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Lesson Two:
Homeless 101 - Lesson Two
College Course in Homelessness
Prof. John Kitchin, Psychology, Milwaukee Free University, NZ9F.com/MFU.
Fake Nonprofits: It is unfortunate, but I have not so far found any national nonprofit organization whatsoever that I consider worthy of funding or support on the homeless problem, except the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), the Red Cross, and some (but not most) chapters of the United Way. And, there are a rare few chapters of ACLU and Red Cross that are worthless, too, but not many.Nonprofits, admittedly, do need some sort of a motive behind their work. And, their employees need to be paid, too. Could any operate with all unpaid volunteers? Doubtful. Just filing the paperwork and doing the accounting for a nonprofit is prohibitively expensive.
Most nonprofits do have the best interests of those they serve in mind, but staying in business and other considerations must, of course, take precedence, or the nonprofit would cease to exist. All corporations, including nonprofits, need to make enough money that they continue to operate, of course.
That means fundraising, contributions, government grants, and similar. Often, however, it gets very expensive, and an extensive network is set up to continue the survival of the cash flow. This can be very expensive, and end up costing the lion's share of the grant and donation money. Fundraisers get a salary, many ads are not free, supplies and rent are hardly cheap, and there can easily become a huge bureaucracy, like the Salvation Army, which rarely has any money left to provide help.
The religious nonprofits are not usually that concerned with money, however, more being worried about religious indoctrination and messages, such as salvation. Like the profit motive, an agenda motive, being it political, religious, or whatever, can be an organization's main thrust. If people also end up getting helped, well, that is good, too. Most nonprofits with a religious or political agenda end up doing more harm than good to those they try to help, however.
There are also many propaganda nonprofits, which exist primarily to push their own views on a particular problem, and those views are usually far from reality. Many government units have their own propaganda nonprofits out pushing the "facts", like how wonderful our government is in its handling of the problem, and how we need to congratulate our great leaders.
As previously mentioned, there are also "cash cows", nonprofits out to make a fortune for the people who own them. A good ploy is to combine more than one of the agenda, to distract attention away from the profit motive.
So, if we are the Little Sisters of Divine Charity, this purports a religious message, even if the donations all go to Willie, to support his gambling and drug habits, and all the government money received goes to hire experts on dealing with the news media. Remember that the marketing guy gets a cut, too.
Not typical? Sorry, but something like 90% of all the nonprofits in the homeless business fail the smell test, and I rate them as "fake" along one line of reasoning or another. To make sense out of all this, I designed a ratings system, and have assigned ratings, with reasons, to various San Diego (and national) nonprofits and service providers, judging just how "fake" or "effective" they are.
My ratings system uses 5 criteria worth 20 percentage points each, for a perfect score of 100% effective. A few nonprofits have come close to a perfect score, making them an ideal place to donate money and have it go to something useful. A few nonprofits have actually scored zero, too, which is appalling.
Two of my scales deal with motive. One deals with profit motive, from 0% (only in it to get rich, and not help anyone), to 20% (perfect score, all cash goes to help and not even salaries are taken out of same). The second index scores the organization on agenda motive. 0% means that they are mostly interested in promoting their own ideology, agenda, philosophy, belief, lifestyle, political opinion, or goal. 20% is the perfect score, for an organization that steers clear of providing its own views or trying to force people to believe them. So much for motives, cash and agenda.
As previously mentioned, there are also "cash cows", nonprofits out to make a fortune for the people who own them. A good ploy is to combine more than one of the agenda, to distract attention away from the profit motive.
So, if we are the Little Sisters of Divine Charity, this purports a religious message, even if the donations all go to Willie, to support his gambling and drug habits, and all the government money received goes to hire experts on dealing with the news media. Remember that the marketing guy gets a cut, too.
Not typical? Sorry, but something like 90% of all the nonprofits in the homeless business fail the smell test, and I rate them as "fake" along one line of reasoning or another. To make sense out of all this, I designed a ratings system, and have assigned ratings, with reasons, to various San Diego (and national) nonprofits and service providers, judging just how "fake" or "effective" they are.
My ratings system uses 5 criteria worth 20 percentage points each, for a perfect score of 100% effective. A few nonprofits have come close to a perfect score, making them an ideal place to donate money and have it go to something useful. A few nonprofits have actually scored zero, too, which is appalling.
Two of my scales deal with motive. One deals with profit motive, from 0% (only in it to get rich, and not help anyone), to 20% (perfect score, all cash goes to help and not even salaries are taken out of same). The second index scores the organization on agenda motive. 0% means that they are mostly interested in promoting their own ideology, agenda, philosophy, belief, lifestyle, political opinion, or goal. 20% is the perfect score, for an organization that steers clear of providing its own views or trying to force people to believe them. So much for motives, cash and agenda.
The next two criteria deal with mind-set, or whether or not the organization is playing with a full deck. This has to do with spewing "feel good" messages, or being an official government propaganda machine,or whether the org uses worn-out ideas versus coming up with new ones. On the scale of Reality Check, a score of 0% means they purport to tell the truth but are really a dysinformation tool, versus 20% indicating those which understand and tell the real, often brutal, truth of the situation.
The other mind-set criterion, ideas, has 0% for those organizations which use old ideas, not creative at all, versus 20% for those groups on the cutting edge of new ideas.
The final 20% of our 100% total perfect score formula is for the effectiveness of the group. Regardless of any other ratings, if an org is effective at dealing with a problem, that needs to be recognized. Functionally, this is the most important measure, but the other measures have importance too, as in eliminating waste.
I rate my own website very low on the agenda rating, because I do have an agenda, namely truth and the best possible solutions. This, nonetheless, is an agenda, and my reason for motivation. In function, then, a perfect score is impossible.
Really bad organizations end up with ratings of perhaps 30% effective, while good ones rate 60% or higher. A large number of nonprofits really need to be forced out of business. The way I express my ratings is like this: A15%, B8%, C0%, D20%, E5% = 48% total. A is Cash Motive, B is Agenda Motive, C is Reality Check, D is New Ideas, and E is General Effectiveness.
Note that an organization with a high E rating is being successful, despite many problems with the org. That's all that matters? Wrong. Remember that Hitler's Nazis would score A0, B0, C0, D0, E20%, = 20% effective, as they were highly successful at what they did, which illustrates why that one measure alone is meaningless. A homeless help group could have a high E score, despite being money-grabbing, greedy, wasteful, spreading propaganda and lies, using old worn-out ideas, and forcing compliance to a nasty agenda and belief system. Satan's Child Pornographers, perhaps.
So, merely getting the job done is not good enough, but it is better than a low rating on the E scale, which means that the group is not accomplishing anything. Obviously, what you accomplish and how you do that is also very important.
The other mind-set criterion, ideas, has 0% for those organizations which use old ideas, not creative at all, versus 20% for those groups on the cutting edge of new ideas.
