Josh Karthikeyan Week 5 - The Never Ending Problem
The Never Ending Problem
Homelessness always stays rampant when housing is simply too expensive.
We as a society, primarily focus on curative medicine instead of preventative medicine. It is human nature to be greedy and believe that we will be fine … until we are not.
The City of Fremont explains how the Bay Area “experienced a significant growth in homelessness.” Today, looking on Zillow, a single family house that has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms costs around 1.2 million dollars! Renting in an apartment has also grown significantly in price as well. But, the minimum wage is currently at $17.75 hourly, which is barely enough to sustain oneself, let alone a family.
There is also an anti-American dream philosophy, NIMBYism, which stands for “Not In My Backyard”. Fremont, like many other Bay Area cities, have sometimes faced strong local opposition when new affordable housing or shelters are proposed. For instance, residents in Central Fremont are worried about “the proposed construction of 312 housing units on Fremont Blvd”. They cite how “Fremont Blvd is heavily congested” with three different schools and a church all already within a single mile. The concerns are reasonable but protests like these prevent meaningful progress towards affordable housing. They are effectively shutting down the opportunity that many Americans try to achieve, owning our own, individual house.
Owning a house is a luxury.
If the City of Fremont themselves state “there are no easy solutions”, what hope do we have? There have been some attempts to help out people who are homelessness through group donations but again this is curative, not preventative. Donations like these will always be useful; but they will not be the reason why unhoused people are able to stand on their own two feet again.
Although I’m not an expert, as a Fremont resident, I see one promising solution: to focus on how to get these people working again, to earn their own wage, and eventually their own life. By prioritizing sustainable programs like the Fremont Family Resource Center, that hold “employment and job training”, there is still hope to significantly reduce the severity of the homelessness crisis.
However, I realize that many unhoused people have their own circumstances and simply may not be able to focus on working and instead may need to focus on their health.
There does not seem to be any full, generalizable solutions for homelessness. Fremont roughly spends “8 million a year” towards the homelessness crisis but yet, as a resident I still see so many people daily, struggling to survive — some of whom may not know about the city’s services or may have chosen to not use them.
I really hope there is a solution.
There has to be one.
Image by David Horsey via Seattle Times
Homelessness always stays rampant when housing is simply too expensive.
We as a society, primarily focus on curative medicine instead of preventative medicine. It is human nature to be greedy and believe that we will be fine … until we are not.
The City of Fremont explains how the Bay Area “experienced a significant growth in homelessness.” Today, looking on Zillow, a single family house that has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms costs around 1.2 million dollars! Renting in an apartment has also grown significantly in price as well. But, the minimum wage is currently at $17.75 hourly, which is barely enough to sustain oneself, let alone a family.
There is also an anti-American dream philosophy, NIMBYism, which stands for “Not In My Backyard”. Fremont, like many other Bay Area cities, have sometimes faced strong local opposition when new affordable housing or shelters are proposed. For instance, residents in Central Fremont are worried about “the proposed construction of 312 housing units on Fremont Blvd”. They cite how “Fremont Blvd is heavily congested” with three different schools and a church all already within a single mile. The concerns are reasonable but protests like these prevent meaningful progress towards affordable housing. They are effectively shutting down the opportunity that many Americans try to achieve, owning our own, individual house.
Owning a house is a luxury.
If the City of Fremont themselves state “there are no easy solutions”, what hope do we have? There have been some attempts to help out people who are homelessness through group donations but again this is curative, not preventative. Donations like these will always be useful; but they will not be the reason why unhoused people are able to stand on their own two feet again.
Although I’m not an expert, as a Fremont resident, I see one promising solution: to focus on how to get these people working again, to earn their own wage, and eventually their own life. By prioritizing sustainable programs like the Fremont Family Resource Center, that hold “employment and job training”, there is still hope to significantly reduce the severity of the homelessness crisis.
However, I realize that many unhoused people have their own circumstances and simply may not be able to focus on working and instead may need to focus on their health.
