Five Views of Homelessness, Part 2

I used to feel like homelessness was a choice for the majority of the people that live on the streets of Seattle. From talking with Daniel, Felix, John, Robert, and Joseph, I’ve learned that there are so many circumstances that can happen to a person that leads them to where they are living on the streets or in the shelters. After spending almost two hours talking and laughing with the first four, I met Joseph (the one who had already announced his love for me). He is currently living on the medical floor of the Union Gospel mission and is not a Seattle native. He told me that he had been hearing for a while how great Seattle was (specifically for being homeless) because there are so many services here, so many handouts, and so many liberal policies regarding homelessness. That’s why we get people from all over the country—it’s “easier” to be homeless in Seattle than in most other cities. New York has pretty harsh laws regarding homelessness, many of them instated with Mayor Guiliani (read this story of a NY homeless man).  On any given night in America, there are about 664,000 people sleeping on the street. Sergeant Paul Gracy (West Precinct Community Police Team) told me that there are 2,247 beds available to homeless in Seattle. In a recent article by Nate, Burg, he stated that “to fight homelessness, some cities provide services, some build housing, and some arrest people. Often it's a combination of the three, but now many critics are calling on officials to de-emphasize the law enforcement element.”