invisible homeless

The New York City Rescue Mission recently distributed a video to suggest just how invisible the homeless are--even to presumably well-meaning people. Close relatives, who dressed and posed as homeless, went unnoticed as their loved ones passed by on the street. Their reactions to being informed of their failure to recognize them are most compelling. The video does not suggest how many passers-by actually recognized pretending-to-be-homeless relatives. See the Rescue Mission's project at http://www.makethemvisible.com/.

viral homeless vet video

This timelapse of Jim Wolf, homeless Army veteran, has had over 7 million YouTube hits since Nov 6. It was placed on the Internet as a fundraising vehicle by Degage Ministries and has already generated more than $15,000 of its $20,000 goal. The Grand Rapids, Michigan charity claims that Wolf's participation in the project has also transformed his life in other ways as he is now involved with AA. 

faces of hope

This post was contributed by SOC 3013 student, Jessica Raasch.

Before becoming employed at Haven for Hope, my thoughts about the homeless population were pretty much like those of the average American. I firmly believed that we are fully responsible for ourselves, and that if we worked hard, we would get what we wanted out of life. The homeless were therefore likely deficient in important ways as human beings. Since working with Haven for Hope, I have come to see that homeless people, like all other people, defy easy stereotypes. If nothing else, the above video asks us to see the homeless population as comprised of real people who have confronted incredibly difficult life challenges. It illustrates that those without housing are not of one race, sex, personality type, or common story. In these tough times, for example, one could lose a job and soon be out on the street, or living on the street might be far better than continuing to live in an abusive home. Those in the video admit to the world the mistakes they have made, but also suggest the compassion, empowerment, and transition brought in their lives.

Inocente wins Oscar

Inocente is a teen artist, who also happens to be homeless and undocumented. A film about her won the Academy Award last Sunday as "Best Documentary Short." The making of Inocente was funded in part through donations to the Kickstarter project.  

squatting

Establishing residence without owner permission is not only common in circumstances of mass poverty (view top video), but as well in affluent societies experiencing housing crisis. As discussed in this recent In These Times article by Rebecca Burns, squatter organizations, such as Chicago's Liberate the Southside, have developed in the U.S., the U.K., and various European nations to both facilitate the redistribution of unoccupied housing to the poor, while dealing with the problem of abandoned and neglected property in the city (view bottom video). In light of preventing urban blight and thereby maintaining property values, Herbert Gan's discussion on the economic functionality of the poor should be amended in his classic piece, The Uses of Poverty.