There does not seem to be any full, generalizable solutions for homelessness. Fremont roughly spends “8 million a year” towards the homelessness crisis but yet, as a resident I still see so many people daily, struggling to survive — some of whom may not know about the city’s services or may have chosen to not use them.
I really hope there is a solution.
There has to be one.
Image by David Horsey via Seattle Times
I absolutely cannot emphasize the importance of what you mentioned: that American society focuses on "curative medicine instead of preventative medicine." Not only does this apply to the problem of homelessness, it applies to other fields like the justice system and the purchasing of drugs. My first Critical Even article talked about how individuals with mental illnesses ended up in jail, not being allowed to go to trial because of an illness that they couldn't control. It mentioned the fact that if these individuals had been treated or at least given supporting help, the crime that they committed wouldn't have even happened in the first place. As a result of all of those waiting for trial, the wait lists for court-ordered treatment were backed up, causing an even longer wait. Another example is one discussed in one of the anti-prejudice books we were given a choice to read, "The New Jim Crow," by Michelle Alexander. Alexander, after describing all the ways that African American individuals were incarcerated as a result of a "crime" drug-related, mentions real life stories of people who have lived through the biased system. Many of those people had families or issues of their own, like mental health issues or trouble finding a job to feed their family. As a result, these people turn to drugs and become addicted. If these poor people were simply given the help they needed, in the form of a job, a small loan or rehab, the number of individuals incarcerated because of drug-related issues would decrease. This simply goes to show that America has a "It's okay, we'll deal with it later when it really starts to become a problem" attitude. You also mention that we are the people stopping progress from being made, and I completely agree. If we don't give space for changes to be made, then we as a country won't adapt to an ever-changing world.
ReplyDeleteI have thought for a long time that the only time when society addresses issues is when the people in that society are being directly affected. While being a citizen of Fremont, for almost seventeen years, I have noticed changes in the city’s geographical layout. I think the reason that new infrastructure has faced so much “local opposition” is because the people of Fremont are finally being affected by the “homelessness” crisis. I remember an area near my home, at the cross section of Paseo Padre and Fremont Boulevard, was a small grassy field. Every December it would be lined with yellow fairy lights and families in the area would flock there hoping to find the perfect Christmas Tree. Over time, it became a staple in my community. However, in recent years it has been torn down and replaced by an apartment complex. While I do understand how citizens of Fremont could be angered with changes in their community, change can be a good thing. I think building a strong community is equally as important as retaining the core foundation it was built on. Society has made owning a house “luxury” and it is absolutely sickening to think that a basic need, like a roof over our heads, has become so hard to obtain.
ReplyDeleteThe moment I read the first sentence of your blog, I knew I would have strong feelings about it. Homelessness is such a prevalent problem in today's society, and it shocks me that there still haven't been major improvements. Wherever you go, even right by Lucky's outside my house, there is a strong chance you will see a homeless man. Especially in San Francisco or Berkeley, there are whole parts dedicated for those who are homeless. I always feel sympathy when I walk by a homeless person, as although my parents say how it is most likely their fault, I always feel like it isn't because you never know the true story on why they are the way they are. Maybe they are extremely sick, or maybe they lost their job and can't find a new one. This issue is so much deeper than how people judge them for it. Especially when you mention that owning a house is a luxury, I want to feel that type of reality check a lot more. It's so common for the people around us to own a house that I don't realize how many people actually don't, and how I should be grateful for it. It should not be this hard to obtain a house in today's society, and I definitely feel like better measures should be made.
ReplyDeleteHomelessness is a pity and is dark side of our Capitalistic society. People can win it bi but the people who are unable to are left to rot in the depths of our society. Like you said, house prices are through the room(pun intended) and people who are already homeless are never going to be able to buy their own home and achieve their own "American dream". I honestly do not see a solution in the near future because of the increasing prices of homes and the lack of change and support needed to really reduce homelessness to a negligible level.
ReplyDelete