How do we solve homelessness?

    I’ve been working all week. The adjustment I had to make has been to make sure to wake up and get to work on time. Finally, there seems to be some sort of new routine for my days. Getting out of work at a decent time has played a role in my motivation, however, I’m still a little annoyed about things. On my free time I’ve started looking more into subjects other than computer science. I’ve out-grown the topic for now. The issue that’s been really bothering me lately has to do with homelessness. Cause I’m at this halfway house and already contemplating of ways to get out of here but things aren’t that easy. I’ve tried solving my housing problem in several ways:

• One Roommate: Tried looking for a roommate on Craigslist, but these people are usually asking anywhere from $2,500-$3,000 to move in, charging $900-$1500 a month.
• Plus a Background check
• Plus we need proof of income indicating we make 3x the needed rent.
• These rooms might not even include a kitchen sometimes.
• My Own Place: I can’t lease, rent, or own an apartment: Don’t have the money, finances to back up a loan, plus I have a criminal record so my options are limited.
• Family: Don’t have much family who could support me.
• Shared Rooms: found on Craigslist suck because the turn over rate at these places are high, these places are already infested with bedbugs or are inhabited by people who don’t respect the space & are always looking for a reason to kick us out without paying back our deposit. & if they don’t charge us a deposit, it’s because we’re sharing a house with 10 other people.
• Hostels: keep us trapped to stay there because they charge us the same rate we’d pay if we were to have a roommate on Craigslist (Usually $200-$250) and usually the rooms are in conditions offering a lot less (no kitchen, shared bathroom, a room shared with 10 other people.) There are only about 6 hostels in the South Florida region which are listed on platforms other than AirBnb.
• My AirBnb: account was deactivated because I seem to have gone against the terms and conditions— Guess they got tired of me complaining about the hostels on their platforms offering us to live in deplorable conditions.
• Halfway Houses: require us to complete a residential treatment program, we could typically spend about 42 days locked up in limbo before our case managers find us a sober home— and then we could start working. What about those who truly don't have any mental issues or substance abuse disorder?
• Homeless shelters: Have a wait-list in Miami because there are only a certain amount of beds available and it could be a matter of months before we can attain one— this solution isn’t even permanent, shelters are usually dangerous, and the conditions could be worse than living on the streets.

    The streets are no longer an option because it seems as if the government is cracking down on the issue. For example, the City of Miami just approved an ordinance where law enforcement officers aren’t required to give us a warning whenever they encounter people sleeping in public. Now they’re supposed to give us two options: either accept help by going to a shelter or spending the night in jail. Believe it or not, people have been getting arrested— that’s how much conviction I have to not going back to a shelter. I haven’t been able to see what Camillus House looks like from the inside. 

    

    Miami’s coordinated entry system sucks compared to the one in Colorado. I mean…from a federal standpoint, I notice many states in the country are currently struggling with the issue of homelessness. According to PBS, the rate of homelessness in the country is at an all time high, with a reported 143,000 individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. Reasons why vary including: the expiration of pandemic-era eviction bans, the end of COVID relief funds, rising rents. This article doesn’t mention how many people are living in homeless shelters though…and it doesn’t account for the people who haven’t reported themselves as homeless.

When I input the word ‘homeless’ into Google, these are some of the headlines I’ve been finding:

Sub Shop Owner wins battle to remove homeless camp...
Despite billions spent, new data shows almost a third of the nation's homeless now live in California...
These 25 U.S. cities have the most homeless people..
Congress must address 2024 housing crisis...
Hunger Force Little Rock, hoping to impact homeless community
Minneapolis plans to close the city's largest homeless encampment next week

    The list could go on and on. A trend I’m starting to recognize is that cities are doing whatever they can to stop enabling people to remain homeless. The argument about this issues lies within their character. The pre misconception is that all homeless people are suffering from the disease of addiction, a mental problem, or simply don’t want to get off the streets.

    Well…who’s to blame them when the country can’t come to terms with the fact that jobs just aren’t paying us enough to keep up with the price of rent. I’d have to move to a city in the middle of nowhere to be able to find place within my budget— and even then I’d still be facing an increase in my rent within a year or two because of inflation.

    When someone tells a homeless person that all they need to do is find a job, they’re wrong. This problem cannot be solved unless these people are granted the time and money to be able to recover from sleep deprivation and the trauma from being out on the street. This includes being able to conquer the battle with withdrawals stemming from an addiction. There are people who become homeless because of addiction— yes— that could be true. But on the other hand, there are people who have become addicts after the point of being homeless. Homeless resources make it so hard for people to get ahead in life that we start to lose hope. What about those who immigrate to the country because they’re seeking refuge from a war or something? What about the people who were affected by the pandemic?

    People fail to realize how a lot of us are just one step away from being in crisis through homelessness. They tip-toe over the issue by showing compassion by expressing their opinions but their words aren’t backed by action. Nobody is doing anything about it because it’s just not affecting them directly. It’s not until they’re in our shoes or when a loved one is facing time on the streets that they start to care. & at that point it’s when they fail to realize that they need to get in line and wait their turn…to not be so entitled cause there’s always someone in front of you who has been waiting for the help longer than you have.

    So much to say about this topic. So little we know. I get exhausted by trying to evaluate the data. This issue requires a team of experts to resolve and it’s not happening fast enough. I’m really depressed because there’s such a genuine lack of understanding with the issue and people in Miami are just so fucking mean. Every state has their way of dealing with people on the street but the one thing the country has in common is how passive aggressive they are. It’s either we do it their way (a way which hasn’t worked at all) or they let us slowly kill ourselves. We can’t seem to find middle ground right now.

President Trump did what he could to help people during the pandemic.
It seems Joe Biden is more focused spending money on war.

Things are getting out of hand. They started with the very poor & now they’re coming after the working class.
People just aren’t going to notice that until it starts to directly affect them. Forget reading the news right?
Fuck this shit.
I don’t know how to organize these thoughts. Otherwise I would’ve figured out a solution for this shit.

    However, I do see that things are starting to happen. There are places providing newer solutions to this problem but they just haven't been proven to work right now because they're at the starting phase. It's going to take a while if we don't get on board and solve this problem.

My biggest fear would be spending the rest of my life and dying on the street.

Today I'm not feeling as hopeful as usual. I'm tired as fuck.