The final 20% of our 100% total perfect score formula is for the effectiveness of the group. Regardless of any other ratings, if an org is effective at dealing with a problem, that needs to be recognized. Functionally, this is the most important measure, but the other measures have importance too, as in eliminating waste.
I rate my own website very low on the agenda rating, because I do have an agenda, namely truth and the best possible solutions. This, nonetheless, is an agenda, and my reason for motivation. In function, then, a perfect score is impossible.
Really bad organizations end up with ratings of perhaps 30% effective, while good ones rate 60% or higher. A large number of nonprofits really need to be forced out of business. The way I express my ratings is like this: A15%, B8%, C0%, D20%, E5% = 48% total. A is Cash Motive, B is Agenda Motive, C is Reality Check, D is New Ideas, and E is General Effectiveness.
Note that an organization with a high E rating is being successful, despite many problems with the org. That's all that matters? Wrong. Remember that Hitler's Nazis would score A0, B0, C0, D0, E20%, = 20% effective, as they were highly successful at what they did, which illustrates why that one measure alone is meaningless. A homeless help group could have a high E score, despite being money-grabbing, greedy, wasteful, spreading propaganda and lies, using old worn-out ideas, and forcing compliance to a nasty agenda and belief system. Satan's Child Pornographers, perhaps.
So, merely getting the job done is not good enough, but it is better than a low rating on the E scale, which means that the group is not accomplishing anything. Obviously, what you accomplish and how you do that is also very important.
The owners of the fake nonprofits have many motives. Political power, fame, rubbing noses with the elite, contacts with wealthy contributors, looking socially desirable, good resume item, conceal a criminal past, fast free cash, tax avoidance, promote a pet belief or obsession, the ego of better-than-you-are mentality, conscience in feeling better about one's shortcomings, and there are also those who wish to control others. Quite a list of why to own a nonprofit. Helping others? Sure, but explain why you want to help others. Does it then make you feel better about yourself?
People who run nonprofits are part of the Controlling Class of society, which helps the Ruling Class control the public. Controlling Class jobs are with the police, news media, professions such as law and medicine, military, religions, universities, politicians, and community leaders. Some of the payment is in money, some is in political power, and some is in "love", or spirituality (medical biological term, not religious term.) An easier life can be had in the Controlling Class.
Controlling Class people generally belong to the Knights Templar, Masons, Mormon Secret Police, Iluminati, Cosa Nostra, or other clandestine groups that assist the Ruling Class in a favors-for-favors game. If you need to erase a bad driving record, or criminal record, no problem, and consider it done.
These same groups can arrange for a person to be convicted of a crime that they did not commit, or even pick up a fatal disease when visiting the hospital. Most homicides are committed in hospitals, and neither get reported nor investigated, although much of that is actually euthanasia. Hospitals are run by the Gnostic Brotherhood, which is controlled by the Iluminati (religious police), which runs all the medical schools and always has.
Of of the most important Controlling Class people are the editors, producers, and publishers in the news media. Their support is essential.
News Media Collusion and Corruption: The news media are largely responsible for the homeless problem, because of their promoting completely fictional views of same. The truth would sufficiently anger the public if told, and much action would be taken.
A lot of information is provided as a distraction from not only homeless politics, but even politics in general. And, there is considerable dysinformation (propaganda) involved in what causes homelessness, how many there are, and much more. (The truth on all this will be covered in the next lesson.)
People who run nonprofits are part of the Controlling Class of society, which helps the Ruling Class control the public. Controlling Class jobs are with the police, news media, professions such as law and medicine, military, religions, universities, politicians, and community leaders. Some of the payment is in money, some is in political power, and some is in "love", or spirituality (medical biological term, not religious term.) An easier life can be had in the Controlling Class.
Controlling Class people generally belong to the Knights Templar, Masons, Mormon Secret Police, Iluminati, Cosa Nostra, or other clandestine groups that assist the Ruling Class in a favors-for-favors game. If you need to erase a bad driving record, or criminal record, no problem, and consider it done.
These same groups can arrange for a person to be convicted of a crime that they did not commit, or even pick up a fatal disease when visiting the hospital. Most homicides are committed in hospitals, and neither get reported nor investigated, although much of that is actually euthanasia. Hospitals are run by the Gnostic Brotherhood, which is controlled by the Iluminati (religious police), which runs all the medical schools and always has.
Of of the most important Controlling Class people are the editors, producers, and publishers in the news media. Their support is essential.
News Media Collusion and Corruption: The news media are largely responsible for the homeless problem, because of their promoting completely fictional views of same. The truth would sufficiently anger the public if told, and much action would be taken.
A lot of information is provided as a distraction from not only homeless politics, but even politics in general. And, there is considerable dysinformation (propaganda) involved in what causes homelessness, how many there are, and much more. (The truth on all this will be covered in the next lesson.)
There is emphasis on those homeless who are mentally ill or drug abusers, even though that is actually a small percentage. The press makes it look like those are typical, which then makes average people feel better about the homeless being a population that "deserves" to be, or perhaps that "wants" to be homeless. In particular, the deranged are often recruited to be the on-air spokespersons for the homeless, to make the entire group look mentally incompetent and incoherent.
Official government propaganda is spewed out, emphasizing our great work done by politicians, the huge amounts of money being spent (even though most of it is wasted), and using buzz-words like "affordable housing", none of which is actually affordable.
Programs that have religious agenda, drug abatement agenda, and mental illness agenda are usually promoted, despite most homeless not qualifying because they have none of those problems. Official government websites, run by nonprofit propaganda machines, are cited as references and for further information.
The press and other media also provide a lot of "feel-good" and "look how he made it" stories, in order to instill feelings of hope and encouragement, but also to tell the general public that the situation is not so bad. Don't worry that you are not helping, we have the situation under control. Do your part by doing nothing, and ignoring the problem entirely.
Various pet charities are promoted, and their websites, many of which are the "fake" nonprofits, previously mentioned, and you can volunteer to help or contribute money. Fake "experts" from the nonprofits are generally quoted, and rigged university studies are, too.
All of these cause the news media to make the situation worse, but not all of it goes in that direction. The news media can also emphasize solutions, promote the truth, publicize the plight of war veterans, and establish the distinction between temporary give-away feel-good "solutions", versus real, lasting, long-term ones. A true press reveals that all of the causes are and were political, and so are all of the solutions, period. Lawmakers, politicians, lawyers, and courts created the homeless problem and only they can fix it.
Obviously, the news media has ties to the Controlling Class which runs it, and to the government which is also run by it, and all need to be in collusion, but not in all cases. The media is the only check and balance upon law and government, and therefore the only tool to solve the homeless problem. That is, except for ideas.
Official government propaganda is spewed out, emphasizing our great work done by politicians, the huge amounts of money being spent (even though most of it is wasted), and using buzz-words like "affordable housing", none of which is actually affordable.
