's Tribune