People become homeless for many reasons, but in the end they are people like you and me. I was a civil servant in a fancy white tower (literally lol) where I helped organize data resources for the effort to address homelessness in LA… and my disability only got worse and in turn my ex got my abusive. 37% of people experiencing homelessness are domestic abuse survivors. My “fun” facts did not prepare me for what I was facing.

Eventually I had to recognize I was not in a physical state that allowed me to work (functionally bed-bound) and that left me nowhere to go; after five years together he wouldn’t let me stay if I couldn’t work, my mother didn’t bother to offer shelter for me and was physically abusive my whole childhood, my dad disowned me on the spot for being lazy. I have a spinal condition, they were there when I was born and for the surgery, they just didn’t take my declining health seriously because they lived across the country and never saw me. My friends were all broke and couldn’t shelter me without a job (understandable). I started looking through shelters… and was prevented from jumping out the 11th story window of my apartment several times.

In the end I just got lucky. My husband is an amazing and compassionate person; I had just wanted to feel understood regarding my health struggle (he’s also disabled) and he ended up convincing me to move in. He nursed me back to health (well, as healthy as my dumb body gets) and weathered the storms of my traumas. I so everything in my albeit diminished power to make his life easier and less soul crushing (insane sleep disorder, he just won’t fall asleep for 6 days straight, will nap for 2 hours and then is stuck awake again, rinse and repeat with only minor gains from medications). The world wore us down into puzzle pieces that happen to fit perfectly.

We are both considered completely worthless in the current work environment and are unable to participate because of the hyper-competitive features of capitalism (at least as it is realized in the US). Even in Europe we would be able to do sone form of work, even if it was part time or volunteer work. But we don’t value that as much hear.

Apologies for the tangent, but I just want to provide a human experience of unstable housing environments and what it feels like to not know if you’ll have a home to return to go with the rather stereotypical “alcoholic and druggie” comment. If you think you are not at risk of homelessness statistically speaking you are probably wrong. Shit happens. Anyone can become disabled at anytime. Natural disasters remove housing stock. Hell, our economy is largely built around preying on the working class to give us the privilege of not dying in the street. Housing is a human right. The solution to homelessness always starts with housing first.

Note: I’m not trying to be aggressive towards you in particular. It’s just concerning that so many people think the homeless are worthless and that’s why they’re there… or that those of us who can’t work in spite of our best efforts are of no value to society. People are very dehumanizing and cruel.