Programs that have religious agenda, drug abatement agenda, and mental illness agenda are usually promoted, despite most homeless not qualifying because they have none of those problems. Official government websites, run by nonprofit propaganda machines, are cited as references and for further information.
The press and other media also provide a lot of "feel-good" and "look how he made it" stories, in order to instill feelings of hope and encouragement, but also to tell the general public that the situation is not so bad. Don't worry that you are not helping, we have the situation under control. Do your part by doing nothing, and ignoring the problem entirely.
Various pet charities are promoted, and their websites, many of which are the "fake" nonprofits, previously mentioned, and you can volunteer to help or contribute money. Fake "experts" from the nonprofits are generally quoted, and rigged university studies are, too.
All of these cause the news media to make the situation worse, but not all of it goes in that direction. The news media can also emphasize solutions, promote the truth, publicize the plight of war veterans, and establish the distinction between temporary give-away feel-good "solutions", versus real, lasting, long-term ones. A true press reveals that all of the causes are and were political, and so are all of the solutions, period. Lawmakers, politicians, lawyers, and courts created the homeless problem and only they can fix it.
Obviously, the news media has ties to the Controlling Class which runs it, and to the government which is also run by it, and all need to be in collusion, but not in all cases. The media is the only check and balance upon law and government, and therefore the only tool to solve the homeless problem. That is, except for ideas.
CONTINUED IN LESSON THREE: What causes homelessness, what is a homeless person, and how many are there?
Other information can be found at www.NZ9F.com/MFU, and www.NZ9F.com/Articles.
Homeless 101 - Lesson Three
College Course in Homelessness
Prof. John Kitchin, Milwaukee Free University, NZ9F.com/MFU.
My other intro course in homelessness, D4-100, is much simpler than this one, and intended for people who are curious, as opposed to those who are professionals in the business, or want to become same. Lesson 3 here, is where that course begins, with the causes, definitions, and a reasonable count of the homeless. I do not get into politics, except the issue of greed. In this course, D4-101, I get into everything.
CAUSES: Homelessness is caused by handicap, poverty, and/or greed. What happened to what I said about all of it being caused by politics? Well, politics dictates not providing enough money for the handicapped so that they can pay rent. And, not helping those persons and families living in poverty in order that they can rent an apartment. And, of course, politics is a major source of greed, both in instigation and enforcement. So, although politics causes all homelessness, it comes in the three "flavors" of handicap, poverty, and greed.
Some homelessness is voluntary, and therefore not a political matter? No, homelessness is ONLY voluntary inside the minds of people who were brainwashed to think that. Homelessness is a tragedy, and NONE of it is voluntary. It may be the only reasonable way to proceed, but that is not the same thing as being desired.
HANDICAPS: The two types of handicaps which result in homelessness are physical and mental. Physical handicaps can have many causes, including war, accident, disease, or even merely being born with same. Mental handicaps fall into two categories, classical mental illnesses, versus substance abuse. Handicapped people of any stripe are not paid enough disability money to rent a home or apartment, and so must live on the sidewalk. A shame, and not fair. Unless you receive donations, have a job in addition to disability income, or belong to a wealthy family, pull up a sidewalk and lay down. Welcome to the street. I warn military people not to become injured in war, or they will be on a San Diego sidewalk the rest of their lives.
CAUSES: Homelessness is caused by handicap, poverty, and/or greed. What happened to what I said about all of it being caused by politics? Well, politics dictates not providing enough money for the handicapped so that they can pay rent. And, not helping those persons and families living in poverty in order that they can rent an apartment. And, of course, politics is a major source of greed, both in instigation and enforcement. So, although politics causes all homelessness, it comes in the three "flavors" of handicap, poverty, and greed.
Some homelessness is voluntary, and therefore not a political matter? No, homelessness is ONLY voluntary inside the minds of people who were brainwashed to think that. Homelessness is a tragedy, and NONE of it is voluntary. It may be the only reasonable way to proceed, but that is not the same thing as being desired.
HANDICAPS: The two types of handicaps which result in homelessness are physical and mental. Physical handicaps can have many causes, including war, accident, disease, or even merely being born with same. Mental handicaps fall into two categories, classical mental illnesses, versus substance abuse. Handicapped people of any stripe are not paid enough disability money to rent a home or apartment, and so must live on the sidewalk. A shame, and not fair. Unless you receive donations, have a job in addition to disability income, or belong to a wealthy family, pull up a sidewalk and lay down. Welcome to the street. I warn military people not to become injured in war, or they will be on a San Diego sidewalk the rest of their lives.
Physical handicaps can be treated, usually, to minimize impact upon quality of life. Artificial limbs, medicine, braces, wheelchairs, walkers, and a lot more are used. This, unfortunately, creates a problem obtainingsame (funding), and the people needing medical care are often relatively immobile. Mental handicaps do not usually impede mobility, but can impede patience, cause disruption, and even result in misunderstandings which lead to violence. President Reagan closing the mental illness shelters gave many mentally handicapped people no alternative but the streets.
The other mental illness, called substance abuse, includes dope, alcohol, and even food. More often than not, the addict has underlying mental issues, that is, a classical mental handicap, and is attempting to "treat" it by using a euphoric. Dope makes everything feel better, and so that the problem temporarily goes away. Are the homeless who abuse substances partially at fault for their being homeless? After all, we do not blame a physically handicapped person in a wheelchair for their handicap, nor do we blame a classic mentally ill person for their illness, either.
Substance abusers, truth be told, are just trying to get help, and taking whatever shortcuts they can. Usually people live on the sidewalk, homeless, before ever developing a drug or mental problem, too, but society lies thru its teeth about that. Supposedly, it was drugs, mental illness, and alcohol which caused people to become homeless. You will see no causes like that listed here. You will see the truth instead. Homelessness causes mental illness and drug abuse.
So, can mental illness or drug abuse also cause homelessness? Yes, but we tout that as a primary cause, and it is not. We feel better about the situation if we can blame the person for their problem. Drug abuse can cause things like paralysis, and that can cause homelessness, but dope as a primary cause is overrated.
Food as an addiction is the most difficult to treat, because food is everywhere, cannot be completely withdrawn from for life without causing death, and is relatively inexpensive compared to other intoxicants. I tell people that I once had a $200-a-day Hostess Twinkie habit, until I joined Twinkers Anonymous. A joke. For an addict, food is as addictive as cocaine.
The other mental illness, called substance abuse, includes dope, alcohol, and even food. More often than not, the addict has underlying mental issues, that is, a classical mental handicap, and is attempting to "treat" it by using a euphoric. Dope makes everything feel better, and so that the problem temporarily goes away. Are the homeless who abuse substances partially at fault for their being homeless? After all, we do not blame a physically handicapped person in a wheelchair for their handicap, nor do we blame a classic mentally ill person for their illness, either.
