Our Neighbors On The Streets: A Social Justice Perspective

This article is by Ariun Sethi and appeared in Coshocton Tribune.  The link is below. Braving America without a home always has been hard. Now it's becoming a crime. A recent survey of 234 cities by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty found that on almost every front, municipalities are cracking down on homeless people: 24 percent prohibit begging, 22 percent prohibit loitering and 16 percent say it's illegal to sleep in public places. On any given night, about 636,000 Americans are homeless. While this number has negligibly declined throughout the past few years, it might soon rise. Data on homelessness lag, and recent evidence suggests that the effects of the economic downturn on homeless people are intensifying. Among people who are homeless are youth, veterans, victims of domestic violence and families with young children. An estimated 40 percent are unsheltered. For these individuals, begging, loitering and sleeping outside is not a...

Hospitals Save Money with Homeless Outreach Two studies, one in Chicago and the other in Seattle, prove we can save health care dollars by housing and helping the homeless. By  David Rosenfeld 1 Comment and 0 Reactions  |  PRINT  |  SHARE RELATED STORIES Feeding the Meter, Helping the Homeless? Apartment Complex Focuses on Mentally Ill The Homemakers Software Helps Insurers Profit from Denials Is Criminalizing Mental Health Wise Policy? D r. Laura Sadowski knows how homeless people can be treated by hospitals. She’s seen the occasional taxicabs from another hospital drop off homeless patients at the door to the nearby teaching hospital where she works. While never as dramatic as the homeless patient “dumping” by Kaiser Permanente  and  others  in Los Angeles, as an internal medicine physician at Stroger Hospital in Chicago, Sadowski had enough of an idea to know that hospitals in her area could probably do more t...

Surplus Government Property: Homeless Help vs. Revenue Turning unloved federal property into homeless services centers has been federal law for a quarter century, but tough times have bureaucrats hoping to shove that tradition into the cold. THE IDEA LOBBY February 15, 2012 Surplus Government Property: Homeless Help vs. Revenue Turning unloved federal property into homeless services centers has been federal law for a quarter century, but tough times have bureaucrats hoping to shove that tradition into the cold. By  Emily Badger 1 Comment and 10 Reactions  |  PRINT  |  SHARE For decades, many organizations that serve the homeless in America have been able to do so with a free supply of surplus property the government wants to unload, but as the recession has caused a spike in America’s homeless ranks, so too has the pressure in Washington to make a buck by selling these properties. (iStockphoto.com) RELATED STORIES Hospitals Save ...

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When Kids Laugh at Hobos, Use Dickens to  Teach Compassion [The following article is from Teaching Tolerance, an outstanding resource for educators and social justice activists at www.tolerance.org] "When you went downtown, did you see a hobo?" The tone was mocking with a giggle at the end. Submitted by  Sarah Sansbury  on February 17, 2012 Keywords:   Wealth and poverty I cringed. Turning around, I saw one of my students: a young girl with freckles and a polka dot bow in her hair. She was a student who always had a smile to share, was the first to offer an extra pencil if anyone lacked and was always willing to help others. The callousness of her remark was out of character. I wondered if she was repeating something that someone else had said. Perhaps she just thought  hobo  was a funny word. To some, thoughts of the homeless bring up stereotypical images seen in movies or on TV, but many, including my ...