Substance abusers, truth be told, are just trying to get help, and taking whatever shortcuts they can. Usually people live on the sidewalk, homeless, before ever developing a drug or mental problem, too, but society lies thru its teeth about that. Supposedly, it was drugs, mental illness, and alcohol which caused people to become homeless. You will see no causes like that listed here. You will see the truth instead. Homelessness causes mental illness and drug abuse.
So, can mental illness or drug abuse also cause homelessness? Yes, but we tout that as a primary cause, and it is not. We feel better about the situation if we can blame the person for their problem. Drug abuse can cause things like paralysis, and that can cause homelessness, but dope as a primary cause is overrated.
Food as an addiction is the most difficult to treat, because food is everywhere, cannot be completely withdrawn from for life without causing death, and is relatively inexpensive compared to other intoxicants. I tell people that I once had a $200-a-day Hostess Twinkie habit, until I joined Twinkers Anonymous. A joke. For an addict, food is as addictive as cocaine.
POVERTY: The second of the three causes of homelessness has to do with coming from a poor family, failing to inherit enough money to get by, a poor economy leading to lack of employment, and/or a poor education.Obviously, these are all interrelated. Inheriting more money, or coming from a wealthier family would probably have lead to more educational and employment opportunities, for example. Poverty is no fun. There is one more factor in the poverty causation list, and that is laziness. It is the cause that we seem to glorify as the truth, but that is in order to get people to work as hard as possible, of course. Maybe that is a good lie, telling people that if they live in poverty, then they must be lazy. Say it, but do not believe it.
Often, too, poverty can cause frustration with the system, and that can lead to a criminal record. Is a criminal record a cause of poverty? Not by itself, it isn't. The other reasons are the real reason for the poverty. Education, employment, inheritance, and motivation are the key to wealth. Every person can have an impact upon all of those, unlike a much smaller impact upon any handicaps. So, poverty is not as much a problem as the handicaps can be.
GREED: The third cause of homelessness is greed. Real estate, banking, gentrification, development, unfair housing prices, intentional shortages, kickbacks, government corruption, unfair laws, and the news media and politicians telling lies about the situation, making it all seem rosy. Since the news media are generally the only check or balance that the public has regarding the illegal conduct of the government, such as bribery and kickbacks, they play the key role here.
Obviously, there is not very much a homeless person can do to avoid having the local government tear down all of the housing that the poor people can afford. The most a poor person can do, perhaps, is to blog, write editorials, and become politically involved. Greed can be tamed, if we all do our part. This is above all the real reason for homelessness, yet the news media and political pundits are paid to say else.
In San Diego, the many military veterans made homeless by theVietnam War have now been on the sidewalk for 30 years with little abatement, and were eventually joined on the sidewalk by the mentally ill when Reagan closed the mental shelters. More recently than that, city development has torn down the only homes many people could afford. If you can only afford the least expensive housing, and that gets torn down, now what? Sidewalk. Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres baseball team, was built with taxpayer money causing thousands to become homeless. They still are. Not all, however. A lot of them died of pneumonia, living on the streets. The homeless call it Petco Memorial Park, a cemetery.
Often, too, poverty can cause frustration with the system, and that can lead to a criminal record. Is a criminal record a cause of poverty? Not by itself, it isn't. The other reasons are the real reason for the poverty. Education, employment, inheritance, and motivation are the key to wealth. Every person can have an impact upon all of those, unlike a much smaller impact upon any handicaps. So, poverty is not as much a problem as the handicaps can be.
GREED: The third cause of homelessness is greed. Real estate, banking, gentrification, development, unfair housing prices, intentional shortages, kickbacks, government corruption, unfair laws, and the news media and politicians telling lies about the situation, making it all seem rosy. Since the news media are generally the only check or balance that the public has regarding the illegal conduct of the government, such as bribery and kickbacks, they play the key role here.
Obviously, there is not very much a homeless person can do to avoid having the local government tear down all of the housing that the poor people can afford. The most a poor person can do, perhaps, is to blog, write editorials, and become politically involved. Greed can be tamed, if we all do our part. This is above all the real reason for homelessness, yet the news media and political pundits are paid to say else.
In San Diego, the many military veterans made homeless by theVietnam War have now been on the sidewalk for 30 years with little abatement, and were eventually joined on the sidewalk by the mentally ill when Reagan closed the mental shelters. More recently than that, city development has torn down the only homes many people could afford. If you can only afford the least expensive housing, and that gets torn down, now what? Sidewalk. Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres baseball team, was built with taxpayer money causing thousands to become homeless. They still are. Not all, however. A lot of them died of pneumonia, living on the streets. The homeless call it Petco Memorial Park, a cemetery.
WHAT IS A HOMELESS PERSON? Anyone who does not pay rent with their own money, unless their rent is paid by a spouse, ex-spouse, or their parents (guardians) while a child.
Most homeless live at campsites,often ones that they created, legally or illegally, in rural areas. A fair percentage live in cities, too, particularly on rooftops of commercial buildings, in basements, in storm sewersand subway channels, under bridges, on derelect ships parked in harbors, in caves, in parks, in canyons, in cars and trucks, and sometimes right out on the streets. In border towns, it is not unusual for a large percentage to live on the opposite side of the international border. Almost none of them admit being homeless, either. I am not homeless. I live under that oak tree over there. It is my home.
The entire homeless population is in hiding, to avoid the stigma of being pointed out as a failure, as a bad person, as the stereotypical mentally ill drug addict which the media portrays as the "typical" homeless person, as if there is any such thing. Homeless in reality come from many social classes, backgrounds, and educations. One thing they all have in common is that they all have the need to store what they own. You can count the number of homeless, including the ones who do not admit it (that is 90%) by counting the number of storage units in use in an area. Almost each one of them contains the furniture, clothing, and personal effects of a homeless person, couple, or family. Since the homeless are trying to hide, counting them is impossible, but they do leave trace signs such as this.
Anyone who permanently "lives out of boxes", which all of us do when moving to a new home, is homeless. One must go to the storage yard to get clothing, papers, etc. With the cutbacks in government spending, and the business failures and lack of employment which must result from same, storage spaces are bound to be a growing business, as the homeless population triples.
Most homeless live at campsites,often ones that they created, legally or illegally, in rural areas. A fair percentage live in cities, too, particularly on rooftops of commercial buildings, in basements, in storm sewersand subway channels, under bridges, on derelect ships parked in harbors, in caves, in parks, in canyons, in cars and trucks, and sometimes right out on the streets. In border towns, it is not unusual for a large percentage to live on the opposite side of the international border. Almost none of them admit being homeless, either. I am not homeless. I live under that oak tree over there. It is my home.
The entire homeless population is in hiding, to avoid the stigma of being pointed out as a failure, as a bad person, as the stereotypical mentally ill drug addict which the media portrays as the "typical" homeless person, as if there is any such thing. Homeless in reality come from many social classes, backgrounds, and educations. One thing they all have in common is that they all have the need to store what they own. You can count the number of homeless, including the ones who do not admit it (that is 90%) by counting the number of storage units in use in an area. Almost each one of them contains the furniture, clothing, and personal effects of a homeless person, couple, or family. Since the homeless are trying to hide, counting them is impossible, but they do leave trace signs such as this.
Anyone who permanently "lives out of boxes", which all of us do when moving to a new home, is homeless. One must go to the storage yard to get clothing, papers, etc. With the cutbacks in government spending, and the business failures and lack of employment which must result from same, storage spaces are bound to be a growing business, as the homeless population triples.
One popular flavor of homelessness is Sex Housing. This is when a person, usually a female, trades temporary housing for sex. No, I am not talking about a wife, as there is no relationship at all here. Her clothingand furniture are all in storage. There is a different man every night, or every given number of nights, as necessary, and most women who do this use at least several men for their housing needs, taking trips to their storage units as necessary to pick up clothing. I personally know hundreds of women who live this way in San Diego, and have met thousands.
If you compare the numbers of male homeless with female homeless, the difference is due to Sex Housing. In truth, equal numbers of males and females are homeless. It is a little easier for some of the females to hide and/or deny it. We still treat the sexes much differently in the US, even long after the advent of birth control. An advantage that some women take advantage of, in order to get free temporary housing.
I researched the homeless community in San Diego while working as a night taxicab driver in the Downtown, Pacific Beach, and La Jolla areas. I estimate there are something like 30,000 women who employ sex housing in the Beaches areas and Downtown. Men do the same thing, but primarily in gay Hillcrest. Some of the men have as many as 30 women living with them, and are sexually active with all of them. The entire Pacific Beach Bar Scene consists primarily of who is staying with whom on any given night or series of nights. Cash does not generally trade hands. This is free room and board for perhaps 8 beautiful women per wealthy man. Smile, Hugh Hefner!
My latest research is on the number of San Diego homeless who have chosen to cross the border into Mexico, and my best guess is that there are about 40,000. Tijuana offers rooms from $30 per month, which compares to San Diego at $900, so if you are short of cash, well, you do need to stay alive and survive, right? Staying outdoors on the sidewalk in San Diego, or in a park, runs the risk of death from pneumonia when it rains and gets windy. San Diego homeless living in Tijuana need to stay the most hidden of all, as they are usually committing a felony by living there.
UPCOMING IN LESSON FOUR: How do we count the homeless, and how many are there?
If you compare the numbers of male homeless with female homeless, the difference is due to Sex Housing. In truth, equal numbers of males and females are homeless. It is a little easier for some of the females to hide and/or deny it. We still treat the sexes much differently in the US, even long after the advent of birth control. An advantage that some women take advantage of, in order to get free temporary housing.
I researched the homeless community in San Diego while working as a night taxicab driver in the Downtown, Pacific Beach, and La Jolla areas. I estimate there are something like 30,000 women who employ sex housing in the Beaches areas and Downtown. Men do the same thing, but primarily in gay Hillcrest. Some of the men have as many as 30 women living with them, and are sexually active with all of them. The entire Pacific Beach Bar Scene consists primarily of who is staying with whom on any given night or series of nights. Cash does not generally trade hands. This is free room and board for perhaps 8 beautiful women per wealthy man. Smile, Hugh Hefner!
My latest research is on the number of San Diego homeless who have chosen to cross the border into Mexico, and my best guess is that there are about 40,000. Tijuana offers rooms from $30 per month, which compares to San Diego at $900, so if you are short of cash, well, you do need to stay alive and survive, right? Staying outdoors on the sidewalk in San Diego, or in a park, runs the risk of death from pneumonia when it rains and gets windy. San Diego homeless living in Tijuana need to stay the most hidden of all, as they are usually committing a felony by living there.
UPCOMING IN LESSON FOUR: How do we count the homeless, and how many are there?
Other information can be found at www.NZ9F.com/MFU, and www.NZ9F.com/Articles.
Homeless 101 - Lesson Four
College Course in Homelessness
NOTE: There is a quiz on Lessons 1-3 for those actually enrolled, delivered by e-mail.How many homeless are in, say, San Diego? How do we know that for sure? Where do they live? What can be done to help? San Diego is the perfect place to study the homeless issue, because it combines many factors that help make it the epicenter of the world problem.
Long a stronghold of super-conservatives, San Diegans have traditionally held as a majority that government money should never be used to help the poor. That is thought of as helping people to mooch or leech off society, and instead we should smile as they suffer and die. Homeless tough love. Go ahead and die of starvation, and if you complain, I got a bullet or two to help you die, free.
Part of all that get-tough military stuff, as San Diego is perhaps the most military city in the world. Home to the Pacific Fleet, U.S. Navy, Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Camp Pendleton USMC Training, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, and way more. San Diego is also home to the interplanetary transportation depot, once top secret, and I write about that elsewhere, now that same has become declassified.
Our military hates wimps, but it creates the mentality that those injured in combat are looked down upon, especially if that injury was mental as opposed to physical wounds. There is some desirable impact in all this, encouraging people to never give up trying to better their own lives. Never say die, or Semper Fi (always faithful, to Marine Corps principles).
Problem is, what do you do with half a million people trained to kill, that skill honed by actual killing in combat for weeks or months, and now the war is over, or combat gives way to retirement? Dammit, said the soldier, I haven't killed anybody in two weeks now! San Diego has a special homeless problem in that our military apparently takes such poor care of its veterans, that many end up living on the sidewalk here. This is one problem that most cities do not have, at least not as severely as San Diego.
The second problem unique to San Diego on the homeless issue is the San Ysidro Border Crossing, the busiest land border crossing in the world, connecting San Diego and Tijuana, which are actually one city, separated by an artificial boundary, the international border.
Seven-eighths of the low-wage workers in San Diego live in Tijuana and cross the border daily to work on the U.S. side. This creates traffic jams, border wait times, housing price anomalies, employment nightmares, unresolved legal issues as two nations are involved, and hundreds of more problems. The city does not, for example, have just one police force, nor even one single set of laws.
The border also presents a unique opportunity for the homeless of San Diego to opt for life in Tijuana, at a lower cost-of-lilving. This is the latest thrust in my research, the 40,000 (?) San Diegans who live on the opposite side of the border.
One group of citizens combines border life with being homeless on the U.S. side, generally in rural areas, and claims to help assist U.S. immigration enforcement efforts. Known as the Minutemen, this para-military group of San Diego homeless carries weapons, lives in cars and trucks along the border, and tries to keep people from entering the country illegally. Homeless with a cause. We do all need to feel good about something we do, homeless included.
San Diego homeless do have, for example, a website, search engine for homeless resources, and a newspaper, all of which have the most accurate and up-to-date information available. The website lists all of the soup kitchens and food pantries, for example, and is depended upon by both social workers and poor families for information. The website receives no government funding, and all donations are from homeless people only!
Compare this with San Diego 211, the official County website for information, which uses taxpayer money, is notoriously inaccurate, very difficult to use, and seeks to confuse and obscure information about available resources, in an effort to save taxpayer money by causing people to give up on the idea of getting help, or by not finding anything useful. I wrote an editorial about this "feel-good" propaganda site, which purports that we spend billions and billions of dollars and have absolutely great government officials which take excellent care of everyone. What a lot of cow crap.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am involved in the official homeless-owned website, and a major contributor. They, in turn, donate web space to Milwaukee Free University, so I can teach. The homeless website is NZ9F.com, which is my ham radio international FCC callsign.
So much for the uniqueness of San Diego, and for it being the perfect place to study and understand the homeless. One government-owned "nonprofit" estimates that the homeless population in San Diego is about 9,000 right now, but they usually only count 8% of reality, on the average, so that means our real number is about 225,000 homeless, up from 200,000. This is an increase from 8,000 to 9,000 in official statistics, 1,000 extra officially but 25,000 extra in reality. I will explain how all this works and how the numbers are determined later in this course.
When the government people posing as a fake nonprofit want to count you, do you load up your weapons, or do you run? Hiding is better, as there is no confrontation. After all, none of us are homeless. You guys are looking for a bunch of strange schizophrenic lunatics who have heroin needles sticking out of their arms, not us. We're just on a camping trip, cop.
The key to it all is to hide in plain sight, and the city actually helps. One year, the homeless were given fancy designer luggage to carry around their posessions. I laughed. A guy with a $500 suitcase that looks like he just spent the night in a river, and probably did. Nonetheless, hiding is a way of life when homeless. In San Diego, the homeless are harassed by everyone, not just the police.
Asked by one of the police chiefs how I hide, I told him that in summer it's easy. Sleep daytimes, at a beach, on the sand. Carry a huge cooler or picnic basket with all your gear. Anything unusual about catching a nap under a big beach umbrella? My life looks like a beer commercial for Corona. My hammock or yours? If you are counting homeless people, do you think you might miss me? The giveaway is that I use soap at the beach showers, which are mostly used just to wash off the ocean salt water.
By now, those of you who deal with the homeless as professionals have learned a little. I am also a professional, as are many of the homeless, but in general the better-educated must hide, even more than everybodyelse. Nobody wants to embarrass their children in Oregon, nor the university that granted their degree in Oklahoma, nor their colleagues where they taught in New York, nor the research fellows who they have known for years. If I were not a part of Milwaukee Free University, a very avante-garde institution, this course could never be taught.
Not only that, but even a tenured professor would be fired (on an "unrelated issue") for teaching this, even though it is all true. I myself can only teach this because over the years I eventually became Chancellor, which is like being the Principal of a high school, except that a Chancellor is essentially the Principal of a university. Same thing, in reality.
Okay, now you know why San Diego, why me, why Milwaukee Free University, and why it is mostly lies that are told about all this. Now we get on to how I determined the number of homeless in San Diego to be 225,000, not 9,000 as in the official government estimate.
COMING UP: The count, dignity efforts and groups, feel-good versus reality, and editorials.
Seven-eighths of the low-wage workers in San Diego live in Tijuana and cross the border daily to work on the U.S. side. This creates traffic jams, border wait times, housing price anomalies, employment nightmares, unresolved legal issues as two nations are involved, and hundreds of more problems. The city does not, for example, have just one police force, nor even one single set of laws.
The border also presents a unique opportunity for the homeless of San Diego to opt for life in Tijuana, at a lower cost-of-lilving. This is the latest thrust in my research, the 40,000 (?) San Diegans who live on the opposite side of the border.
One group of citizens combines border life with being homeless on the U.S. side, generally in rural areas, and claims to help assist U.S. immigration enforcement efforts. Known as the Minutemen, this para-military group of San Diego homeless carries weapons, lives in cars and trucks along the border, and tries to keep people from entering the country illegally. Homeless with a cause. We do all need to feel good about something we do, homeless included.
San Diego homeless do have, for example, a website, search engine for homeless resources, and a newspaper, all of which have the most accurate and up-to-date information available. The website lists all of the soup kitchens and food pantries, for example, and is depended upon by both social workers and poor families for information. The website receives no government funding, and all donations are from homeless people only!
Compare this with San Diego 211, the official County website for information, which uses taxpayer money, is notoriously inaccurate, very difficult to use, and seeks to confuse and obscure information about available resources, in an effort to save taxpayer money by causing people to give up on the idea of getting help, or by not finding anything useful. I wrote an editorial about this "feel-good" propaganda site, which purports that we spend billions and billions of dollars and have absolutely great government officials which take excellent care of everyone. What a lot of cow crap.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am involved in the official homeless-owned website, and a major contributor. They, in turn, donate web space to Milwaukee Free University, so I can teach. The homeless website is NZ9F.com, which is my ham radio international FCC callsign.
So much for the uniqueness of San Diego, and for it being the perfect place to study and understand the homeless. One government-owned "nonprofit" estimates that the homeless population in San Diego is about 9,000 right now, but they usually only count 8% of reality, on the average, so that means our real number is about 225,000 homeless, up from 200,000. This is an increase from 8,000 to 9,000 in official statistics, 1,000 extra officially but 25,000 extra in reality. I will explain how all this works and how the numbers are determined later in this course.
When the government people posing as a fake nonprofit want to count you, do you load up your weapons, or do you run? Hiding is better, as there is no confrontation. After all, none of us are homeless. You guys are looking for a bunch of strange schizophrenic lunatics who have heroin needles sticking out of their arms, not us. We're just on a camping trip, cop.
The key to it all is to hide in plain sight, and the city actually helps. One year, the homeless were given fancy designer luggage to carry around their posessions. I laughed. A guy with a $500 suitcase that looks like he just spent the night in a river, and probably did. Nonetheless, hiding is a way of life when homeless. In San Diego, the homeless are harassed by everyone, not just the police.
Asked by one of the police chiefs how I hide, I told him that in summer it's easy. Sleep daytimes, at a beach, on the sand. Carry a huge cooler or picnic basket with all your gear. Anything unusual about catching a nap under a big beach umbrella? My life looks like a beer commercial for Corona. My hammock or yours? If you are counting homeless people, do you think you might miss me? The giveaway is that I use soap at the beach showers, which are mostly used just to wash off the ocean salt water.
By now, those of you who deal with the homeless as professionals have learned a little. I am also a professional, as are many of the homeless, but in general the better-educated must hide, even more than everybodyelse. Nobody wants to embarrass their children in Oregon, nor the university that granted their degree in Oklahoma, nor their colleagues where they taught in New York, nor the research fellows who they have known for years. If I were not a part of Milwaukee Free University, a very avante-garde institution, this course could never be taught.
Not only that, but even a tenured professor would be fired (on an "unrelated issue") for teaching this, even though it is all true. I myself can only teach this because over the years I eventually became Chancellor, which is like being the Principal of a high school, except that a Chancellor is essentially the Principal of a university. Same thing, in reality.
Okay, now you know why San Diego, why me, why Milwaukee Free University, and why it is mostly lies that are told about all this. Now we get on to how I determined the number of homeless in San Diego to be 225,000, not 9,000 as in the official government estimate.
COMING UP: The count, dignity efforts and groups, feel-good versus reality, and editorials.
Homeless 101 - Lesson Five
College Course in Homelessness
I had mentioned a good short cut in determining how many homeless are in an area, by looking at how many storage lockers are in use. People with homes have attics, garages, backyards, even vans parked in driveways forstorage. And, if more space is needed, they can call to have storage pods delivered.
People with apartments also have a storage space, usually, plus closets. But, people living in motels often need to keep their furniture in a storage unit, until they are no longer in this class of homeless. Technically a motel dweller is not homeless, as they pay rent, but their stuff is still in their storage locker, so they still "live out of boxes", which is what we all do when moving from one home to another. This "box life" is the primary characteristic shared by all homeless. Imagine living that way forever, with no new home to move into.
The most liberal definition of homelessness, including all of the motel dwellers, sex housing, servitude housing (covered later), street dwellers, and even Uncle Charlie in the garage, nets a fair estimate of one million homeless in San Diego, a county of three million. I do not use that figure, as it does not portray a true image of the problem. Nor does the official count of 9,000, either.
My initial estimate over a year ago of 200,000 homeless comes from observing what groups were conducting census estimates, and then conducting my own follow-up accuracy estimate. I used my education in psychology to find and judge those hiding in plain sight, plus my skills as a homeless person, both in identifying them and identifying hiding places. I also called upon my skills learned as a San Diego night taxicab driver, dealing daily with the sex-housing people and also the homeless. Cab night drivers end up knowing a whole lot that you do not even want to know.
The most liberal count had 18,000 homeless, and my survey determined that one person in ten had been counted when asked about same. Thus, the count of 18,000 represented ten percent of the real value. Standard socialscience from the 1960s, when we really as a society wanted to know the truth, rather than trying to cover everything up. My research also indicated more males than females, so I had to add in the difference, as females hiding under the disguise of sex housing. The results were that the 20,000 in sex housing upped the total from 180,000 to 200,000. Now, more recently, the total is up to 225,000.
The official statistics are a valid percentage comparison, too, because when they said 8,000, I calculated 200,000, and about the time they switched to 9,000, I had estimated 225,000. The percentage increases do add up correctly. Nowhere are the adults living with parents or extended family temporarily, such as my example of Uncle Charlie in the garage. Motel and campground dwellers who live out of boxes but do actually pay rent (some campgrounds are free) are also not present in the total. Nor are cave dwellers, people living in cars and trucks, homeless living on university campuses, and the surf bums (living on beaches).
So, there are two methods of count, one by storage of posessions, and the other by census count. To use the storage space method, take a total of all storage unit rentals, add the official homeless storage facilities such as Dave Waterman Ross, and then add the shopping carts on the street that are being used. By census count, take a survey, and then find out how large a percentage of the truth that survey was. Extrapolate.
My method, even easier and quicker, is this: Ask the following question: Were you counted, and by whom? Then compare it with any official or attempted census. This incorporates the work of all groups. So, if PATH Connections Housing estimated 1,000 homeless, and our survey indicates one in 230 says they were counted, then the total homeless is 230 times 1000, or 230,000. The trick is to find the people who are hiding in plain sight. Counting people who are trying to hide from you is very difficult, and an exercise in clinical psychology.
It is very important that ALL census takers of the homeless numbers exhibit some flamboyant feature, such as hot pink scarves, orange derby hats, cartoon character costumes, or whatever, so a proper post-survey can be conducted by a totally unrelated group. Were you counted by the people with the flashing purple necklaces? Obviously the survey group needs to be completely independent of the counting group, or there will be a skew by repetition, causing a far lower count than is correct, plus an incorrectly-high perceived accuracy rate.
My best guesses are that San Diego County currently has 10,000 homeless Downtown, 30,000 in sex housing, mostly in the beach areas, 40,000 in Tijuana, 65,000 rural, and80,000 other, including servitude housing. Servitude is where a person desperate for housing becomes an unpaid employee, often a domestic servant or construction worker. It is a form of slavery. The 80,000 "other" also includes suburban cities, most notably El Cajon, Escondido, Chula Vista, and Oceanside, all of which have large homeless populations. The estimate is probably low. Sources: San Diego Regional Coalition on the Homeless, a part of County Government posing as a nonprofit. Also, the San Diego Homeless Website, NZ9F.com.
People with apartments also have a storage space, usually, plus closets. But, people living in motels often need to keep their furniture in a storage unit, until they are no longer in this class of homeless. Technically a motel dweller is not homeless, as they pay rent, but their stuff is still in their storage locker, so they still "live out of boxes", which is what we all do when moving from one home to another. This "box life" is the primary characteristic shared by all homeless. Imagine living that way forever, with no new home to move into.
The most liberal definition of homelessness, including all of the motel dwellers, sex housing, servitude housing (covered later), street dwellers, and even Uncle Charlie in the garage, nets a fair estimate of one million homeless in San Diego, a county of three million. I do not use that figure, as it does not portray a true image of the problem. Nor does the official count of 9,000, either.
My initial estimate over a year ago of 200,000 homeless comes from observing what groups were conducting census estimates, and then conducting my own follow-up accuracy estimate. I used my education in psychology to find and judge those hiding in plain sight, plus my skills as a homeless person, both in identifying them and identifying hiding places. I also called upon my skills learned as a San Diego night taxicab driver, dealing daily with the sex-housing people and also the homeless. Cab night drivers end up knowing a whole lot that you do not even want to know.
The most liberal count had 18,000 homeless, and my survey determined that one person in ten had been counted when asked about same. Thus, the count of 18,000 represented ten percent of the real value. Standard socialscience from the 1960s, when we really as a society wanted to know the truth, rather than trying to cover everything up. My research also indicated more males than females, so I had to add in the difference, as females hiding under the disguise of sex housing. The results were that the 20,000 in sex housing upped the total from 180,000 to 200,000. Now, more recently, the total is up to 225,000.
The official statistics are a valid percentage comparison, too, because when they said 8,000, I calculated 200,000, and about the time they switched to 9,000, I had estimated 225,000. The percentage increases do add up correctly. Nowhere are the adults living with parents or extended family temporarily, such as my example of Uncle Charlie in the garage. Motel and campground dwellers who live out of boxes but do actually pay rent (some campgrounds are free) are also not present in the total. Nor are cave dwellers, people living in cars and trucks, homeless living on university campuses, and the surf bums (living on beaches).
So, there are two methods of count, one by storage of posessions, and the other by census count. To use the storage space method, take a total of all storage unit rentals, add the official homeless storage facilities such as Dave Waterman Ross, and then add the shopping carts on the street that are being used. By census count, take a survey, and then find out how large a percentage of the truth that survey was. Extrapolate.
My method, even easier and quicker, is this: Ask the following question: Were you counted, and by whom? Then compare it with any official or attempted census. This incorporates the work of all groups. So, if PATH Connections Housing estimated 1,000 homeless, and our survey indicates one in 230 says they were counted, then the total homeless is 230 times 1000, or 230,000. The trick is to find the people who are hiding in plain sight. Counting people who are trying to hide from you is very difficult, and an exercise in clinical psychology.
It is very important that ALL census takers of the homeless numbers exhibit some flamboyant feature, such as hot pink scarves, orange derby hats, cartoon character costumes, or whatever, so a proper post-survey can be conducted by a totally unrelated group. Were you counted by the people with the flashing purple necklaces? Obviously the survey group needs to be completely independent of the counting group, or there will be a skew by repetition, causing a far lower count than is correct, plus an incorrectly-high perceived accuracy rate.
My best guesses are that San Diego County currently has 10,000 homeless Downtown, 30,000 in sex housing, mostly in the beach areas, 40,000 in Tijuana, 65,000 rural, and80,000 other, including servitude housing. Servitude is where a person desperate for housing becomes an unpaid employee, often a domestic servant or construction worker. It is a form of slavery. The 80,000 "other" also includes suburban cities, most notably El Cajon, Escondido, Chula Vista, and Oceanside, all of which have large homeless populations. The estimate is probably low. Sources: San Diego Regional Coalition on the Homeless, a part of County Government posing as a nonprofit. Also, the San Diego Homeless Website, NZ9F.com.
Homeless 101 - Lesson Six
College Course in Homelessness
FEEL-GOOD VERUS HELPA very wise alien (from another planet) once said to me, "You humans only want to be told what you want to hear." (Photo is just a replica.) How true. We do not want to know that our overpopulation is out of control, and so is our pollution and energy use, or that our warlike society is in the process of killing itself off. We like to dream about better things.
So, we give people hope with Jesus, tell stores about poor people who became rich, and shut reality out of our minds. Most articles written on the homeless issue are of this nature, as a result, and we do not want to know the bad stuff. Can you blame anybody? To dwell on all that is depressing. Social workers, nurses, and so on, that deal with tragic things on a daily basis, need to receive a lot of love in order to do so. We call that Professional Privilege.
A fair number of the official homeless websites tend to be of this "feel good" variety, too. In addition, many of the homeless help efforts tend to be that way: Shoes, hats, scarves, meals, and so on. Why so little effort on abating the problem itself? We are going to, as a society, throw you over the side of the ship, but we will give you a life raft and some food, to make your survival easier. Why throw anyone into the Great Toilet (oceans are where our wastes go) to begin with?
Admittedly, some of the feel-good efforts do have a double positive impact. Better toilets, for example, both makes life better for those on the sidewalks, plus reduces the loads of human shit on the streets. Society itself benefits, from a better city appearance and better health. Good plan. Better for tourism, business, and city pride. So, some of the feel-good efforts are far-reaching.
Blankets and jackets, for example, not only give great comfort, but also reduce the taxpayer cost of paying for illnesses such as pneumonia and even burial fees. So, the effort is more than just feeling good in its impact. The main thrust, however, must be to take action against the causes of homelessness itself, and to give temporary help regarding those things which are the most tragic and threatening.
Clearly, development causes homelessness, when people get their homes torn down. The insane thinking is that they will find housing elsewhere, or merely leave town. They will find housing, on the sidewalks. They willnever leave, and our cities need to realize this. If you support community redevelopment, you cause people to become homeless. Yes, YOU, PERSONALLY, ARE AT FAULT!
Go ahead and be in denial, make all the excuses you want, but the truth is the truth. You are extremely evil, with no valid excuse, and have caused just as much damage as if you had killed a police officer. But, your deplorable behavior is LEGAL. We have gotten used to throwing people into the streets. Then we lie on TV about how big the problem is. We lie on the web, too.
How much of the feel-good help efforts, such as food, are actually to make SOCIETY feel better, as opposed to making the homeless feel better? We all have motivation, me included. Can you tell I am angry? Can you tell that instead of directing my anger inward (Depression) I am acting out? Good. If you did okay on your first quiz, which should be graded and in your inbox by now, you learned something that it is prohibited to teach. The truth about the homeless situation. I may be the only person who can do that without huge reprisals, and even I get some of that.
Eventually I will cover some more of the politics, and how people are forced to become homeless because some rich guys in the ruling class do not like their political views. Did you know that landlords are paid cash to evict certain people? Did you know that many people are on the sidewalks merely because their views are not Republican enough? Did you know that the eviction process ruins a person's credit score, so that they are denied employment and also housing, essentially forever? Did you know that this is entirely political, without regard to Free Speech or Press?
As I have pointed out, merely learning the truth from this course can get you labeled a Communist Pinko, causing you to lose both your job and home, and then live here on the sidewalk with me forever. NEXT: QUIZ ON LESSONS 4, 5, AND 6. Then the last regular session, which is different for each student, based upon feedback.
Go ahead and be in denial, make all the excuses you want, but the truth is the truth. You are extremely evil, with no valid excuse, and have caused just as much damage as if you had killed a police officer. But, your deplorable behavior is LEGAL. We have gotten used to throwing people into the streets. Then we lie on TV about how big the problem is. We lie on the web, too.
How much of the feel-good help efforts, such as food, are actually to make SOCIETY feel better, as opposed to making the homeless feel better? We all have motivation, me included. Can you tell I am angry? Can you tell that instead of directing my anger inward (Depression) I am acting out? Good. If you did okay on your first quiz, which should be graded and in your inbox by now, you learned something that it is prohibited to teach. The truth about the homeless situation. I may be the only person who can do that without huge reprisals, and even I get some of that.
Eventually I will cover some more of the politics, and how people are forced to become homeless because some rich guys in the ruling class do not like their political views. Did you know that landlords are paid cash to evict certain people? Did you know that many people are on the sidewalks merely because their views are not Republican enough? Did you know that the eviction process ruins a person's credit score, so that they are denied employment and also housing, essentially forever? Did you know that this is entirely political, without regard to Free Speech or Press?
As I have pointed out, merely learning the truth from this course can get you labeled a Communist Pinko, causing you to lose both your job and home, and then live here on the sidewalk with me forever. NEXT: QUIZ ON LESSONS 4, 5, AND 6. Then the last regular session, which is different for each student, based upon feedback.
Creative Commons
(International Public Domain)
John Kitchin, NZ9F.com
San Diego Homeless News is Copyrighted and all rights are reserved. All else is Public Domain.
2019 = Public Domain, Except as Noted.
Dr. John Kitchin, Ph.D., NZ9F
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Milwaukee Free University
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